by K. E. Drake
“I’m sorry, Ruby. I just needed some time by myself after dancing with the prince.” Melody grimaced at the memory.
“You didn’t like dancing with Prince Samuel?”
“No, I did not.”
“Why not?” Ruby sounded shocked. “If you were to marry him, he would take you on quests and adventures. He’s always going on them.” She wistfully sighed, fiddling with the ruby ring that hung around her neck on a delicate silver chain. “Did you know,” she started, “that the prince is going on an adventure in search of rare and priceless jewels in just a few weeks time? I’m not sure about the details. My stepsister Lianna told me about it.”
Melody fixed Ruby with a deep frown. “First,” she said, lifting her right hand and pointing her index finger to the ceiling. “I do not want to go on an adventure, especially not with prince Samuel. Second,” she raised a second finger. “I do not want to marry him to do so. Or at all, for that matter.” She huffed and lowered her hand, placing it on her hip. She turned around to see couples readying to dance again.
Something caught Melody’s notice from the corner of her eye and she turned her head to see Prince Samuel walking in her direction. She gave a small gasp and looked for somewhere to hide. She ducked behind Ruby, bowed her head, and pulled in her skirt. “Don’t move,” she whispered urgently to her friend. “I don’t want him to see me.”
“I think it’s a little late for that,” Ruby sounded suspiciously like she was holding back a laugh. She dipped a curtsy to Prince Samuel and moved from in front of Melody. She then turned back to the tables, picked up the tray, and left, leaving Melody unguarded against the smirking prince.
“Hello again, Princess.” The Prince sounded amused.
“Your Highness.” Melody straightened up and gave a slight curtsy, although she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I came over to ask if you would care to dance with me again.” He offered his arm as the band started to play a slow song.
What should I say? I can’t bear to make a spectacle of myself again. “I... am sorry, but I was saving this dance for someone else.” Melody finally brought her eyes up and quickly searched the crowd for someone to dance with. No… No… Aha! “My apologies, Your Highness, but I really must go now.” She bowed her head, picked up her skirts, and quickly made her way towards her dance partner, leaving the prince behind.
Melody made her way across the filling dance floor and curtsied to the man from the gardens. “Would you care to dance with me?” She asked as she straightened and looked into his face.
He tilted his head slightly, and she lowered her voice. “Please?”
A moment passed and a grin spread across his lips. He extended a hand to Melody. “Far be it for me to turn down a lady daring enough to ask. Much less one as lovely as yourself.”
Melody breathed a sigh of relief and placed her hand in his, and he led her onto the dance floor.
They took their place and he put a hand on her waist. The music swelled as couples swirled and they joined the dance.
“Can I ask why you asked me to dance with you? Or is that information confidential?” His pale eyes sparkled as they searched her face.
“Why, because I haven’t noticed you participating in any of the dances this evening,” was Melody’s excuse.
She tried to keep from looking into his face, so she gazed beyond the ballroom to the gardens outside. The sun cast rays of warm light in through the windows, bathing the ballroom in orange light.
“You are a terrible liar, my lady.” He drew her attention back to him. He twirled her in a circle then brought her back to himself. “What is the real reason?”
Melody bit her lip as if pained. She looked back over her shoulder and found the prince standing alone near the edge of the dance floor.
“Ah. Avoiding the prince, are we?”
Her gaze snapped back to the stranger. “Sir, that is not the reason-” she started.
“You don’t have to make excuses with me, Princess. I saw you talking to him right before you asked me to dance.”
Melody watched her partner with eyes narrowed as they moved in beat with the slow song. “Were you watching me?”
He considered her a moment before answering. “Only a little,” he admitted with a smile. “You’re quite intriguing. First you run away from a prince. Then I find you hiding out in the gardens, and you run away from me. Sometime later, to avoid dancing with the prince, you ask a perfect stranger to dance with you.” He quietly chuckled, and Melody’s cheeks heated as she stared at the buttons of his black shirt.
“What is your name, then?” she asked to cover up her embarrassment.
He only looked at her, and she tried again, “You said I asked a perfect stranger to dance. What, then, is your name, sir?”
He gave an inclined bow of his head, and a chocolate-colored curl fell to brush over his brow. “It’s Lyall. Lyall Monroe.”
“Sir Lyall. You may call me Melody. There, now we’re not perfect strangers anymore.” Melody smiled, and Lyall laughed. He spun her in one last twirl before the music faded and they stopped dancing. They stood there for a moment until the musicians started another song and the couples began dancing again.
Melody looked up at Lyall. She opened her mouth to say something, but noticed Prince Samuel approaching through the crowd of couples, moving straight in their direction.
Melody gave a soft groan, and Lyall noticed and followed her gaze until he saw the prince as well.
He released Melody to offer her a bow and then extend his arm out to her. “Would you do me the pleasure of stepping out onto the balcony with me, Miss Melody?”
Melody breathed a sigh of relief and nodded as she took Lyall’s offered arm.
They turned their backs on the advancing prince and walked through the crowd and up the stairs, arm in arm.
When they reached the balcony doors, Lyall opened the door and held it open for Melody.
She gave a quick glance over her shoulder to the ballroom floor and saw the prince being flocked by a group of young nobleman’s daughters who were talking and waiting to dance with him. She turned back to Lyall and he led her onto the balcony.
The sun was soon to set and the golden rays bathed the palace, casting the entire garden in hues of pink and orange and making the castle’s white marble outer walls glint with gold.
Melody and Lyall stopped along the railing of the balcony and stood side by side.
Melody admired the gardens a moment, her favorite location of both the palace or the palace yards. She lifted her eyes to look at Lyall, and he seemed almost tense as he watched the sun set. She opened her mouth to ask him about it, but decided against it as they stood in a comfortable silence.
After some time, Melody cleared her throat. “Thank you, by the way.” She remarked, reaching up to adjust her mask when Lyall turned to her.
“For what?” he asked.
“For... for helping me to avoid the prince.”
“The pleasure was mine.” Lyall relaxed enough to smile at her. “Now, are you going to tell me why you don’t like this prince? Or is that just another mystery about you that I’ll have to solve on my own?”
Melody gaped at him. Mystery? She opened her mouth but no words came out. She shut it and took a moment to gather her thoughts. “It’s not that I don’t like him. I hardly know him” she started. “He seems to be a pleasant sort of man, but I think he wants to...” she trailed off, and Lyall frowned at her. “I think that he means to marry me,” she finally admitted.
Lyall’s frown deepened, but he remained silent, allowing her to continue.
“I know the queen would have me marry him, although she would never force me to do anything. I’m not sure about the prince, but he did say that he was looking for a wife. That’s why I have been avoiding him.” She looked into Lyall’s eyes and suddenly she found herself admiring them. A thought passed through her mind and she couldn’t help but ask, “Will you remove your mask?”
&nbs
p; He tilted his head in question, but couldn’t help the smile that quirked up one side of his mouth. “Why?”
The urge to fidget washed over Melody, but she resisted it. “I would like to know what you look like without it. Will you, please?”
“I could ask you the same question.” He teased but started to reach for the ties of his mask when he stopped, his attention caught by something inside the ballroom.
Melody turned to see what Lyall was staring at and saw the main doors to the ballroom had been pulled opened and a man entered the ballroom. It took her a moment to place him, but she recognized him as King Cassius of the neighboring kingdom of Glendower.
The king had short, dark hair and a trimmed beard. He wore an adorned and costly looking coat of light-brown, brown boots, and a golden crown on his head, but no mask covered his face. He did a full sweep of the room and only then did he start to walk down one of the staircases and out of Melody’s view.
“Is something wrong?” She asked Lyall as she turned to face him again, but he was gone.
Chapter Three
Gone
Melody turned in a complete circle but didn’t see Lyall. Where could he have gone to?
“Sir Lyall,” she called to the gardens below. No answer. Why did he leave? Melody went down the balcony stairs and through the gardens to look for him. The sun had sunk behind the tops of the trees on the horizon, but it gave her just enough light to search through the gardens. She checked the queen’s rose garden, the flower garden, the fruit, vegetable, and the herb gardens. Finally the sun set, and she was left in the dark. He was nowhere to be found.
With a heavy sigh, Melody turned to the palace and wound her way back up the balcony steps, wondering what went wrong. She stepped through the doors, returning back into the bright lighting and vibrant atmosphere. She paused near the top of the stairs to watch the couples below dance until the music ended and they walked off the dance floor.
Melody searched the crowd for Monet. Instead, she saw Prince Samuel standing near one of the windows with his back to her as he currently talked with a young noblewoman.
Melody continued her sweep over the room and finally found Monet at the other end of the ballroom, talking to the king of Glendower.
She grabbed her skirts and walked down the stairs in the direction of the queen, taking the long way around the room to avoid any possible encounter with the prince. As Melody approached Monet, she heard the king make a comment about Monet’s red dress complimenting her rosy complexion, which caused Monet to giggle. He was opening his mouth to complement the queen again when Melody cleared her throat.
Monet noticed her and smiled brightly. “Oh, Melody! Are you having a nice time tonight?”
I was. Melody thought, but to Monet she said, “I’m not feeling very well. I thought I would retire for the evening.”
Monet’s expression suddenly changed. “Oh, my dear. Are you all right? You’re not sick, are you?” She went to Melody and pressed the back of her hand against her forehead.
“I am well,” Melody assured her as she stepped out from under the queen’s hand. “Only tired.” She smiled to ease her adoptive mother’s worry.
Monet nodded, though still looked concerned as Melody moved a step back.
She bade the queen good night and slipped out a doorway to the side of the room, leaving the ballroom behind.
The cool evening breeze blew through Lyall’s hair. Twigs snapped underfoot as he walked slowly through the forest, lost in thoughts of Melody.
He felt terrible for leaving her so suddenly, especially when she needed an excuse to stay away from the prince, but he had no choice. He couldn’t have stayed any longer.
“Idiot,” he growled to himself. He shouldn’t have stayed so late at all, but then he met her, and all time seemed to run away from him.
The hour was late and when that mad king came to the ball… Lyall couldn’t risk being seen. It would have been nothing but trouble, big trouble. But he had left Melody all alone again, when she had been desperately seeking to avoid that prince.
The entire kingdom knew of Avon’s current financial state, and many were likely also aware that the prince of Avon was looking to make a good match for his kingdom, and yet, Melody had said the queen wanted her to marry the pauper prince! She wasn’t even born a princess and she was being encouraged into a marriage to someone for the gain of others.
Lyall growled again in frustration, louder this time. I should have explained to her why I had to leave. Yet I couldn’t have told her why. She would never have believed me.
Even the cool forest air could not cool down the boiling anger that he had towards the king, the prince, and even himself.
She did seem brave though. It took courage to ask a man to dance. Lyall chuckled in spite of himself, remembering her look of relief when he agreed to dance with her.
The light of the moon shone through the canopy of trees, shining plenty of light on the forest path for Lyall to see by.
He would have to go back and formally apologize to Melody, but he couldn’t yet. He was in no form to tonight and he would have to make sure there would be no one who would recognize him. Especially not the king of Glendower.
The sound of crunching foliage filled his ears. He had heard her call for him after he left. He had quickly slipped down the stairs while her back was turned. He hadn’t known what else to do. He had just made it to the edge of the woods when she called for him. Then he ran.
And just in time.
Lyall’s heart ached at the thought of leaving her alone at the same event with the king and the prince. He growled at himself, trying without success to ease the throbbing pain in his heart.
Thinking about it won’t solve anything. I need to stop dwelling on it.
Lyall abruptly stopped walking. He took a deep breath of the cool night air and let it out. He stretched his legs, bent his knees, and he ran.
Chapter Four
Questions
“He just left?” Ruby asked Melody, rather loudly, when they were together in Melody’s main bedroom.
The room was a large space with two tall windows. It was furnished with a light blue rug, white wood tables, a hearth, chairs and settees of white and sky-blue, and a large, plush bed made up with coverlets of the same colors. A set of glass doors led to a small balcony, and paintings of sunsets and landscapes adorned the blue painted walls.
Melody sat at vanity table on a white wood bench. She had changed into a nightgown and had just finished telling Ruby the story of her evening as her friend brushed and braided her hair for her.
“I turned around and he was gone,” she confirmed with a nod, earning a tug on her braid from Ruby.
She then smoothed the braid and continued to weave the separated strands together. “I’m sorry, Mel. It sounded like you were really having a nice time.” She tied off the end of the braid with a blue ribbon. She then seated herself beside Melody on the leftover space on the bench. “Who knows, maybe you’ll see him again.”
“How?” Melody asked. “I’d never seen him before tonight. At least I don’t think I have. I certainly don’t recognize his name.” She stretched her arms as she stood from the bench. She moved over to her bed and fell back onto the mattress with a sigh. “And why would I even want to see him again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re in love with him.” Ruby gave a sly grin. “Or maybe you’re in love with Prince Samuel and you just haven’t told me about it!”
Melody bolted upright into a sitting position. She grabbed a small pillow and hurtled it across the space at Ruby. The pillow hit her directly and Ruby caught it with a laugh before it could fall on the floor.
“Ruby, you are two jewels short of the King’s Treasure if you think I’m in love with a disappearing man or a popular prince!” Melody scolded her friend with a roll of her eyes.
“Whatever you say, Mel.” Ruby smiled and then looked out the window at the dim night sky. “I have to go. If I don’t get home
and to bed right now, I may just oversleep and miss work completely.” Ruby went to Melody and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, squeezing tight. She then straightened and left the bedroom, calling back, “See you tomorrow, Mel!”
Melody watched the door as it fell shut. “Dreamer.” She shook her head with a fond smile. She blew out the candle on her bedside table and laid back on her bed, not even bothering to get under the covers before she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Melody walked down the corridor to the kitchen doors and went through them into the hot kitchen. She went to the counter to retrieve the queen’s breakfast tray, but it wasn’t there. She turned to the chef, who stood by the stove stirring a large pot of oatmeal.
“Where is the queen’s breakfast tray, Gus?”
“She requested it early this mornin’,” he said as he set his spoon down. “She’s walkin’ in the gardens with that king right now.”
The gardens? In the morning?
“Thank you, Gus.” Melody turned and went out the kitchen door and was greeted by the sight of servants helping guest prepare to leave who had stayed overnight after the ball.
Melody took a breath of fresh air as she made her way towards the gardens, humming a tune under her breath to look casual. She came to a corner and slowed down when she heard voices coming from the other side a few feet away.
Melody hid herself beside the hedge at the corner and slowly peeked around the edge to see who the voices belonged to. It was just as Gus had told her. Monet and King Cassius sat side by side on a stone bench amid the garden of colorful and blooming flowers.
The king whispered something to Monet and she smiled as an evident blush colored her cheeks.
Melody strained her ears to try to hear what the king was saying. She couldn’t make out a word.
“What are you looking at?” a voice behind Melody asked. Melody jumped nearly as high as the hedge and clamped a hand over her mouth. She whirled around to find Ruby standing right behind her, watching her with brown eyes sparkling.
