Dancing with the Prince

Prologue - The Whispers from Above

*Jonathan*

I always used to welcome the sight of the palace when I arrived back home, it was a beautiful scene especially on this night, all lit up in the cold winter with warm colours of gold, making the snow seem almost magical.

"Sir, we have arrived at the palace, your parents are waiting for you in the library," the driver told me as the door opened and I stepped out, enjoying the crunching of snow beneath my feet. It had been about two years since I had properly seen my parents, talked with them, and been in their general vicinity.

As I arrived on the steps of the gigantic building I turned around to glimpse one last beautiful look of the courtyard before turning back and being faced with a gigantic hug from my younger sister, Arianna.

"You're back!" She said, giggling, "How was college? Did you meet any pretty girls?" She waggled her eyebrows at me and I could feel the fake exterior I had adopted while I'd been away deteriorating quickly. This always used to happen around my sister. I had been gone for a while since the fateful incident involving my older brother. My older brother, the man who would've been the king one day instead of me, had met with a terrible fate on a skiing holiday, leaving me with all his responsibility.

I had never been all that interested in our family, and it's 'need' to be prim and proper, so when we found out my brother was dead we had hardly had enough time to grieve before my parents sent me off to a fancy college that taught princes how to behave 'properly'. I had been there way too long and I almost felt like my old, fun loving self had disappeared, replaced by an almost impenetrable coldness when I came across the prospect of ruling a country one day. I sighed and looked my sister up and down, she had long, curly black hair that reached her waist and startling blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires. While I shared her eyes, my hair was black, short and straight. Over the two years I had been away, the change in her age from 13 to 15 was obvious, she was taller, her chest was larger and she looked more like a woman than ever. I was now twenty and assumed that all I had gained on my trip was an even more glum expression from the pompous twats I had met there.

I took in everything before I replied to my sister, "Oh there were girls all right, but other than them the college sucked. I swear to god Arrie, the guys were so far up each other's arses they could've been news reporters for the Sun." She giggled as I laughed with her, glad to be home again.

"Ehr hum" I heard a coughing noise from the other side of the giant entranceway and noticed my mother and father standing in the doorway to the library, their arms crossed. Yup, no greeting for their least favourite son, the one they most likely would've preferred to die.

Arianna gave me a quick hug, whispered, "good luck" in my ear, before she ran off up the stairs.

I walked over to where my parents were and followed them into the grand room.

We awkwardly sat opposite each other on the sofas (more like uncomfortable blocks of metal) in the corners.

"We are glad you arrived home safely, Jonathan. We can see that the college did you some good." I snorted in my head as they said this, before they continued, "And we think it is necessary for us to throw a ball!" 

I sat up straighter on the sofa, my ears picking up at the sound of a party. If there was a party, there was alcohol.

"Yes, a ball. A big grand one celebrating your homecoming, and of course a valuable chance to meet your new wife." They said smiling at me.

I stared back, "err.... Wife?" I was NOT going to get married yet.

"Well darling, you need a wife and where better will you get the chance? We will invite all the eligible maidens in the country!" She said, I raised my eyebrows at this, about to make a retort but my father's glare stopped me.

"I think it will do you some good, son, to meet some more respectable woman than that of which you have seen in the past. It has all been arranged and the invitations sent out already, so you can't stop it." They stood up in unison, moving towards the door.

I said loudly, before they could leave, "When is this ball then?"

"Sit straighter Jonathan! It is scheduled to be in three weekends time." My mother said, before leaving with my father, the door shutting quietly behind them.

I sighed, getting up off the sofa and looked around at my home wondering if this place really was better than the stupid college. I headed upstairs to my room all the time thinking sarcastically, wow it sure was GOOD to be home.

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