Hey ppls, I KNOW I cannot excuse my long absence from this story, I do like it I really do, and I just had a bad case of writers block. My surgery went very well; Evan is still as cute as ever, I'm a senior in High School, which means I get to beat up on all the little freshmen that piss me off! (No not really I'm nice to the little freshmen)

I would ansewr all the reviews but I don't think I can, I don't want to get in trouble, so thank you to everyone who reviewed!

AND IN OTHER NEWS:

I decided to post the story about Arias Mother, Queen Lore. (that was my first story ever, so please be nice.) You'll get to meet, Aria's Great Grandfather, and Rigels father, and you'll get to see more of Arias father. Not to mention you'll meet Leuce, Aijias betrothed. It's kinda dark so please have a open mind. (But it's really flufffy in the end) So I hope you'll like it, it's all done I'm just in the process of editing it with Smiley Face Person, she is my new beta, she fixes all my mistakes, cuz I suck at grammar.

Well read the Prequel to This one, I promise it WILL be interesting!

And if anyone is still reading my story, thank you for you're patience, this chapter is for you!

Summary

Aria is princess and she wants nothing more out of her life than to be able to decide what to do with it. But fate (and her mother) have another plan. What will our headstrong heroine do when she finds out she is betrothed to the prince of another land? And what happens when sparks fly between them and she finds herself falling hopelessly in love with him?

I sighed as Rigel and I rode back to the palace. I hoped mother wouldn't realize that we were gone as it was already starting to get dark, and we were missing a horse. Suddenly a brilliant idea stuck me.

"Rigel, stop the horse!"

He obliged and pulled on the reins.

I dismounted, "Give me your knife." I ordered. He looked at me suspiciously, but gave it me anyway.

"What are you going to do wi….." he never got to finish that sentence because I grabbed him by the tunic and pushed him off the horse, down into the dirt, falling on top if him.

As I fell I punched him in the eye, hard! He would have a big black eye by the end of the night but he just looked at me, bewildered, as I kept beating on him.

Finally it dawned on him that I wasn't going to stop, so he smacked me in the mouth. I felt the tender skin crack and start to bleed. Then he punched me in the cheek as I struck his other eye.

Finally Rigel threw me off of him, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"

I just giggled, despite my pain, and started to cut parts of my dress up. "Aria, are you EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" He screamed angrily.

I looked at him, fake exasperated, "Of course I am. Come over here so I can cut up your clothes some more."

"ARE YOU POSSED? I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR YOU. YOU'RE ALL SUGARY ONE SECOND, AND THE NEXT YOU'RE GIVING ME BLACK EYES? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

I giggled more evilly this time. "No Rigel, nothing is wrong with me. I'm just trying to get us an alibi."

"Why would we need an alibi?"

I tried to walk toward him, but he kept backing away, "Rigel I'm not going to hit you again, but if I had asked you to hit me you wouldn't have."

He stopped scooting back, staring openly, "HIT YOU? WHY WOULD I HIT YOU? YOU ARE CRAZY! You are going to have a nice, long, relaxing vacation somewhere far, far, away when we get back."

I laughed again (a bit more maniacally this time; seeing Rigel squirm was funny), "Rigel, just let me cut your clothes up a bit, then we'll have to wait for the bruises to show but afterward we can go back the palace and take nice warm baths." He was still slack jawed.

"Rigel, I'm really not going to hurt you, but if I asked you to punch me you wouldn't, I KNOW you wouldn't." I said again. "That's why I pulled you down and started beating you, so you would hit me……." And he was still staring at me, "Rigel, are you ok?"

He started to laugh, a little crazily, "Am I ok…. AM I OK!" he shrieked as he crossed the distance between us quickly.

"NO I AM NOT 'OK', NOT AT ALL! FIRST, YOU ASK ME FOR MY KNIFE, THEN YOU BEAT ME UP AND RIP YOUR CLOTHES, NOW YOU WANT ME TO LET YOU CUT MY CLOTHES! MAYBE NEXT YOU'LL GET SOME CRAZY DESIRE TO PLAY HAIRDERESSER AND BUTCHER MY HAIR!"

I giggled slightly, "Rigel I promise, I swear, on my Mage training that I won't butcher your hair. Just let me cut up your clothes a bit. Besides, you're a prince, don't agonize over it, you do have more clothes. You got some nice bruises, I just need to cut your clothes to finish off the story. I mean, it has to be believable." He was still staring at me like I was crazy. "I swear you don't have to worry, there IS a method to my madness."

I had inched toward him while I was speaking. If he wouldn't go willingly I was going to take him. Suddenly I jumped on top of him for the second time in ten minutes. He let out a pathetic squeak, and proceeded to fall again.

I started to rip his clothes as he struggled and squealed until he screamed "ARIA, I CAN'T MOVE!"

I gasped; I had unknowingly cast a freezing spell! A grin broke out on my face as Rigel ordered me to release him.

I shot off of him, jumping around, "I did it I did it I did it!" I squealed happily.

Rigel

We rode back from the church in silence. I kept thinking back on all the stupid things I had done in front of the girl I was trying to impress.

I had opened up my big mouth again. How could I be so stupid? Marcus wasn't all that bad, he was just protective of Aria and her sister, I shouldn't have said that.

And Issy is as sweet as can be. It hardly matters that she was pregnant with Marcus's child. She is still a wonderful person and once you met her you immediately respect her. Her quietness and kindness win you over. No wonder Marcus fell in love with her, but back to Aria and me.

Aria's arms got tight around my waist. I would have preferred for them to be a little looser, "RIGEL, STOP THE HORSE!"

I sighed. I love it when she says my name, even when she's yelling or commanding me I'm hopeless. Ever since that ball, I tell you, I've liked her, and meeting her, I think I could be falling……

I stopped the horse and she swung off of it. She had a weird determined look in her eye. "Rigel," she said again. It took all my will power to stop myself from smiling. "Give me your knife."

I handed the knife over to her slowly. Aria could be crazy sometimes, but that was all part of her charm.

"What are you going to do wi….." I never got to finish that sentence.

She yanked me out of the saddle and fell on top of me. I was hoping she would kiss me again. But no, OH NO, she starts HITTING ME! She punched me right in the eye and smacked my cheeks a couple times. She was crazy.

I didn't want to hit her but I was going to have to, to get her off of me. I hit her lip as she hit my other eye, then her cheek. When we finally got tired of beating each other up I pushed her off me. She is crazy I SWEAR she is.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"I demanded angrily. When you're expecting a kiss and that special someone starts beating the shit out of you, you tend to become a little irritated.

She just giggled, and asked if she could cut my clothes up as she finished cutting up her dress even further. We already looked like we took a tumble in the grass, and wrestled with a bear. Why she would want to cut my clothes up more is beyond me.

I asked her if she was crazy … well screamed it, then told her that she was going to take a nice long vacation when we got home.

She just giggled a bit again (god, it's so cute when she does that), a little more crazily this time.

'We needed an alibi' she said. What the heck did we need alibi for?

She started to walk toward me and I backed up involuntarily. I didn't even realize that I was doing it till she said, "Rigel, I'm really not going to hurt you, but if I asked you to punch me you wouldn't, I KNOW you wouldn't. That's why I pulled you down and started beating you, so you would hit me……."

I stared at her. "Rigel, are you ok?"

I laughed wildly, "Am I ok…. AM I OK!" I shrieked and walked toward her.

I grasped her shoulders and screamed, "NO I AM NOT 'OK', NOT AT ALL! FIRST, YOU ASK ME FOR MY KNIFE, THEN YOU BEAT ME UP AND RIP YOUR CLOTHES, NOW YOU WANT ME TO LET YOU CUT MY CLOTHES! MAYBE NEXT YOU'LL GET SOME CRAZY DESIRE TO PLAY HAIRDERESSER AND BUTCHER MY HAIR!"

She giggled again. "Rigel I promise, I swear, on my Mage training that I won't touch your hair. Just let me cut up your clothes a bit."

Her left eyelid started to twitch, and all of a sudden my joints started to stiffen. It was getting hard to move.

"Besides, you're a prince, don't agonize over it, you do have more clothes. You got some nice bruises, I just need to cut your clothes to finish off the story. I mean, it has to be believable."

She is crazy, C-R-A-Z-Y, "I swear you don't have to worry, and there IS a method to my madness."

Now my muscles really didn't want to move. She jumped me and threw me to the ground. I couldn't feel my hand OH MY GOD, I CAN"T FEEL MY BODY, I CAN"T MOVE!

She started to rip my clothes up with my knife as I screamed "ARIA I CAN'T MOVE!"

She gasped, "Take this off of me this instant, right now, you hear me, RIGHT NOW!" I ordered.

I was still frozen on the ground, but she shot off of me and started screaming and jumping for joy, "I did it, I did it, I did it!"

Aria

"Oh Rigel, I'm so sorry," I ran over to the horse to get my wand. I had to rummage around our wedding clothes to get it, but I finally found it and cast the counter spell on Rigel.

I hoped he wouldn't be too mad but it was too late. He was already up and running towards me.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH" I screeched as he chased me around the clearing, darkening as dusk fell.

I was getting tired. I looked behind me. He was almost within arms reach of me when I felt my foot catch on something.

I fell ungracefully onto the ground and Rigel, who soon tripped over me, toppled onto me. I could feel his laughter reverberate through his chest. I started to laugh too and we laughed so hard that it was almost fully dark when we stopped.

By that time Rigel had moved to lie next to me, his arm had snaked around my waist and I was leaning against his chest in a rather comfortable position.

"Rigel," I mumbled.

"Hmmm."

"I'm sorry about the whole freezing you thing and cutting your clothes and punching you/" I said as I let my fingers travel up to his bruised cheek bone and two black eyes.

Instead of flinching, he smiled and grabbed my hand.

"Explain."

I took a deep breath and sighed, "Well, you see, I had this brilliant idea. Most of my ideas seem brilliant when I fist think of them. I never think before I leap, literally……"

He interrupted me by laughing, he cleared his throat, "Continue" he said.

"Wellyou seeIdecidedtohityousowewouldhaveaalabiand my motherwouldthinkwewereattackedbybandits."

I took a deep breath, "Yup, that's about it."

"Aria can you please explain that in more than one breath please?"

"Alright. Well, you see, because we helped Marcus, we will incur my mother's wrath." he started to chortle, "Don't laugh, she's pretty scary. She's faced down a Banshee," that promptly stopped his chuckles.

"Well, I though that we could beat each other up and say that bandits attacked us. I KNEW you would NEVER hit me even if I asked you to. Well maybe if I deserved it, but … I'm babbling again aren't I?"

He gave a little half smile and nodded.

"I understand, but if you would have told me… You know, though, you're right. I would never hit you," then he leaned down to my ear and whispered, "even if you deserved it."

Was it getting cold or was it just me? I smiled at him. "So you're not mad?"

He smiled, "Oh no Aria, I never said I wasn't mad. I just that said I understand. You're going to have to be very nice to make it up to me…"

"Oh." I faked innocent, "and how do I do that?"

He made a show of thinking about it, "I think a kiss right here," he pointed to his lips, "will do."

I laughed and gave him a small peck, then stood up and dusted myself off. Good, the mud and dried blood didn't want to come off.

He put his had to his heart in a player's stance, "What, that's all I get? I think I deserve something better than that!"

I rolled my eyes and looked around; it was really dark now with only a hint of sunlight on the horizon. I shivered. I HATE the dark; to this day I have to have a candle burning in one of my wall sconces so I can sleep.

I felt Rigel's arms wrap around my waist. "Is everything ok?" I heard him whisper into my ear.

I turned and smiled. "Yes, everything is fine, I just hate the dark. We need to get back; Mother is probably sending the Regulars and the seamen out to look for us by now."

"Alright, lets go, I don't want to get into any more trouble than I'm already in. Your Mother might cancel the marriage contract."

He said it nonchalantly, but really, she actually might. It would be just the sort of thing that my mother would do.

I mounted the horse, and we rode the rest of the way in silence.

Somehow I was upset at the though of the engagement being canceled. I shouldn't have been but I was. I couldn't believe it myself, but there it was, this tiny bit of fear that I would never see Rigel again. I'd grown so used to his presence that if I lost it, I knew that I would be horribly lonely.

Okies ppls, Please review, it would mean so much to me.

And thank you again too everyone who reviewed!

P.S. Don't forget to read the story about Aria's mother! it's called "You had me at Hello" I have a big affinity to name my storys after songs.