Arden
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He had never talked to me that way. Commanded with such authority, I couldn't even argue against it.
It made me anger, I was fuming. I wanted nothing more to wrap my arms around his throat and squeeze as tight as I could.
"Arden." He commands me to slow down as we approach the doors. "You need to stop with your tantrum." His words anger me more. "This is your plan too, remember that."
I stop dead on my tracts and turn around to face him. "I don't remember writing down anywhere in my plan to marry a cocky asshole prince."
"You wanted to destroy your father, you still can. But don't think we don't know your father doesn't have spies here at court." He says. "We aren't stupid, did you ever think we keep them here for a reason?" No, I never thought that. Why didn't I think of that? He sighs, "If you act like you hate me, it will be reported to your father. He is not a stupid man either, he will know something is wrong."
He was right. "You're right." I mumble. He lets a sigh of relief leave his mouth. He puts out his arm and I grab it, before putting a fake smile on my face. "Let's put on a show."
A fake smile also reaches his face, "Let the show begin." He says guiding me once again to the doors.
There's four guards standing at the doors as we arrive, they give their bows and greetings. Two open the doors, leading to a room with a dozen people and one long table.
Will's stops by one of the guards and whispers in his ear. I curse myself for being too distracted by the lights and people to listen. "Before dinner is over, understand?" The guard nods. "Thank you." Will says, before guiding us further in.
"My son." The king smiles and greets like he's a loving father, everyone's seated and their attention is all on us. "Late." He tisks jokingly, knowing him he was actually mad.
"Sorry." Will's voice is light and playful, nothing like it's been before. He's playing the part. His arm pulls away from my hand, and moves to my back. Squeezing, and pulling my towards him. "Arden keeps me distracted." He jokes, the king and few others laugh.
"What can I say?" I laugh, a fake one of my own. Putting my hand on his chest. "Time just goes by so fast when I'm with him." A few women aww and a few men smile. I look over to the king, he gives us both a nod, meaning we are doing well. I look at the queen, she hasn't talked or even looked at us. I don't think she approves of this. That brings me a little comfort.
We walk down the table, saying our hellos as we walk by. "Your majesties." I curtsy slightly. Will was right, this was my plan. My father will think in following through, I will feed him more lies. Then, I'll be right in the nest to take down the others. It's perfect. Maybe I could convince them that I actually can be trusted again.
"Arden." The queen smiles, "You look absolutely stunning."
"You as well." I smile back. She did, she was wearing a long navy dress, with lace and jewels. It was beautiful, she was beautiful.
Will says a few things to his parents, before taking us to our seats on the opposite end. Will sitting at the end, me sitting next to him. Christian besides me, Levi next to Will, and Lilly next to Levi. Smart move of Levi separating them. I don't miss the dirty looks Lily keeps shooting my way.
"Will," I say sweetly earning his attention. Once he turns, I lean into his ear. "Control your dog." I mutter not so sweetly.
His eyes shoot to Lily, who still has that grim look on her face. "Iliana," Him using her full name shocks not just me, but her. "That's enough." He says lowly.
She scoffs standing up, "Excuse me." She says excusing herself.
Will mutter something under his breath and stands up himself, no needing to excuse himself. He goes after her.
I slouch down in my chair annoyed. "Arden." Levi says. I grown again and fix my posture. Happy with what I've down, Levi turns to talk to a lord next to him.
"So," Christian says leaning in to me. "We hate her, we like her, what's the deal?" I know who he's talking about, by his gaze at the door. The same way I've been looking ever since he's left.
"She's sleeping with my fiancé." I say lowly with gritted teeth.
"So we hate her, got it." I look at Christian, he's smiling his toothy grin. I return the smile.
"Exactly."
"You know," he whispers. "He's your fake fiancé not your real one."
"Yea, but we are really getting married." I shoot back.
"True." He smiles. A few servants come and bring us salads. After tens minutes of that course, they are taken away and replaced with plates of fish. That's when Will and Lily come back. I'm not a fool, I know exactly what they had done while they were gone.
Lily's perfect curls were now waves, her lipstick not as bright. Will looked more presentable. The only thing out of place was the button on his shirt. One more undone then before. He takes a seat and I lean into him. He turns looking down seeing what I was doing. I grab both halves of the shirt and fix the button, then look up at him. There was no warmth in my face. I was angry, embarrassed. The smile on his face when he walked in, was dropped instantly.
I pull away, grabbing my knife and fork. Putting it in my fish to grab a piece. Imagining it was him I was stabbing. "Your crazy is showing." Christian whispers jokingly.
I look at him and smile. I then look at Lily and my smile drops. She's talking to a girl next to her. One I assume is her close friend. They're giggling, and smiling broadly. Christian looks up at her to, before quietly whispering. "Tramp." In my ear.
I can't stop the big laugh bubbling out of my throat. I quickly cover my mouth, trying to conceal my laughter. Christian laughs quietly, noticing the people's attention we caught.
I look to my right at Will, to find him being one of the many people staring at me. The smile is still on my face. His eyes travel down my face. I notice his breath hitch, his shoulders tense. "What's wrong?" I quietly ask him.
"You look like someone spit in your food. I can promise you, Arden didn't." Christian adds in. This makes me giggle again.
Will's face turns serious. He quickly stands up before exciting the room once again. I see Lily looking at the direction of the door. I look at it too. Simultaneously, we stand up. We both look at each other, faces filled with anything but kindness. It was a prowler grab over William. One I wasn't going to lose. We stood staring, waiting for the other to sit.
"Lily," Levi whispers trying to tug her down. "Sit down." She ignores him, people's attention are turning on us.
"Iliana," the kings voice booms. "Is there a problem." Her snarl drops as she turns to the king, shaking her head no. "Then sit down." A command, one he didn't make to me. Unable to disobey her king, she listens. I don't spare her another glance, as I exit the room.
I go down the hallway, I have no clue wear he could of gone. Luckily, I see a door cracked open. I follow it out, it's an empty room. With more doors that lead to a balcony. I go through them.
There he is, leaning his arms against the railing, looking out to the sky.
"Will?" His body tenses at the sound of my voice. "Will?" I say again.
"I forgot what it did to me." He whispers looking out to the stars.
"What?"
He turns and looks at me. He really looks at me. So intensely, it was suffocating. "Your laugh." I suck in a breath. "I forgot how much it affected me."
"You can't do that."
"Do what?" He whispers.
"Make me feel like this. It's not fair. I hate it."
He steps forward, "How do I make you feel?"
I swear I'm not breathing. "Like I'm falling and flying all at once."
"Do you regret it?" He asks.
I know what he's talking about. Did I regret betraying them, that's what he wanted to know.
"No."
"No?" He laughed sadly.
"No." I hated that I wouldn't change a single thing I did. Because I wouldn't, I would do it all over again if that meant there is a chance to bring my mother back. I would do it all if it meant falling in love with him once more. I don't know why I would want to put myself through that I again, but I hated it. I hated I didn't really understand why. I hated it.
"I have a lot of regrets in my life Arden, and I own up to them. You, kissing you that day was my biggest regret." He says storming off. Once again, I had angered him. I always found a way to ruin things.
I wait a few moment before going back to the dining hall. Will, isn't there. Everyone is already finishing dessert. I sit back at my chair. "Is everything alright?" Christian asks. I'm about to reply when a servant walks up and hands me a note. I smile when I take it and thank him.
I will not be retiring in our room tonight. You had made demands to not share a bed with Lily. So I'll be staying in hers. I expect to see you there in the morning.
William
He didn't have to add the part about staying with Lilly. I knew he did that to hurt me. Christian looks at me curiously, and I hand him the note. After reading it, he folds it back up and hands it back to me. "I'm sorry." He says, and he meant it.
After dinner, Christian had asked a guard to escort me back to the room. Our room, the prince had called it. It happens to be the guard Will, had whispered to in the beginning. Maybe the whole time he planned on sleeping somewhere else.
The guard opens the door to me, and I gasps. The bed, it was new. "New sheets, new blankets, new pillows, new mattress." The guard begins to explain, "That was the prince's wishes. Though, he did add another thing if you would like to know." I nod. "I'm quite fond of my bed frame, he had said. So hopefully my wife is fine with me keeping it."
"Did he say why he did this?" I whisper in disbelief.
The guard laugh, "I am quite close with our prince. So I did ask him the reason for the change. He told me something about a happy life involving a happy wife."
"Oh."
He gives me a smile, "Do you need anything else my lady?" I shake my head and mutter a thank you. He leaves, leaving me alone in the room.
I stay standing for a little, still shocked. He changed the sheets, the blanket, the pillows, the mattress. What did that mean?
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