The dragon and the rose

Chapter III

I

Eric de Rocha was the son of one of the wealthiest and most influential men of Asturias – of course, only after the king. His father, the Marquis de Rocha, was Flavian's right hand and most trusted man thus he always followed the king almost everywhere and spent most of his life at the Asturian court. And Eric, being the son of the man who followed the royal family from castle to castle, had formed a strong friendship with the eldest princess, Constanza. For they were (nearly) never separated and basically grew up together, they developed strong feelings for each other; one of them had only brotherly love to give and the other, a tad bit more than that. And the one who was more affectionate had been very hopeful for some time as well, well, at least while he was still a child, and could be very patient and expectant too. But as he started to turn from a boy into a teenager and then eventually, into a man, his patience seemed to not be enough anymore; he suddenly grew eager, passionate and very-very restless. He had to know, he had to be sure, he could not wait until forever, he deserved to know if he at least had something to look forward to. So one day, Eric de Rocha, gathering all his courage and borrowing some more from the red, alcoholic liquid known under the name 'wine', kissed the crown princess right on the lips. He wouldn't have dared go any further than that but he had said that he would only analyze the girl's reaction and conclude from that whether it was worth it or not. But even though he had taken it into consideration, he never actually realized that it was a possible outcome so when he received his 'reaction', it hit him in the face like a blow.

When Constanza was kissed by the wine-scented mouth of his best friend whom she loved as dearly as she had loved her poor, dead brother, she immediately remembered the words of her mother. Although they were very vague, she knew that they applied to this situation; she had to preserve her honor even if she did not know how she could loose it. But Eric's kiss made her uncomfortable anyway thus she pushed him away and looked at him with a startled look on her face.

This was a long time – around half a year- ago though and the next day they both acted as if nothing had happened. Eric received his answer and Constanza tried to forget about the buzz in her stomach that did not disappear right after she dashed away from the boy with her face burning. But even though they started acting as mere friends again and even though Eric had initially reasoned and said that he would never think about her in such a fashion any more, he could not bring himself to do that. Thus everything was as if nothing had happened; Constanza forgot and Eric remained expectant, locking up all he felt inside of him.

The previous night the ball had been cancelled for King Henry had not arrived but the next day, the royal family were still expecting him; he was only late because he was reckless just as his father, had thought King Flavian, trying not to fantasize about his never coming. Constanza was bored sitting with Felipa in her chambers who was sewing some cloth. She detested sewing though, she thought it very frustrating and the needle always stung her fingers and she always smeared the cloth with her own blood which again, annoyed her and also disgusted her. So she had given up sewing and other womanly activities that a princess should have done and even if she was only sitting and thinking, she never wished to do them again. But this time, seeing that the sun was still up on the sky, she decided that she had plenty of time before the (postponed) ball and she was not the one who should welcome Henry anyway so she stood up and walked out of her chambers and into the small room in the attic where she hoped to find Eric.

Growing up together made Constanza and Eric develop certain common traits and have the same, great passion for one thing; the sciences and astronomy. Thus this quiet, hidden little room which they had found while wandering in the attic a few years ago, became their secret place and a small corner of the world where they could discuss whatever they felt like discussing and where they could hide whenever they did not want to be disturbed by anyone. And a princess, who was surrounded by people even while she was sleeping and had to be very cautious when sneaking out to watch the stars and have a pleasant stroll on the moon-lit seashore, valued this little room, their private space very highly.