Saving Her Kingdom

♡ Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Three weeks later

Tomorrow was the day. The day I would meet my father again. After six long years.

I was filled with a nervous excitement, that only grew during the day, and failed to subside even after the several mental pep talks that I gave to myself.

Tonight was a ball once again, and I was now looking for Thomas in the crowd of people, after letting him dance with foreign princesses for a while to avoid any suspicion. We both weren't pleased about this, but we knew it was necessary, as the king himself had explained to Thomas in all details how he was supposed to behave, now that he was engaged.

I finally found him distancing himself from a beautiful tanned-skinned princess, that thankfully appeared as if she had no interest in him either, and started looking around too. I did a subtle wave in the crowd of people when he was looking in my direction, to which his face brightened up and he began to purposely march towards me to meet me halfway. He nearly got interrupted a few times, but most of the people, seeing his quick steps, figured that he was already heading somewhere.

My path got brutally blocked by a few passing gentlemen. I lost sight of Thomas and silently huffed in frustration. When they eventually went away, I saw Thomas excusing himself from a young lady, that had demanded his attention. Why was meeting my fiancé at a normal ball so complicated?, I sighed internally as our path got once again blocked by a group of chatting mothers.

When they continued on their path, I thankfully saw that Thomas was just behind them, and we finally closed the distance, him taking hold of both of my hands, since we couldn't exactly do anything else in public. We both exhaled in relief.

"What an adventure...", I commented, chuckling softly.

He nodded in agreement. "I don't remember having so much people at a ball before my courtship began."

"Well, we can't blame them for wanting to look for a husband or a wife..."

"That's right. Such big balls are always expected during a royal member's courtship," he said, and then squeezed my hands lightly, "Would you like to dance?"

I looked up at him with a smile, "Of course."

He looked around, noticing people keeping a discreet eye on us. "Let's do it the proper way," he suggested and bowed, taking one of my hands to kiss the back of my glove, "Would you do me the honor of dancing with you, my lady?", he asked, his eyes showing a happy twinkle.

"Yes, of course," I answered, smiling back at him. I curtsied like a proper lady, to make our appearance look better.

Thomas took my hand and placed it on his arm, before leading me to the dancefloor. We took our positions and the dance began, making us follow through the steps.

"So, tomorrow is the big day," Thomas stated, his eyebrows raised to show his anticipation.

I nodded in agreement, "Yes. It is," I let out a stressed breath, "I hope it goes well."

"Yes, me too. Do you want me to come with you?", he asked.

I hesitated. "Hm... maybe not on our first meeting, but I'd like to introduce the two of you as soon as possible."

"Alright," he nodded, and then added in a quieter voice, "I'm quite nervous to meet him, I must admit... I don't want to disappoint him."

I smiled at him fondly, "Of course you won't. I'm sure about that. It's quite an ideal situation that we have, considering our ranks and the friendship of our two kingdoms."