Maria made her way down the long hallway to the palace ballroom to meet her family before the suitors were to join them.
Her legs felt numb as she moved her feet across the marble flooring, and her eyes trailed along the painted portraits of the Greek royal family that hung on the eggshell covered walls that decorated the hall.
She could barely move her fingers, and she had to keep telling herself to breathe as if it was not something her body did naturally to survive.
She had finally reached the ballroom after what felt like the longest walk of her life to find her mother and father who were lovingly smiling at each other while they spoke softly.
They were a lucky pair in love as they had not had to suffer through an arranged marriage... unlike what they had planned to force their daughter into for the sake of their country.
Before Nicos Olympios was the King of Greece, he was once the playboy prince who had spent his nights sneaking out with his guards to get drunk at the local villages, and to spend time with as many beautiful women as he could find.
He had enjoyed the company of many women, and they enjoyed him as they found the muscular prince with the curly brown hair to be irresistible.
As charming as he had been, there had been one woman in the village whom he could not seem to impress; he had struggled with this as he had not been used to being denied by anyone, let alone a young, impressionable woman.
She had long, golden hair and eyes that seemed to be able to switch from green to brown depending on the light that they were reflecting in that moment.
Her name was Kalli and she was the daughter of a simple fisherman.
Determined to understand this mysterious woman, Prince Nicos had returned to the village every night with a single white lily to give to her.
In return, he would ask for a couple of minutes of her time so that he could get to know her.
At first, she had no desire to entertain the charming man she had not known was the prince, and she had turned him away for many nights before she had finally decided that she was curious about him too.
They had quickly fallen in love, and when Nicos brought Kalli to the palace, his parents were shocked to find that their scandalous son had found someone that he wanted to spend more than one night with.
Nicos had told the former King and Queen that he would give up his title and become a commoner if he could not marry Kalli, and as the King and Queen had no other heirs and no other choice, they begrudgingly obliged to their son's request to marry the daughter of the fisherman.
Maria admired their love and had hoped that she would have the chance to experience something like it one day too.
However, she came to the realization that she lived a life where that simply was not an option for her as she was yet to fall in love, and she had run out of time.
She doubted that she would be able to fall in love with whichever suitor her father chose before her wedding day came.
Maria pulled her eyes away to look at her brother who had been staring at her since she walked into the room.
He walked over to her when they made eye contact, and gave her one of his big, bear-like hugs before whispering in her ear, "No matter what happens, I'm here for you. If you need to run away, blink twice and I will distract mom and dad".
She hugged him back tightly before she quietly replied, "Thank you Jason, but I think we both know that that's not an option".
Their parents, at that point, finally noticed that both their children were present, and walked over to where they were standing as Maria and Jason let go of each other.
"Well my dear," her mother said while grabbing both of Maria's hands, "are you ready to go meet your suitors?"
In that moment Maria's heart pulled and she considered Jason's offer of blinking twice to escape before she looked up at her mom and said, "Yes, mother. Let's go meet our guests before it gets too late".
The family walked together to the dining room to meet the young men competing for Maria's hand and the Greek crown, and Maria took one last big breath as she heard the butler announce, "His Majesty King Nicos Olympios, Her Majesty Queen Kalli, His Royal Highness Prince Jason, and Her Royal Highness Princess Maria," before the double doors opened to show the five young princes who had been waiting for her.
Maria looked at the ground as she entered the dining room where her suitors had been sitting and waiting for her arrival.
To Maria it felt like you could cut the air with a knife, that is until her father let out a hearty chuckle, clapped his hands together, and said, "Welcome to our home, gentlemen! We are so excited to get to know each of you over the next few months".
Maria felt her heart racing in her chest and she still could not convince herself to look up.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of shoes taking steps near her, and she looked up to see that one of the men had started confidently walking towards them.
She noticed how his straight, brown hair bounced with him as he walked, and how his bright, blue eyes were locked on her.
She felt as if he could look directly into her soul and know her deepest thoughts, and she swallowed the tightness that had come up in her throat before he broke their eye contact to look over at the King.
He bowed before the family before he introduced himself, "Good evening your Majesty and thank you for inviting me to be here. My name is Prince Leonardo Colombo of Italy," he said before turning his gaze back to Maria and again locking her eyes with his.
She wanted to look away but there was something so captivating about him, so she stood there frozen before he continued, "Your Highness, it's so lovely to meet you. I'm elated at the thought of getting to know you better," he said before bowing again and returning to where he stood before.
The next gentleman to bravely step forward did not seem as confident as Leonardo, but he seemed to have the biggest smile that Maria had ever seen, which paired quite nicely with his wild blonde hair and sapphire eyes.
When he reached the family, he too bowed as he introduced himself, "Hello my friends, I'm Prince Henri Christensen and I am from Denmark. I'm so happy to be in your beautiful country!" he exclaimed before he grabbed Maria and pulled her into a hug.
She gasped and her body stiffened, not knowing what to do, and Jason who stood to her right immediately broke out into a laughter he couldn't even try to hide.
He was not the only one as the King had also quietly chuckled to himself, and the Queen smiled as she looked to her husband and squeezed his hand.
Henri pulled away with his face still holding the massive smile, completely oblivious to the fact that the Greek royals weren't used to people being so forward with them like that, before he turned and walked back.
"That one's a keeper," Jason whispered to Maria as his laughter slowly died down.
Maria whose eyes had widened with that unexpected encounter, threw Jason a menacing look before she turned back to see that the third suitor had made his way to them.
She noticed that he looked as though he spent hours picking out his outfit, which complemented his darker complexion, big brown eyes, and tightly curled long auburn hair.
Maria also noted that he looked like he could be her brother, which she did not think was something she wanted to say about her possible future husband.
He bowed as he introduced himself, "I'm Prince Rafael De Leon of Spain. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said as he looked up at Maria through long eyelashes while his body was still angled towards the floor.
He took one of her hands with both of his and kissed the back of it in a way that seemed too passionate for him to be doing in front of her family, before he looked up at her one last time and returned to his place.
Maria felt the heat in her cheeks and could only hope no one noticed, before she looked up and saw the next suitor approach her and the royal family.
He was a tall man with jet black hair, and Maria immediately felt her heart twist as though she recognized his green eyes that made their way to hers.
There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
He didn't take the time to bow, or look at any member of her family but her as he seemed to be quite captivated by the Greek princess.
Maria felt her heart race as he came face to face with her before he lowered himself into a deep bow before her and said in a rather dashing voice, "Your beauty truly is as unmatched as they say your Highness. I'm Prince Arthur Dubois, next in line for the French throne," he looked up at her as he continued, "I can't wait to marry you," he said confidently before he winked at her.
She felt an immediate attraction to him that she couldn't quite explain, and she only hoped that he didn't notice how beet red she had turned upon hearing his declaration.
Jason, on the other hand, did not seem impressed, and glared at the French prince.
Maria figured it was because Arthur reminded Jason too much of himself.
Unlike the others who had walked away after introducing themselves, Arthur spoke again, "Please allow me to introduce you to my younger brother, Prince Julien Dubois," he said before he held his hand back and turned to reveal the last of Maria's suitors.
Upon seeing Julien's face that held the same green eyes and familiar wavy, black hair, Maria's eyes widened in shock as she could not believe who was walking towards her.