Edited by TenYearOdyssey
Ava’s POV
I trail behind Thomas, making it a struggle for him because he's gripping my hand tightly. Then, suddenly, Thomas stops. I halt as well, almost tripping before he catches me and says, "We are here."
I sigh I really don't want to do this. I mean what's the point of sucking up to a bunch of snobby royals? But if I'm going to be a queen then I might as well be a good queen and that meant interacting with the Royals.
Thomas smiles at me and says, "Come on."
But he doesn't move, instead, he reaches forward and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. I shiver as his fingers brush my cheek. He smirks as if realizing the effect he has on me.
I break my eyes away from his gaze. "Aren't we going to go in?" I ask
Thomas nods and says, "But of course, what would a ball be without its prince?"
He walks in and hands a slip of paper to what I'm guessing is the person who announces our arrival.
I walk into the light with Thomas. A voice booms across the giant ballroom: "His royal majesty Prince Thomas, and his beautiful fiancée, Princess Ava Mays."
Gasps echo across the room at the word fiancée. People start talking loudly and I hear whispers of conversation:
"Oh my god the prince is engaged."
"Can you believe it?"
"But he was supposed to marry me. I wanna be a princess"
"I'm so jealous."
"She's not even pretty, I'm ten times better than her."
"I bet she only wants him for his title."
"He could do better, like me."
My cheeks flush. Thomas lightly squeezes my hand and whispers, "Don't let them get to you."
I nod and grab the side of my dress, lifting the hem so I don't trip while I walk with Thomas down the stairs.
As we make our way down the stairs I hear someone say, "Look at her. She's lifting her dress so she can expose more skin, what a slut."
I flinch, but don't say anything, and look over and Thomas who looks mad. I'm guessing he heard that.
He suddenly stops making me almost trip again, but like before, he catches me and the same voice says again, "Look she's such a slut. Fake tripping so he can catch her and she can touch him."
I pull myself away from Thomas's arms. Thomas again seems to hear that and notices me pulling away from me.
He drops my hand and whispers into my ear, "Stay here, don't move at all."
I turn to look at him in confusion, but he's already gone. Well, this isn't awkward at all, standing here while everyone stares at me, I think miserably. I do my best not to fidget and to keep my chin up, even amidst the whispers of 'greedy', 'fake', and 'slut'.
I hear that voice again, and this time they say, "Well, I guess the prince realized what a slut she is and left her standing there looking like a fool."
I sigh, wishing I could stand up for myself but I don't want to ruin Thomas's reputation or make a fool out of myself, so I stand there and imagine punching whoever that is.
Then Thomas appears a mic in his hand I turn to look at him and say, "Where were you?"
Thomas just smiles at me and speaks into the mic, "Hello everyone, I hope you're having a marvelous time at the ball. I just want to say, I hear you all talking about my fiancée. I really hope you're all saying nice things about her because she will be the future queen and disrespecting her or insulting her is a form of treason. I only say this as a reminder to the persons I heard calling her a slut."
The crowd gasps at the word slut coming out of the prince's mouth.
Thomas's face hardens and his mouth sets in a grim line, "Yes, I said slut. Get over it. I heard many of you say it, there was no gasping then and there should be none now. As I was saying before you all so rudely interrupted me, there should be no bad mouthing my fiancée. Are we clear?" The people nodded mutely and Thomas smiled, "Good. Please continue to enjoy your night."
As soon as Thomas finishes his speech someone starts clapping loudly. I look over there it's the queen, then the king follows her and the rest of the people follow, soon the ballroom is full of cheers and claps.
Thomas turns to me and smiles at the shocked look on my face and says, "Looks like you made quite a impression."
I smile back at him and say, "Thank you."
Thomas nods at leads me to the dance floor, then suddenly his phone starts ringing. Thomas looks at it and frowning, turns to me and says, "I'm sorry Ava, but I must take this."
I nod and tell him to go, he gives me a quick smile and heads off somewhere. I sigh and try to be polite to the random strangers that approach me with questions and petty conversation. It's obvious that they're pretending to like when it's clear that they hate me.
I decide that I have had enough as some girl is babbling on and on about the new shoes she got, all the while shooting surreptitious glares at me. I smile politely as I can and ask her to excuse me, then I go looking for Thomas.
I know he's still in the ballroom because they announce that you are leaving. I stand on my tippy toes and look around for him but he's nowhere to be found.
I decide to ask someone and walk up to a fairly nice looking man and say, "Excuse me, but have you seen the prince anywhere?"
He gives me a real smile and says, "He's over there dear."
I look at where he's gesturing and see Thomas talking on the phone and back slightly turned away from the crowd.
I smile at the man and say, "Thank you so much." He nods and I walk over to Thomas.
I'm about to approach him, when I notice how mad he looks. My mind immediately flashes back to earlier today, when I overheard him talking to someone on the phone about zethel and another thing. Although, at this moment, I can't seem to recall what else he was talking about. My mind was so consumed by the mention of the drug.
I need answers, so instead of going up to Thomas I hide behind one of the pillars and eavesdrop on his conversation.
I hear him saying, "Wait, is she dead?"
I freeze. Oh God, did he kill someone?
Then I hear him say, "She's not dead, thank God." I sigh quietly in relief at his words. But my breath catches in my lungs at his next statement: "Make sure you torture whoever gave you that information."
Breath tight in my lungs, I walk a little closer so I can hear better. I hear him say, "Did you get the shipment of the fucking zethel?"
I inch closer yet again and hear him say, "Wow, you did? Your ass actually managed to do something right." Thomas sighs and continues, "Hmm...ok then...Alright yeah, yeah see you so-."
He turns around. I freeze and my heart thunders to a stop in my chest.
Oh, my God, I think he saw me, shit.
I run back into the ball and see a random stranger about my age, I scurry over to him and say, "Would you like to dance?"
He looks at me confused and says, "Um, the song already started."
I frown and I'm about to leave when he grabs my hand and says, "But sure, why not."
I sigh and smile and take his hand as leads me to the dance floor, he gives me a sweet smile and says, "I'm Eric."
I smile back at him as he twirls me around the dance floor and say, "I'm Ava."
He laughs and says, "Yeah, I know. I heard the prince's speech."
I flush, remembering what Thomas did for me.
"Are you alright?" Eric asks, "I heard some people talking about you."
I nod and say, "I'm fine, it's just a little hard to get used to this life."
He nods and says, "True, this type of life isn't for everyone."
I'm about to reply when Thomas suddenly appears and says, "May I steal Ava for a bit?"
Eric nods and lets me go, "Of course."
Thomas nods and his touch replaces Eric's. Without looking at me once, he exits the ballroom clutching my hand tightly.
Author's note.
Hey everyone how was your Christmas, mine was great I wanted more presents but other than that everything was fine.
Also why do you think Thomas is going to do, is Ava in trouble?
I will tell you soon and please do tell me what you thought of Eric.
And please vote and comment it really does help me keep writing more.
Wellllll that's all till next time
Bye...