Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize. The song in this chapter is I'll be loving you forever sung by Westlife. The Sarah's words that are combined with song partly come from Ten Things I Hate About You. (You know, when Kat gets up at the end and says that poem in English).
A/N: Hi all! I just got back from Thailand about a week ago so that explains why it has taken me so long to update. Thanks for all the reviews.
Chapter 16:
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The Annual King's Ball: Part II
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Sarah stared at Christian in horror.
"You have to kiss me!" Sarah hissed. "I don't think so. I am not letting those lips of yours get anywhere near mine." Sarah could feel her cheeks redden at thought of kissing him again.
"Come on. Don't be an idiot." He scolded. "It is just one simple kiss. Nothing special."
Maybe to you. Sarah thought. That kiss they had shared had been special to her – no matter how much she denied it – even though he had just kissed her to make her shut up.
Sarah crossed her arms. "Fine! But don't think that I am going to enjoy it."
Liar, liar pants on fire…Sarah urged the voice in her head to go away.
Christian placed his hands uncertainly on Sarah's shoulders. "I should be paid to do this." He muttered.
Sarah glared daggers at him and was just about to make some rude comment back when he placed his mouth on hers.
For a second Sarah was unresponsive to the way his mouth moulded perfectly with hers. To the fiery emotions that rose inside her. To the way his hand caressed the back of her neck.
Then she thought what the heck and started kissing him back.
She pressed hungrily into him and breathed in the scent of his skin. He smelt sooo good. It was a mixture of cologne and sweat.
He parted her lips with his and Sarah almost gasped in shock when she felt his tongue brush past hers. She jumped back and Christian let go of her.
She observed that the whole court of Linnarch seemed to be staring at them either in shock or adoration. Sarah could not tell which. She supposed that they had not been acting like royalty usually would and had gotten "carried away".
She did not know how long they had been standing there kissing. It could have been forever of maybe just a few seconds. All Sarah knew was that the world could have ended and she would not have noticed it.
Christian seemed his usual unfazed self. You do not mean anything to him. Remember? And he does not mean anything to you. Sarah reminded herself.
The crowd soon broke out of its stupor and enthusiastically applauded Sarah and Christian.
There were even a couple of whistles, which caused Sarah, if possible, to blush even further.
The High Chancellor finally spoke. "Now grab your loved ones and lets complete the rest of the Baci." Sarah thought that he sounded completely different from his usual self and soon saw why. He ran forward to a handsome middle-aged woman, obviously his wife, planted a huge smacking kiss on her lips. Sarah hid a grin to herself.
Everywhere else, there were couples kissing.
Sarah laughed at all the commotion. She soon stopped when she saw Tom approach her.
"Err...hi!" She spoke in a fake cheerful voice.
"Sarah. So, you are going to marry the Prince." Tom said sadly.
Sarah did not know whether she should tell him the truth or not. He did know that she was "the one". Sarah figured that she should probably tell him later, not where there could be other people listening in on their conversation.
"Look Tom, I mean Mr Lastrange. I can explain later-"
Tom cut her off. "There is no need to explain. I understand." He spoke so mournfully and looked so handsome in his suit that Sarah's heart reached out to him. She placed a hand on his arm.
"Tom-" she began again.
"Shh." Tom placed a finger over his lips. "Just for once forget who you are and who I am."
Sarah was confused. What was it with men and being all cryptic? Couldn't they just be straightforward for once?
Tom's intentions were soon explained to Sarah when he leant forward and kissed her. Right on the lips. This kiss was nothing like Christian's. Sarah had fancied herself at one time to actually have a crush on Tom. This kiss soon made it clear that she really did feel nothing for him. Christian, arrogant and conceited that he was, when he had kissed her it was warm and soft. Tom just slobbered all over her mouth so that Sarah was pretty much drowning in saliva.
Sarah was stunned and found that she was paralysed with shock. She could not believe the audacity of this man! In front of half of Linnarch he was up here kissing the supposed "future bride" of His Royal Highness Prince Christian.
Sarah gathered her wits about her and tried to push him away from her. But he was leaning to heavily on her and she could not resist him without doing some permanent physical damage to Tom.
She leant into Tom and pushed him again. This time she had more success and he staggered away from her.
"What were you thinking?" she shrieked. Luckily, most of the people in the ballroom were still caught up in the Baci and so had not noticed Sarah and Tom. Nobody except for two people.
Scarlet had tears in her eyes. Sarah tried to tell her that it was not what it looked like but it was no use.
"How could you?" Scarlet whimpered, and ran off out of the ballroom
Sarah wanted to run after her and explain everything but then she saw Christian looking at her and Tom.
Sarah could have sworn that Christian looked hurt but she guessed that it must have been a trick of light. Christian? Hurt because I had been kissed by somebody else? She did not think so.
He walked up to them and said in a dangerously low voice that sent shivers down Sarah's spine, "I would prefer it if my 'fianc' did not act like a roadside slut and more like the supposed Princess that she is."
Sarah was stunned. She felt like Christian had slapped her. She was not a slut. How dare he call her one? Sarah felt angry tears well up in her eyes. Before she could reply, Christian walked away and kissed the first female he bumped into – Vivien.
Vivien smiled obligingly up at him as he lowered his head and planted and kiss on her lips. Sarah felt murderous.
Vivien and Christian stayed that way for a good minute or so. All the while, Vivien looked at Sarah with and malicious grin on her face. If Sarah had been given a sword, she swore she would have rammed Vivien with it at that moment.
Sarah would have thought that everybody would notice that the Prince was kissing some strange girl but the Baci had still not been completed and there were numerous couples running about.
Sarah saw Christian turn around and glance back right at Sarah. Glancing right back to make sure Sarah had seen him kiss Vivien.
Sarah shoved passed Tom and made her way out of the side doors and onto the balcony. She could see Scarlet sobbing by herself in a corner.
"Scarlet. I can explain everything." Sarah tried to say but Scarlet ran away when she noticed her presence.
"Why does everything have to happen to me?" Sarah wondered aloud.
"You are just lucky I guess." It was Christian.
"Go away. I do not want to speak to you." Sarah whirled around so that her back was facing him. She did not want to be anywhere near him.
"You just did."
Sarah could hear the smugness in his voice.
"Just leave me alone."
"No. I will not. I want to speak with you. Just what were you doing, kissing Tom? What do you think that would look like to the people of Linnarch if somebody besides Scarlet and me had seen you? And poor Scarlet, she has been in love with Tom for ages and then a slut like you comes along and throws herself at him."
Every word Christian said was laced with spite. Sarah winced as he called her the 's' word for the second time that night. Apart from today, nobody had ever called her that before. She was just not that kind of person.
Sarah snapped right back at Christian. "Excuse me! I am no slut for your information! You, sleazy excuse of a Prince that you are, are no better than me. You went and slobbered all over Vivien! And besides, I did not even kiss Tom. He practically attacked me. I enjoyed it even less than you did."
"You know what? Oaf you! I do not need this kind of torture. We are done through." Christian snapped. (A/N: I have made 'Oaf you' the equivalent of 'f' you. Lame I know, but I cannot imagine anybody to do with Ella Enchanted actually using the 'f' word so I changed it).
"Done through! Done through with what exactly? There was never any 'we' in the first place." Sarah shouted. Fortunately Christian had closed the doors to the ballroom otherwise people would have heard the noise that they were making.
"Just forget it. I do not know if you are smart enough to realize this. But I cannot stand you." Christian said.
Sarah gulped. There was an awkward silence.
"Wow. You really hate me that much?" she said in a hushed voice. Sarah stared dully at Christian as the sudden anger that had risen inside of her disappeared. "Thanks for making me finally realize it."
Sarah ran off down the steps from the balcony and out into the garden. She could hear Christian calling for her but she did not care.
She continued running until she finally came to what seemed to be an entrance to some sort of garden. Sarah walked through fumbling in the dark, as the calls of Christian grew fainter. She soon discovered that she was in no garden at all but a maze. Oh great. Now how am I going to get out of here?
The King and Queen would be furious if they found out that she was alone in a strange maze without her bodyguard.
"Well oaf them! And oaf Christian too." Sarah said venomously.
"So the little mouse does have claws." Spoke somebody.
Sarah turned around and saw that that somebody was Damon.
"Damon. How nice to see you. What are you doing here?" Sarah said in a falsely happy voice.
"I could ask you the same question." Damon stepped forward so that he was almost on top of Sarah. She edged back but tripped over so that she stumbled and would have fallen, had not Damon caught her.
Sarah made to pull away from Damon but he did not let go of her. Instead, he did the oddest thing.
He kissed her.
Sarah was furious. What was with men and kissing her as if they had a right to all of a sudden? She struggled against him and did the one thing that any girl would do when they were being kissed by an 'evil' (well he seemed evil enough to Sarah) guy who they did not like. She kneed him in the groin.
He heard Damon satisfyingly groan in pain. "Why you little wench!"
Sarah stifled a giggle and sprinted as fast as she could in numerous layers of petticoats and a corset away from him.
However, her path was soon blocked by that of another man.
"Leave me alone!" she yelled, but he covered her mouth with his hand.
He hauled her along on his shoulder for a few minutes, all the while with Sarah unsuccessfully struggling to get away.
Sarah was amazed to see that eventually they came out of the maze and were soon back near the palace. It was only when they had reached the balcony that her captor set her down.
"You are just too easy to kidnap. We really need to start your combat training soon." He smirked.
"Christian?"
"The one and only." Christian replied.
"You moron. You almost scared me to death!" Sarah exclaimed, though secretly relieved.
"You scared me. You are the moron just running off like that. What were you doing in the maze?"
"I was running away from you. You incompetent idiot! Until I bumped into Damon. Who seemed to think that all of a sudden we are now great friends and can just kiss me whenever he feels like it." Sarah vented her frustration out on Christian by punching him several times in the chest.
Christian pushed her away. "He did what?"
"You heard me. He kissed me!"
"What is it with men kissing you today?" Christian asked wondrously.
"I asked the same question." Sarah sighed. She did not want to think about what happened now. Later she would. Just not now. She could tell that Christian felt the same.
Then Christian said something unexpected. "Dance with me."
"What?!"
"Stop playing deaf. You heard me. Dance with me."
"Is that a request or an order?" Sarah retorted.
"God damn it woman. Do you always have to be this difficult?"
"Only around deranged madmen such as yourself." She innocently batted her eyelashes at him.
Christian made to turn away.
"Okay, okay. Fine, I will dance with you. I do not see why the sudden change of heart. You called me a slut not fifteen minutes ago and now you want to be all chummy. But fine." Sarah ranted.
"Do you ever shut up?" Christian said exasperated.
He pulled Sarah close to him so that his chest was touching hers. They could hear the soft music waft in from inside the ballroom.
Sarah was still deeply hurt by Christian. She did not think that she could ever forgive him, but she was just so tired of having to constantly fight with him all the time.
She rested her head comfortably on Christian's shoulder.
I'll be loving you forever,
Deep inside my heart you'll leave me never,
Even if you took my heart,
And tore it apart,
I would love you still, forever.
"Why are all the songs played at this ball to do with love?" Sarah asked.
"We are supposed to be in love. You know that, right?" Christian replied.
"Supposed to be…" Sarah trailed off.
You are the sun,
You are my light,
And you're the last thing on my mind,
Before I go to sleep at night,
You're always round,
When I'm in need,
When trouble's on my mind,
You put my soul at ease.
"Look, I know you hate me. I don't know why. You used to be all nice towards me but then you had a sudden change of heart and now act like you cannot stand to be around me even for a few seconds." Sarah said.
There is no one in this world,
Who can love me like you do,
That is the reason that I,
Want to spend forever with you.
"I don't hate you." Christian said simply.
Sarah almost fell over in astonishment. "Oh really?"
I'll be loving you forever,
Deep inside my heart you leave me never,
Even if you took my heart,
And tore it apart,
I would love you still, forever.
"Well I hate you nonetheless. I hate the way you talk to me, I hate your shiny blond hair…" Sarah started. Christian just laughed at her.
We've had our fun,
We've made mistakes,
But who'd have guessed along that road,
We'd learn to give and take,
It's so much more than I could have dreamed,
Cause you make loving you, so easy for me.
Sarah continued, "…I hate your conceited attitude, I hate it when you stare…"
There is no one in this world,
Who can love me like you do,
That is the reason that I,
Want to spend forever with you.
"I hate the way you tease me, the way you read my mind, I hate you so much it makes me sick. It even makes me rhyme." Christian snorted. She was pouring her heart out to him and he was laughing at her. She would show him.
I'll be loving you forever,
Deep inside my heart you leave me never,
Even if you took my heart,
And tore it apart,
I would love you still, forever. And girl I pray you leave me, never.
Sarah started again, "I hate the way you're always right and I absolutely hate it when you lie. I hate how you are so stubborn and cruel, enough to make me cry."
Cause this is the world, where lovers often go astray,
But if we love each other, we won't go that way,
So put your doubts aside,
Do what it takes to make it right,
I love you, forever, no-one can tear us apart.
"…I hate it that you're always around and the fact that you kissed me before…"
"Can't you just let that little thing go? It was just a kiss." Christian protested.
I'll be loving you forever, (forever)
Deep inside my heart you leave me never,
Even if you took my heart, (took my heart girl)
And tore it apart, (you tore it apart now)
I would love you still, forever,
And I'll be loving you forever, (forever)
Deep inside my heart you leave me never,
Even if you took my heart, (you took my heart girl)
And tore it apart, (you tore it apart now)
I would love you still, forever.
Sarah ignored Christian's words. "But mostly I hate the way I…" Sarah stopped when she realized she was about to say. "Sarah, why did you stop? I was just beginning to enjoy myself." Christian asked. Sarah did not answer however. How could she have been so blind?
I'll be loving you forever,Deep inside my heart you leave me never,
Even if you took my heart,
And tore it apart,
I would love you still, forever.
Sarah realized that she mostly hated, the way I do not hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even any at all. "What have I gotten myself into?" she thought to herself.
"Christian, why are you the way you are?" Sarah asked.
"It is none of your business."
"Yes it is. Anything to do with me is my business!" Sarah argued.
"This has nothing to do with you." Christian reprimanded.
"Yes it does. Why can't you just tell me?"
Christian groaned and let go of Sarah.
"Fine. I will tell you. But I want you to promise me to never ever repeat what I tell you."
"Yes, sir." She mocked.
Christian sat down and began to tell his story.
Unbeknownst to Sarah and Christian, from the ballroom, a small figure was watching them converse...
A/N: I kind of liked this chapter. It was a bit different from the others. Please review!
Paisley: I am so sorry I took so long to update. I was in Thailand… Thanks heaps for reviewing and I am going to try to update quicker next time!
Moyen: No, royal fiancés usually do not share a room. I think your suggestion would be great to include in this fic! As for the reason behind Christian…all will be revealed in the next chapter.
Naughty Little Munchkin: I know, I am so cliché in how all the "shady people" flock together. Oh well. Thanks for reviewing this chapter (you always review – thanks sssssoooo much!)
Princessbookangel21000: I have no idea how I came up with the idea that Christian and Sarah could "pretend" to be engaged. It was pretty random but it is going to cause some problems in the future. Thanks for reviewing!
Tamaran Girl: Aww, thanks for reviewing! Sorry I took so long to update.
awaiting impatient person: lol. I love that idea.
A fan on the book: That song was Too Lost In You and was sung by the Sugababes! I really love it.
Mizz Breadstyx: Rapat is going to come back later into the story – you will not see him for a few more chapters yet. But don't worry, he is going to show up.