Bonnie slowly woke up the next morning, the light streaming in the thin see-through curtains over the balcony and windows was unusually bright. She stretched lazily, feeling that all her muscles moved a little smoother then she was used to. She sat up, and felt a small pain on the left side of her neck, reaching up to rub the pain away she touched two small lumpy things on her neck. It hurt more to touch it, so she forgot about that, but touching them made memories of last night's date come back.

She looked at her bed, and found she was alone. Feeling hurt and angry at Damon, she got up to get ready when there was a knock on the door. She didn't want company, she didn't really know how nice she would be, both from the rude way she awoke from such a perfect night and from the bright sun that she wanted to blow out of the sky.

She opened the door and Damon was standing there with a tray of food in his hands, smiling down at her. "I thought you would be hungry when you woke up, so I went down stairs to fix you something before the others woke up and found that I had not ended my night at midnight like planned." He grinned down at her loose bathrobe on, covering the important parts, but not really leaving much for the imagination.

She pulled it closer, and smiled evilly up at him. "No more fun for you, Sir." She said, taking the tray and closing the door in his face.

She giggled as he began to talk to her in her mind, trying his best to talk her into opening the door. But she was already strong enough to resist his best efforts. 'Is this how you treat all your lovers?' he asked, laughing. 'I would hope not, you won't have many if so.' He sent her a smile and began caressing her mind. 'Let me back in, you know you want to.'

She giggled and answered childishly, 'Not now, I'm not rested yet.'

There was a silence outside for a few minutes, and she began to think he'd left her alone. Sitting on her bed she began to eat hungrily what he'd fixed. Or what the maids in the kitchen had fixed actually, since Stefan had been told off for his little trick. Then a Crow landed on her balcony, looking her up and down as she finished her breakfast. She smiled at it as she drank her orange juice and watched as it transformed itself back into the handsome Damon, who walked up to her and gave her a soft kiss.

"So I take it, that I won. Unless you did this with the rest of my competition, which I doubt since Stefan belongs to Elena, and Matt and Scott are yet to be seen."

"Scott's missing?" she asked, looking up at him ignoring the statement from before. She knew Matt was gone, he'd been gone for about four days now, she thought maybe he was just hiding till she picked (the coward), but Scott too?

"Yes, I heard them late last night, they said he didn't come out yesterday for anything, and when they went into his room to get him out for dinner he wasn't there." He sat down beside her. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll show up at least before you leave, maybe even at the Ball, maybe they're just scared to show up since they know how suave I am." He grinned down at her, trying to make her feel better.

And it worked, she giggled a little and hit him. "Now, you have to leave and let me evaluate who it is I would want to be stuck with for the rest of my short little life."

"As you wish My Lady. May I suggest the tall Italian man?" he smiled at her.

"Of course you may! I was thinking of Stefan as we spoke!" she grinned when he frowned.

"Maybe I should stay, and inform you of which Italian man is better." He grinned and leaned over her predatorily. She was tempted to let him, his eyes glittered playfully and she wasn't sure how much longer the playful Damon would stay around.

But rules were rules.

"Not if you wanna marry me you won't." she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Leave, or I'll call the guards."

"Oh, so you're going to be that way huh?" he asked, tipping down and giving her a soft kiss that left her soul on fire. "Fine, I shall see you at the Ball, M'lady." He told her, going out the opposite way he had come in.

*~~*~~*

Later that night, she skipped Lunch and was out walking in the gardens all day. It was big, but not easy to get lost in since the pond was in the middle and the castle was tall enough to light her way home. She liked being out here and being able to think. She let her mind wander to the dates, and which parts she liked most.

She liked that Matt had been the first with the 'breakfast in bed' thing, that was sweet of him even if he was a horrible human male. But she also liked the dinner under the stars Stefan had done, especially since he'd cooked dinner himself. That made it more special, but then again if she chose Stefan Elena might hate her or do something horrible to her. Even though everyone knew it was only a game.

Ryan had been totally boring, he was definitely out. He thought she would like to watch him hunt! She laughed at the expression that must have been on her face the whole day. And Scott was nice enough to let her do some one on one games with him, even let her help set them up and set up the rules. Then he let her win all the games! But Damon was by far the best date, the whole day had been fun, all the way into the night.

But so had Scott's date, and Scott was a better match.

She was stumped, and as she looked up into the sky she finally noticed that it was getting darker. She went and sat by the pond again, and pulled her diary out to write in it.

Dear Diary,

The time draws closer. I must pick the one I want to become my husband soon, but I'm stuck on which I should pick, Sir Brian was a total ditz. I did not like watching him kill innocent little animals in the forest that day, and Sir Matthew only wanted to play in the game room. He acted so poor about it. Sir Stephan Swartz was all right. But it is this Damon Salvatore (I found out today) that I like most.

She looked back at what she'd written. 'Who is Sir Stephan Swartz?' she though, marking through what was written. Then she rewrote it so that it was her own. It was halfway through when she looked up to reread her paragraph.

He is very bad, I can tell this from the way he talks and walks and acts around the guards or servants. But he treats me like I am already a Queen. I am beginning to wonder if this is just to get into the role of my King, or if he is really in love with me. I believe with my heart that he is, but my mind will not let my heart speak for the both of them.

Bonnie frowned, where was all this coming from? Then she thought about Angel and saw that her hand had written more. She remembered a stair way close to her room, going up to what they kept as the attic of the castle, they weren't alowed up in that room because it had some very old things there, but they said they didn't lock it up because they didn't have any locks.

Maybe they'd kept some things from Princess Angel in there that she could use to help figure out everything that was going on.

Later that night when everyone else was asleep she crept out of her room and found the stairway to the attic-tower. It was dark along the hallway though, with only a few measly candles to light her way, and she didn't know if she should light her candle yet or not, afraid it might wake up the others.

When she go there though, she lit one and went up the stairs slowly, alert to any sounds the stairs might make. The stairs didn't creak because they weren't made of wood, which was good, she didn't want to alert anyone. She got up there, and found the door was unlocked, and slightly ajar.

She didn't know if someone was already up there or not, so she went on in, taking the risk of being caught.

But no one was there, and as she looked around, her candle lit up old paintings and boxes of papers and other such items like dresses and dolls. In one corner there was an old bed, that still looked sleep. She looked at all the pictures one by one, and found that most resembled her in some way. She figured that they were of Princess Angel.

Then she went over to some boxes, and went through some of the papers, careful to set down the candle on something nonflammable so she wouldn't ruin anything. They were mostly Taxes passed on the towns around the castle and death warrants out for the wanted. There were death certificates, very few of those though. The King at that time must have been merciful.

She looked through the books, hoping that maybe Angel kept a journal like she does now. The books were of the past Kings and their lands they'd conquered. And of the many Queens of others, she noticed that one of the queens had been mentioned before, in the other folder. She wondered who she was to be important enough to be down twice somewhere.

Then she found one book that interested her.

It read: "My daughter wants to choose her own husband, so I shall go out and find all that fit my strict rules for it to even try to court her. Hopefully, I will find out that I will not have to change over, but if so it does not matter. We tried that with my last queen, and she didn't make it. A pity, she was rare for these days. Strong in the body, and soft in the heart..."

"Change over?" Bonnie asked herself aloud. "What does he mean?" she went on looking through the books. Another caught her attention, it looked different, and had an angel on it.

When she opened it, she found out it was Angels Journal, just what she wanted.

It read:

Dear Diary, I am frightened. I must pick who it is I want to marry for tomorrow. The one I want is not human, and when my father finds out he may not like it, but then again maybe he will. He wants me to rule the world, and I do not want to. We fight on this all the time. But I cannot help it, I wish the people of the world to be free, and not have to listen to me give them orders I do not believe in.

I also fear that this may be my last entry. I have a feeling something will happen at the ball, and I will cease to live on this earth. But if I die, I will die happy, regardless of anything that happens.

I know who it is I love, Damon Salvatore. He told my father his name was Damien Smith. It is all right though, because he said that he would take me away from my father and his horrible rules after the wedding. I cannot tell anyone else, so please don't let yourself be found and read.

Bonnie smiled, so Damon was right.

She found some paper near the bottom of the Box, along with the Princess's death certificate and some school papers from her tutors, and looked at it. It was a wanted sign, most likely misplaced from a hurry, or a copy of one, it was faded very badly. The paper said there was a search out for a Brian Salator. Wanted for killing the Princess?

That wasn't right. This was a joke piece of paper, it had to be, Damon said that they'd killed whoever killed Angel, the night that she'd been killed. Besides, why would he kill her? She didn't do anything to him, right? And people in those days weren't like that.

She put everything up a little happier knowing more, but looking at the pictures she had more scenes flash through her mind.

She was afraid of the ball as well, she had the same feeling she wouldn't live though it.

*~~*~~*

Damon was out walking around the woods, looking for something to snack on. He was starved, and he didn't want to nibble on Bonnie's friends, mainly because it was to intimate for his liking, now that he was admitting to falling in love with her. Besides he didn't want anything to go wrong with this game they were playing, and they seemed too happy for his taste. His heart put through pain that he'd never felt before took any thought he might have had at an easy meal.

On one hand, he wanted to be true and faithful to his Angel. She'd brought out the good side to him that everyone said was there, but that even he couldn't see at times. She was everything he could have wanted, ever, in a girl. She was strong willed and full of life.

Bonnie though... Bonnie was his light in the darkness that had followed him after Angel's deaths. All of them haunted him more and more, and with Bonnie he could forget about them, he could push away the pain and enjoy his long life once more.

He couldn't forget about Angel though.

He only had to stay till tomorrow, then he'd find out if he was good enough to become her King again. He smiled sadly as he corrected himself. Or for the first time, since she wasn't Angel, and he'd never become her King after she'd chosen him.

He stopped and looked up to the stars, the pain centered in his heart needing an outlet somewhere. 'Please forgive me Angel.' he thought to the stars above. 'But I cannot help it, this hole in my heart is so big, and I can't seem to find you in time. Where ever you are, I hope that you are happy.' He thought to the sky, hoping that she got it.

*~~*~~*

The next day Bonnie woke up late, feeling under rested because she hadn't gone to bed till very late in the evening. The moon to write by and to walk home with she'd been surprised to find that everyone else was long asleep.

After she'd showered and dressed into a comfortable dress, not wanting to go through to much trouble that day, she went out to her balcony. It was a beautiful sight, and she was happy they'd given her a room with a balcony, it over looked the big pond near the front of the Castle, though it was to the right when she came in it was slightly to her left now, and the forest full of tall trees that hid her home away from home. In the mornings it always looked peaceful, no one was around until late in the evening when the sun dipped below the ocean that lay beyond the trees.

She looked down to the pond, wanting to check out her 'royal kingdom' one last time before the Ball, the feeling of dread still with her, and saw something whitish floating on the surface. The thought it was some kind of Bird or maybe a boat crossed her mind. So she found some Binoculars to look closer at it, wondering if maybe the place had beautiful swans as well.

It was white, but with dark spots on and around it. It looked like it had red on its head, cloth around it like a dress of some sort and the water was darker around the middle where it was floating then around the edges of the pond. Bonnie soon figured out what it was, and felt her heart stop painfully as she realized what had been happening at home was happening here.

She started screaming.

:D I would take that Italian man :)