Honor

Chapter Six: Dance With Me

Princess Annie strode confidently through the open doorway into the massive dance hall. Her maidservant, Reva, followed a few paces behind her, uncertainly shuffling her feet underneath the pale yellow dress. It was a tad too long on her, as she was noticeably shorter than her princess, which caused the gown to sweep along on the floor behind her like a cape. Sirs Auggie and Arthur, ever diligently following as per usual, were struggling not to tread on Reva's dress. They too had dressed up, looking less like royal knights and more like English noblemen.

Finding an empty spot by the massive wall of windows, Annie halted her little parade with a small sigh. Peering intently into the crowd, she couldn't see anything beyond the swirling skirts of the French ladies, some of whom were staring at Annie quite openly. Glaring back, Annie drew herself up to her full height, as if to dare the women to comment on her obvious bad attitude. Defeated, the women returned to their dancing and their companions, leaving Annie to her thoughts.

Several songs and a rather long uncomfortable silence between Annie and her company later, Prince Jai arrived wearing very expensive looking attire in a shade of deep blue with gold accents. Grasping Annie's hand, he pulled her gently away from the wall, "Come with me. My father wants to announce our engagement to the room. As you probably know, it's best he isn't kept waiting."

Annie realized he must have known where she was the entire time, but hadn't approached her until then.

Jai led her to the front of the room where a throne sat on a raised section of the floor.

On the elaborately decorated throne sat King Henry, a large, clearly-faked grin dawning on his face when Jai and Annie approached him.

"Ah, Princess Annie, darling," he practically cooed. His tone of voice sounded, if even possible, more fake than his facial expression, "Oh, it is such a lovely evening. The weather is fantastic, if I do say so myself. Are you enjoying your ball, Princess?"

Plastering on a fake smile to match the King's, Annie gave a small curtsy and answered him in perfect French, "Yes, my Lord. Both the weather and the ball are spectacular. Thank you very much for hosting this beautiful party it for me. It is quite an honor."

The King laughed heartily at her use of French. Before, she had addressed him in English. Jai also looked quite shocked; his earlier conversation with her in the main parlor had also taken place in her native tongue. He was fluent in English of course, as he was in the language of any country France did business with, but the Prince hadn't realized his bride-to-be shared this skill.

"You speak French?" Jai asked Annie with a blink, still shocked.

Annie nodded and shrugged, "Yes. I could since I was quite small. Language always came easy to me, I guess."

The King smiled, the action a little more sincere than his earlier one. Signaling to the band with a quick wave, he stopped the music and all eyes turned to the platform and its occupants.

"Welcome, everyone," the King's deep voice boomed and echoed in the massive room, "Tonight's ball is held in the honor of Prince Jai's betrothed, Princess Annie of England!"

The room erupted into muffled applause as Annie stood awkwardly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other under the silky blood red fabric of her gown. After what seemed like an eternity, the band started up again with a slow waltz.

To her relief, Annie found that Arthur, Auggie, and Reva had followed her to the platform and were waiting for her at the edge of the crowd. Just when she reached them, however, Annie felt a small tap on her shoulder. Turning quickly, she found Jai standing behind her, trying (and failing) to hide the small scowl gracing his dark features.

"Would you care to dance, Princess?"

Secretly giving Reva a very desperate look, Annie groaned quietly to herself and responded to his question, realizing that she had to dance with him. She was his fiancée after all.

"Of course, Jai."

Taking his offered hand, Annie allowed Jai to lead her out to the middle of the floor, where the crowd parted to give them room to dance. Letting her mind go numb, Annie let her body go on autopilot, suddenly thankful for her teachers making her learn French-style dancing. The song was an easy waltz and both Annie and Jai eased into an uncomfortable silence, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Thankfully, the song was short and, when it ended, Annie detached herself from Jai, nodding a silent thanks in his direction before slipping away into the crowd.

"I'm glad that's over," she breathed upon finding Reva and her guards. They stood against the wall of windows once again.

"He can't be that bad," soothed Reva gently, which earned a pointed look from the Princess. Suddenly, the maidservant's demeanor changed and she gave a quick curtsy to a figure behind Annie, blushing faintly as she did so. The Princess turned to see that Prince Jai had again approached her.

"Would you care to dance," he cleared his throat and sighed softly, "Um...again?" His tone suggested that perhaps he was doing this to please his father rather than to please himself.

"Actually," Auggie stepped forward as he spoke. He placed one of his large hands gently on Annie's bare shoulder as he continued, "The Princess has promised to dance with me."

Looking greatly relieved, Jai shot Auggie a thankful look, "Very well then." He allowed himself a small smile as he turned and quickly strode away to find another dance partner. Annie wheeled around sharply to look at Auggie, eyes wide with questioning, "Did you mean that?"

Auggie blinked and shrugged. He took his hand off her shoulder and ran it through his ever-messy brown hair, "Well, Princess, you didn't seem to want to dance with him again, so..." He trailed off helplessly and felt the beginnings of a blush forming on his cheeks.

Grinning widely, Annie grabbed his hands, "Okay, Auggie. Let's dance then."

Reva stared in shock as the two headed out to the middle of the dance floor. Arthur gave a pleased chuckle and the maidservant turned to look up at him with a questionable look. He caught her gaze, nodded his head toward the Princess and his own counterpart, "Well, Miss Reva, what do you think of that?"

"I think," the woman answered as she shifted her attention from Arthur back to the dancing couple with an amused smile on her face, "that Annie's father is not going to be pleased with this."

Arthur laughed loudly, a large grin spread on his face at the thought.

"No, I suppose he isn't."