Getting to Know You
You looked so stunning. Could you be their one? James knew that both Lily and him were thinking the same thing, both of them were entranced by you.
The two fiancés guided you into the gardens of the palace.
Your face lit up. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.” You blushed and looked down. “Aside from the two of you, that is.”
You walked ahead a few steps and bent down to smell the flower in front of you. You stopped and looked back towards James and Lily, before asking, “why did you bring me out here, your highnesses?”
“We brought you out here, because we have a question for you,” I responded.
Lily took James’ hand and held hers out. You stood up as she did this. “We’ve been getting to know you all night and when I haven’t been dancing with you, I was dancing with others, but it didn’t feel the same as it did with you. With you, it felt like there was some sort of connection between us.” You blushed as you nodded. “And I would like to explore it further, if that’s what you would like. I feel like you could be our missing piece.”
James had been looking at Lily as she’d explained, but when she finished, James turned to you as he held out his hand for you as well. “The first moment I saw you with Lily, I couldn’t help but think how stunning you looked. Then I joined both of you and got the chance to get to know you. You’re so much more incredible than you seemed. I would be honoured if you would join us and become part of our relationship. I’d like the chance to get to know you more.”
“What would happen to me?”
“If you say yes, the first thing would be us going back in there and announcing it to everyone,” Lily told you.
“You want me to be in your relationship, but what role would I play?”
“You would be our love, our partner, our equal. Whatever life you had before would change and it would take some getting used to, but we would help you transition. And if you wanted, you could have your family visit if you wanted or live in the castle with us,” James told you.
“No,” they both looked shocked and taken aback. “Sorry, what I meant is I don’t have family, so it’s not something we have to worry about.” They relaxed but looked apologetic. “I really want to be with both of you. It feels right being with you.” You took their hands, and they lifted them to their lips, kissing the one they were holding, keeping their eyes on you.
However, when they released your hands was when you heard the bell toll, making it known that it was midnight and the magic would wear off soon.
“I’m so sorry.” Your eyes widened, and just before you ran, you told them. “I have to go. I have to be back by midnight.”
You ran as fast as you could, and as you did you heard James call, “but how do we find you?”
You never answered him. You didn’t want to leave but you had to. Your stepfamily could never find out you were there. If they did, you didn’t know what would happen but it wouldn’t be good.
As you were running down the first steps, you felt a ring slip off. You didn’t stop to look, you ran to Regulus and Evan, knowing they would help you get back.
When you got to the carriage, Regulus and Evan helped you and you got in as fast as you could before you all disappeared.
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James and Lily followed you, but by the time they got to the front doors, you had already disappeared. James was crying. “We had them. They were so incr-”
He had stopped when he saw something shiny on the ground. “What the heck?” He walked over and crouched down, picking it up. He turned back to Lily and held out what he’d found; the ring that had been on your right hand. “This was theirs. I remember it clearly being on their finger. It matched them and their outfit perfectly.”
Lily raised her hand to his cheek and he closed his eyes. “We will find them. You and I will go out into the kingdom and search for them. We have to find them, my love.”
He leaned into the touch. “We will. You’re right.” He held the ring to Lily. “Keep this safe until we find them.”
She took it from his hand and noticed on the inside was an inscription, but she couldn’t understand the writing. “Do you understand this?” She showed him the inscription.
“No. We should take it to my parents. If they don’t understand it, then they might know someone who does.”
He took Lily’s hand as her other held tightly the ring that had been left behind. They walked inside and when he looked around, he saw his parents walking towards the thrones they sat in. If he had to guess, he would say they just finished dancing or talking to someone.
James and Lily head over that way and once standing in front of them, James spoke, “Mama, father, we found them. We found someone we like and they like us, but they ran off saying they had to be back by midnight.”
“They didn’t tell us how to find them,” Lily continued, before holding out her hand, revealing the ring. “They dropped this. However, there’s writing on the inside that we don’t recognise. We want to use it to find them, but we want to understand if the writing could help.” She paused, looking over at James, before looking back at the King and Queen. “Do you recognise the writing?”
Fleamont reached out as if to touch it, before he moved back, and looked up at her. “May I?”
Lily moved it so it was in between her thumb and pointer finger, holding it out to him. “Of course, your majesty.”
He took it and looked at the inscription. He shook his head not recognising the writing, so he handed it to his wife. “My love, do you recognise this writing?”
She took it gracefully and looked at the inscription. Her eyes widened as she recognised it. “Yes. I know this writing.” She looked up at her son and his fiancé. “Go to the family room. We’ll meet you there soon. I need to get an old friend who can help us find them.”
“Thank you, mama,” James said as he had tears in his eyes.
She stood up and hugged him. “You’re welcome, my children.”
With that, the two lovebirds went to the family room, curled up together on the couch; James leaning back on the couch and Lily leaning against him.