A Secret Love

Chapter Two

"Father, do you need me for anything?" I asked, hoping that the answer is "no".

"Yes, there are a few more suitors who would like a chance to dance with you. Please go out and dance with any man who asks you to dance. We need to find you a husband before your seventeenth birthday."

I quietly sighed, which was difficult in the dress I was wearing. "Of course father. I know that you and mother want me to be married as soon as possible."

I walked away from him and stood on the outer edge of people who surrounded those that were dancing. It wasn't long before a man asked that they dance with me, and I graciously accepted, knowing that it was expected of me. I bowed my head as he bowed at the waist. Then we started to dance. The gentleman twirled me around the dance floor, and the brilliant dresses of the other ladies were blurred until they were just splotches of colors against a tan background.

We soon stopped twirling and continued on with the rest of the dance. The gentleman than stopped, bowed again and left. I started to walk back to the people off the dance floor, when someone grabbed my hand and asked me to dance. I turned my head to see another duke, and I wished it was Xavier.

I smiled politely to the duke and bowed my head once more while he bowed at the waist. We started to dance like the other couples around us, his hand on my waist and mine on his shoulder. We held each others hands and I stepped closer to him, but made sure we still had some distance between our bodies. As we began to dance, the duke pulled me extremely close to him, our bodies touching. I was uncomfortable and tried to wiggle my way out of the embrace.

The duke held me tightly to him as he felt me try to get away. He continued to lead me across the dance floor, as if nothing were wrong. I tried pulling away harder, but to no avail. He was stronger than me. Suddenly, we stopped dancing, and the duke's hold on my waist loosened. I looked up and saw him looking over his shoulder at someone. I couldn't get a good look at who he was talking to before the duke let me go and walked off. I looked at the person before me now and saw that Xavier was the one who had saved me.

"Xavier, we are in public, what are you doing?" I whispered, barely moving my lips so that no one would know we were talking.

"Why hide our friendship anymore? It's tiring and becoming harder everyday." Xavier's lips hardly moved as well.

"But, our fathers will be angry. We don't want them shouting and making a scene."

"They should know better than to make a scene at a ball. Just dance with me, everything will be fine."

I thought it over for a minute than said, "I hope you are right."

"I think I deserve at a least a thank you for helping you," Xavier said aloud so that everyone could hear.

"You are right. Thank you," I said, playing my part.

"Would you care to dance?"

"I would love to." I could hear people lightly gasp and whisper amongst themselves.

Xavier took one of my hands in his, then formally bowed like the other gentlemen had. I bowed my head once more, then moved so that my other hand was resting on his shoulder, and his hand rested comfortably on my waist. He didn't pull me close like the others had, he let me decide how close our bodies should be to each other. I stepped so that was only a centimeter between us. We started to fly across the dance floor, and I couldn't hear the murmurs of the crowd anymore as I solely focused on Xavier and dancing with him.

When I danced with Xavier, it felt right, and I found myself having an urge to put my head on his chest. I knew that I shouldn't, that it would cause even more of an uproar among the crowd, so I kept my head where it was. I danced with Xavier until the end of the song, as we started to come to a slow stop. I looked into his eyes, and got lost in them, forgetting that we were at a ball and surrounded by many people. I almost forgot how to breathe as I stared into his bright emerald green eyes.

"Zaylin! What are you doing?! How dare you dance with him?!" I suddenly heard my father's voice yell, and I tore my eyes away from Xavier's.

"Father, you told to accept anyone who asked me to dance, and he did. It was a thank you for helping me get out of a situation earlier." I explained calmly, even though on the inside I was scared.

"It does not matter that he helped you! You shouldn't have danced with him!" my father was outraged. I gave a slight nod of my head and got out of Xavier's arms. I walked over to my father and stood obediently beside him. I looked at Xavier one last time, telling him I'm sorry with my eyes before I left the ball with my father.