A/N: First of all, I'm so so so sorry for the late update but I've been pretty busy. And right now, I'm up at 4:50 a.m. writing this while desperately needing sleep because I know you guys waited enough already :) Anyway, I like this chapter :) Hope you do too and thanks for reviews :)

So, get ready to meet this certain member of 1D… Personally I'm not a big fan of him, but he is perfect in so many ways for the role I have for him so here it goes…

And you meet a new character too but you'll know who exactly it is right at next chapter :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Sharing the alone time…

"Why didn't you just tell him?" Demi groaned standing on front of her full length mirror as Selena adjusted her dress from the back. She looked at Miley's reflection in the mirror with a frown.

The younger princess rolled her eyes, "First of all, it's not my place to tell him you like him. This is private. Second of all: leave him wanting more." She smirked during the last part.

"But, that's too much. It's been three weeks since you met him and I still can't go see him."

"Demi, we've been through this. You can't just let him have you so easy! You're princess Demitria for crying out loud."

"But, he will give up. I don't want him to."

"If he really likes you, he won't give up."

"You know she's right." Selena commented.

Demi sighed, "I guess so…"

Miley groaned, "Demi, cheer. You're seeing him tomorrow night."

"In a ball." Demi exclaimed, "Meaning we can't talk."

"But, you'll see him. And I'm sure body language between the two of you will help."

"What's body language?"

"Stealing glances. Resisting smiles. Waving from time to time. Such things…"

"It still amazes me how you know those things, Miley."

"Well, you were more into the politic things, when I was into relationships." Miley bragged.

"Yeah, whatever, nosy kid." Demi stuck her tongue out at her playfully.

"Hey! It came out positive for you."

"Alright. You're done." Selena announced.

"Do we have to do this?"

"He's your guest. You must start acting like the ruling queen." Miley mimicked her father's words and accent making the other two laugh.

"What even brought him all of a sudden? I mean there's no deals between us or them."

"Hey, there's a big deal."

"What is it?" Demi frowned while the other two rolled their eyes at her.

"You." Selena replied.

"Me?"

"Yeah, think about it. Queen of the kingdom Demetriana, half the Fortunenra Island; biggest island. And King of Lord Land, where they are super rich for their diamond-rich lands. Is there any better combination?"

"You mean…?"

"Yes, Demi. Father wants him to be your husband in future."

"He told you that?" She asked with wide eyes.

"No, but, it's obvious."

"That's… bad."

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to make him sign out of this deal."

"Me and… Prince Harry?" She tried knowing how it sounds like, and it's nothing like her and the other Prince. "It's like…. Yuck!"

"Don't worry, it's not like it's going to happen soon. It's not until you're a queen or coming near being a one."

"It can't happen. I mean what about Joe?" Demi said in panic.

"Relax, Dem. We will not let it happen." Miley assured her, "Now, let's go meet the 'guest' before they send us Liam to call us."

"How long is he staying though? The carnival is already over!"

"He'll attend the ball tomorrow with us then leave next day at the morning."

"Oh, seems like we're getting a certain Prince jealous tomorrow night." Miley smirked.

"Joe?"

"Who else, Demi! God, you're so clueless!"

"Okay, okay, take it slow on me, Miles." Demi chuckled, "Now, let's go." She said and they left the room to go join dinner where they'd be probably hearing of Prince Harry's continuous brag about himself, his achievements and his kingdom.

XxXx

"They're rich, but they have poor design for their castle." Harry whispered to Demi who was walking beside him with their arms intertwined. They just got out of the cart and were approaching the Deniseliene castle with her mother, sister and Selena closely behind them.

"Yeah?" Demi asked not into his conversation, she was more nervous.

"Aha, I have seen a lot better than that. Ours is a lot, lot better."

"Aw, look at them. They got along quickly." The queen cued to her younger daughter.

Miley chose to ignore, "Aren't you supposed to enter first, mother? You're the queen!"

She looked annoyed, "You know nothing about our protocols, do you?" she said and then realized she was a little too harsh as s he sighed, "Only if your father- the current king- was here it'd be me and him entering first with the two of you following. When he's not here, then it's the Princess to take the throne and her partner if there is which is currently Prince Harry; if he wasn't here then it'd be me and her entering together followed by you." She explained as Miley only nodded, she already stopped listening mid-sentence.

As they reached the entrance, soft classic music was heard as they entered to see King Paul, and his wife standing there greeting the guests.

"King Paul, nice to see you again."

"Oh, Prince Harry, you've grew up." He chuckled welcoming him warmly indicating they already met more than once.

"Thank you. Congratulations for Joseph, I was pleased to hear."

"Oh why thank you." King Paul nodded noticing his company.

"King Paul, nice to see you. I'm Princess Demitria." She stuck her hand out as he unwillingly accepted it.

"I know who you are. Thanks for coming." He said shortly as she moved to his wife and he looked at her mother to greet her.

"Queen Tricia."

"King Paul."

"I see your King didn't come."

"Yeah, he's apologizing but he had to be somewhere else. He sent his best wishes with me."

"I'm sure he did." He said ending the conversation.

"I'm Mi- Princess Destiny."

"The young careless Princess I assume."

"I'm not careless."

He let out a humorless laugh and nodded, "Yeah, sure, Kiddo."

With that Miley followed her mother and sister annoyed after exchanging a quick greeting with the Queen as Selena bowed to both, "I'm not a kid either." She muttered to herself.

"Prince Joseph is over there with his friends if you want to congratulate him yourself." The Queen said cheerfully pointing to the direction of her son.

Moving on from the horrible moment with King Paul, the small group took their way to the upcoming King who was standing with his brothers, Jacob and someone else neither Miley nor Demi recognized.

"Prince Joseph." That was the hardest part; trying to hide the yearning and eagerness in her voice in front of Harry and most importantly her mother who knew their was a previous encounter between her girls and the two young Princes before.

And Joe was warned about the situation, he quickly took glances at the group before landing his eyes on Demi, "Princess Demi," he nodded.

"Congratulations. Wishing you the best…"

"Yeah, thank you, same for you."

"King Roby Ray really wishes he was here." Her mother said.

"Don't doubt that." Nick muttered under his breath.

The queen took a side glance at him with an almost disgusted face but she didn't comment, "Come on, Miley, let's go say hello to some people." She tugged her daughter's hand.

Miley swiftly slipped her hand out of her mother's, "I'm staying with Demi." She whispered to her.

The mother looked at her warningly, "Let your sister have some private time."

"But-" she looked back at her sister not knowing what to tell her mother about that, "I'm staying with Selena then."

"Come with me, Miley."

"Mom! I don't know half of those people, besides; I'm not going to be a queen. I don't need to make good relations."

"As you like. Be stubborn like that." She said annoyed and left them.

Miley rolled her eyes and turned to the rest to see only Selena witnessed what happened, "Don't worry. We'll have fun."

"I know," she smiled at her.

She looked to see Harry and the man she didn't know were engulfed in a talk while Demi and Joe were talking trying not to make it obvious they're having a personal talk… Jacob and Nick were talking to Kevin to keep his attention off of them.

"I believe we have some things to discuss." Joe told her keeping his face professionally formal.

"We do." She said but couldn't keep the sparks to show in her eyes.

"Tomorrow?"

"Sounds perfect." She cleaned her throat and nodded.

"Cool."

"Cool."

And even though they were doing nothing but talking formally like how they're supposed to do, or almost so, but inside the pure nervousness was the dominance feeling accompanied with the excitement of seeing each other.

XxXx

"Why is your beloved Princess laughing her night away with Prince Harry?" Nick whispered to Joe; actually Nick was curious, almost irritated.

"He's her partner for the night." Joe answered through gritted teeth keeping his eyes on her.

It has been almost an hour since she arrived and since then, she has been with Prince Harry and the company of her sister and Selena, but mainly, her talk was with the young Prince. Unless Miley stole a lance and found Joe looking their so she'd lean forward and whisper something to Demi who'd nod and laugh at something silly Prince Harry said.

"She's trying to get you jealous." Nick remarked noticing the routine.

"Getting me jealous? She hasn't even told me what she feels yet."

"She's different. And she is trying to prove it to you."

"God! I know she's different. That's why I like her."

"She doesn't know that." Nick shrugged.

"We're going to meet tomorrow anyway. We'll talk everything out."

"You're?"

"Yeah…" Joe answered with a distant smile.

"Good for you…" Nick nodded. Nick was confused; Joe looks so sure about this! He couldn't quiet get the picture in his head.

XxXx

Miley sighed as she watched her mother walk away with the Queen of some Kingdom she didn't even remember the name of, but both women were mentioning the latter's son quiet frankly.

Miley knows that her mother has this big aim of husband-hunting for both her and Demi. Being only two years separated in age made them of the same marrying age for her mother, which she thought they were quickly approaching.

Of course, the priority was for Demi as she's becoming a queen but Queen Tricia thought that she already found someone for Demi thinking she's getting along very well with Prince Harry. And Prince Harry was perfect for that role.

So, now it was time for Miley.

Miley got up annoyed and announced to her company she's in need for fresh air. She took her way to the large balcony decorated with some beautiful flowers; it just looked so relaxing to her, there were a few people standing their chatting lowly.

She stood their looking at the dimly lit garden only a few steps under her level and sighed. She didn't know what to do with her mother, she hated bringing her down. But, she deeply believed that this was her life and only hers meaning she can't just marry someone her parents chose for her.

What about love?

And right then, she couldn't concentrate of what her mother is doing about her own case; she has Demi to worry about… Demi's situation was much more dangerous than hers.

She has never felt so close to her sister like those days. They were always close, but to this extinct? It's new.

She always loved her sister and was always looking forward to see her a queen because she has seen her work hard to know about everything while growing up. Demi has always been taking it very seriously with the constant visit to her people, knowing her rivals, her friends and sometimes she was going with her father when he was being hosted at some other Kingdom.

She knows this mean a lot to her sister.

It was a complete wonder to her that she accepted Joe's existence in her life so fast. And she knew Demi was surprised that Miley was one hundred percent on her side in this situation. But, if it wasn't for the look she saw in both their eyes from the very first beginning, she wouldn't have been so into it. Don't get her wrong, she's always supportive of her, but, she also wants the best for her.

So, with Demi falling in love with their enemy, Miley can only put her full concentration on her sister and how to help her make it work.

But, at the same time, Miley is always waiting for love, and she can't stand the idea of her mother setting her up with someone of the 'new generation' as she liked to call them.

She caught the sight of the neatly dressed waiter from the corner of her eyes and debated her decision for a while before calling him, "Excuse me,"

The waiter looked her way and quickly walked over to her with the tray and the glasses of champagne above it. She took a glass and smiled at the man, "Thank you," he slightly bowed and left her alone.

She looked at the entrance of the balcony and found no sign of her mother, so she brought the glass to her lips slowly,

"Finally decided to drink?" Came the witty voice she's grew familiar with.

She lowered her glass once again and turned to her left to see him leaning on the balcony wall carelessly with a full glass of his own, "There's people here, Prince Nicolas."

He shrugged, "So…?"

"We're supposed to be enemies."

"We are." He nodded confirming. "But, neither of us is going to take over the throne, so, nobody really expect a reaction of us, a positive or a negative one. We're neutral in this situation both you and me."

She just shrugged; she was really in no mood for this smart philosophy of his.

"How does it taste?" she asked looking at the glass of champagne.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?"

She just looked at him with big innocent eyes, "Right…" she was upset! "what are you even doing here alone?"

"Same as you."

"You're running away from your mother who's trying to find you a perfect husband?" she raised a sarcastic bitter eyebrow.

He chuckled, "What? No! Need time."

"Yeah,"

"So, cheers?"

She looked up at him and found he's holding up his glass for her to click with a small sad smile.

"Cheers." She clicked their glasses and at the same time, both of them held the glass up to their mouth and gulped down the bittersweet liquid.

Neither knew what was bothering the other, but they were sharing their 'alone time' and drinking down the champagne that eased their moods and internal worries.

XxXx

Demi didn't know where her sister was. She has been helping her and tell her what exactly to do when Joe was looking, wither it's time to make him jealous or to smile at him reassuringly or just act like she doesn't know he's looking. And without her Demi was lost.

She has caught him looking her way several times and she did nothing but smile at him and even once she sent him a small wave after making sure no one was witnessing their connection but maybe Selena.

Honestly, Harry was getting her annoyed. He was constantly talking about his kingdom and his brother who's about to take the throne in a big coronation soon and how he'd celebrated the announcement way better than Prince Joseph and complaining that Demi wasn't present at the party, and she just gave up convincing him she was there.

She has been trying to excuse herself from him for a while and go search for her sister because she's noticed she's been absent since her mother came to her with the Queen of Big Montes, but Harry didn't give her the chance as whenever there was a pause of silence and she's about to speak up he finds something new to say.

"Hey, excuse me for a while, I need to go find my sister." She said as soon as he stopped talking beating him this time.

"Yeah, sure, I'll grab a drink and chat with some friends for a while then." He nodded and they both stood up going different ways. Selena now was in the presence of her mother so she was completely alone.

She wasn't supposed to stay still in a ball after all. He didn't even ask her to dance; he said he was waiting for the good music to play.

"Demitria?" she heard a girlish sound asking in surprise, she turned to her right and saw the figure of a girl around her age, thin with her hair back in a simple queen-style up-do and wearing a fashionable blue flowing dress that matched her small blue eyes and brought them out, and most importantly, she was dangerously close to no one other than Prince Joseph.

And then on looking at the girl's face, it clicked to her as she smiled widely at the girl she hasn't seen in a long, long time…