Dancing and Wishes

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"Now, do not do anything I wouldn't do and do not do anything that I would do. The gray region that lies in between them- is your area of action."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Did you just quote Tony Stark?"

"Yes," He said. "I did. But with a flavor of my own."

We sauntered towards the ballroom, elbow-locked, and studied the people around. All of them were from neighboring kingdoms. The ladies were dressed in royal gowns of either red, blue, or violet while the guys looked stunning in black tuxedos. Although they kept most of the tradition alive, there was a hint of modern flavor to it. Up high was a kind of balcony from where the entire view of the room could be seen. There stood the King - looking all snobby and dashing in his blue tuxedo.

"They all cleaned up pretty well."

Samuel smiled. "That, my dear sister, is the thing about royal balls. The ladies and gentlemen clean up well to impress the person from the opposite sex. I mostly like to think the princesses dress-up well to impress me."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, they should know better than to impress you."

Samuel gasped. "You do not realize how much the princesses are fond of me!"

I retorted. "You don't need anyone fond of you. Rather, you need someone who is a bit of both I-am-so-in-love-with-you and you're-an-idiot-so-you-deserve-the-smack. Someone, who can put you in your place and handle your ego."

Samuel smirked. "You sound like someone who is a love expert."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, I am the last person you want relationship advice from."

Samuel smiled, turning me around to face him with one swift movement. He placed one hand on my waist and the other one to grab my hand. There was faint music going on in the background to which we swayed. The other pairs also swayed- some giggling, some whispering and some of them were just staring into each other's eyes.

"Remember how we practiced waltzing at your residence?" Samuel reminisced to which I smiled. It seemed so long ago that he crashed into my apartment to tell me the whole plan of swapping places with his sister. These two made me practice waltzing so much that now I could waltz in my sleep if I had to.

"I hated you for making me dance that long."

Samuel smirked. "You're a natural because of those lessons now. No one can tell the difference."

He twirled me on my position before waltzing again. This time, we were moving from one place to another while dancing with our partners. As far as I saw in movies and tv shows, as soon as the song changed, we had to switch partners. That thought alone sent shivers down my spine.

I wondered who I would be paired up with after Samuel.

"Are you okay, Liz?"

Sam's question pulled me out of my dread and my eyes quickly his concerned ones.

"Wondering who I'd be paired up with once this song's over."

"Relax," Samuel said. "Even if the Prince is an a-hole, the song will just last a few minutes."

"Not helping."

"Okay," He said. "I shall keep an eye on you and the Prince. If you do not like him, step on his shoe once. If you think he's being a jerk, step on his shoe twice and if you think you can't deal with his attitude, keep stepping."

"He'd run away himself if I keep doing that, brother. I wouldn't need your help then."

"You don't," He smirked. "Because I wouldn't be around to help you deal with it."

I shook my head. "You're the worst."

He retorted. "I'd still be better than that Prince you shall dance with."

"We shall see."

The song ended and as if on cue, the pairs broke and new pairs were formed. I scanned the ballroom to check on Samuel and to my disappointment, he quickly found a partner and danced with her while I was still standing- awkwardly, might I add. But my awkwardness soon came to an end as I spotted Augustus sauntering towards me. He was wearing a black tuxedo - like everyone else. But the commanding aura that surrounded him was what made him stand out.

"May I have this dance?"

He extended his hand and I took it, gracefully. He placed one hand on my waist while the other grabbed mine. My free hand rested on his shoulder as we swayed to the music. I knew this song from live-action Cinderella - A dream is a wish your heart makes. It was soft and soothing. Every time, I heard this song- I never grew tired of it. It was like this song was telling me something.

All this while, Augustus stared at me as if studying every feature of mine. I felt a little too uncomfortable under his gaze.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"'Tis because you've captured my attention. I cannot take my eyes off you."

There were butterflies in my stomach as soon as the words rolled out of his mouth. I didn't know why I felt that way. I could feel my cheeks redden and I quickly broke the eye-contact that we had. Augustus chuckled. He looked almost angelic when he chuckled.

Did I just think that?!

God, what was wrong with me!

He was supposed to be the cold-hearted jerk!

He wasn't supposed to have a great voice.

Or, a nice laugh.

He shouldn't even look this attractive.

God, it should be a crime to look that hot!

His curly black hair, concentrated at his forehead, waved slightly to the wind as he swayed back and forth along with me. Pushing all the weird thoughts and the weird feelings that were stirring inside of me, all of a sudden, at the back of my head, I focused on the song and its lyrics. The song was about dreams coming true and that dreams were wishes that hearts made. Speaking of dreams, I had never dreamt about being here.

To be a Princess.

My apologies.

Crowned Princess of Titania.

And I would have never imagined that I would be dancing with the Prince of Scotland who was supposed to be engaged to Francine. Destiny was a strange thing - even if we humans made a match for you here, you shall meet the love of your life no matter what. Although, I still doubted 'meeting the love of your life' thing. I hadn't met him, yet and I was pretty sure I wouldn't.

"Do you know what the song means?" Augustus's question brought me back to my present.

"It's about dreams. A dream is a wish your heart makes. You forget heartaches, and no matter how much you grieve- belief is important to make all your wishes come true."

He gave me a thoughtful look. "Do you have any dreams?"

I wondered where that question came from.

"I do." I quietly admitted.

"Educating people on not discriminating between the male and female species, perhaps?"

I was surprised for a second that he remembered my not so sudden outburst of equality and having plans for the near future. To say the least- I was impressed.

I smiled, remembering the sudden memory. Although, I'd never been a queen- I'd definitely wanna teach people to change their perspectives about discriminating against the species and giving respect equally.

"You surely aren't the princess I was expecting."

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head, fighting back a smile. "Nevermind."

His walls that were usually so high- came down slowly. His icy blue eyes turned into a warm, baby blue color. Both of us lost ourselves in the rhythm of the music, our feet moving in sync - it was as if we were two puzzle pieces - suddenly fitting together. Perfectly.

The music soon stopped and the walls around Augustus came back up. His eyes became icy again as he made his no-so polite exit. Everyone stopped dancing as they heard King Aurelius and father banging the side of the glass with a fork. All of them surrounded the Kings as Augustus quickly took his place beside his father and Sam on his.

"Kings and Queens and our darling Princes and Princesses, we are grateful that you joined our occasion of happiness. 'Tis truly a day of welcoming happiness at our doorstep as we are here to announce the engagement of Prince Augustus Aiden Xavier of Scotland with Princess Francine Elizabeth Maxwell of Titania."

Everyone clapped and the ones -mainly the Princes- who were beside me, congratulated on hearing this 'great' news. The Princesses were rather jealous of me and sending me glares while all I gave them in return was a dazzling smile. My gaze locked with Samuel's as he flashed me a comforting smile. If smiles could speak - his one spoke-

Relax and remember what I told you at the start of this night.

I flashed him one of my smiles.

"Congratulations, Princess. You just scored one helluva Prince."

My head snapped towards a grinning Jamie who was standing alongside a lady who looked strikingly similar to him.

"Why thank you, Prince Jamie."

He grinned and then pulled the lady by her elbow, towards him. "Princess Francine, meet my sister, Princess Darlene."

She had the same blonde hair -which was loosely braided on one side- as her brother and the same colored-eyes. She smiled and bowed down to me.

"Princess Francine, 'tis a pleasure to finally having made your acquaintance."

"Likewise,"

"Sister, could you give us a minute?"

Darlene gave him a knowing look and a smirk. "Sure, brother. She's all yours."

I narrowed my eyebrows at her.

"What was she talking about?"

He waved his hand, dismissively. "Do not worry about it, Charlie. She talks nonsense most of the time."

I gasped. "How dare you talk about your own sister like that?!"

He rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't say this if you knew her."

"It's Francine now! Don't call me Charlie, here." I whispered, horrifying scanning the room for anyone who was remotely close to us and had probably eavesdropped.

"Relax, don't panic." He waved his hands in a calming gesture.

"Okay, okay," I said, taking deep breaths with each 'okay' until I calmed down.

"Let us meet up at the lair as soon as we are all wrapped up for the day."

I nodded.

---

Sam was pacing back and forth, while Jamie and I stood at the door, arms crossed against our chest.

"Why is he acting this way?"

I shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Samuel."

Nothing.

"Sam."

Still nothing.

"Samuel Alexander Maxwell. You stop this pacing this instant!"

Sam stopped abruptly.

"Do you know what happened?"

Jamie shrugged. "If only someone opened his mouth rather than pacing."

Samuel completely ignored his statement and turned his attention to me.

"I'll be engaged to Darlene by the end of this month."