The Tale of a Princess and Her Journey to Love

Chapter Ten

Aurora was feeling quite alone and dejected. Whatever Dusty said to Korian had worked as she had not seen him in two days, and there had not been a big scandalous drama involving him storming out of Alluvia and giving Aurora the scolding of a lifetime. In the end, she decided not to tell her mother about what had transpired between Korian and her, as he had kept quiet about the whole affair and she did not want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

In fact, it had been eerily silent! Nijah was preoccupied with Henri for most hours of the day, and Rosilabeth had been tucked away in her room with a fever requesting no visitors. Aurora was quite worried about her sister, but her mother forbade her from seeing her, as she did not want Aurora getting ill as well. All in all, it had been quite a miserable time, and Aurora was not even allowed out of the castle to investigate the mysterious disappearances.

She hoped that Korian would be returning to his home country soon, although that would mean Nijah would have to go too which she certainly did not want.

Aurora had a spare hour before she was scheduled to have a dress fitting, as her mother had ordered her some new clothes. She was looking forward to it as it would just be her mother and ladies in waiting (Kiara and Lilly) in the room, which meant there was not any pressure, and they could just have an enjoyable time together. She had just written a letter in response to Theodosius's latest one, which arrived early that morning. It was shorter then usual which saddened Aurora as it detailed he was very busy helping to plan a surprise party for his mother's return of health. He was probably too busy for her, which was like a stab to the heart. She decided to write him an abbreviated letter too so that it did not seem as if she was obsessed with him. A seed of fear had been planted within her, as she worried that Theo and she would simply grow part, as they never got to see each other.

With a pained sigh, she stood up from her ornate desk with gold detailing and popped the stylus back into the murky ink. She was on her own as Lilly was collecting the dresses from town for later, and she had dismissed Kiara for lunch. Seymour had requested a day's leave for his daughters sixteenth birthday, so it was just Dusty guarding her that day, which was fine considering she was only staying in. After sealing the envelope, Aurora headed outside and was surprised to find the corridor empty. Dusty was meant to guard her at all times, so Aurora wondered where on earth he could have gone.

She decided to go and find him, as she wanted the letter delivered today. She was not technically allowed to travel around the castle on her own, but there were guards everywhere so Aurora carried on with her journey. She supposed Dusty had sneaked off to lunch thinking she was going to be staying in her room, or had to use the lavatory, so she was not too worried about him. Deciding to head towards the helps dining room, Aurora hoped that she would find him before the boat sailed away and her letter would not be able to be delivered for another two days. As Aurora walked through the castle whilst a snowstorm raged outside, she shivered a little as the fires were battling against the cold and losing. Humming a soft tune to herself, she pulled her paisley green cloak tighter around her. It was warm in her room but not in the corridors.

As Aurora was about to turn the corner she froze, hearing what sounded like Rosilabeth's giggle and the deep hum of a mans chuckle. Peeping her head around the corner, Aurora's jaw dropped as she saw her sister stood in the entrance of her room looking perfectly well, with Korian standing rather close to her and whispering in her ear. Aurora gaped as she struggled to make sense of the situation, wondering why Rosilabeth would lie about being unwell. Did her mother know? Moreover, was Korian in her room alone with her?

The situation became even more inappropriate as unexpectedly Korian leant down and kissed her smack on the lips. Aurora gasped, not believing what she was seeing.

"Oh Korian I love you..." Rosilabeth proclaimed dreamily.

"No Rosilabeth..." Aurora murmured as she kept hidden.

The situation was inappropriate beyond words. Aurora was no less then appalled by Korian's behaviour considering it was only two days ago that he said he had no interest in Rosilabeth and was trying to court her! As Korian sauntered off from Rosilabeth and she shut her door, Aurora marched up to her intent in finding out what was going on. Knocking furiously on the door, Rosilabeth opened it with a flurry of giggles before she realised it was her sister.

"Back already? Oh! Aurora! What are you doing here?" She gasped.

"What am I doing here? More like what was Korian doing here! Were you alone with him?" Aurora asked sternly as she peered over her sister's head to see if there was anyone else in the room.

It was deathly quiet and empty apart from her neatly packed away belongings.

"Ok, ok fine. Look - Korian and I are now courting. However, you must promise not to tell anyone Aurora! Korian does not want anyone to know yet. Oh, I am so happy! This is my dream come true!" Rosilabeth squealed, and Aurora's heart broke for her sister.

"We need to talk about this." She sighed as she pulled her sister inside her room and closed the fine oak door.

"Why? What do you mean?" Rosilabeth asked sharply, sensing her sister was not happy for her.

"How long have you been together?" Aurora asked curiously.

"We have been... Involved since your ball and we are in love. What is with the interrogation?"

"Rosilabeth... I am so sorry but Korian has not been truthful to you. Two days ago he forced me to dine privately with him and... And asked to court me." Aurora revealed with a wince, causing her sister to gasp and step away from her.

"N-no! That cannot be! Korian would never do something so treacherous! He loves me!"

"Rosilabeth I am so sorry... But what I am telling you is the truth. He is playing you. You deserve someone so much better – someone who really loves you." Aurora revealed sadly, unprepared for the look of incense on her sisters face.

"I do not believe you! You are lying!" She accused causing Aurora to shake her head adamantly. "You are just jealous of me! Why can you not just be happy for me rather then making up preposterous lies? Not everything is about you, you know." Rosilabeth snapped harshly.

"Please you have to believe me... I am your sister I would never try to purposefully hurt you!"

"Well you just did! You know what... get out! I cannot stand to look at you!" Rosilabeth cried out as she pulled opened the door for Aurora and shot her poisonous daggers.

"Rosilabeth please..." Aurora begged not wanting to argue with her.

"Get out!" She near on screeched, so dejectedly Aurora stepped out of the room, only to have the door slammed in her face.

Aurora was very upset that she had had her first fight with a family member. She knew that Rosilabeth was not actually mad at her though, more about the fact she was questioning her beau's motives. She would feel the same if Rosilabeth said the same thing about Theo - shattered and angry. The only way to make Rosilabeth see the truth would be to make Korian admit it to her, so with purposeful strides and her hurt forefront in her mind, Aurora determined to find Korian and get him to stop messing around with her dear sister.

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Edited