It made her heart ache...beautiful moments like this...
He twirled her so effortlessly, their steps matching perfect time as the music rang around them, echoing off the glistening walls and flowing around them in waves of notes. She'd learned, through him, how to see these waves and relate them to the beauty of the world, how to read the music and give into it...he'd taught her to connect her heart to each key of the piano in his home and make a masterpiece. Her fingers weren't nearly so talented as his own, but with his constant playing alongside the storm or glow of his eyes, the tightening of his shoulders of the soft swaying of his head...she learned how to listen to the soul of the piece and the spirit of the player. He gave her a window into himself...and she was more than happy what she'd seen.
Whether it was his music that won her or his overall demeanor, she honestly didn't know. He was gentle and kind, calm and always reserved from acting too far in any one direction. Gilbert seemed bent on doing nothing less than utterly destroying this soft silky nature of his and she wanted nothing more than to possess it.
Their marriage, arranged by their bosses, was both a blessing and a curse. She got to hold his hands and stare back up into those beautiful eyes and for the first time in her life...she was completely blown away by a first kiss. Their binding kiss. A kiss that tasted like mint and sugar, surrounded by the scent of his cologne and timed by the mutual beating of their hearts. She felt that, for a moment, they truly connected as one. As man and woman, not as countries fulfilling their duty.
But the moment broke as their kiss did.
After all she knew him better than anyone at this point.
She saw how Gilbert angered him and how improper he could act first thing in the morning or when he was stressed. She knew how he liked his tea and how obsessed with his cakes he was and how close he lives with the notes his fingers could create. She learned his hands by watching them and knew his eyes and what they hid every time she gazed into them...and now they looked soft...but as if they were in pain.
A sour note.
That night he apologized to her for what they'd been made to do, but what he was saying sounded...oddly rehearsed. Of course the man had been in several political marriages by now so he was probably used to partners going on a small 'why-me?' spree after the ceremony. Still, it hurt, even though she laughed it off and said goodnight as calmly as possible, to be left alone on her wedding night.