He paced nervously in his room. The attendants there to help him dress were frantically trying to keep up with him.
"Sire! Please, you must stay still lest you won't be dressed properly for dinner with their majesties!"
"How can I stand still! Verily, tell me. I feel as though mine own heart will explode out of mine chest!" More out of desperation than to comply with the pleas of his servants, Nicholas found himself settling on the bank by the window.
He knew exactly why he felt this way. He had fallen hard for Aura. Her smile filled that empty sense of despair in his heart. She gave him courage he never thought he had.
As the servants around him hustled to get him "proper" enough for his parents, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anger towards them. Who were they to judge others based on their genetic coding? His own sister was shunned merely because she mated with a wolf of a lower breeding. His niece, such a female that bore no hatred and knew only forgiveness. . . was constantly tormented by those around her for the wrongs of her mate.
He shook his head and stood once more, earning a huff of frustration from his staff.
"Enough. Leave me now." They looked at each other for a bit before bowing and retiring from his room.
He could do this easily enough. He'd been through worse. . . of course, that was comparing combat to a simple dinner with his mother and father.
He shifted impatiently before heading over to the mirror in his bathroom. It didn't have to be so difficult. So frightening to face his parents. No, he wouldn't do that to Aura. She was taking as much a risk as he, and if he wanted to give her courage he had to reflect it in his own demeanor.
He did what royals did best. He shoved all of those doubts, those emotions, those impurities to his facade and he put on a face of confidence. If he was going to introduce Aura to his parents properly, he would have to do so with pride and no weakness. Any type would only cause the experience to be more painful than it had to be.
With that, Nicholas moved away from the bathroom and out his door. It was time to go pick up Aura, hopefully, just seeing her would give him enough strength to get him through tonight.
"Koga!" Aura scolded, waving her arms to grab her brother's attention. As if it wasn't rude of him to ignore her request to assess her attire, he locked lips with his werewolf of a date just short of third base on the couch. It didn't help that tonight was especially important; dinner with the royals of all wolf kind would not be easy to prepare for. Aura wasn't sure what made her accept Nicholas' invitation, not only because of the hype associated with impressing the royal family but because this meant a serious step in a direction Aura didn't know if she was ready to take. She couldn't deny she was beyond infatuated with the werewolf prince, but it never failed to be incessantly nerve wracking to think this was leading towards commitment. Long-term commitment. That is, of course, if possible future purebred in-laws take to a mutt like herself. Aura shook her head, feeling a weight of hopelessness settle in her gut. She didn't have the luxury to think about such things now, especially when Nicholas would be arriving any minute.
ReplyDeleteKoga groaned in annoyance, breaking away from Ayame's lips long enough to give Aura a once over before shrugging. "Looks fine to me."
Aura sighed and threw him a disapproving look. She turned away from him to a nearby mirror, willing herself to ignore the pornographic sounds emanating from the living room. With just the two of them living together without any form of support, Koga and Aura's lifestyle was far from lavish. Thus, Aura didn't have very many lavish possessions; the long purple sun dress she had bought six years ago hung as little more than a thigh high cocktail dress now when the Koilura had scrounged it out of the back of her closet. The matching shoes Aura got with the dress all those years ago still fit, thankfully, but for all her efforts she felt she was still insufficient. Her attire was too casual, she knew, despite the fact they were the best she could come up with.
She had half a mind to run back upstairs and just put on a blouse and dress pants (damn her lack of self-confidence, Aura never did like showing off her legs) when the shrill noise of the doorbell drowned out the sound of her racing heart, if it was still beating at all. After a moment of silence, followed by another ring of the bell, Aura let out a long, shaky breath. She might as well have jumped into a tub of ice water for all the good it did and it took another try at the doorbell before Aura broke out of her state of shock. Relax, Aura. Just be yourself... and hope that it's good enough.
Nicholas waited patiently on the steps outside for Aura. The wait seemed eternal, but it couldn't have been more than a one minute. Still the more that minute stretched out, the more nervous Nicholas seemed to get. He couldn't understand why, or perhaps. . . he could. After all, it was Aura he was taking to meet his parents. And she. . . she made his heart race a million miles per hour with just her presence. Nic smiled to himself, he couldn't stop thinking about her since she left. And honestly, he couldn't wait to see her again.
ReplyDeleteAt that moment, the door opened. His eyes flashed up to meet the beautiful image that was Aura, and it nearly took his breath away. He must have stood there like an idiot, gaping at her because a slight blush found its way to her cheeks as she cleared her throat.
"Um. . . should we go?"
Nic blinked, trying to snap himself out of whatever trance he was in before he was able to answer her. "Right, sorry. . . You look beautiful." He reached out his hand for her to take all the while willing his body to actually move towards the limo.
"Oh, thank you. You. . . you think it'll be appropriate? I didn't know if. . . umm.. . " She trailed off, looking ready to bolt back into the house. Nicholas couldn't help but incline his head in confusion. Did she think she didn't . . . look good? Well . . . maybe he wasn't the one to be asking considering ,to him, she could wear the ugliest garment on the planet and she would still look like the most gorgeous, alluring creature to him.
"Aura," He smiled at her, and drew her in, his hands gently resting on her hips, "You look stunning. Don't worry about impressing my parents, you charm will win them over."
"Oh." Her eyes shone brightly under the fading sunset as she looked up at him coyly. It took every inch of self control to keep him from taking her lips at that moment. Instead, he redirected that energy to the night at hand. He wanted Aura to enjoy the night.
ReplyDelete"I have something for you." He said, trying to change the subject into something less intimidating to her. Curiosity flashed behind her blue eyes. "Oh?"
"Mmhmm." He led her down the drive way to the waiting car and held the door open for her. Aura smiled and got in and immediately gasped as she took her seat. Her reaction brought an even bigger smile to Nicholas's face as he took the seat next to her.
"Nicholas, they're. . . beautiful!" Aura held the bouquet of flowers he'd bought her in her hands. The excitement in her eyes had Nic feeling proud that he could make her smile.
"I'm glad you like them, but that wasn't the surprise." She gave him a puzzled look.
"Oh. . .what is it then?"
"This." He reached for the jewelry box in his pocket and turned it for her to see. She cast him a hesitant glance before taking the box and opening it.
"Oh. . . Nic!" She reached for the necklace inside, staring at it as if trying to decide if it were real.
"I saw it and thought of you. I tried to get a color that would match whatever you wore, so I just went with white diamond. I hope you like it-"
"I love it!" Aura threw her arms around his neck. His heart literally filling to the brim with something he couldn't name at her joy. It was all he could do not to say anything as she pulled away and shifted in her seat.
Nic chuckled under his breath as he helped her put it on. Gods. . he'd chosen right in buying the necklace. Aura turned to face him fully. The remnants of her blush still evident on her cheeks and the sparkle of joy in her eyes making them luminous. The necklace only made her eyes even more brilliant and resonant. "Perfect." Was the only thing he could say. He hoped this would be a great night for them. He knew she would be nervous at dinner, but he wanted her to feel comfortable around his family. . . after all, he planned to have Aura around for quite some time to come.
It was amazing how quickly the strifes and anxiety of the world simply melted away whenever Aura was with Nicholas. His warmth was akin to that of the sun and he shone just as brilliantly, if not more so. And god, when he looked at her... Nicholas's smile made it seem like she was the most beautiful person on earth. Aura clung to him the whole ride to the Wolfheart castle, babbling about who knew what; it was difficult to remember anything besides Nicholas. It didn't even dawn on her how close she was to him until Aura had to lift her head from Nicholas's shoulder as soon as the limo came to a halt.
ReplyDeleteReality didn't seem so far away as Aura had hoped.
"Breathe, Aura," came Nicholas's soft voice. His hand gently pulled Aura's hand away from her mouth to prevent her from biting her nails and kissed the back of her hand so sweetly. Aura's face was going to go permanently red from just his charm alone. Nevertheless, she did as he requested but each breath came out shakier than the last. This was going to turn out well.
"Okay," Aura said in a small voice, grasping Nicholas's hand. "I'm ready."
With a smile that made Aura's heart skip a beat, Nicholas took hold of her other hand as the valet opened the limo door. Gradually and with much grace, the Wolfheart prince backed his way out of the seat until he stood completely outside and coaxed Aura with a small, encouraging tug on her hands. She took his lead and climbed out of the seat, coming to stand right next to Nicholas. The monumental castle stood as tall as the heavens itself, it's beautiful architecture both breath-taking and ominously foreboding. The steps to the huge, double front doors were as long and steep as a yard.
Aura had the crazy notion to ask if the castle was haunted.
As the sun began to sit upon the horizon and the nightingales chirped amongst themselves in the trees and bushes, Aura and Nicholas made great haste up the stairs and into the vastness of the castle, away from the escalating cold. Stepping through the front door, Aura came upon the grand room that was the foyer. Crystal sculptures stood on pedestals on either side of the entrance and bordering the doorways to adjacent rooms on either side of the foyer. The entire castle was embroidered in gold and crystal, with high domed ceilings and absolutely stunning stained glass windows that decorated the floors with its magnificence whenever the light shone just right. Up ahead was a majestic staircase that lead to the second floor and a brilliant chandelier bigger than perhaps Aura herself hung high over the very hearth.
Even if she had been here at the party long ago, the sight never failed to leave Aura in complete and utter awe.
"Good evening, Mother; Father."
Aura snapped her eyes away from the chandelier as they came to rest upon two individuals standing at the foot of the stairs. The blond of the male's hair was exactly like Nicholas's and the woman who stood beside him was as radiant and pale as new fallen snow. Both of their eyes exchanged glances between Nicholas and Aura herself.
"This is the one whom I've spoken to both about," continued Nicholas, his hand clenching Aura's more snuggly in his grasp as he spoke. "This is Aura. Aura, these are my parents."
Aura smiled meekly as all eyes collectively came to rest upon her. "N-Nice to meet you." And perhaps out of sheer nerves or her damned naiveté, Aura extended her hand out eagerly in greeting.
The silence was so powerful that one could hear a pin drop and have it be the loudest noise in the world. Although for Aura, nothing could have been louder than the pounding of her heart in her ears. Eventually Aura lowered her arm, clenching her hand in a fist and fidgeting her fingers as she did so.
Aura could already tell that this was going to be one terrific dinner.