The King's Crest

Chapter 5

"You know, I vaguely remember this painting of my mom's old best friend from about twenty-five years ago. Yes, that's it a painting of a lady in the same white dress, that has the gold embroidery along the hem, separated by a light blue sash a little above your, I mean her, waist making the slight puff of the dress even more drastic. I must say, it was hard not to watch you come down the stairs. In other words, Princess Katerina, you look absolutely gorgeous. Just like your mom. Any parent would be proud of you." Jeremiah said as we walked toward the middle of the floor to begin to dance.

"Rem, you're going to make me cry saying things like that! Thank you," I said smiling, trying not to get teary eyed.

"In that case, wait until we are slow dancing and your head is closer to me, then no one would realize you're crying," he teased.

"Oh yeah, that's great until my face is all red," I giggled.

The music then began and Rem held out his hand. I held out my hand in return ready to begin our dance. Our dance felt so natural, it was clear we've done these dances over and over again. We talked a bit but this time we were more focused on our fluid dancing. My dress was flowing around me as I swirled around Rem. After a few minutes we were drawing to the end of the dance. I was drawn in to Rem and we began a short slow dance. Finally, he slowly spun me around and we ended in our curtsy and bow. We clapped and people took a break from dancing, or at least we did.

"My prince, would you mind accompanying me to meet the friend who came in with me tonight?" I asked.

"I was wondering who she was, but I never doubt you when you bring someone new into the family. Shall we find her, Lady Katerina?"

He gave me his arm which I looped my arm through his and we walked near Lady Clara, with Clara, her kids, and Kristine in sight. We drew close to them and as we came nearer I say Krissy's eyes widening when she saw the crowned prince of Vezana come towards her. I forgot to remind Krissy earlier that I was friends with Rem.

When we first came up to them Kristine was unusually quiet and shy around the prince. I had only met her earlier that day, but I felt like I had known her so well, and she wasn't normally shy. Jeremiah was a very calm person and good with kids and soon she came out of her shell. In no time, Jeremiah had her laughing and smiling. I knew people were watching the crowned prince play with a little girl. What Rem didn't realize, but people seeing him like that will add to people liking him when he is king. His compassion is partially why we're still friends.

I walked away from them even though they kept talking, but I noticed people were personally greeting the king and queen currently and I wanted a chance to talk to her. As I came close to them, I noticed the queen had a slight cough. I came closer and noticed blood. I'm not a physician but I know that's not healthy. Suddenly more blood came out and she fell to the floor. By this point I was close and saw as blood puddled on the floor and the wine in her cup rolled away. Everyone looked toward her.

King Isaac threw himself to her on the floor, and kneeling, he held his wife in his arms as tears began falling down his face. I was in complete shock. Normally if this wasn't such a public event I would have yelled at the servants to do something but I know I couldn't as long as royalty was present. I waited for what felt like hours for the king or prince to say something. Eventually I faintly heard the King Isaac yell to Lady Clara and her husband to go with some servants and get the children out and home as tears poured out of his eyes. I briefly thought of Krissy and I looked frantically around to see if I could spot her. Rem was still near her encouraging her to go with Clara.

Poor Rem, this was his mom lying on the floor bleeding out.

King Isaac yelled at another servant to go get Queen Eleanor's physician immediately, the job that previously belonged to my father.

Without even realizing I had done so, I looked down to see myself kneeling on the ground next to the queen trying to flip her over with the assistance of the frantic king. From a mere touch my hands were covered in blood.  I felt tears stream down my face as I saw the lady who practically raised me on the ground dead. I knew the physician couldn't do anything. Still, we needed to know any medical information possible.

I couldn't move. I felt someone's strong arms wrap around my waist and shoulders and pick me up. I assumed it was Rem considering I didn't know many other men who would do that. However, I looked to my side and saw Rem pacing beside me. At that point I did care who it was, I turned my face to their shoulder and tried not to look. I clenched my hands tighter on the man and tried to bury my face further as I continued to cry. I've seen dead people before, but this was a deep, personal matter this time.

I felt the cold wind blast against my back as doors swung open and a shiver went up my spine. After a few more steps I was carefully put down on a stone bench with the man still holding on to me to stabilize me. He knelt down next to me with one hand on my knee. I finally saw who was carrying me; it was Prince Charles. "Oh, Prince Charles!" I wiped my face trying to regain my composure before I continued. "I'm so sorry you had to see me like that. Had I known it was you carrying me I wouldn't have buried my face so much." I looked at his suit and realized the blood on my hands was smeared on him.

He commanded one of his guards to go get my cloak. In the meantime, he put his overcoat around me while we waited. Then he said, "It is fine. You had all the reason and the right in the world to do that. I can only hope you'll be okay. I can't imagine what you're going through right now," he gave a frown when finishing his sentence.

I felt another tear run down my face as I tried to smile at Prince Charles to show my appreciation for his kindness. He wiped my eyes before he started talking again, no doubt to get my mind off of the situation. "By the way, I liked it better before you referred to me as a prince," Charles commented.

"I wish I could call everyone one by their less formal names, but I'm afraid it's not very proper for a lady," I replied.

"Well then Katerina, I'm glad you weren't born rich so you can call me Charles." With that he was able to get us to both smile.

Jeremiah walked up. He wasn't crying, but he was red. Who could blame him though? I myself was a mess. Very straightly he looked at me and said, "Katerina, we have a job to do."