Crowns and Daggers- Completed

Six.

I sat up straight, stretching my fingers and shaking them slightly to get out any tension. The girls were all sat on the seats close to the piano, cross stitching in hand. They stitch, I play. That's how music days work. I much preferred the piano to stitching and sewing.

I pressed a few keys, looking up at the music sheet in front of me and sighing. 

"What are you panicking about? You play this all the time." I looked up at Flo who was watching me. "You're good at it. Stop. Breathe. Play." She nodded at the piano before returning to her work in her hand. "Don't follow the paper if it's concerning you. You can do your own thing. That's why you like it. That's what you say anyway." 

My eyes were flickering over the white and black now. 

My head was filled with music combos, spinning around like I was on a merry-go-round going well over its top speed. Spinning and spinning. Spinning. 

Just breathe Ana. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breathe. 

Stupid Christopher. Getting in my head. 

'I don't bow to people below me.'  UGH. How disrespectful can you be. You're literally stood in my fucking palace. 

Stood in my garden, eating my food, drinking my wine, reading my books, listening to my music. And you're speaking to me like that. 

Who the fuck did he think he was. 

Stupid stuck up messy hair. Maybe I should get him a hair brush sent to his room. Maybe he forgot his, that's why he's always a mess here. Or I could get a book on royal protocols. Clearly he'd forgotten. 

I scrunched my face up and realised my fingers were playing away on their own. I couldn't focus on what they were playing but they were. 

He ruined my night last night too. I would have been so happy to have just sat there and read in the silence. Listening to the fire, sipping the red wine. It would have been perfect. Instead, what happened? He left when Bash came back, storming out. Bash laughed at me and we cleaned up the books from over the floor. By then I was exhausted and I just wanted to sleep. So I went to bed. And I'd like to say I slept but I didn't. 

I was up for hours, watching my fire burn out across the room. Tossing and turning. Getting madder and more frustrated by his presence. He wasn't even close by. He was on the other end of the fucking castle. 

God him being here made me feel horrendous. I hated it. Every time I saw his face, all I could think about was how he kissed me. How it felt so good when he did. How I'd had a little childish crush on him and he'd made my dreams come true. It would have stayed sweet. If he had just kept his fucking mouth shut. My god. What a stupid child. Thinking the first guy you ever met was going to be prince charming.  

I felt a hand on my shoulder and stopped. My fingers hitting the keys and making them go offkey. I clenched my fists tightly, looking up at Flo who was now the only other person in the room with me. 

"Ana-" 

"Where did the girls go?" 

"They had to go get ready for dinner." 

"Huh?" 

"Ana, it's been 3 hours. We literally all left an hour ago and Bash has just been sat here behind you." I turned back and Bash waved. I felt my eyes go wide, staring at my fingers that were now extremely sore. Beyond sore. They were hurting. Shit. "Are you okay?" I looked up at her and started laughing. 

It was a hard laugh. Deep and long, tears streaming down my cheeks from it. I couldn't tell if it was the pain that was making me cry or if it was from laughing but either way I was. She giggled at me but I could see Bash just cross his arms. He wasn't fooled. 

"Has it really been 3 hours?" I took in a few deep breathes, holding my side with one hand and tapping my tears dry on my cheeks. 

"Yes. You need to come get ready." She held her hand out and I used it to stand up. 

"Are you okay Ana? I've never seen you that into it before." 

"I'm fine. I don't know what happened. It felt like I was playing for 2 minutes. I don't even believe you that it's been so long." I looked at my fingers that were now red. "My hands hurt now though." We giggled and started walking through the halls. 

I knew she was right about the timing now, the halls were filled with people wandering with night time preparations and the halls were dark, waiting for the candle lighters to come around. I knew the timings of everything here all too well now. Like if we stood here, in approximately 3 minutes a lady was going to rush down the hallway with a silver tray and napkins. She wasn't doing anything important, moving napkins from one room to another but she always made it look like it was the single most important job in history. 

I turned a corner, rolling my eyes at the boys walking in the opposite direction. 

"Nice piano playing Anastasia." Stephen bowed and slapped his brother on the back, urging him to do the same. Ha. Take that. 

"Thank you Stephen. Time got away from me there." 

"Will you play tomorrow night, at the ball?" I tilted my head slightly. That was an interesting question. 

"That depends on my father." I smiled sweetly. Stephen was a sweet guy. I didn't have an issue with him. I could feel Christopher's eyes staring at the side of my face as I spoke to his brother in a way I hadn't spoken to him since we were kids. "I might be tempted into it. It's a matter of if other people want to hear me play though." 

"You're really good. I haven't heard someone play that intensely unless they were on stage." Flo cleared her throat. 

"Sorry to interrupt. Anastasia." She nodded and I smiled, looking at the floor quickly then back to Stephen. 

"We need to catch up Stephen. I feel like I haven't spoken to you in months." 

"Tomorrow morning? We can take a walk if the weather is nice?" 

"Sounds wonderful. I'll get someone to tell you when I'm ready." I looked at Florence who was stood behind them, eyes widening every second. "I should go. I think there's someone waiting for me." I walked past them, joining back with Flo, our pace a little quicker now. 

"What was that?" She whispered. 

"Me and Stephen have been friends since he was 5 and I was 7. I'm not letting his dickhead brother trash that. Strictly friends. He's younger. I am not marrying down age. Gross."