I smell smoke. I don't know why; I've been closed up in my room for the last five hours, watching the moon rise over the lake stretching out beyond the castle, opposite of the town, where people are all depending on me, something I can't take. I can't take that tomorrow, I will be king. The thought that I have a night left of being a prince makes me angry. The thought makes me reckless. 

I let out a huff, the silent chamber behind me completely still, as I lean out, my elbows on the window sill, the shutters swung open fully so the cool, crisp night air ruffled my clothes, sending slight chills through me every time a breeze brushed past. The moon is full, a cream-colored bowl sitting low and close in the sky. The light from the moon overpowers all the rest, so no stars can be seen, except scattered, winking, across the edges of the tar black sky. The moon's light is cut into pieces of white, slid together to fit across the lapping waves of the dark, dark water. But the water will never be as dark as the sky. 

There are no fires, nothing that would be the source of the mild tang of smoke in the air, not that I have seen in the last hours searching the distant shoreline, the silent water, the black sky. But as I sweep my eyes over the hills, I can see a column of smokey black rising to the cloudless sky that I didn't notice before. It is thin, but stark in the darkness of midnight, but far, far away. Ia, the river that the lake feeds slips away through the land in front of it, the Vega Bridge reflecting the dark stretching above the water, and the smoke is to the left, so I would think Vega was on fire, if I didn't know better. I strain my eyes, pressing my palms into the marble to look closer, but I only think I glimpse a shard of red and orange before I sink back into my room, not able to go any further. I wish I was. 

As I look down again, the gardens far below me, as I was at the top of my tower. I feel a twinge of fear as I look down, and I hate it, and I don't know what it means. I have never been afraid of heights, not that I remember, so it must be for the crowning tomorrow. The crowning will mean I will be king. That I'm tied to this kingdom until I die, mercifully so. It will mean I can never go. Suddenly, I feel the need to get out, again. But this time, it's different. I need to get out, now. I need to get out of this palace, out of this role, out of myself. I need to go. 

So I walk down the spiral stairs, leaving the window open, the wind blowing, as I wince as the stairs creak under my hasty feet, and I place my feet more carefully, managing to get down the stairs without another sound. It is past midnight, but the castle stays awake all night, and I am the royal family now; all guards are protecting me. And I don't think they would appreciate me running away. For a second, I think of what will happen when I'm gone. Chaos, when the castle knows the king gone. No one else is in line for the crown, at least not directly. The kingdom would be weak. The kingdom might even get invaded. 

But I shake myself, getting my thoughts back on track. This is for me. I can't do this, so I'm finding a solution. 

But where am I going to go? What am I going to eat, to wear? Who am I going to be? I brush off the questions that my mind is asking me, and focus. I need to get out. I'll figure the rest out later.

I crack open the smaller door to my rooms, the servant snoring in the corner, and when I don't see anyone, I slip out, the door shutting with a click behind me. I've never used this door before, it was more for the servants to slip in and out during the night without disturbing me, but I assumed that it lead outside, and by some of luck, it did.

The air is colder here, standing in the great shadow of the castle, the air sharper, but the stone is protecting me from the wind blowing off the lakewater waves. I start across the gardens, lowering my plain black hood to hide my face as I hurried across the lawn, checking myself in the middle to be relaxed, to look like I belong. My shoes sink in the ground, but I continue, stepping higher to avoid it, the lawn soggy from the waterer's cans. In this manner I cross the wide gardens, my heart beating loud in my ears, and my brain turning over my excuse if anyone recognizes me; that I just wanted some fresh air, some peace. I don't know if it will work, but I have to be prepared. 

The wide gates are open, suprisingly, and people are slipping in and out, two guards on either side of the gates, standing attention, wearing eyes that shine so brightly in the moonlight that I could see them from a distance as they dart amoung the people, but they never once step forward, they never once approach the people, and that gave me hope. 

I slip out from the small path I was following onto the main one, and tried to relax my shoulders, loosen my steps, keep my hood pulled down low. I deepened my shallow breath, and fell into a stepping rhythm with a man, his dark, straw-colored hair tossed by the wind as he hurried towards the door. My breath beating so I was sure they could here it, I crossed over the castle line, feeling the clutch of talons on my heart loosen as I became a person again.

I have continued on the sloping road just a few feet before I heard a shout, loud and cutting in the busy silence of the night, and I half turn, my throat a well run dry. The man turns too, and as he does, his eyes catch the moonlight, and I see they are a startling ice color, a crisp, almost white, blue, downcast and narrowed to slits. He turns to face the guards, and as he does, his cloak flaps back, in the clutches of the wind, and I see the gleam of a blade in the light close to his side. I stifle a gasp, my hands coming up to clutch the side of my hood to make sure my head was covered, and he looks at me.

His eyes, with the color and coldness of ice, scan me up and down, as I stare at his round cheekbones, high eyebrows, that all contributed to a face not unlike his eyes; unusual, striking, strangely beautiful, and sharp, intelligent in the way he looked at me. He focuses on my face, and I turn so the shadows cover my lower half, but one of the guards shout again and charge the man, he turns back, a half smile on his lips, and draws the knife, the metal a completely white, and hooked wickedly. His spins it in his nimble fingers like he knows it, and that is something I can believe. As he sets his stance, for a second, he remindes me of the assassin; in the way he held himself, in the look in his eyes, in the grace, the flow in his movements. I wonder if he is an assassin. And then, as the guards draw their swords and charge to meet him, I run. 

Down the road, stumbling over the uneven cobblestones holes, my cloak flapping wildly behind me, I leave them behind, because I don't want to be alone with the man with the ice for eyes and the sword to match them. I don't want to be alone with a man who may know more than I want him to. 

When I stop to catch my breath, the moon now high in the sky, I'm suprisingly near the Vega Bridge. So close, in fact, that I can hear the slight rushing sound of the river Ia just in front me. This part of the town was, at least empty, so I slip down to the banks of Ia and sit on the sand, the sound of water soothing my nerves and my heartbeat. After a while of breathing in the air that smells just a bit more of smoke, I hear quiet footsteps on the dirt and sand, and I whirl around, to come face to face with him- again. He raises his eyebrows at me, and a smirk twangs his lips. 

"Well, sweetheart, fancy meeting you here?"

I huff, crossing my arms. He was dirty; his clothes were stained, his expression tired, and he moved liek he was sore and hurting, but he still had his attitude. Shame. 

"Can I help you?" I ask. 

"Yeah, actually. Do you wanna tell me why you're at Ia in the middle of the night?" 

"Do you want to tell me why you're at Ia in the middle of the night?" I retorted.

He chuckled, crossing his arms, and in the light I can just see the outlines, the bare bones, of his face, his eyes, his jaw. "Business. Your turn." 

"It is really not your business. Go away." 

"Um... Yeah... No. You do know the crowning is tomorrow, right? Or in a couple hours?"

"How would I not know? It is my crowning." 

"So why are you here?" He said, starting to get a little annoyed. He must've seen something in my expression, because he seemed to not need an answer, because he nodded and forged ahead. 

"You can't run away, you know. Half this kingdom would kill to be king. Almost all would kill to be you." 

I tilted my head to the side. "Would you?" 

He met my eyes, dead on, and didn't pause to think. "No." 

I didn't replay, and he didn't say anything. But he spoke again. 

"You need to get back to your castle, prince." 

"No."

"Don't be a brat. You have to accept this. It's happening. Deal," he snapped, and although I've heard it before, I still reeled back. I didn't want to, so why should I have to?

When I didn't answer, the city trash grabbed my arm and started to drag me up the shore. I snatched my arm back, a sound that was practically a hiss coming out of my mouth, and a wave of anger roared inside me. How dare he touch me. How dare he. 

"Look. I don't like you. But I want to survive, oh, maybe another year, if I'm lucky. So you're coming with me." The rawness in his voice suprised me, but I still didn't move, instead standing in the dirt, arms crossed, and the bridge stretched next to me into the sky, the mirrors gleaming with moonlight. 

"Come on."

"No." 

"Come. On."

"No."

I figured that if I said enough times, he would get tired and leave. I thought that if I said it enough, this could be over, that I could get him out of my head. But what I didn't expect was him walking up to me, kicking great fans of sand up with his heels and an unreadable expression on his face. I didn't expect him to lean down to my horribly short height, and tilt my head back so fast I couldn't protest, or even make a sound. I didn't expect him to kiss me, roughly, on the lips. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy awesome readers! I wanted to update today, so, *dun dun duhhh* here it is!

And THEY KISSED!!! SEE, I TOLD YOU THERE WOULD BE JONGKEY SOON!!!!! 

Um. So I just realized, I made this really weird transition between like 3rd person POV and 1st somewhere, so obviously I need to change that. Sooo, since I have no idea how to put a poll in here, could you just comment down there *points to comment section* which one you like so I can change it! (The POV) But I you don't care, just tell me! The one with the most people I will change, so Im sorry if I do it to the one you didn't like!!! IM SORRY!!!! *cries hysterically*

Sooo I would absolutely love it if you comment, because they just really make my day. 

THANKS FOR READING!!!!! 

COMMENT?

SUBSCRIBE?

PWEASE???? *puppy eyes*