The girl looked around the dance floor of the Grand hall of Castle Araluen with mixed feelings. She knew she should be in line to pretend to 'swoon' over the newly crowned King Duncan, but her nerves had told her not to. The line of silk gowned ladies was long enough, she thought, without her in it. She glanced down at her crimson red dress, and touched the silk fabric. It was soft to the touch and she smiled. She glanced at the King.
Of course, she thought, frowning inwardly, he was quite handsome. He had blonde hair and startling green eyes. And they kept glancing at her. She wanted to wave, do something...but her nerves wouldn't let her.
She pushed a stray strand of red hair out of her eyes, and walks over to the other side of the room.
"Jade!" A voice called. Jade turned to see her younger brother, Bruce, run up to her. "The King has been staring at you." He said, his blue eyes gleaming. "I think he likes you."
Jade's own eyes widened at her brother's words. "I think your crazy." She said. "Surely the King was staring at one of the other ladies-the ones who actually went to swoon over him!"
Jade looked at the King, who gave her a scared smile and turned back to his group of swooning women. Jade blushed and looked at her dress again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Bruce's eyes on her. "Go talk to him." He said, and gave her a shove.

King Duncan of Araluen was not having a good time.
Sure, he loved the prospect of being King. Almost everybody does their first year or so.
What he didn't like was the fact that a crowd of women had started to crowd him on his throne. He sighed silently and glanced up.
That's when he saw her. He shook his head as he took in her red dress, and the fact that she was no where near him.
He saw her take a peek at him and she looked back at her dress, almost instantly. He stood up, knocking a poor lady off his lap, like one would a cat. The lady stared up at him, clearly upset, but he chose to ignore her. His royal garments shone in the flickering candle light, and this caused even more commotion from behind him. He sighed, louder this time, and some ladies took the hint, and left. He turned to face the last few ladies.
"Excuse me, but I'm going to take a break." He said, walking off. The ladies glared after him, but left.

How Jade ended up in the gardens, she didn't know. She only knew that she needed to get out of that room. She sat on a bench, and crossed her legs at the ankles. She took a deep breath, and looked at her feet. Boy, had she messed up her chance to find love.
"My Lady?" A voice asked from behind her. "Any reason why you're out here alone?"