For King and Country

The Ball Pt 2

Fair warning, it gets a little PG-13 at one point, but nothing too bad! Enjoy and don't forget to vote and comment! 

Chapter 10

            "Oh dear," An older woman, one that I vaguely remembered as Lady Marcus, chirped clapping her hands together. "When's the wedding?" Her daughter snorted. 

"Mother!" She said, "Elijah's courting Harriet." 

I turned to her my mouth open, letting out a snort and unladylike laugh, not processing the last part.

"What?" I looked between her open mouth and Elijah's reddening ears. "Elijah and I...we're, we're not getting married. That's ridiculous."

"Oh," The smile on her chubby face disappearing. "I just assumed..."

"No," Elijah reaffirmed, smirking slightly as the music started up. "Let us dance my lady." I looked back at her startled face as I let him guide me to the dance floor. He looked at me, straight in the face, smiling gently as he stepped in front of me and took my hand and waist. "Ready?" I nodded and he snapped me closer. "One two three, one two three, one two three..." after he counted out steps to the beat of the song enough times for me to find the pace.

"Why did she ask about marriage?" I asked, looking up at him. His ears turned red again.

"Well, it's the general opinion of all the court, not just your grandfather's advisors, that you must marry quickly, to someone who knows the customs of royalty, the customs of the nation. I am the son of one of the three highest dukes in the land." He said, spinning me around. "It is only natural for people to think..."

"I will not marry if I do not love the man I love." I said, looking up at him, my eyes meeting his.

"You would've married that boy," He said, his eyes suddenly closed off. I looked down.

"That was before you handed me an entire country." I said gently, I looked up at him, wondering if one day I could be in love with him, see him as more than just an annoying obnoxious boy.

"Well..." He said, before the loud trumpets interrupted his speech. This time they rang from the ground floor, and a pair of less opulent white doors opened.

"Presenting his royal highness, Fitzgerald Archibald Harrison, Crown Prince of Thanir." The whole room murmured as a party, headed by a handsome man in a navy blue military uniform entered the room. He strode in his eyes looking across the room with an arrogant grin painted on his face. He looked to the dance floor, and then his eyes, a pretty teal blue, locked with mine. He walked over to me, the room in complete silence.

"My lady." He said, his voice was deep but not a melodious as Elijah's, coming from somewhere other than his chest. He bowed deeply, not a hair out of place on his head, his dark auburn hair swooped out of his face. He was tall and lean, his eyes the most striking features on his face. "Elijah, may I cut in?"

Elijah looked unhappy about it, but he handed me over to the man, the Prince. The prince took my hand and bowed his head, motioning for the quartet to start again. When they did, it was slower number, and he readily led me to the music, looking down at me. His hand was much lower that Elijah's had been, resting almost on my rump. My cheeks flamed, and he grinned.

"You don't look like a farm girl, but you don't look like a princess either." My eyes narrowed and my mouth set in a hard line, all formalities forgotten. I grinned again.