A month went by and Ariel has slowly became more attracted to Eric and same with him to Ariel. They're not necessarily in love, but there is something going on. She is no longer upset her parents forced her into this marriage, but she does wonder if she will ever love Eric. Isn't that the point of marriage? To marry and spend the rest of your life with someone you love, and later on have kids? Apparently this wasn't the case with royals, especially when a kingdom needs to make mends with another.

Ariel looked over herself in the mirror as she finished getting ready for Denmark's annual ball. She had help putting her hair up in a high bun and then she placed her new tiara on.

Eric knocked on the door to their suite and then entered. "You look wonderful."

Ariel smiled at Eric through the mirror's reflection. "Thank you."

"Are you ready because we have many people in the ball room?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Ariel hooked her arm around Eric's and they walked down to the ball room. They were announced and then shared the first dance of the night together. When the dance ended, Ariel grabbed a glass of champagne and started to mingle with a few women. She was mainly asked if she was pregnant since it's expected to get pregnant within the first month or so of marriage. She would lie when someone asked and say hopefully soon she will be even though, in reality, she probably won't be for at least a couple of months.

"No, not at the moment." Ariel smiled. "Hopefully soon, though."

"Yes, hopefully." Lady Beatrice said.

Ariel excused herself and went over to talk to a few of her friends she hadn't seen since the wedding. Her friends tried their best not to talk about Eric but of course he came up.

"He's very sweet." Ariel smiled, looking over at Eric who was talking to the ambassador of Jamesdale. "But I'd rather be married to someone I love. Isn't that the whole point of marriage?"

"You know, usually when you consummate your marriage is when you start having stronger feelings for each other." Elizabeth said. "But I'm assuming you don't have any feelings."

"We haven't slept together yet." Ariel whispered. Her two friends were very shock because usually that happens the night of the wedding. "Yeah, shocking, I know. But I'm not ready and he's very sweet on waiting until I am. Recently, I've been becoming more attracted to him, but it's not love. I want love. I want to be able to tell him I love him when we do sleep together and I want him to say it back to me. It's called making love for a reason. I know. You both probably think I'm crazy on waiting."

"No, actually you do make good points." Annabelle said. "Why make love when you don't love each other? When you try conceiving you should do it out of love not business."

"Exactly... I want the real thing." She stared over at Eric again, seeing him laughing. "I haven't told Eric this only because I don't want him saying he loves me when he doesn't just to sleep with me."

"I don't think he would do that." Elizabeth said. "Like you said, he's very sweet and I've only heard good things about him unlike others who are unfaithful to their wives and sleep with servants and maids. I don't think he would do that to you."

"I don't think so either." Ariel said. "But if I do tell him that and then says I love you to me, it'll make me wonder. I probably won't wait much longer, I just wanted to be more comfortable around him before I reveal my whole self to him. I know we need to start trying or everyone will start talking and start rumors about me or Eric."

"Oh look who we have here." A man said. "Little Ariel."

Ariel turned around and a smile beamed off of her face. "Danny!" Ariel exclaimed, giving him a hug. Her friends excused themselves which left them alone. "I wasn't aware you were invited."

"Actually I come every year. I'm more surprised you're here."

"Of course I would be here. I'm married to Eric."

"I heard. Congratulations by the way. He's very lucky. How long have you known each other for?"

"A month and a half." Danny laughed. "No, I'm serious. Daddy made me marry him so our kingdoms could form an alliance."

"Are you happy about it?" He asked.

"I don't know yet. I mean I was upset be he's growing to me as I get to know him more. When we got married we literally knew each other for one hour, so you would be upset too, right?"

"I suppose I'd be upset also if I was in that position."

Eric saw Ariel hugging and talking to Prince Daniel of France. He wondered how she even know him. Eric excused himself and walked over to the two of them.

"Prince Daniel, I hope you're enjoying the ball." Eric said.

"It's rather enjoyable." Danny said. "Oh and I think some congratulations are in order. Ariel is a real special girl."

"Thank you." Eric said. He wondered what he meant as special. "How do you two know each other?" He finally asked.

"Danny and I were very close growing up, with our father's being basically best friends."

Danny?, Eric thought.

"Honestly I always thought we were going to end up together but I'm happy for you both. Now you must excuse me." Danny said, walking away.

"So you knew each other for a long time." Eric said. "Do you love him?"

"Are you jealous, Eric?" Ariel asked.

"Of course not."

"For some reason I don't believe you.

Eric watched as Ariel walked away. Was he jealous? Of course not. He would have to love Ariel to be jealous of her talking to a childhood friend, who happens to be a handsome prince. Does Eric love Ariel?

Thanks for all the positive reviews so far and thanks for reading! So I read one comment saying I should have made Ariel ruder to Eric in the first two chapters since she didn't want to get married. The only reason why I didn't was because she's supposed to be a princess, right? And she's expected not to be rude. Also why would she be mean to Eric if she's going to have to marry him anyways? What would be the point? For him to hate her also? Anyways, I just thought I'd say that. Thanks for reading!