When The Gold Is Gone ✔ ~ trixya

Chapter 3: Anxiety Whispers

The moment he entered the room, he had the grasped the attention of Princess Beatrice. The Prince was shorter than she remembered, just around the height she herself was, possibly even shorter. His face was handsome, his eyes especially, Trixie thought.

For a moment, for some reason, she found herself thinking that he would be pretty as a woman. The notion was of course ridiculous, but she had always preferred the visuals of a woman over that of a man, and so she found herself imagining it. Trixie had felt attraction to both men and women many times in her nearly fifteen years of life, especially within the last year, and she had soon realized that something about women generally enticed her more than men did. Still, any such relation would be strictly prohibited by the laws of her country, and so she knew it best to keep such thoughts hidden away in her mind.

"Apologies for the delay. What a pleasure to have you with us again, Princess Beatrice." Prince Alexej said as he bowed, his tone of voice not matching his words.

"The pleasure it is all mine, I am so delighted to be back here after all these years." Trixie replied politely as she curtsied.

The Prince took her hand and kissed it, his lips surprisingly soft. It was custom and she was quite used to people kissing her hand when greeting her, but the young Princess still couldn't help her heartbeat from speeding up at the action, nor the tingle in her belly.

"Yes, we are all so pleased to have you with us again, it really has been too long. But only a few more years now and then you shall live here permanently." The Queen said. 

Trixie was about to cheerfully respond when the Prince interrupted her.

"Yes, what joy." He said sarcastically.

At this the Princess felt her heart drop, and suddenly an uncertainty which she had never known before grew within her. His tone had been so harsh, so clearly showing that he was far from excited at the prospect of Trixie staying there. She wondered if she had somehow done something wrong, offended him in some way, but she could not understand what that could be seeing as they had barely even had a conversation.

Did he not like the way she looked?
Was that the issue?

She had always been praised on her beauty and she regularly sent him photographs along with her letters, but was he somehow still disappointed in her looks? Or could it be the fact that she had sent photos at all that offended him? 

"Hmm... shall we eat?" The King said, earning approving comments from everyone since the silence was feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

All throughout dinner Trixie found herself wondering what it was that was annoying the prince, but finally she decided that he surely just had to be in a bad mood. It was a long summer, so she would see him in brighter spirits soon enough, the Princess assumed. 

The rest of the dinner went by well enough. Beatrice was trained enough in hiding her true emotions and putting on a charming face to stop the mood from going sour. It was still her job to keep the alliance alive, and she would not forsake that duty. She smiled and joked, put on a brave face whilst internally breaking. Doubts and fears invading her mind as she conversed happily with the King and Queen. Alexej had not stopped looking at her oddly, Trixie had no idea where the weird hostility came from, but she tried her best to ignore it. 

She felt like a doll, a marionette being forced to move and act like all was okay, her true feelings and worries trapped inside a hard shell. She had been so excited to see her friend again, but the excitement had quickly died out due to the Prince's cold attitude towards her. Still, she felt certain that she was overthinking it all, being overly dramatic about something that probably just boiled down to Alexej having a bad day. Surely, he would come to her and apologize in the morning once he had gotten a good nights sleep. 

If it was not simply the Prince having a bad day, if she had somehow managed to ruin their good relationship so quickly after her arrival, then she would be deeply disappointed in herself, and she did not even wish to imagine what her father's reaction would be. It was her responsibility to make this alliance work. She was no longer a child, not quite an adult either, but she was past the age of being babied. Her father would expect her to work to secure the fulfillment of the alliance, expect her to present herself as a good future wife for the Prince. If he heard any word of her being at fault for it somehow failing then he would surely not let her hear the end of it. He loved her, but he was also a King, a King who needed to protect his people and keep his alliances strong.

No, she had to succeed. 
She had to make sure that she and Alexej would part on good terms by the end of the summer.