The Lord in Blue

Chapter 2

"Cousin!"

"Your majesty" I reply while bowing.

"Oh, please. Stop that and come give me a hug!" I've never liked hugs too much, but I didn't know how much I had missed my cousin's. They always were special. "Now, tell me" she says while breaking our embracement. "What happened to you? Why did it take you so long to get here? We have so much catching up to do! Let's go talk while we eat, you must be famished."

I follow her to a different room where a table has been set with some of my favorite meals. We take a seat, talking and eating for hours. It's almost midnight when we choose to retire to our rooms.

"I asked them to clean your old room, change some new things that I think you will enjoy. And rest as much as you need. My morning is busy with boring meetings, but we'll meet for lunch in the gardens. We still have to talk about him" she says with wink.

As I leave for my room, I start thinking about who that perfect man could be. How he could look like. Maybe blonde, with green eyes, and definitely tall. She always liked men to be tall. But my mind only shows me one person. Lord Mount.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

It's almost lunch time when I manage to get out of bed. I was way more tired than I expected. And even though it's been years since the last time I was at the palace, I still remember every corner, where each room is. In the gardens, a big tent has been set for us to eat, the Queen already there. As we sit to eat, she starts telling me about the changes she's done, how she's improved things. When we make it to the desserts, she asks me to take some and join her for a walk.

"His name is Mason" she says.

"Who?" I reply, not understanding what she's talking about.

"The man I told you about on the letter! You read that part, didn't you?"

"Oh, that" I say.

"Yes, that" she replies, rolling her eyes. "I think you are going to like him very much. The more I think about it, there more I see how perfect you are for each other."

"Uhm" I kind of reply while eating some of the cherries I brought with me.

"He's very handsome. Not the usual handsome you read on novels, but he still has something that catches your eye. He's not very tall, but you never were too fussy about it the way I am. He's from the south coast, and he is very close with his family. They make boats for the crown as the family business. I remember Father used to say that they make some of the finest boats in the country. He's loaded of course, and already has a title of his own. He's a few years younger than us, but oh well. If men can marry girls who could be their daughters and get away with it, why can't we women marry someone a few years younger?"

"He isn't a child, is he?" I ask, already fearing the worst. "I don't want to look like his mother next to him."

"He's not, I promise. Sometimes he behaves like one, but all men do. And..." She says while getting closer, smiling the way she used to do when she was plotting how to skip our lessons to go to the woods. "A child doesn't do the things he does with his tongue."

"Cousin!" I say way too loud, my face already burning.

"Oh, don't be like that. You should be glad we know he's a great lover. Not unpleasant surprises on that field when the day comes. Quite the opposite."

"I... Wait... How do you know?"

"We were lovers for a while" she says, giving it the same significance as if she was talking about the weather.

"You want to marry me to your lover?" I say, raising my voice too much and forgetting my manners and that a couple of knights are following just some steps behind.

"Ex-lover" she corrects me. "I know how it sounds, cousin. But trust me, there was no love there, and it ended a long time ago. We both have moved on."

I don't know how to feel. I'm so shocked I think I've forgotten how to speak.

"Why....why did it end? What's the catch? There must be something."

"There is no catch" she says. "He's great, but just not for me. I would never introduce you to a bad man, you have to believe me."

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

During the next couple of days we keep hanging out as normal, acting as if that conversation in the gardens hadn't happened. I've been busy helping her choosing the decorations for the Summer Ball, the food, what we are going to wear, the music that will be playing. Turns out I'm pretty good at all these things.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

The day of the ball is here, and lords and ladies from the whole country and beyond are attending. We get ready in her room like we used to do when we were younger, and when we make it to the big salon, it is packed with people, everyone looking at us. That is a feeling I didn't miss. At all. But before I can start hating everything, people come to greet us, and after a while, I lose count of all the people I've met. Names get mixed, I've drank too much champagne, and I can't feel my feet anymore.

When I finally think I can have some rest, my cousin drags me to the other side of them room.

"There is someone else I want you to meet. Please don't be angry at me" she says, almost pleading.

"Why would I... Oh" I say when I finally realize. "It's him, isn't it? You want to introduce me to him." He is here. Of course he is.

"It'll be just a small introduction, you don't have to talk to him" she says while I let her take me to him. "He's the one giving us his back, the one in blue."

That blue... I've seen that shade of blue before.

"Lord Mount" she calls.

Oh no. Oh no no no. It can't be. The moment he turns around, I can feel his eyes on me. At first he doesn't recognize me, but he definitely finds my face familiar. When he realizes who I am, a little smile shows up in his face. And so does dimple, making me suddenly feel too hot, my dress becoming more and more tight around me.

"Lord Mount, allow me to introduce you to my cousin, Lady..." I don't know what she says next. They are talking to me, but I can't hear them. Their faces are blurry, everything starts spinning, my knees feel weak. It's like I'm drowning. But before everything goes dark, I see one last thing. Him.