The Hunted Royalty

Chapter 16

*hey guys, what's up? Reading this I'm guessing. There won't be any more chapters until at least the 27th or 28th. Sorry about that, and I'm so sorry about the previous break. Thank you for those who are still entertained by this boring story. It means a lot
To me! Ok let's get on with it!*

We sit there for awhile while I drift in and out of consciousness on Karsons chest as he plays with my hair and rubs my back. Around 11:30 Karson wakes me up.
"Princess." He purrs softly. "Time to wake up."
"I don't wanna." I wine.
"But ya' hafta'." He laughs. He puts his finger under my chin and makes me look at him, reversing out earlier pose. "Come on Princess. We gotta go."
"Fine." I sigh. Neither of us move. We both laugh. I push up off the couch and stand. He follows me out the door of my bedroom and to the double doors of the ballroom. We stand by the upstairs entrance so that we can walk down the marble stairs. We stand there for about 10 minutes before we hear Aunt Kaitlyn saying something over the microphone. Finally we hear her announce Karson's entrance. He lets go of my hand and walks through the double doors down the staircase as two guards open it for him.
When he reaches the bottom of the staircase, he announces me. "And now, welcome our future queen, Princess Melina Rose White." People start clapping as I walk down the marble staircase. I smile as I take Karson's arm at the bottom.
When the clapping dials down I start talking. "I would just like to thank you all for joining us here today." Aunt Kaitlyn audibly sighs as I stifle a giggle. "Please join us as we start the first dance." The crowd parts as Karson and I make our way to the center.
We dance. He spins me around and pulls me in close enough that our foreheads touch. We both close our eyes. I think that we've stopped dancing but I'm not sure. Slowly, I feel him lean it, so do I. We're so close, my first kiss! What if I mess this up, oh for god's sake take the lead. There's so many butterflies swarming around in my stomach. Just as I know our lips are about to touch, Aunt Kaitlyn taps me on the shoulder. We instantly jump apart. Will someone please remind me to kill her later.
"Yes?" I ask, clearly irritated.
She smirks, "There's a couple of ambassadors here to see you."
"Couldn't you have told them I was busy." Karson snorts.
"Don't worry I'll keep your boy busy for you." I really wanna wipe that snarky smirk right off her face.
"Uh, no. He's coming with me."
"Calm down ladies, no need to fight over me. There's plenty of Karson to go around."
He laughs. Both Aunt Kaitlyn and I roll our eyes.
"Ya' know what? You can have him." I giggle.
Karson and I walk over to a couple of men standing to the side, talking and holding drinks.
"Bonjour." One says. He has dark brown eyes, blonde hair, and looks in his mid 50s. All three of them bow.
I curtsy and Karson bows. "Bonjour!"
"So Princess. How are you liking life as a royal?" Guy one says in a French accent.
"Amazing! So far, everyone has been so sweet and helpful."
Guy number two whispers something to guy three and walks off. Guy three starts talking, "He just had to use the restroom." He says politely.
The event goes smoothly. I go back and forth talking to different people.
Finally, after Karson and I dance for the last time tonight, we head to my room. I don't want to change out of the dress but I do anyway. My will to sleep takes over me. Karson sits on the couch while I change, take out my hairstyle, and take off my makeup. He changed earlier because we planned to stay up tonight. No clue if that's gonna happen.
"Man do you look tired." He says as I walk out. "Hey! Wait a second is that my sweatshirt?"
"Maybe?" He raises his eyebrow. "What?! It's comfortable." I explain. I grab one of the blankets and lay down on the couch. Karson follows, he lays down behind me and puts his arm around my waist.
"I thought we were gonna stay up?" He whispers in my ear.
"Hm?" I ask already drifting into unconsciousness. He laughs softly.
"Goodnight Princess."
"Goodnight." I mumble.
***
When I wake up the next morning, I don't feel Karson right next to me. He must have left earlier. Dang it! Last night was the best sleep I've had in a while. I feel completely energized and ready to start the day. When I look at the small coffee table in front of me, I see a purple sticky note. In Karson's messy handwriting I see written,
Sorry for leaving you, Princess. You seemed pretty tired, thought I'd let you sleep. I'll fill you in on whatever you've missed. Come down whenever you feel like it. :)
I leave the note where it is and check the time on my phone. 12:38, huh, I guess that's why I'm so energized, oh well. I head to the bathroom to start brushing my teeth and hair.
When I'm done, I go downstairs. Not knowing where they are, I roam around the whole palace, until I end up back upstairs in the original meeting room.
"Hey, beautiful!" Karson says as I enter the room.
"Beautiful?" Aunt Kaitlyn retorts. "More like sleepyhead"
"I agree with Kaitlyn." Elpis point to her.
There's only three seats at the little table so I share a seat with Karson. He wraps his arms around my waist and I place my head on his chest.
"Did I miss much?"
"Nope, we just took a field trip to go see if we could call Deimos." Elpis says.
"Did he answer?" I ask, hopeful.
"Nope." Aunt Kaitlyn replies. I press my lips together.
"We were just trying to figure out how to lure him away from the ball." Karson says.
"Ok, but I have a question. How do we know who's who if it's masked and not accidentally get everyone confused?" I ask.
"Easy, we just show each other what we look like before. This isn't a movie Melina." Elpis says, obviously sarcastic.
"Well obviously Kyle and I are going to be matching, Karson and Melina no doubt, but what about Elpis?"
"I should probably wear a very simple one, you know, blend in." Elpis says. I nod.
"I already have mine picked out." I say. "Is that fine, I mean I could always change it."
"Could you grab it?" Aunt Kaitlyn asks.
"Yep." I jump up off of Karson's lap and head out the door. He follows. "Have you heard from your dad?"
He puts his hands in his pockets. "A little. When guys that looked like the secret survive showed up at our door, they kind of explained the situation. He seemed pretty confused still." He laughs. "Once he saw me on TV with you he asked if we were dating." He doesn't look at me.
"And what did you say?" I ask. Wait a second, did I just use my flirtatious voice. Uh oh. Stupid, stupid, Melina.
"I said 'On TV, yes, in real life, not yet'" he smirks, gaining confidence, I think.
We arrive in my old bedroom, grab the mask, and head back. "Not yet?" I giggle. "What do you think your chances are?"
"Pretty good I'd hope." He answers.
"I hope so too." He smiles a big smile.
He looks at the mask. "That mask is almost as beautiful as you." He smirks.
"Hey hey. Don't get too confident now." I laugh and lightly punch him in the arm. He laughs as well.
When we enter the room, I put the mask on the table. It's nothing extravagant, a plain black wired mask with swirly patterns. It starts at the bridge of my nose and goes a little higher than my eyebrows. I plan on wearing black jewels on my cheeks and forehead around the mask.
"Beautiful." Aunt Kaitlyn says. "Karson have you picked one out yet?"
"Uh, I just remembered it was a masked ball." He scratches the back of his neck as everyone laughs.
"We can take care of that." Laughs Aunt Kaitlyn. Karson gives a thumbs up. "Okay, back to the topic, how do we get him away from everyone?"
"I mean to lure him away we could just slyly check to see if he's looking and then me and Karson could just sneak out. It'll be the perfect opportunity."
"Sounds good." Aunt Kaitlyn says.
"Question. How am I supposed to hold a gun if I'm wearing a dress?"
"The dress has an inner pocket." I'm skeptical but alright.
Elpis speaks up. "But won't they think that she's a killer if she goes out and kills a guy right before getting crowned?"
"Trust me honey, everyone hates that guy, they'll cheer for god's sake." Aunt Kaitlyn says.
"True." Elpis says, sitting back in her chair, clearing content with the idea.
"How do we know that he's not just going to shoot into the crowd?" Karson asks.
"He's stupid but he's not that stupid, he knows that the guards would grab him before he even got the gun out of his pocket." Retorts Elpis.
"Is there anything else we need to discuss?" I ask.
"Nope, I think that's about it." Karson says. I grab the mask as everyone starts heading out.
I turn to Karson. "We have got to get you a mask."
"Agreed." He laughs.
He's wearing jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. I stay in the same clothes that I was wearing last night. When we go outside, it's slight snow. We head to one of the market shops. They're advertising masks for the ball, it seems like everything is about the dance right now.
"How's this one?"
Karson picks up a black mask. It's pretty much plain, it goes above his eyebrows, all the way down to the tip of his nose. It has 3-D floral designs starting at the sides and ending at the corner of his eye. I like it.
"Perfect." I say, smiling.
"We'll look just like a couple!" He says
"Yep, just like a couple!" We both start laughing.
A couple, eh? Doesn't sound too bad.