Chapter Nineteen

I don't think much about the first person I pick. I just point and it lands on the guy with brown hair and eyes to match. Prince Marceau of France. His smiles widens as his confidence shoots up. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

Let's get this over with. I think to myself.

Marceau takes a few steps forward to get closer to me still wearing that over confident grin. As if he has a shot with me. All of them, are seven months too late.

"I will make it the time of your life, I promise." He says in his thick French accent.

I really doubt it.

I give him a small fake smile. "We'll see."

I'm not sure where we're supposed to go to have said one on one time but I walk away from the others and Marceau follows. I don't plan on being nice to him but I can't be out right rude either. He's being forced into this as well. Our parents are the ones we should be rude to. They're to blame for arranging this.

"I heard you enjoy singing." Marceau starts the conversation.

I arch an eyebrow. "Did my father tell you that?"

"He mentioned it once or twice." He admits, nodding his head. "It's something we have-" He stops and looks at what I'm staring at. "What's in there?" He asks, looking at the double doors leading into my safe haven.

"It's my music room." I inform him.

Hearing that, his whole face brightens up.

"Really? Why do we go inside?"

I shake my head. "That's not a good idea."

"Why not?" He frowns.

Because that place it's strictly for my secret romantic hideaway and it's the only place I share special moments with Hayes. It doesn't feel right if I brought Marceau inside. It would be like I'm cheating on Hayes with him.

"It's...a mess." I settle on.

"Look who you are talking to." He says with a smile. "I'm sure I can handle it."

"No. I don't want you to see it. I'm embarrassed by the state it's in." I continue with the lie.

"I'm sure it's fine." He says as he walks over to the doors.

"No!" I say a bit more firmly. "I don't want to go in there."

He stops and glances back at me. "Okay. We won't go inside." He sighs. "I was hoping I could impress you with my own music."

"You sing too?" I ask, lifting an eyebrow.

He nods. "Yes. That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. Music is what we have in common but I understand if you don't want to go inside."

"Well.." He sparks my curiosity and I promise myself I won't stay very long. "Maybe it'll be fine."

He smiles. "There we go." He continues toward the doors and opens it. He looks back at me with a raised eyebrows. "This is what we call messy."

I walk inside the music room and it's literally clean. Everything is where it's supposed to be.

"One of the maids must've came to clean up." I say. "I had a bad writer's block and had papers everywhere."

"What were you trying to write?"

I shrug. "Oh you know, a song about moving on. A typical girl song."

"I'm sure if we work together we can come up with something. If that's something you would like to do?"

That's not what he's supposed to say. What am I suppose to say now? I could tell him no but he seems like the type of guy who wouldn't give up.

I smile. "Sure."

He smiles back and heads over to my guitar collection. He grabs an acoustic one before taking a seat on the couch. I sit beside him, keeping a reasonable space between us.

"You mentioned earlier, you were working on a moving on song."

"Uhh, yeah.."

He nods his head, tuning the guitar. "Okay. I think I have something."

I frown. "You do? It's only been three seconds."

"The trick is, don't think about it too much." He tells me. "Say whatever you want and keep adding to it. Like this."

He strums the guitar, making a Spain vibe sound. It's as if I'm in Spain or an area nearby just listening to the music then when he opens his mouth, I'm taken away.

I have no clue what he's saying because he's singing in French but it sounds beautiful. He stops playing and singing and I stare at him like a total idiot.

I finally get the sense to say something a moment later.

"That was amazing." I tell him. "What were you saying?"

"The song is about a man or a woman, however you want to view it, trying to move on from their previous relationship. But so you're not confused, I'll keep in the view of the man." He tells me. "When his ex comes back and ask for forgiveness she is rejected." He explains. "The man wants her to feel how hurt he was but he can't seem to escape from her. He wants to hate her but he can't. The good times outweigh all the good and his tired of hating her. He wants to move on from her."

That sounds like something I went though. It's the exact same thing I gone through went Hayes after he dumped me and I tried to hate him but I couldn't. I wanted to move on and I tried to but I couldn't forget about him.

"It's sounds miserable." I tell him. "I mean it's lovely but at the same time miserable."

It hits too close for comfort but unlike my story, I doubt this one has a happy ending.

He nods. "I understand what you mean." He doesn't. "Do you want to sing the next verse?" He adds.

I shake my head. "It'll be better for the both of us if I don't try to speak French."

I took two years of Spanish but I wasn't very good at it. I didn't fail but I didn't pass with flying colors either.

He laughs. "There's no need to. We can make a song that's in both English and French."

I never did a collaboration using a different language before. It sounds interesting and fun. I wonder how it would sound.

"Okay. Let's do it." I say a moment later.

He nods. "Remember don't think about. Just sing." He reminds me as he strums the guitar again making the same wonderful sound as before.

Thinking about what he told me earlier, I get an idea of what to use. I wait a few seconds before joining in with the guitar.

"I forgive you, you know not what you have done. I, I forgive you, now it's time for me to move on. I, I forgive you, you can not see right from wrong. I and I love you always in heart you'll live on. You'll live on. You'll live on."

My voice fades away and Marceau looks at me impressed as he stops playing.

"That was perfect and you have an incredible voice."

I smile. "Thank you."

"What do you say we write a song together?" He ask with a smile.

"I say, let's do it."

For the next hour or so, we work on finishing the song and I join in with the melodious sounds of the piano. We look at each other as our voices combine together in harmony. As he stares into my eyes, I can feel my heart racing but not in the same way Hayes can make it. For that amount of time we were together, I forgot all about the one on one time until these a knock on the door follow by a clearing of the throat.

Marceau and I look away from each other, breaking the spell, to see who's at the door.

It's Prince William of England.

"Sorry but not really. I'm here to steal Princess Millian away from you." He announces with a conceited smirk.

Marceau nods. "She's all yours."

I stand up from the bench. "Thank you for keeping your promise." I tell Marceau. "I had fun."

He smiles. "Maybe we can write another song?"

"Most definitely." I reply before leaving with William.

We walk away from the music room and William notices a few of Lily's paintings on the walls. He stops to admire them. He looks at the one of the field of flowers with Lily and I in it. The same one Lily painted the night after we were ambushed.

"Do you like it?" I ask him.

He looks away from the painting to me. "It's amazing. Did you paint this?"

I shake my head. "As much as I would love to take credit for this, I can't. My sister actually painted this."

"Your sister?" He repeats. "Is she around?"

"I'm sure she is." I lift an eyebrow. "Are you an artist too?"

He nods. "Clearly not as great as she is."

No one will be. I think.

"Would you like to me her?" I ask.

"Absolutely." He says without any hesitation.

I'm surprise by his enthusiasm but I don't comment on it. He follows me to where I know without a doubt I can find Lily. I knock on the open door as I walk inside her art room.

She's sitting on the floor working on her latest project. She glances over her shoulder and smiles when she sees me.

"Hey, Millie. What do you think so far?" She asks, moving over so I can see the canvas.

"It's perfect." William replies before I can.

Lily looks at him. "Oh, thank you." She stands up, brushing her hands on her stained cover jeans.

If Abe thought I didn't presentable last night, he'd have a heart attack if he saw what Lily is wearing right now.

"You are very talented." William tells her as he looks around the room at all her works. "You have a gift most people wish they could have."

Either I'm jumping to conclusion or I'm seeing it correctly but I think William is falling in love with Lily. He stares at her as if she's the entire world. Lucas wouldn't be very happy with William at the moment.

"How do you manage to capture each and every detail?" He asks, studying the drawing of our mother, Allison.

Lily shrugs. "I don't know. I try to draw everything I possibly can. I like to get everything right."

"You are doing a great job at it."

I think William forgot he's supposed to be having one on one time with me. He's so consumed by Lily and her paintings he forgot about me. Which I'm not going to complain about. I watch amused as William hands out compliments after compliments to Lily and she blushes.

I so wish Lucas was here to witness this right now. Lily doesn't even have clue he's trying to flirt with her and it's the cutest thing ever. She probably thought William was just being overly nice.

A few minutes later, William remember I'm still in the room.

"I'm so sorry, Princess Millian." He apologize. "I'm ruining our time together."

I wave him off. "It's fine. I mean my shoes are killing me but I think I'll live."

He sigh. "Forgive me. I will make it up to you somehow." He looks at Lily. "I would like to continue this, Princess Lillian, if that's okay with you?"

She nods. "Sure. Anytime." She says, politely.

William begins to walk out the room and I shoot Lily a small. She rolls her eyes and I follow William out. He looks at me with his blue eyes.

"I'm not making such a good impress, am I?"

I smile. "It's totally fine. I understand. You're an artist and so is she. You get lost into it and forget about everything else. I do the same thing with music."

He nods. "I sometimes don't realize I'm doing it."

Once we get off the topic about painting, we begin to learn small things about each other. I might not have a common ground with him as I do with Marceau but I find myself having a good conversation with William.

We grab a quick lunch and continue our one on one time together. It isn't until I see Reid with Lily, I notice it. I stop in my trek making William stop. He lifts an eyebrow at me in question to as why I stop walking.

Hayes. Where is he?

I look around me but I don't see him. I try to think back to when the last I saw him but it's be awhile. Was he with me when I was with Marceau? I don't think so. I don't remember seeing him.

It's because he didn't come. I vaguely remember  hearing Abe calling his name as I left with Marceau but he never came after that.

Why?

"Are you okay? Are you looking for someone in particular?" William asks.

I frown. "My guardian isn't with me."

"Yeah I'm surprised as well." He agrees. "When you left with Marceau, I thought he would be glue to you the whole entire time. He looks serious about his job and I wouldn't want to get on his bad side."

I nod my head. "That's a smart choice to make."

But he has a point. Hayes would be glue to me at all times. Especially with three guys I hardly knew. It's unlike him to not be with me, following us around, keeping his eyes on me.

"He's around, trust me. He's probably watching from a distant."

After looking around my surrounding one last time, I nod my head again.

"Yeah, probably." I agree.

But I have a feeling he isn't.

We continue our walk around the main floor before we find ourself staring out the backyard, looking at the snow.

"Hey, British guy!" A voice from behind us makes us turn our head in his direction. "Your time is up."

Prince Hadrian of South Africa walks up to us. I roll my eyes at how rude he is. How could've at least addressed William by his birth name.

"Until next time, love." William says, before walking away.

If I thought Marceau was overly confident and William was conceited, Hadrian is twice as worse. I hate the way he stares at me as if I'm the next girl he sees as a challenge.

"Quit staring at me like that." I snap.

He smirks. "Quit being so hot then I would."

Give me strength to get through this. I beg.

"Are you kidding me right now." I ask when he winks at me. I roll my eyes. "Let's get this over with. What do you like to do as a hobby."

His growing smirk makes me regret asking him that. Before he answers, I stop him.

"Never mind, I don't want to know."

"I like to dance." He tells me.

"You dance?" I ask, shocked.

"Do you?"

"No. I'm far from being a dancer. I'm better at singing."

"Perfect." He says.

I raise an eyebrow. "Perfect?" I repeat. "Why is that perfect?"

"Because I can show you how to dance."

"I don't think anyone can teach me how to dance."

"I can. Come with me and I'll prove it."

Even if he can, I won't agree to it. I still don't like anyone touching me except from Hayes. Thinking about Hayes, I wonder where he is. I glance around and I still don't see him.

How did Hadrian know we had a ballroom, I don't know. I didn't even know we had one in the first place.

I walk into the room and he turns the lights on. He goes over to the stereo and the waltz beginning to play. That's the last thing I would've expect Hadrian to play and teach me.

He holds out his hand for me to grab and I shake my head.

"I really don't-"

"It's not an option."

He grabs my hand and pulls me to his body. The roughness reminds me of him and I snap.

"Get your hands off me!" I tell him.

"It's fine. Relax."

His other hand touches the lower part of my back and my mind racing back to that night and I jerk away from him, glaring at him.

"Don't touch me again." I warn him.

"What's your problem?" He asks. "I'm just trying to teach you how to dance."

"I already told you, I don't want to learn."

Anger flashes through his blue and green eyes.

"Look here. I've been trying to be nice and patient with you but you're really staring to piss me off. First by insulting me by picking La Feyette first and now you're blowing me off." He says, frustrated. "I don't think you realize how important this is to me, to us."

I frown. "What are you talking about?"

"You really don't know?" He asks, looking at me in disbelief.

I shake my head. "No, I don't."

"This is our last shot at becoming king." He informs me. "You're our only option. I was angry that I wasn't first born and the crown wasn't mine but now that Abe has given me this opportunity, I'm not wasting it. You're not taking this away from me." He jerks his thumb towards his chest.

I put together what he told me and I frown. They didn't care about me. I don't care much for them either but I wouldn't scoop so low for the chance at being all mighty. They all cared about the crown and power. They're parents didn't force them to come here. They came here themselves for their own selfish purpose. They're using me. All of them.

"Do you know how powerful we could be. You and me. Ruling all of Coradel, taking over it all. We'll be an unstoppable force."

Coradel? What the hell did Abe tell them?

I cross my arms. "What makes you think I'd choose you?"

"You will if you know what's good for you. I mean come on those other two will drag you down. And look at me." He motions to his body. "I'm better looking than both of them combined. You can't seriously be thinking about French guy and God saved England now, can you?"

I nod my head. "Actually I can. They have more manners than you do. At least I can have a decent and nice conversation with them and not you. You're a-"

"Don't finish that." He growls, stepping forward. "You'd be perfect if you learned how to keep your mouth shut."

He reaches out to touch my face and I swat his hand away.

"I told you don't touch me. I mean that." I step back. "Don't come any closer."

"Or what?" He challenges. "Your guardian isn't here to protect you."

"You're right." I agree. "But that doesn't mean they won't come barging in here if I scream."

"If you did, I'm good convincing people."

I cross my arms. "So am I." I arch an eyebrow. "You still want to test the theory?"

He steps forward, staring me in my eyes, not backing down. I back up, scared. My courage slowing fades away and I'm filled with terror. I keep stepping back as he moves forward until my back is against the wall.

"Aren't you gonna to scream?" He ask, mockingly. "I'm waiting."

I shallow. The feelings of being trapped washing over me and I'm no longer looking at Hadrian but a guy with brown eyes. I'm looking at him. I'm back at the warehouse. I'm back in my nightmare but only this time it's my reality.

"I didn't think so." He says.

Then out of where, he kisses me with a force, my head hits the wall. I try to get away from him but he holds me in place with his body. His hands are cupping my face and his hips digs into mine.

I'm not sure what he's going to do next but I don't have to worry because a new voice joins us.

"What are you doing?"

Hadrian spins around, releasing me, and faces the newcomer, with his award winning smirk. I move away from keeping my head down. I don't want Hayes to see the tears in my eyes. If he does, it won't be good for Hadrian. As much as I would love Hadrian to get punish, I have to do it. Otherwise Hayes would get in trouble.

"Nothing, man. You know how girls get when they get passionate." He makes a show of wiping his mouth with his fingers.

"You're a lair." I tell him, still looking down.

"It's okay, babe. We don't have to hide from him. He's no one important." He shrugs. "Right?"

I finally decide to look up at Hayes and he looks away from as if he can't look at me anymore. As if I disgusted him. I frown in confusion. He believes me, doesn't he?

"You're wrong." I say, walking away from Hadrian. "He's more important than you'll ever be."

His arm lashes out and his hand wraps around me, pulling me back.

"You're gonna compare me to him."

I yank my wrist free. "Stop touching me. It's the last time I'm going to tell you."

I walk away from him and leave the room. I'm hoping Hayes will follow behind me but he doesn't.

I lock myself in my room for the rest of the day, trying to get over the scared feeling Hadrian made me feel. The way he touched and kissed me. It's the exact way I felt in the warehouse. It's exactly how he made me feel.

I need his familiar, warm, soft touch but he never comes.