The Princess in Forest Green

Chapter 8-The waltz

As we walk down the hall, knights are bowing down at me and Willow. We walk into the ball, and my father walks up and kisses my hand. "You did a good job Willow." He tells her, kissing her hand as well.

He brings me down the stairs and down onto my throne. We watch as people join into the hall, I see Jackson enter wearing a silverfish tunic over a plain white shirt. I can tell he bought these for this event. I wonder if my father bought it for him? 

A man interrupts my thoughts when he walks up to me. "Good evening, Princess," He bows to me. He's wearing a white suit with a silver lining. He has a large beard, with white streaks through it.  "Uhm," I stutter, and my dad nods to me. 

"Good evening prince..." 

"King, King Peters." 
Ah. A king, "Good evening King Peters," He smiles a bit and looks at my father, I hear the music starting. He's going to ask me to dance. "May I have this dance?" He asks holding his hand out. Knew it. I make a small sigh grabbing his hand. He kisses my hand as I stand up. 

"Shall we?" He asks, I nod and we walk down from the thrones to the dance floor. We stand next to another couple. He puts his hand above my waist and holds both my hands. Back, left, forwards, right. We repeat over and over. How original.

We hear the violins start as were dancing to the beat. I look over to Jackson staring, is he, jealous? I chuckle a little bit. "What is funny?" The Peters asks me. "Oh, nothing. Just my friend." He looks in the direction I was looking in. "I don't see any girls over there?" Peters says confused. "Don't worry about it," I tell him looking back at him. The song finishes. 

"Thank you for this dance, M' lady. You were lovely." He hands me a jewel. Oh? I take it and walk over to the food stand. I grab a piece of chocolate and chew on it. I look over and see a woman my age next to me. I look where she is looking, I follow her gaze to Jackson.

"Oh? Were you going to ask him to dance?" She asks me breaking my thoughts. "Hm? Oh no." I say with chocolate in my mouth. I quickly swallow. "No, we're just friends," I say wiping my hands together. 

"Do you think he would dance with me?" She asks hopefully. She was really pretty, she has a large poofy silver dress that glittered in the lighting.  She was wearing lots of makeup and her hair was silky and long. I always knew Jackson was popular with the ladies. Girls from the village asked him out all the time. 

"Yeah, he would." I see a smile grow on her face. "Thank you, see you later!" She excitedly makes her way across the dance floor. I lean against a pillar watching her. I was waiting for his reaction when another man stepped into my view. He was huge, at least 6 foot 8. I jump back a little, "Hello young lady." His voice said booming. I look up at his face and he has a huge scar across his face. His hair was unkempt and floated around his eyes. He looked at least 50 years old. 

Another song starts, and he holds his hand out for me to take. I groan under my breath and take it. I feel small compared to him, I am 5'4 while he is 6'8. As we dance, I can feel everyone's eyes on us. I see the girl I was talking to, and Jackson in her arms. 

The man picks me up to twirl like everyone else, but I thought he was going to throw me. I was barely even up to his shoulders. Finally, the dance ends. That was so awkward, he hand me a bag full of coins. I put it in my corset and walk away. 

I see Jackson and that girl sharing a laugh. I smile a tiny bit, I'm happy if he's happy I guess. 

Three hours later, I went through 4 more suitors. It's almost 10, two hours till finish. A boy my age comes up to me. "Hey, I'm Prince Noah. Your Keira?" he asks, "Hi, yeah I'm Keira." This must be the last suitor. He was my age and had half-dirty blonde hair with hazel eyes. He also had a strong jawline. 

"So, I think I'm the youngest suitor you've had so far?" He laughs, "Yeah you are. The last guy was 70 years old." I say laughing. "Oh?" He says looking concerned. We wait for this dance to finish. Jackson is still dancing with that woman. 

He pulls out notecards from his jacket pocket. and then quickly puts them away. 
"So, how has your evening been?" He asks quickly, did he just read that off a card? I try hard to not laugh. It was kind of cute, "Good, and yours?" He looks down and then back up. "Great, now. I finally get to talk to someone my age." He says quickly. The music ends, and he holds his hand out. 

"Would you," He looks over at the man nodding at him. His dad presumably. "Like to dance?" 

"Sure." I grab his hand and follow him to the dance floor. He's the perfect height. He starts dancing with me and accidentally steps on my foot. 

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" He says apologetically. "It's ok!" I laugh a tiny bit. He looks down while dancing. "Hey don't look down. That will look bad, just look at me." I tell him, and he looks back up and looks into my eyes. 

I help him dance a little bit easier. I can tell he was nervous, his hands were shaking. "Sorry, I'm not very good at this. My dance teacher was so mean" He laughs. "That's ok, I've been learning since I was 4." The song's mood changed to a slow song. I watch as everyone becomes closer, I do the same, and he stiffens up.

He puts his hand on my back as we dance. The lights dim down a bit. I feel my dress twirling around our movements. The clock chimes 11 times. The song ends and we separate. His father walks over to us, "Hello son, hello Princess." He says bowing. "I see you had a fun time dancing today." I nod, and Noah does the same. "My son is a bit of a clutz sorry, he hated dancing, and he's very socially awkward." Noah turns his face to the ground, and I see his ears go red. "He was a wonderful dancer, I enjoyed it," I tell his dad. "Oh! I think you two should get to know each other better." We both nod and he leaves. I turn to Noah, I feel so bad. His father just made fun of him in front of me. 

His ears are still red and he looks nervous. "Sorry about him," He said. Noah was fun to hand out with. He's better than the others. I smile at him. "It's ok, I get it." I look over and see my father walking to Noah's dad. 

I look over at Jackson and the girl and they are laughing in conversation. "Is that your boyfriend," Noah asks, looking at Jackson. "No, I guess not," I tell him. "Oh, sorry." He says sorrowfully. "Don't pity me. I don't care. Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask taking my eyes off Jackson and up at him. 

"Nah, girls at the village think I'm weird." He sighs. "Oh, sorry," I say. Why do they think he's weird? He's so nice. "Do you live nearby?" I ask him. "Yeah, next kingdom over. Just through the woods." Noah says fiddling with his thumbs. My father walks over to us. 

"Hello daughter, I'm glad to see you and Prince Noah are getting to know each other." I nod, and he smiles at us and grabs a muffin from behind us. He smiles with muffins in his teeth and walks away. 

Noah and I crack up. I hear a glass clink together a few times. "Hello everyone," My father says. "I would like to announce a few things." He says happily. "First, there will be another prince or princess in our family!" Signifying my mother's pregnancy.  Everyone cheers in happiness. Again? Every single pregnancy has failed. "And two, my daughter Keira, will be choosing her suitor soon!" All eyes were on me and Noah. I feel my face go red, everyone starts clapping and cheering. I put a fake smile on and wave. "Now everyone enjoys the food and dancing. It ends at 12!" 

For the next hour, suitors were talking to me about my choice and who I was going to choose I hated it, I don't want to marry any of them! "If you marry me, we will have 10 children!" "If you marry me, I will buy you anything you want!" "If you marry me, I will slay all of our enemies." I groan hearing every single one. I don't want 10 children with a 50-year-old!

Noah walks up to me with his dad. "If you marry me," He says unhappily. I can't tell if he's unhappy by saying this, or by asking to marry him. "I will promise you to be happy." He says dropping his card. I look down at the card reading, "If you marry me, I will promise you protection for you and your family." I gasp, and I see his father shoot him a look, a look my father shoots me when he's mad and will throw me down the cellar stairs. 

Happiness is the only thing I want in a marriage. I smile at him. "Thank you." I say, they both walk away and I pick the card up, and slip it into my pockets. I watch his father scold him from afar. 

"Keira," I turn around hoping to see Jackson. Its my father, "Hi." I say disappointed. "So, do you think you know who your going to pick?" I look over to Noah, "Uhm, I'm going to sleep on it." I tell him. "Good, because they'll be spending the day with us tomorrow." WAIT WHAT? "What?" I ask his loudly, the clock strikes twelve times. "Dad, you cant be serious!" I tell him, he shrugs and walks away. Everyone starts leaving the ballroom, Noah walk over to me. 

"Good night, princess." He says bowing to me. I look over to his dad looking happy. He departs as well. I run to my room, falling asleep in my dress.