Weeks ago, on a winter day with clouds of grey and frost, Rowan had proposed to Aubrey under the stars for all the courts to see. Now she stands under the same stars, draped in pure white.

She was a different girl when she said yes. She believed in fairytales and happily ever afters. She believed that every girl would get her prince. She believed, that love was her only way to find true happiness.

That girl died while saving her prince charming.

Aubrey watches from her throne of gold and roses as her husband galavants with woman from other courts, laughing and giddy, completely oblivious of what it took to get him back. He sways around an older woman, and she blushes when he turns away. Her prince dances as though all his problems remain in the past.

Aubrey can’t help but feel out of place. Like this wedding is for a girl that’s her no more.

The white dress made of feathers and silks, her golden hair curled like a doll, they are all dress up. Delicately planned to conceal what happened to Atlantias golden child.

“Princess Aubrey?” An all too familiar voice calls from behind. She swiftly stands from her throne, careful not to get her dress stuck on the thorns.

“May I help you?” Aubrey asks the old reporter. Her white hair is curled and twisted into a flower, matching the pattern of her pink dress. She almost looks like a kind grandmother. Except for those sharp, predatory teeth.

“Yes” the reporter answers with a small bow. “The commoners are dying to know how the princess broke Prince Rowan’s curse of stone.”

Several heads turn, looking at the new princess with questioning eyes.

Aubrey puts on a tight smile, raking her head for the simplest answer. Before she would have gushed about her journey with the reporter, eager to sound like the hero of a story. Now, though, the truth may ruin the image everyone has of Aubrey Sinnler, the perfect princess.

“Well” Aubrey says, weaving together a story as she speaks. “It was true loves kiss that broke his stone curse.”

Several people melt like sugar around her, too love sick to consider how her story could ever hold any truth.

“Well, I will leave you to your prince” the reporter says, her grin too sharp to be sweet.

Rowan strides towards her, glowing like the sun he was always told he is.

“Aubrey” Rowan says, placing his warm hand on hers. She wants to retract it. “You look as beautiful as the forbidden fruit.”

Her heart skips a beat, but not from excitement. He can’t know, she reassures herself. Because if he knows just how forbidden she really is, he may never look at her the way he does now.

“Care to dance?” Rowan asks, hope glimmering in his eyes.

Aubrey looks around, at the scrutinizing and loving faces of the people she betrayed. “I feel a little light headed, you ought to find someone else for the night.”

He frowns, but places a kiss on the back of her hand and leaves.

Sitting back down, Aubrey tries closing her eyes and willing away all the noise.

They love her, she tells herself. But will they love her when they find out her kiss turned the Prince to stone? Or will they stop loving her when they learn the price of what it took to turn him back. The curse she has now bestowed on the royal bloodline.

Everything smells of sugar and sweet, and the sounds of angels fill the room. But this is Aubrey’s hell.