XX

Their Beautiful Love

Alexander rushed to the front of the stage of the ballroom, nearly collapsing himself running from corner to corner trying to get the nobles and staff organized before Genevieve and Lotus arrived. After a full day of planning, and an hour of frantic organizing, it finally looked like everything was in place. Alexander let out a deep sigh, and swore to himself that he'd never try to get a group of nobles to help with a surprise again for as long as he lived. Because if he tried something like this again, that might be as long as he lived.

Alexander clinked a fork against a wine glass to get the attention of everyone in the room. The noble chatter waned down, and Alexander cleared his throat.

"I'd like to thank you again for helping our lady Lotus organize this festivity for Her Highness. I assure you, that you would attend a ball in her honor during this uncertain time for her will prove invaluable, as she takes the effective mantle of our Queen- and your support will not go unnoticed by the royal family. Now, I'd like to remind you that Her Highness- as inspiring and graceful as she is- has just undergone the tragic loss of her father, and has been met with insurmountable responsibilities as a result. While we have no doubt she will soon ascend to the majestic model of an Aquatic monarch, please remember that that is not what this night is about."

"We are here to celebrate Genevieve." Alexander continued. "Not as she will be, but as she is now. We are here to show love to our Princess, and express our acceptance of the role she plays as the woman she is today. So, please- do not burden her further with the requests and lobbies that you would her mother, but simply allow her to enjoy herself around her people. Tonight, be not nobles- but men and women, extending their open arms to the bravest woman Solevi has ever known!"

The noblemen clapped, Alexander bowed, and thanked them. As he stepped off the stage, the sound of the back doors opening shot the attendants to attention. Alexander quickly rushed into the crowd as Lotus and Genevieve walked into the ballroom.

Both women stopped in their tracks, and gasped as they looked around the crowded room. Bards started playing as the nobles cheered at the arrival of the Princess and her retainer. At once, nobles began dancing as servants passed out food and refreshments.

Utterly confused, Genevieve looked at Lotus, helplessly. "Um, wh-what!?"

Lotus returned the confused look, but before either could get any real words out, five different noblemen approached Genevieve and extended their hands out to dance. Two others even approached Lotus.

"Your Highness, may I have the honor of claiming your first dance tonight?"

"I-I wasn't aware there was a ball scheduled tonight. I'm sorry, I mustn't have been paying attention- I'm hardly dressed-"

"Don't worry, Your Highness." Another nobleman smiled. "You weren't informed, by request of your flower."

"Huh!?" Lotus choked. Genevieve looked at her, silently asking for confirmation.

The other nobles looked at Lotus expectantly. Lotus frantically looked around the room for a moment, before nervously fixing her posture.

"Yes!" She stammered. "It was a surprise, Genevieve. Just… something I threw together, to help ease your nerves."

Genevieve smiled from ear to ear. "L-lotus!" She nearly broke down crying. "You did this for me?"

Lotus warmly returned the princess' smile, and took her hand. "Of course, Genevieve. You ought to know how excited your people are to have you as their monarch, early as you may be. Let's enjoy ourselves tonight, hm?"

Genevieve paused, and took a step closer to Lotus, her eyes fluttering. "...If you insist, my flower. If you did all this… I believe I know who my first dance ought to be with."

"Oh, let your noble boys have their turn." Lotus whispered. "I'll be here all night."

Genevieve nodded, stepped back, and gently placed her hand in a nobleman's palm, permitting him to step away and dance with her. Lotus laughed, and let her own partner pull her by the waist to the dance floor.

The night began in earnest, and as bards captivated and energized their attendants with bright, exciting melodies, Genevieve and Lotus drifted from partner to partner, each dance giving more grace and vigor than the last. As minutes turned to hours, the most illustrious and desired Aquatic and Eelike in the district impressed and outperformed the men pining to have their chance to dance with them. As they twirled and swam circles through the water with distracting grace and speed, they left many of their partners panting and stumbling as they gracefully spun the boys away, discarding them to make room for the next.

Alexander stuck to the outer edge of the dance floor, sharing time with a fair number of noble women eager to get closer to the handsome boy. He carried himself with grace and elegance, though he- like much everyone else in the room- didn't have nearly as much energy or excitement to give as the two centers of attention, who hardly spent ten seconds with their feet on the ground.

Alexander watched Genevieve lifting a nervous nobleman off of the ground as she spun above him, and laughed at how the nobleman looked like a fish, caught on a bait hook. Genevieve let the poor boy go after not too long, and set her sights on Genevieve, who had just finished a dance of her own. As the two met in the middle of the floor and held their hands up against each other's, Alexander sighed. His smile did not fade, but the lights in his eyes dimmed ever so slightly. As the lady he was dancing with bowed and walked away, he left the floor, and headed to the bar to get a drink.

Genevieve and Lotus stared lovingly into each other's eyes, not saying a word during the short break of silence between songs. As the music picked up, the two began moving, everyone else on the floor stepping back to make room for whatever the two were about to do together.

"How are you enjoying the ball, Genevieve?"

"It's incredible!" Genevieve laughed, as the two lightly waltzed, understanding each other's movements more clearly than any others could before them. "I had no idea how much I needed to let myself unwind, it's cathartic."

"No surprise!" Lotus giggled. "You've been working yourself past the bone, but you're still young! You should have parties more often- lest stress turn you to an old hag long before your time."

"This feels… right." Genevieve lowered her hand to the back of Lotus' waist, and pulled her up against her chest. "Having you here. In my hands, dancing in the ballroom of my palace. I could get used to this, my flower…"

Lotus blushed, her eyes darting to the side, catching the looks that everyone in the room was giving them.

"I love you." Genevieve whispered.

"Your Highness-" Lotus gasped.

"Hm." Genevieve pulled back a bit. Flustered, Lotus corrected herself.

"Genevieve. Y-you need to be more careful about this!" She stammered, as the two began to lift themselves up, rotating around each other.

"Why?" Genevieve asked. "Don't you want to embrace me like this all the time?"

The two twirled in a cyclone of blurred motion and intentional direction. The nobles watched these sirens- these goddesses of grace- both admiring and shaming the spectacle they were creating through majesty and chemistry alone.

"The nobles are already apprehensive of me, Genevieve." Lotus argued. "The more discreet we remain, the less of their ire we take."

"Who cares what the nobles think?" Genevieve glared. "I love you- to hell with what any of them think of that! I want to carry you as my own everywhere we go… I'm proud of you. I'm proud of what we have!"

"But I'm not all you have!" Lotus pleaded. "In time, you will really become Queen. Your responsibilities are to your people- your kingdom, not just to me! As much as I want to just drown in love with you, we need to prepare for when I-"

"No." Genevieve interrupted. "Not yet. I can't be Queen yet. Even if I did hold up my 'responsibilities' to the people, I'm not of age yet. None of that shit matters now!"

The pair began to slow their tempo as the music dimmed down, their feet returning to the floor.

"We have three years left." Genevieve continued. "Three years to figure this out."

"Figure it out…?" Lotus' brow furrowed. "Oh, Genevieve- please don't tell me you think-"

"I mean that we have time! Time we get to spend together, free from my responsibilities. And I want to share that freedom with you."

Genevieve held both of Lotus' hands in hers. Lotus felt all eyes still fixed on them. Her heart fluttered, every bit as excited as it was terrified.

"Free of burden. Free of deadlines."

The final few notes of the bards' song rang out with a haunting resonance. Genevieve dipped Lotus back, and leaned her face closer to hers.

"Free of secrets…"

Lotus closed her eyes, as Genevieve did the same- and kissed her. In the middle of the ballroom, in front of every noble and servant in attendance. They watched, glared, and gossiped while Genevieve kept her face pressed against her flower's, kissing her with more intent and passion than she ever had before. As if to revel in her people's judgment and taunt them further, Genevieve swept her right hand down to Lotus' thigh, and pulled her leg up to her side, making as much of a show of the embrace as possible.

After many slow, silent seconds of this, Genevieve finally stood the two of them back up, and let Lotus go. Breathing heavily, Lotus’ vision fuzzed, and a sheepish cracked on her lips.

Genevieve brushed off her dress, and looked around at the captive audience she had amassed. She turned to look at the distracted band, and clapped her hands together.

"I should hope that wasn't your last song- the night's not nearly over!"

Almost falling off of the stage, the band frantically picked their instruments back up, and resumed playing. Begrudgingly, the nobles resumed dancing and the servants got back to work. Genevieve and Lotus, finally starting to show small signs of exhaustion, kept dancing as well.

Not long after this, Lotus, who had found herself wandering towards the east end of the room, caught sight of someone she hadn't noticed before. Stepping out of the dance floor, she took a seat at the bar, and approached Alexander Midas.

"Quite the night, huh?" Lotus began, knocking on the table to order a drink.

Alexander nodded. "Mhm. Might be the most fun I've had all year."

"Pretty sweet of me to put it all together." Lotus grinned. "...I had no idea I was so thoughtful."

Alexander chuckled. "Well, I guess we're all full of surprises. As long as Genevieve's happy, right?"

Lotus nodded, and downed a shot of whiskey the bartender had placed in front her.

"Most fun you've had all year? No offense- but it doesn't look like it from here."

"It's the truth. But don't worry about me." Alexander smiled. "Tonight's about you, and Her Highness."

"I suppose it is." Lotus fiddled with the empty shot glass as she spoke. "But I think I ought to be worrying, if a boy like you tells me something like that."

Alexander chuckled. Lotus continued. "No, really! …In all the time I've known you, I've never met anyone as selfless- as honest- or as damn incorruptible as you, Alex. And for what?"

"It's not for anything." Alexander shook his head. "But to hear you say that… means a lot to me. I find myself at my happiest when I'm with Her Highness… and with you. It means the world to me that you allow me in your company."

"It's a choice, for sure." Lotus nodded. "Y'know… I spend every day reminding myself that I need to build a future for Genevieve that doesn't include me. To know she'll be happy when I leave her is the one thing that's pushed me this far."

"Lotus, that's terrible."

"Let me finish." She continued. "...Suitors have always been one of the hardest parts of that for me to accept. Trying to find someone deserving of her, in a sea of opportunist, self-centered zealots. I forced myself to accept that I'd have to build a relationship with a man who sees me as a road block at best, because Genevieve would never do that herself. I'd have to look for the best case scenario of a future King patient enough to wait for me to die."

"...But then, I found someone. A boy, who seemed to take every opportunity to throw himself on coals so that I could walk with the Princess undisturbed. Someone who wants to be King, but doesn't seem to want to become one. Someone who sees Genevieve as more than a prize to be won, and me as more than the keeper of that prize. I set out to find a noble who would have respect for the two of us, and… I think I found a man who harbors more than just that."

Alexander stared hazily at the table, listening intently to Lotus with solemn stoicism.

"And I think I…" She finished, "...We… harbor something similar."

Alexander finally looked up and met Lotus' eyes. She stood up from her chair, took a step back, and held out her hand.

"You know, the Princess and I have shared many dances with many men tonight." She grinned, her eyes fluttering lightly. "But one remains with whom we yet wish to partake. Alexander Midas… may Genevieve and I both have this dance?"

Alexander paused, and stared at Lotus' hand. A million thoughts rushed through his head- he desperately tried to figure out what exactly he was supposed to do.

Finally, he sighed, put his drink down, and stood up. Alexander smiled, took Lotus' hand- and the two made their way to the Princess.