Chapter 4

 I sighed as I stared at my corset, it was 5 pm already, and I had to get into my corset if I wanted to wear my light blue gown. It had little sequences on the top part, creating a V shape with tiny diamonds and strings, as it went down, it got bigger and puffier. I loved a puffy dress. In the skirt part, it had breathtaking patterns, traced with some sparkly white thread. It was one of my favorite gowns, and I had to admit it made my body look amazing, giving me some curves and a bit of cleavage.

Mia helped me get into the corset, the crinoline cage, and finally my dress. It was hard breathing with it, but I had gotten used to it, besides, it was worth the look.

In the end, I decided to actually wear a little bit of makeup. Having some mascara, blush and a light red lipstick. My best friend was wearing a beautiful light pink gown, the bodice was also in a V shape, but it was covered with handmade flowers. The skirt of it was plain, but it was puffy and soft, giving a very natural tone to it. As always, she looked fantastic.

There was a knock on the door. "I believe I came to escort two beautiful ladies to dinner," my older brother announced through the door.

"Coming Seb!" I said as we finished touching up our hair. While Mia let her hair down with one of my tiaras, I picked half of it up, wearing some small light blue earrings that matched my teardrop necklace. To finish it up, I wore one of my favorite tiaras. We headed to the door and each of us grabbed one of Sebastian's arms.

"May I say you both look rather dazzling this evening?" He smiled. Seb was only 6 years older than me, but he was like my best friend. He had my dad's brown hair and my mother's green eyes, and that smile that could really solve any problem in the whole world.

"You don't look too bad yourself," Mia grinned and we walked to the dining room. Of course, it was no surprise to me when I noticed everything was glammed up. There were musicians, ice sculptures, a really big space for dancing. There even was a table with various pastries and candies. My guess, is that it was specifically for Adeline, Kyle's younger sister.

As I looked across the room, I spotted many noble people. And to my surprise, most of my family was here, including many aunts and uncles I hadn't seen in years. Guess Kyle's arrival was bigger than expected.

Between the crowd, I noticed a bright red mane that danced through the room like fire. I knew exactly who it was, and I most definitely was not happy to see her here. Her name is Ava Donahue, she is a noblewoman. Her parents own the most famous jewelry shop in all Florence. Her family has been in charge of designing all the royal family's crowns and jewels for centuries now, even the things I am wearing today.

It wasn't always hate between us though, when we were younger the three of us were inseparable. Until my 9th birthday party, something happened that day, that after that, she has just been mean to us, with no reason whatsoever. But she did promise to make mine and Mia's life a living hell. For years I wondered if perhaps Olivia, my older sister by 4 years, knew something. But it's not like I could ask her now, she's not here anymore.

I knew Mia had seen her too when she looked at me and rolled her eyes, "I know," I sighed. "Let's just ignore her like we always do okay? And if she tries to step over the line, we'll just call the guards."

"Deal," she nodded and looked across the room. "I'm gonna get something to drink, want anything?" She asked.

"Not really, thank you," I smiled and saw her walk away.

I tensed up as I felt a pair of hands put themselves in front of my eyes, "Guess who." A soft sweet male voice said, making me smile immediately, "I heard my favorite cousin might need me in this times of need, so I took a train all the way from Bendy to Florence."

"Evan!" I squealed with excitement and as soon as his hands left my eyes, I turned to hug him tightly, making him laugh.

"Hey you," he hugged me back. "Missed me, huh?"

"Are you kidding? I haven't seen you in like a month! I'm so glad you are here," I said as I pulled away. Even if we hadn't seen each other in a month, his blonde hair was a little bit longer, and his glasses were different that the ones that he used before, these ones really brought up the blue in his eyes.

"I'm happy to be here too," he grinned. "I mean, just the food is good enough reason to come."

Before we could say anything else, the door opened and the room went silent. "Please welcome Prince Kyle Edwards and his family!" The Herald announced. Kyle walked into the room, his green eyes and curly dark hair taking away the breath of many women present. He wore a charming smirk. It was hard for me not to roll my eyes.

I heard Evan gasp quietly, as the Edwards walked in. When I looked to see who he was staring at, I noticed it wasn't Kyle who had his attention, but a tall, strong young man who had black hair with a slight beard and some chocolaty brown eyes. "Who's that?" He blurted out in a whisper before he could stop himself.

I smiled, "That is Julian Hester," I replied in a whisper. "He is the Captain of the Starsley Guards." To be fair, it was quite impressive a 20-year-old man could be Captain of anything. But after my encounter with Liam, I knew not to judge just by their age.

"Hey Kitten," I hadn't noticed Kyle had approached us until he gently took my hand and kissed it softly. I felt my stomach do a flip, and told myself it was just because I was surprised.

"Kyle," I replied simply, as he grinned at me. "Hadn't we agreed you weren't going to call me Kitten anymore?" I raised my eyebrows.

"No, you said you disliked the nickname, and I clearly remember saying I didn't care," he put my hand back in its place gently. "How has my future wife been?" He asked as he gently rubbed my cheek, "I missed you."

I took his hand away, immediately missing the warmth it gave me, "I was amazing, until you arrived."

He pouted playfully, "Oh don't be so hard on me Kitten. All I'm doing is follow my father's orders, nothing less." He took a step closer to me.

"And you are definitely enjoying this, aren't you?" I looked up at him. Two could play this game, although I knew I was getting into dangerous territory.

"You know me so well," he smirked and I felt my body beginning to melt. "Well, I'll see you around Kitten. I have people to greet," he kissed my cheek and left.

"Kyle 1 Chloe 0," Mia announced as she walked next to me, and I just glared at her. "Come on now, we both know deep down you do like him."

"The day I fall for Kyle please lock me up in an asylum, because that would mean I went completely insane," I huffed.

"Whatever you say miss," she chuckled. "Also, you don't know who I just saw a couple of minutes ago."

"M, I already told you, I am not going to introduce you to the prince of Yenshire. He is rather a creep, and would take you away from me," I pouted.

"No, no, not him, your Spanish tutor," she said excitedly. "And may I say, he is rather handsome."

"Mr. Winters? What is he doing here?" I frowned.

"I guess since he is living in the castle while he tutors you, he got invited?" She shrugged.

"Yea, maybe."

After we had dinner, couples started to stand up and head to the dancing area. I smiled as I watched everyone dance, I really liked seeing people so happy, that's something I loved about dance, it made you forget all your problems. Its partner in crime, music, helped take over you and your body. Dance and music were the perfect couple, and their child was freedom. The times I've felt the freest, are those when I'm dancing.

"Enjoying the night?" A silky voice said. I turned and saw Liam, smiling at me. "You look beautiful, your highness," he gave me a soft bow, making me smile.

"Thank you Mr. Winters." I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.

"Please, call me Liam."

"Liam," I repeated and smiled. "Call me Chloe. Your highness makes everything too formal," I

chuckled.

"Well, Chloe." My name sounded like music when he said it. "May I have this dance?"

I took his hand and nodded, "Of course."

He took me to the middle of the dance area, I noticed a couple of eyes turning towards us, but decided to ignore it. His arm curled around my back, pulling me closer, while my left hand rested on his shoulder. His and my right hand collided, and I immediately felt a shock of electricity flowing through my body. I wondered if he had felt it too.

We looked into each other's eyes and I couldn't help but smile, it felt as if the world around us disappeared when we danced. I felt so free. His arms provided me safety, and it felt as if we were dancing between clouds. We didn't speak much, but we didn't have to, our connection was beyond words. And in all honesty, I was too stunned to be able to speak.

"Sorry to interrupt," Kyle's voice broke our perfect bubble. "But I was wondering if I could dance with the princess," he told Liam while he looked at me. There was something different in his eyes, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Of course," Liam cleared his throat. "I'll see you around Chlo," he said and I smiled. Chlo, no one had ever called me that. I liked it.

Kyle and I started dancing. "Who was that?" He asked casually.

"Liam Winters," I said simply. "My Spanish tutor."

The prince spun me around slowly, "You were dancing with your tutor?" He chuckled.

"Yes." He dipped me carefully and brought me back up, god he was a great dancer.

"Interesting," he said plainly, as we danced across the room.

"Interesting?" I repeated. I noticed he had pulled me closer, but I didn't mind it. "What's so interesting about dancing with someone? You know I love to dance."

"I do, which is why I also know you usually just dance with your family or mine. You don't trust dancing with someone else because they might be bad at it," he paused. There was that flicker again, but once he blinked, it was gone. "Which is why it's interesting you were dancing with your tutor," he said that last word as if it was a curse, and I immediately understood what was going on.

"Jealous?" I chuckled and he tensed up.

"Me? please," he huffed. "Why would I be jealous of some random tutor?"

"You are all tensed up and holding me extremely close, as if I was about to turn into sand," I laughed quietly.

"That's just because I like having you close to me," he said, and I noticed that super confident and arrogant Kyle was back.

"Hold me any closer and we might just make quite the scene," I blurted out without thinking it twice, feeling myself blush at my comment.

"Wouldn't you like to see it?" He whispered in my ear. I could feel the smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes, idiot.

At the end of the room, I saw Adeline with a plate full of pastries. She looked so happy, "Looks like Addy found her own version of heaven," I giggled.

"It's the only thing she could talk about the whole way here," he smiled. "I will need to thank your mother personally for always making sure she has the time of her life here. She loves Florence because of your family."

"You know it's nothing. Besides, after Olivia and the baby, mom sees Addy like her own daughter. Pretty sure she would take a bullet for her," I chuckled. It was true. My sister Olivia had died at the age of 14, when I was 10, due to a rare lung disease. The doctors did everything they could to save her, but it wasn't enough. A couple of months after, she got pregnant, and it was as if life was happy again. Although that happiness was soon destroyed after she had a miscarriage. Mom and Dad stopped trying, too scared to loose anyone else. That's why, the first time my mother met Adeline, when she was 3 and I was 11, she completely fell in love with her. Reason why, every time she comes to castle, my mom does her best to spoil her.

As for my dad, he became closer to me and Seb. Even after all my family has gone though, the 4 of us have managed to find our own version of happiness.

We danced for a couple of songs, until Ava decided to steal Kyle from me. He mouthed, "Sorry." and I shrugged, walking to Evan.

"Hey," I smiled but he didn't reply. "Evs." still no response. "Earth calling to Evan," I sang as I moved my hand gently across his face.

"Oh, hey Chloe," he smiled. "What's up?"

"You do know you can just go talk to him, right?"

"Hmm?" He said, and immediately blushed. He knew I had caught him. "Is it too obvious?"

"Very," I chuckled. "I can introduce you to Julien, you know."

"No no, it's fine, he looks quite busy," he said quickly.

The rest of the night went smoothly. I caught up with some family members, and danced till my feet were sore. Maybe it wasn't too bad that Kyle was here.