Chapter One: Barren
"How does a ball sound?"
"Absolutely not. If you want a ball, have it at your own damn place."
"I actually liked the idea." A third voice ventured.
"Of course you do. You love the chance to show off."
"Andros, that's not being fair." Zhane cautioned.
"You're damn right it's not fair!" Ashley snapped. "And rude to boot. Just because you hate to socialize doesn't mean the rest of us should be doomed to boredom as well."
"Then you go with Zhane and plan parties every day for all I care!"
Zhane was silent, but watched his friend with a thoughtful expression.
Ashley, however, stood up from the dinner table and fixed Andros with an angry stare. "If you hadn't kept me here maybe I could!"
"You forget it was Zhane who kept you from getting onto the ship."
"But it was you who made me miserable!"
"Miserable?" Now Andros stood up. "If you have been miserable, that is your own fault."
"My fault? All I have for company is you and your servants." She moved around the table to stand in front of him. "Frankly, I enjoy the servants better!" With that said she pushed past him and ran from the room.
"Ashley, come back here!" He yelled after her. She did not answer. Turning back to see his friend he mumbled. "Damn."
Zhane watched Andros with a slight smile. Yes, it was there all right. All he had to do was get them both to realize it.
"If not a ball, then how about a nice dinner?"
"What?" Andros had not heard his friend, thinking instead about how angry Ashley made him. Miserable indeed. What had he done? For that matter, what had he not done for her? He had done everything for her!
"I said, if you won't have a ball, then a small dinner party. We can invite a few close friends, and hold it, oh, say a week from today."
Andros raised an eyebrow. "On Valentine's day?"
"Why not? We can even exchange valentines, like when we were younger."
Andros remembered the custom. Everyone would pick a name from a hat, write a valentine poem, and place it in a box. On Valentine's Day evening, everyone would pick out their respective valentines and read them aloud, trying to guess who wrote it.
Andros frowned. "I suppose"
"Wonderful!" Zhane stood and walked over to his friend, clasping his arms. "I'm so glad you agree, I'll start preparing at once. I'll leave it to you to ask Ashley."
"What?" Andros stared at his friend.
"Well, you do have to apologize."
"I do not!"
Zhane shook his head. "You never learn."
With that he also walked out of the room. Andros frowned deeply. Kings were not normally dismissed in such a manner. It would do him good to marry that girl off to his friend. Then perhaps, he could live in peace.
And sleep in peace, without dreaming about her stormy eyes.