Kiss Me Forever

Prologue

"I promise I'm going to marry you someday."

I looked up to the boy sitting across from me. I smiled and said, "Really? And when is that?"

He touched my nose and leaned forward. "When we're both old enough to be married." He paused to look around the room. It was empty but for the two of us but one could never be sure who hides and lurks in the shadows of the palace. "By that time, I could kiss you whenever I want to."

I could feel myself vehemently blushing. "Y-you're just teasing me..."

"Am not."

"But y-you are!"

He grinned at me and leaned closer. "Whatever. But I promise I'd kiss every time."

"Like when you kissed me in the garden yesterday?" I asked with wide-eyed innocence.

"Yes, Princess." He smile widened and before I could read the intention in his eyes, it was too late. "And like this," he murmured before he pressed his lips to mine.

I closed my eyes and hugged him. He's a beautiful boy and he's mine. Whatever differences we have, it doesn't matter. He loves me and I love him. That is what's really important.

As we lean slightly away from each other to finish the kiss, I slowly opened my eyes and told him I liked it and he could do it again when we get married.

1

Seventeen years later...

I opened my eyes to a new bright day. The sun was shining brightly and promised a wonderful day to come. I sat up in bed and rested my head on the headboard.

Athan.

I had been dreaming about him ever since last week, when the news reached me that he would be back in Sovandara.

Athan Lysander Wynter Grenaldi, Crown Prince of Sovandara, is coming back. I knew that one day he would. To protect his people. To serve them. And to rule Sovandara.

But not to make up for the promises he managed to break.

There had been no wedding, no kisses, no anything.

It was all too good to be true for me. I should have recognized it the moment he said those things. But what was I but a little girl? I did not know what to believe and not to believe. I trusted too deeply and held on to the thought that it would happen one day.

But I know a lot now. I would face Athan later when he arrives and not a bit of what he said before when we were children would matter. It is past. I have a whole new life now and he has his. It does not revolve around following the little boy he was anymore.

I was a girl, now I am a woman.

A woman who is strong, independent and mature.

--

"Gaia, could you please tell ask Ciro for the strawberries I told him to buy in town?" Fia, an old lady with homely features, asked me. She had been the palace cook ever since her mother passed away, the old cook. Of course, there were chefs brought from France to cook during balls and parties. But for simpler occasions, the royal family prefer Fia to cook for them.

"Yeah, sure. Anything else?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. Please tell Pollyanna to come here, dear. We need another pair of hands." She raised her hand to gesture towards the ongoing preparations for the Prince's arrival.

"'kay." I exited through the kitchen back door.

The palace is built on the hills of Sovandara. It is surrounded by woods but when you stand from one of the towers, you can see the blue of the sea. The palace itself was big and a building of bricks. The walls of the palace are high with colored windows representing the Sovandara colors.