Snippet #2693719

Richard had begun to speak, about to ask Maira a question and even though when he first addressed her it was in his typical stern voice it seemed to soften. His voice took on a tone that Maira had never heard from him before. He couldn’t finish his question, however, as a voice called out to him making Maira jump at the sound. She too now looked over at his aunt as she recognized pure panic on the woman’s face. The conversation the pursued took place in Richard’s native tongue and left his wife just standing there staring in the two confused. Obviously something was amiss and Maira could only assume that they didn’t want her to know what it was.

Before she knew it Richard had left her there in the middle of the dance floor to go take care of whatever problem had arisen. Maira couldn’t help but be glued to the floor in shock as people continued to dance around the princess. What had he told her to do? Go find his sister was it? Slowly she made her way off the dance floor with all the intention of finding young Anne, but she stopped once she hit the tables. She stared at one of the discarded cups that was still half full of liquid on the table. She knew she should turn and do as Richard said and find his sister, but her mind was still swirling with thoughts of before and now abruptly being abandoned. She gingerly picked the cup up and the closer it got to her face she could smell the bitter scent of the wine. How easy it would be to just drink it, to numb her mind, numb all her senses. The cup was almost to her mouth when she stopped herself. This wasn’t right, she said she wasn’t going to drink any more for the night. She wasn’t about to break her word over something so silly. So she set the cup down once more and glanced in the direction Richard and his aunt disappeared to.

Before she knew it her feet were moving in that direction, curiosity getting the better of her. She wouldn’t intervene, she would only peak to see what was going on. It couldn’t hurt anything if she did that right? She was almost to the door when someone walked through it in a hurry. The two almost collided as Maira looked at the girl.

“Alice? Are you okay?” Maira questioned as she recognized her friend who looked slightly flustered.

“Maira! Oh I-I....Yes I’m okay now, but the Prince...er your husband he-” As the girl was stumbling over her words Maira glanced around her looking in on the scene. She looked just in time to see Abner grabbing his brother Daniel who was unconscious and dragging him off while Richard and his aunt debated over something. She wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but she could assume and turned back to her friend.

“Come Alice, dance with me. Let’s get your mind off of whatever has just happened.” Maira said, a bright smile on her face now as she took both of her friends hands in hers. Alice opened her mouth to say something more, but closed it again as Maira gently began pulling her towards the dance floor. They got to the outskirts of the dancing people and began dancing when Maira once again looked over to where her husband and his aunt were. She saw them both coming back into the party and Maira smiled a little to herself. She wondered if Richard would come find her now that the issue seemed to be dealt with.