An American Cinderella

So, I kissed him. Despite the fact that I had kissed him so many times, it still made my heart flutter like the first time. How did he make me feel this way just by being near me?

I sighed with contentment, my hands on his chest, our faces still sharing breaths.

“I love you,” he whispered.

I looked up to see his eyes smiling at me in the moonlight. My world spun around him. This beautiful man loved me.

I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and laughing with pure joy. I kissed him once more and smiled.

“I love you, too.” The words felt right. They were easy to say because I knew they were true. I loved him with my whole heart. I felt more like myself when I was with him than I did when I was alone.

I kissed him again for the sheer joy of kissing him. He loved me.

We moved to a bench so we could sit. He wrapped his arm around me, his warm body pressed into mine. I leaned my head against his shoulder and looked out at the city. The lights glimmered and gleamed in the darkness. Occasionally I could hear the sounds of the party below us, but as far as I was concerned, the only people in the entire world in this moment were on this rooftop.

“Can it always be like this?” I asked. “I feel like I’m in a fairy tale.”

Henry stiffened slightly. He took my hand and then a deep breath.

“Do you remember the story of why we throw this ball?” he asked.

“It was for the Peasant Queen,” I replied. “To sneak her into society.”

He nodded, then opened his mouth and shut it.

“What is it?” I asked, shifting on the bench to look at him. He looked at me surprised. “You obviously have something you want to say. So say it.”

“This was so much easier in my head,” he mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair, before reaching out and touching my cheek. “I love you.”

“You already said that,” I teased gently.

“I know. I just want you to hear it again before I tell you my connection to the Peasant Queen.”

I tipped my head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Aria, I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.” He drew in another deep breath. “I’m not a businessman. Not the way you think.” He took both my hands in his. His eyes were earnest in the moonlight. “I’m not who you think I am.”

My heart beat out of control. I almost didn’t want to know what he was going to say next, but I knew I had to find out. It was like watching a train crash. I couldn’t stop it, but I couldn’t look away either.

“Who are you?” I asked with trepidation.

“I am Prince Henry Aster of Paradisa. I am the second in line to the Paradisian throne.” His hands tightened on mine. “And I am the man who loves you.”

I shook my head, not quite understanding. “No. You are a rugby player named Henry Prescott... I saw the search results.”

“Henry Prescott is the name I use for travel and sports. It’s a way for me to travel under the radar for safety reasons,” he explained. His eyes never left my face. “It’s not my real name.”

I stood up, dropping his hands. I was having a hard time believing this was real.

“You can’t be serious,” I said, beginning to pace the small garden. I stopped and looked at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you didn’t know. Because you didn’t look at me like a prince. You looked at me like a man.” His voice cracked and he swallowed. “My entire life, I have been treated differently. I have lived a life of responsibility, duty, and privilege. When you are with me, for the first time in my life, I’m not Prince Henry. I’m just Henry. I get to be me.”

My hands were shaking. Henry was a prince? A prince of Paradisa?

“It was selfish of me not to tell you. I thought for sure you would confront me with it every day, but instead you just became more wonderful. You were a piece of goodness in the world that I never thought I would ever have,” he explained. “I never thought I would find someone who loved me for me and not my title.”

I suddenly felt hot.

Bits and pieces started to fall into place. It suddenly made sense. Henry’s stories of the kitchen without a parent. He would have been in the castle kitchens with a chef. Andre and Valentina weren’t Henry’s friends. They were his bodyguards. That’s why they came to the rugby game and were so protective of him. That’s why I thought I saw Andre walking outside various places before Henry arrived there. It was why Henry wore a hat everywhere. Why everyone was looking at us in the ballroom. It all made so much more sense now.