She Loved Me Too

Chapter One: My Flower

The next song, and the final I would be playing for this night, started with a piano. I generally played more than five songs during royal balls, but this night was special. This night was Emmeline's nineteenth birthday and by her request, I was to only play at the opening of the night.

The song came to a slow end with me holding the final note and bringing closure to the set. There was a moment of silence that was soon filled with abrupt and loud clapping. I turned my gaze to the crowd, blushing at the awestruck gazes, Emmeline's among them. I bowed as a sign of appreciation, taking in all the attention, and then stepped away from the stage.

I placed my violin in its case and let out a deep and shaky breath. I had been performing for almost two years by now, but the nerves and the rush still caught me off guard. I fixed my dress, moving my arms down the flared skirt of it that reached the middle of my thigh. The upper part of the dress left a lot of my cleavage exposed as well as my back and the tattoos that covered it. And its wine-red color contrasted nicely with my fair skin tone. I had picked this one because I knew Emmeline liked it.

I walked away from the stage, and the first people I came across were the King and the Queen, who had been waiting for me.

"Your Highnesses," I said while bowing down.

"Iseul," Queen Amina replied, forgetting all kinds of formality and pulling me in her arms. "That was wonderful, my dear," she said, her face against my dark hair.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I kindly replied as she let me go. She smiled at me –a big grin that made even her light green eyes smile– and stepped away.

I didn't get any breathing time as King Rune grasped me and pulled me into a big and warm hug. His arms wrapped around me as if I were one of his children. His hugs were always nice like that.

"Your parents would have been so proud of you," he told me as he let go and his face for a moment was clouded by sadness. I nodded, my expression mirroring his, and bowed, unable to express my gratitude in another way.

They stepped away and left me to deal with the rest of the nobility who wanted to and thank me for my performance. It was only kind of me to sit there and smile at them and thank them back. They were in a way paying for my salary after all.

It was quite some time later when I was finally able to walk around the great ballroom. Without much difficulty, I found the bar that was set up by the edge of the room, close to the grand balcony. I got a glass of wild berries cider and I walked outside to the balcony to rest against the marble railing.

The early autumnal breeze ruffled my hair and tickled my exposed back. My eyes moved over the kingdom before me. While it was a small kingdom, the kingdom of Rosa was among the most powerful countries in the world. As a beacon of beauty and the arts, Rosa was known for its architecture and the way nature intertwined with it. Most houses, which were predominantly white or pastel, were decorated with flowers and greenery. A natural park and the river that cursed through the kingdom and reached the ocean behind the castle were its most notable attractions. Our kingdom as well as the kingdom of Aiteall, which sat west of us but on the same continent, held a neutral stance against the political chaos that moved the rest of the world. A feat that was quite noticeable by the peacefulness.

As I was looking over everything, two arms wrapped around my waist and a chin found my shoulder.

"Found you," Emmeline mused. I smiled and took a sip from my cider. Its sweet, aromatic, and slightly bitter taste going down smoothly.

"I didn't realize you had been looking for me," I replied with fake innocence.

"I'm always looking for you," she said and brushed her lips against my neck. The touch tickled me but in a nice way; in a way that made my knees buckle. I turned around, placing both arms over her shoulders, careful not to spill my drink.