Chapter Five: All's Well

Queen Eleanor was still looking around the room with concern half-way hidden in her luminous eyes when her younger son came walking jauntily in, looking around at all the spectators, who were in turn looking at him with raised eyebrows. Sebastyen slid neatly through the crowd, stopping only once or twice when he knocked someone over.

Poor clumsy boy, she thought. Sebastyen reached the thrones and took a seat next to his mother, who looked at him with gentle inquiry in her eyes.

"Why is everybody here so early?" he asked in the insipid tone he put on when he was required to sound particularly stupid.

"They aren't, dear. The ball started almost an hour ago." Queen Eleanor didn't mention that people hadn't started to show up until twenty minutes ago. She permitted herself a small sigh. What was it with people these days? They were so....so lazy.

Sebastyen turned from his mother to his father and gave him a silly grin and a nod of greeting. Then he turned his glance on the people who were talking to his parents. Then his jaw dropped and he stared.

Queen Eleanor saw his expression and knew exactly what had occurred. She smiled. Sebastyen had seen Christine, of course.

Sebastyen had seen Christine. His mind was a whirl of blankness, and he was conscious only of the pounding of his heart. His pulse was going haywire. His mouth was dry, his lips were cracked, his eyes were wide, and his nostrils flared. For five full seconds he couldn't think of anything. Then he became aware of the word that was throbbing through his brain.....

Wow....wow....wow....wow....wow....

He suddenly came back to himself and sat up straight. At that moment, Christine

glanced his way, and he saw in an instant that the effect he had on her was not nearly the same as the effect she had on him. She didn't give him a second thought. She would have loved Arch, he thought bitterly, but his mind rejected the implication. What was he going to do? He suddenly thought of a way to make known his feelings and still keep up his character. What would people expect of an idiot suddenly in love, but that he would propose at first sight?

"May I be introduced to the young lady?" he asked his mother loudly, making sure

that the young lady herself would hear. His mother looked somewhat surprised to hear a coherent statement out of her son, but nodded kindly assent and called Eva and her sister over.

"May I present," said Eva again, and Sebastyen looked right through her. All he saw in passing was a small, round person with dark hair. ".....my sister Christine," Eva went on, "...of the House of....."

"Christine," interrupted Sebastyen, enraptured. He stood up out of his seat, and kneeled before her. Christine gasped at (presumably) his presumptuousness, as he took her hand and pressed it to his lips.

"Christine," he repeated. "This is the first time I've ever seen you."

This was obvious to everyone, since he had asked to be introduced just two minutes before.

"And to see is to love," said Sebastyen, somewhat unoriginally. "And to hear is to obey. If you, with your eyes of truth, deem me unworthy of your love, send me away. However, if you're not sure— marry me!"

He looked deep into her eyes of purest blue, framed by hair of purest gold, and gave her a slow wink. Christine gasped again.

Queen Eleanor smiled broadly. She might have expected this from Sebastyen. And, though she thought perhaps that the young woman might be better matched with Prince Archibald, she couldn't help thinking that the intellects, at least, of the two young people was going to render them perfect for each other.

Eva stood quietly by her sister's side. She had beamed in happiness and pride as Sebastyen kneeled before Christine and began his proposal. She smiled so widely, in fact, that people less charitably inclined would have called it a grin. It wasn't until she saw Sebastyen's great dark eyes looking up appealingly that a dart of something sharp and hot shot into her heart, and it wasn't until he gave the slow wink that she realized what it was.

To see is to love. Oh good heavens. Eva's face took on an expression of shock. Sebastyen, still intent on his beloved's face, didn't see a thing.

"But—" said Christine, at quite a loss. "But—" She turned to Eva for help.

This was, quite naturally, the last thing Eva would have wished for. As a matter of fact, Eva suddenly began silently cursing her fairy godmother, wherever and whoever she was, for not watching out for her, and for allowing her to get into such a position. How could she advise Christine to marry the prince if she, Eva, was herself in love with him? Eva didn't stop, at the moment, to determine if she really did love him or not. She certainly thought she did, and an entire lifetime of happiness was too much to leave up to chance. On the other hand, how could she tell Christine not to agree to marrying the prince, if Christine might very well be in love with him as well? Eva had quite a lot of basically unfounded faith in Sebastyen's ability to charm.

Finally, Eva simply shook her head and whispered into Christine's ear: "I can't help you make this choice. You must do it on your own."

Christine frowned in an agitated manner and looked back at Sebastyen, who was still on his knees, his lips stretched in a tense, expectant smile. "I— I—" she faltered. "I—"

Sebastyen's smile began to waver. Eva, like him, was finding the suspense unbearable, and poked her sister in the back.

"I— I can't!" cried Christine. "I'm terribly sorry, Your Highness, I simply can't marry you!"

Queen Eleanor breathed in deeply and let out her breath in something suspiciously like a sigh. Sebastyen allowed his face to collapse as though he was crestfallen. Then he realized he was crestfallen. The beautiful creature had refused him! And once again, the thought that she would have consented to anything Arch had asked her crossed his mind.

He stood up, swaying a little on his feet, and made his voice sound cheerful. "Ah, well, some other time then. Dance with me instead?"

And he offered her his hand.

Christine hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, apologizing again. Sebastyen's smile disappeared once more as Christine turned and ran— or at any rate, walked very quickly, back to her mother, who had observed the whole thing.

"Well—" began Sebastyen, turning back to his parents.

"Dance with somebody else," ordered the king, determined, now that Sebastyen had come so close to matrimony, to press what advantage he might have and so see him married off to somebody before the evening was out. King Henry had a number of small, odd goals of this sort, which he never quite saw to the end.

Sebastyen turned around, and, quite naturally, the first face he saw was that of Eva.