Time before the purging trials…

You. A family friend, a duchess or young Lady of sorts. Fiery, smart, sharp-witted and frustratingly pretty. But not like, “Ooh she’s pretty.” Like, the pretty that you have to stop, and wait a moment before it hits you, like, “Shit, she’s so pretty.”

And it’s not like, popular girl pretty, it’s ethereal pretty. You’re like a dove. Beautiful lush pink lips, effortlessly beautiful hair, kaleidoscopic eyes of blues greens and browns, and long lashes.

The boy who annoyed you the most?

Kitt Azer. Eldest prince of Ilya. Unfairly and utterly beautiful, tanned skin you could almost feel pressed against you.. green eyes you want to wake up to ever day… sensual lips that could kiss you breathless… golden blond hair that you’d tug on..

In other words, perfection. On paper. To you? Rude, annoying and arrogant.

You were staying at the Ilya palace, and it was a cloudy grey afternoon, the clouds hanging low. For some reason, the weather you adored.

A voice interrupted you, as you walked the rose garden.

“Anyone ever told you that you look like a rose?” Kitt.

You turned, and he strolled lazily behind you. “Disguised by a pretty face, thorns and brambles, enough to make you recoil and run away. How fitting.”