It's my birthday! It's my birthday!
I woke chanting it in my head. Today was the day! Finally, I was sixteen – old enough to be taken seriously. Old enough to start learning how to run a kingdom. Most importantly, old enough to be betrothed.
I sat up and pushed the heavy embroidered duvet aside. My feet swung out of the bed and I shivered at the cold morning air.
"Hannah?" I croaked, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. Hannah was already at my bedside, pushing aside the gossamer curtains. She always seemed to know when I was waking.
"Yes, your highness?"
"I'll go down to breakfast today," I decided. Usually I had my breakfast in bed, but I was too excited to lie around this morning. "Bring me my blue day dress, the one with lace on the sleeves. And I want a warm bath after breakfast."
"Yes, your highness," said Hannah obediently. I watched her as she opened the thick, velvet curtains to let in the light before opening the doors to my room-sized wardrobe. Hannah was small and neat, her dark hair tied back and her plain blue dress always pristine. She'd been my personal maid since I was ten and she was fourteen and she knew nearly everything about me. I got out of bed and waited for her to bring the dress.
"Turn round, please." The rich material swirled around my feet as Hannah fastened it at the back. Then she brushed my thick hair until it shone, glossy and cascading down past my shoulders.
"Happy birthday, my Princess," she said as she brushed. "Are you looking forward to the ball tonight?"
"Of course I am! My dress was made especially for it. Everyone in the kingdom will be there. And best of all, so will Callum." I smiled as I said his name. I couldn't wait for him to see me in my new dress.
Breakfast, unlike other meals, wasn't held in the hall, but in my parents' private rooms. I walked slowly down the red-carpeted corridors, remembering my tutor's frequent admonitions ('Walk with your head held high, Princess. You are royalty, remember. Not a little gutter girl.'), but as soon as I entered the dining room I ran to my father.
He looked up from his food and caught me in his arms. "Well, well, Alba," he said to my mother. "We seem to have mislaid our baby princess. Who on earth is this beautiful young lady I see?"
I laughed up at him. My father had blue eyes with laughter-wrinkles around them, and though he could look serious when he wanted to, he was usually smiling. "Happy birthday, Elena." He kissed me on the cheek. "Now, you'll get plenty of presents later, but here's a special one from us to have now." He put a soft little packet into my hand. Excited, I opened it.
"Oh!" A necklace fell into my hand, glittering. It was a fine silver chain, and on it hung a single brilliant diamond, shaped like a tear-drop. I held it up and it caught the light, flashing as if it held the sun in its clear depths. "It's beautiful!" I couldn't say more, but my eyes thanked my parents. I carefully fastened the necklace around my neck, and the diamond settled onto my chest and shone there.
"Sit down and eat, darling," said my mother, pulling a chair out for me next to Marcus, who had given me a grin through a large mouthful of croissant. I thought, as I often did, that mine was the most beautiful mother in the world. Her warm honey hair was twisted up under her silver coronet, and her eyes, hazel coloured, were full of kindness. "You have a lot to see to, today," she continued. "There are some final organisation tasks to do for the ball…"
She carried on talking about my day but I was only half listening. All I could think of as I ate a warm bread roll, fresh from the palace ovens, was that night. It was going to be wonderful!
I was on my way to my tutor, walking decorously and graciously greeting the servants I saw along the way, when footsteps alerted me to the fact that someone was running towards me. Around the corner, running full tilt with complete disregard as to all the etiquette that had ever been drummed into him, came a young prince, dressed in riding gear and rather out of breath: Callum. He nearly slammed into me and my heart thumped. He was here, then; his family had sent word that they would arrive early this morning. I hadn't seen him for at least six months; now that we were grown up, he had far more responsibilities as he learnt how to be a king, and we barely saw each other. He hadn't changed much, though. His black hair was tousled from riding, and he seemed to have grown another inch or two (he was already eight inches taller than I was), but apart from that he looked exactly the same as he had the last time I'd seen him: strong features, dark eyes, teasing smile… extremely handsome.
"Callum!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
He gave me a mocking bow – Callum took every opportunity to make fun of me. I felt a faint blush touch my cheeks. "Why, visiting you, Princess."
I rolled my eyes. "I mean, where's the rest of your family? Shouldn't you be with them?"
He shrugged casually. "I rode ahead. I wanted to find you. I'll go and change into something decent in a moment; I have something to say to you first."
"All right," I said, not knowing what else to say. "Say it, then." How good it was to see him! I'd missed him.
"Well…" He pursed his lips, then appeared to make up his mind. "Come on, let's go outside first."
"What? Are you crazy? I'm supposed to be with my tutor. He'll kill me if I'm late!"
But Callum simply grabbed my hand and pulled me along the corridor. I tried not to think about the way the warmth of his strong hand made me feel. "Callum!" I protested again. "I don't have time! And you know I'm not meant to be out unchaperoned!"
"Shh," he said, without looking round. "It won't take long."
He led me out into the palace gardens, and into the summerhouse underneath the birch trees. I shivered in my dress; it was midwinter, and bitterly cold. Once there, he turned to face me.
"Well?" I demanded ungraciously, though I wasn't really cross. In fact, I was mainly conscious of the fact that for the first time in a very long time, we were alone together. Recently my parents had made sure that this did not happen if at all possible; there had always been an attendant hovering just around the corner, within earshot, just in case.
The Nabolese prince took a deep breath. "How are you?"
I raised one eyebrow. "Is that all you wanted to say?"
Callum laughed. "No, I was being polite. Is the concept known to you, Princess?"
I frowned, and put my hands on my hips. "Just spit it out. I told you, I'm late for a lesson. And stop calling me princess, your highness." Callum's smile disappeared. He suddenly looked unsure, and almost shy. I'd never seen him look like this. Arrogance and certainty were more familiar concepts for Callum.
"I wanted…"
"Yes?" I said, to encourage him. He looked down, hiding his eyes with long lashes. He looked very like his beautiful, dark-skinned mother. As I faced him, I couldn't help a blush rising to my cheeks, but I made an effort to ignore it.
"We're going to be betrothed," he mumbled.
"Yes." My heart was beating fast all of a sudden.
"I wanted to ask you… to make sure… that you wanted this. I don't want to push you into anything you don't want to… I – you're very young…" He stumbled over the words, but his gaze was clear as he looked into my eyes.
"I'm not!" I interrupted him, in spite of myself. "I'm sixteen!"
He laughed at me from the lofty height (quite literally; he must be all of six feet by now) of eighteen. "You're still a child, Elena." My heart fluttered again when he said my name.
"Am not."
"Are."
The tension had lessened but I was very aware of how still the silence was around us.
"Well?" Callum asked softly. "What's your answer?"
I took a deep breath. "My answer is yes, of course. I want it to happen."
His black eyes smiled into mine. "Good." There was a breathless pause, and suddenly I wondered if I was dreaming. It would make sense; I'd replayed a scene like this a hundred times in my head…
Very gently, Callum put his hands onto my waist, and leaning forward, his eyes always on mine to make sure that I didn't object, kissed me softly on the lips. My world spun. Dizzy, I pulled back.
"I have to go." I was soaring. He'd kissed me! He'd really kissed me!
"I'll see you later." He smiled again.
"Of course," I stammered, and ran out before I could make a fool of myself even further.
Mr Rodes was not pleased. "Your highness, you are late again. A princess is never late. She always keeps her promises."
I tried to remember the correct way to apologise. "I beg your forgiveness, sir. I was unavoidably detained. I will endeavour to do better in future."
His frown lessened and his mouth twitched, which was the furthest my tutor ever got to smiling. "Very well. Let us begin. We will start with watching you descend the staircase…"