Tied to the prince *Complete*

Chapter 9

Edited by TenYearOdyssey

  Ava's pov

I was dancing, twirling, gliding, spinning gracefully. I looked up expecting to see Thomas but instead, I see the face of someone else. Someone who I thought I would never see again. He looks different, yet I know it's him. Then he smiles, a cruel emotionless smile and his features start changing. His skin becomes paler, his hair becomes darker, his eyes glow a bright blood red, and he opens his mouth, but his teeth are longer than normal. His teeth are fangs.

He grabs my hair and bending my head backward, bites down hard on my exposed neck.

I scream.

My eyes shoot open. Thomas looks at me in shock. I hear a blood-curdling scream and realize it's me. I let out a ragged breath and stop screaming.

Thomas hesitantly comes near me and asks, "Ava, are you alright?"

I breathe in and out reminding myself it's a dream. The ballroom is gone and he's not coming back. Faced with that knowledge, that he will never be back I burst into tears. I want him back. I don't care if he's a goddamn vampire, a zombie or something worse.

I just want him back.

I feel warm, calloused hands softly wiping my tears away. I blink through my tears and realize Thomas is wiping my cheeks.

He gives me a small smile and says, "Don't cry, it's fine, it was just a dream. It didn't actually happen."

I start crying again harder and manage to stutter out, "I wish it was real."

Thomas looks at me confused. "Real? Why would you want that? I thought you were having a nightmare," he says.

I force myself to stop crying and give Thomas my perfect, little fake smile. "Can we please stop talking about it?" I say.

Thomas looks right into my eyes. He's judging me, he's looking at my flaws or maybe he's not, maybe he's just looking into my soul. He slowly nods and says, "Of course, if that's what you want. You have your secrets, I have mine."

I give him a tiny smile, but at least it's real. I realize his hands are still on my cheeks, slowly stroking them. That's not good at all. I grab his hand and pull them off me and drop them on his lap. Then I say, "Let's go."

Something flashes across his eyes possibly like hurt, pain, or disbelief. Whatever the emotion is disappears before I can get a good read. He nods at my request.

I stand up dusting my clothes off and stretch out my sore muscles. I notice that it's morning. I guess we fell asleep on the balcony, the crick in my neck is further testament to this assumption.

Thomas follows suit and we walk back inside in a comfortable silence.

I enter his room and he says, "I'm sorry Ava, I have to go to a meeting. I am a prince after all." He offers me a wry smile at this last part.

I nod and say, "Of course, go ahead, have fun."

'Have fun' - the perfect motto. I remember he used to say 'have fun, everyone has only one life, might as well make the best of it'.

I mean unless you're a cat. A shadow of a smile passes on my lips at my own joke. But I take in his advice again: You should enjoy the one life that you have, even if you're doing something terrible like math, find a way to make it fun. Just enjoy your life while you have it.

I don't realize I'm crying until I hear Thomas sigh and he says, "You don't have to cry because I'm leaving. I'll be back soon."

I start laughing hysterically, I clutch my stomach and attempt to take calming breaths. But, then I start laughing, even more, when I see the look on Thomas's face. He must think I'm quite strange, sobbing one moment and laughing the next.

Thomas gives me a smile, the type of smile you save for those who aren't all quite there in the head. He says, "Ava, are you alright? Maybe you should go to the doctor. Did you hit your head somewhere?"

I try not to laugh, I really do. but I can't help it I'm not crazy, just sad.

Thomas takes his phone out of his pocket and starts dialing a number. Oh shit, I think, he's calling the hospital. I quickly grab the phone from his hands.

He looks up and stares at me in shock, then he says, "Ava, look, you're acting a bit weird, maybe you should see a doctor."

I shake my head and say, "Thomas, I'm fine. I'm just remembering a joke between one of my friends and me."

Thomas gives me a smile and says, "Alright then. Ava, I have to go I don't want to be late."

I nod and he leaves. I plop down on the bed and think about what to do next. I can't read all day, as much as I want to, my mom will murder me if she finds out I've been reading all day.

After deciding to go to the garden, I make my way out of the palace and I plop down on the bench that I had sat on yesterday. I grab some nearby flowers and begin to weave them together. I have no clue what I'm even doing, but the repetitive motion helps relax me.

I drift into my thoughts and lose track of time.

Someone clears their throat and look up to find Eric. I give him a smile and say, "Eric, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing much I was just bored. There's nothing to do and I like to come to the garden when I'm a bit bored," he replies.

I nod and say, "I didn't know you lived in the place."

"Well, I am the Duke's son, so living here is not much of a choice," he says softly.

I nod and scoot over a bit on the bench and pat the spot beside me as an invitation for him to sit.

"Actually, I was going to go out, maybe to a fair or something," he says.

"Oh, of course, have fun," I say.

He scratches the back of his neck and says a bit nervously, "Would you like to come? I could show you around, it'd be more fun than just sitting here."

My face lights up and I nod excitedly and follow Eric as he walks out.

Authors Note

It's me, the author I'm really sorry I didn't update for a while.

I was just busy with school and test and quizzes...and watching TV.

But I finally wrote so hopefully you liked it.

Also I kinda of ran out of shows to watch, that I like so any ideas.

And thats all, next chapter will  be with Eric at the fair.

Bye.