Bonus Epilogue #1 - Luka
Luka’s heart could not have been beating any faster than it was in that moment. He stared at Aubrey, taken with her beauty, and suddenly felt self-conscious. Perhaps he should have worn a different tuxedo to the ball. He knew how people talked. Would they take it as a slight against her? As if he hadn’t considered their dance special enough to warrant a new outfit?
For the first time in what felt like forever, Luka felt like the situation was completely and totally out of his hands.
The feeling persisted all the way up until she closed the gap between them.
“Your highness,” she said, curtsying for him.
Luka couldn’t help but laugh inside, partly out of relief, and partly out of how perfect she was. She had learned a proper curtsy for him, executing it perfectly. For as much as Aubrey may have felt as though she didn’t belong at this school, Luka knew better. Luka knew she would make it.
“My princess,” he responded, sweeping one arm across his front and slipping another behind him, bowing in response. As he rose, his hand extended. “Would you do me the honor?”
The music turned up, a simple slow dance, and they began to rock together in each others arms. He led her delicately through the dance.
The number of slow dance affairs he was sometimes required to do as a Prince was enough to put him to sleep, but with Aubrey, he relished the opportunity to draw every single moment out for as long as he could.
She rested her head against his shoulder. In that moment, Luka knew. It wasn’t a lightning bolt, it wasn’t a sack of bricks. He just knew. He had suspected, to some degree, this was where his heart would go eventually, but he hadn’t known when he would feel it with complete and utter certainty.
And then, it simply happened. Without thinking much further, he opened his mouth and whispered her name into her ear.
“Yes, Luka?” she replied.
He swallowed, and waited a beat, before letting the words come out. “I want you to know I’m in love with you.”
He looked into her eyes, waiting for her reaction, not entirely sure what he would find. He continued speaking, explaining himself, making sure she had as graceful an exit as possible. He didn’t want to pressure her into saying anything. He simply needed her to know how he felt.
After he said his piece, he went quiet. A single tear fell from her eyes.
“Luka, I care about you so much,” she said. “I am so wonderfully excited to be with you, and I never want to lose you.”
The music came to a close just as his heart soared with her words. He decided to make sure she would always look back on this night and genuinely feel like a princess at a ball, regardless of whatever else happened. He lifted his hand high, leading her into a graceful spin before pulling her gently back into his chest.
She looked up at him, eyes twinkling, smile wide.
Luka exhaled, relieved. “You’ll never lose me,” he said, touching his forehead to hers.
Both of them looked into each other’s eyes as the applause kicked up, neither of them wanting the moment to end. Luka finally made the move, against his instincts to steal every single moment he could with her. The other two deserved their turn.
“Give my regards to Jaeson,” he said. “I do believe he’s next.”
He bowed. She curtsied in response. Luka turned and left the dance floor, unable to help a beaming smile from spreading over his face, full of electricity and hope in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.
