ATHENA

TWO

1831,

The Kingdom of Thestoria, The White Territory

The Royal Palace

"I, King Jason Vincent, ruler and king of Thestoria, officially pronounce you, Prince Leonard Vincent, a knight of Thestoria."

Cheers and applause followed the prince's official promotion from Esquire to Knight.

Later into the evening, the ballroom was buzzing with a soft violin tune. It was packed with wealthy and noble men in their short-fronted tailcoats and fitted waistcoats worn over plain white linen shirts and their tight-fitting pantaloons and Hessian boots.

And noble women; wives and daughters of noble men or women bearing the titles independently, in their silky exorbitant dresses, with matching gloves and heels.

The clinking of wine glasses and soft sophisticated laughter and chatters filled the royal ballroom.

Prince Leonard Vincent weaved across the scanty crowd of wealthy braggarts with the knight's crown on his head. The whiffs of different perfume fragrance almost choked him. But nothing was more annoying than the waving and winking of the daughters of his father's friends. It irritated him how their flirtation, even as how subtle they were, demanded his full attention.

He found a less teeming corner and stood there with his almost empty goblet of champagne, praying he would not be confronted by any of those old men again about how much the responsibility of a knight entailed, all in the name of saying 'congratulations'.

Through the rim of his glass goblet, he spotted Lady Valeria Wellington walking over to him in a graceful strut. Her golden blonde hair was in a chignon, and her lips were painted red. Her blue ballgown which was sweeping the marble floors matched her blue eyes and her blue gloves.

Leonard could scarcely catch his breath at the ravishing sight before him. His eyes wandered from her beautiful face, down to her exposed shoulders and neck. It was pale and smooth, like a porcelain doll.

He gulped.

She curtseyed deeply when she reached him. "Your majesty."

Leonard, somewhat enthralled, smiled broadly. "Lady Valeria." He took the back of her soft flawless hand and kissed it. "You look stunning tonight."

She looked into his eyes, a pretty smile on her face. "Why, thank you. You don't look too bad yourself. I must greet you congratulations on your promotion. I came in after the pronouncement, I was really sad I missed it."

"Oh, it was nothing. You're fortunate to have missed the arrogant aura my father emitted while declaring me a knight."

She laughed. "Oh, I'm sure if I can handle your arrogance, I can handle that."

He feigned offense. "Are you saying I'm arrogant?"

"As a peacock." She laughed again.

He tried to hide his amusement but his blue eyes gave him away. "A peacock? I prefer the term 'as arrogant as a lion'."

"At least a lion has grace."

Leonard's brows flew up.

The expression on his face made Valeria burst into laughter as her gloved hand went to her mouth. "I'm sorry."

Smiling, his eyes roamed for few seconds until it met his father and an expensively dressed woman talking and laughing with him. They had been talking for quite a long time now. He turned back to Valeria, who had been checking him out. "Your mother and my father have been speaking for a very long time."