Astoria

t w e n t y

Meredith stood by Isabella at the side of the dance floor. As soon as the coronation had finished, the celebration had begun. Meredith had demanded from Isabella an account of the crowning of the king, since she, as an employee of the palace, had not been present.

Now, Isabella was practically giddy, and was pointing out to Meredith who she thought was handsome. Meredith allowed herself to participate, being, for once, a girl, simply carefree.

"Who's that?" said Meredith, pointing at a tall, gangly man who seemed to be attempting to dance with every young lady in the room.

Isabella gave a rather unladylike snort and snickered. "That's Lord Richard. He's clumsy as all get-out and yet believes himself to be the best dancer of the court. I have my work cut out for me avoiding him. What? You don't think he's handsome do you?"

"No, certainly not, the poor man. But I can't help feeling sorry for him..."

"Who would you dance with?" said Isabella. "Choose three."

"But...I don't know anyone."

"I'll enlighten you."

Meredith turned her gaze back to the crowd before her, some dancing, some, like her and Isabella, standing aside talking. A cheery waltz was being played by the orchestra.

"Hmmm..." she muttered, and then her eyes fell upon a man who wasn't bad-looking, even if he was a bit plain. "Him maybe..."

"Lord Andrew, hm? My mother is convinced that I should dance with him, get to know him. In her mind, we'd be a perfect couple." Isabella rolled her eyes. "Who else?"

Meredith peered at the people once more. "He's nice looking," she said, pointing.

Upon seeing who she was pointing at, Isabella abandoned all pretense of ladylikeness and laughed out loud.

"What?" said Meredith. "He is!"

Isabella only laughed more. Finally, she managed to speak. "He's...my...cousin!"

Meredith simply gaped at Isabella, then turned to look more closely at the man. He looked nothing of how she had expected him to. Gone was the pale weakness of his youth. This was a prince. A king now, she reminded herself, taking note of the crown he now knelt to retrieve from the small boy in front of him who was simply beaming as he handed it back.

Isabella was still chuckling. "You have high ambitions, Meredith!" she giggled. Meredith blushed.

"I wasn't aware that he was your cousin." Meredith found herself watching Antony as he greeted people, shook hands with the men, and bowed to the ladies. What really caught her attention, however, was when he didn't ignore the smaller members of the court, like the little boy whom he had let try on the crown. Where he seemed stiff around the other adults, the children he seemed comfortable with. She watched him bow to a little girl who walked with a limp, and saw her eyes light up with happiness.

"You're not!" said Isabella incredulously. "You're not falling for my cousin are you?"

"Of course not," said Meredith. "He's just...not how I expected him to be." She shrugged and turned away, smoothing the fabric of her dress. Isabella smiled, but was soon distracted by the dark-haired man that entered the room just then, and made his way to the new king's side.

"Kade..." she whispered, half under her breath.

Meredith smirked.

"Who's really in love here?"

Isabella looked rather sheepish.

"I...suppose I should probably tell you. A lot of those times I went outside to escape from my mother...I went to talk with Kade. He's one of Antony's generals, so he's been around a lot, getting the palace guard into shape and helping Antony coordinate his plans for the army. I've been talking with him. He's just so...polite. And I think he likes me...but for me. Not for my position or money. I'm...This may sound premature of me but...I'm in love with him, Meredith."