21 years later...
He stared at her from across the ballroom. She had her sapphire blue eyes, the same dainty fingers and adoring smile, but she also had his golden-amber hair and high cheek bones. Just the thought of him made his body grow tense. He stole everything from him, the love of his life and his would be kingdom. Though none of that mattered, this woman was simply gorgeous!
He felt a twinge of annoyance watching several sparrowmen crowd around her. All of them trying to woo her in any way possible. Milori glanced over to the musicians playing soft quiet melodies. He stood, yet no one had noticed, but, when he snapped his fingers and music began to play louder several guests turned to watch as he crossed the room. The sparrowmen who had been surrounding her didn't seem to notice.
"Care for a dance?" He asked.
Immediately everyone took a step back to see who had actually gotten the courage to ask the princess of Pixie Hollow to dance. Milori could sense the anger in them, but he knew they couldn't do anything about it. His eyes locked on hers and he saw a fire ignite in them. Her hand reached out to his and he pulled her close. Milori guided her to the center of room. He suddenly pulled her close and began to make small steps around in a circular motion, with the slow music. The sparrowman made eye contact with the composer and the orchestra began to speed up their playing. Milori, out of no where, dipped Clarion and he grinned over at the sparrowmen who had been surrounding her earlier. They all grumbled at him as he pulled her back up to his chest.
The sparrowmen got partners of their own and danced around them. Most of the fairies only agreed to it so they could get a closer look at Milori dancing. Either way, neither of them actually wanted to dance with each other. Some of them, maybe taking it too far in their heads, imagined causing an 'accident'. All of the fairies knew that Milori was too polite to ignore a fairy who had fallen down, or was being yelled at by a sparrowman. At the same time the sparrowmen knew that Clarion would get jealous really easily, but none of them actually dared to do anything.
The Keeper, also known as Dewey, but very few were accepted to call him that. People say that he raised Milori after his father, the King of the Frost, was murdered, like he were his own son. The murderer also killed the Minister of Winter and like the terrible person he was he destroyed the castle, destroying any way of finding him. Oddly enough though, Milori had never vowed to avenge his father. All in all, the Keeper raised him and has become very protective over the years. He noticed several things about his personality, he soon after realized that Milori had a habit of pissing people off. So often, that to the point where Dewey had to watch him and make sure he didn't cause more trouble than he could handle. Now, he has guards ready at a moments notice. Everyone knew this and therefore, no matter what they thought, no matter what they thought, no one would ever dare try anything.
So the dancers gave up and sat down while unhappily watching queen and Lord of Winter dance. Occasionally when the two were too close to their comfort they would either grumble or stuff food in their mouths, but the two royals noticed none of this. They danced the entire time and not did they take their eyes off each other. Even when he spun her out and pulled he back their eyes instantly locked.
"Your dancing has improved since we last danced."
"What was that, last week."
She rolled her eyes at him.
The song was coming to an end and in the final dip there was a short pause. He stared at her and he could feel her daring him to kiss her. Yet he only pulled her up and kissed her hand. Everyone began to clap to congratulate them. Milori guided Clarion back to where he was originally sitting beside the Keeper and the Minister of Winter. They all sat eating salads and Milori held her hand openly on the table.
She whispered something in his ear and he chuckled quietly. Snow raised an eye at him, but he shrugged her away. Typical. She pushed the food around her plate with her fork. "What. Someone missing their date?"
"Milori!" Clarion elbowed him.
"It's the middle of Autumn," Dewey justified.
"And he's a very hard worker," Clarion added.
"I know he is and that's one of the things about him that I like."
"If I recall, you both spent several years arguing and hating each other," Milori stated. Clarion jabbed him again.
"Yes," Snow grumbled.
"What happened? What made it so you weren't always at each other's throats?" Milori than whispered to Clarion, "Jab me again and you might leave a bruise."
"Good." He let out an oof! as she stabbed him again.
"I don't know, it just happened, I guess."
"Oh really," a familiar voice spoke from behind her, "I beg to differ." Then Red suddenly sat down in the open chair next to her.
"Red! What are you doing here? You should be on the mainland. Who's watching the fairies? Why are you here?"
"I heard that a certain minister was going to be here alone tonight and I just couldn't let that happen."
"Don't worry, I asked the Minister of Summer to take over for him for the next day or so," Milori answered as well.
Red stood up and helped Snow to her feet as well. He made it so within seconds their bodies were pressed together and they were dancing back towards the center of the room where everyone else danced.
Several fairies managed to drag Dewey up there as well, all of which were those he mentored. So there left Milori and Clarion alone at the table. "I misjudged you, that was a very nice thing to do, a bit unnecessary, but nice."
"Can I ever please you."
She smiled at him and laughed, suddenly his lips met her's, stopping her laughter. He moved to whisper something in her ear. Then she whispered something back to him in reply. Milori stood up and Clarion did as well. They danced across the room towards the doors into the rest of the castle.
"Will anyone care that you're gone?"
"Don't worry about it..." and he kissed her again as they leaned against the wall. Milori cupped her face to feel as close as he could to her. She was warm and he would do anything to have that warmth, to make it a part of him. Her glorious warmth soothed him, but at the same time drove him crazy. He wanted to own her.
This is probably the worst I'm gonna get with kissing so yeah.
Next Chapter: The next morning Milori is invited to meet Clarion's parents. He already knows who they are though and so everyone should be in for a big surprise.