The Queen's Handmaiden

The Dance

Jane made her way to the Queen’s side, who immediately asked, “Where have you been? I couldn’t see you with any of the ladies I sent you to talk to.”

Jane simply answered, “Was making observations, your majesty. Would you like to hear them now?”

The answer seemed to satisfy the queen as she shook her head for later and busied herself into conversation with a pretty princess who had come to introduce herself. In no time, Jane was allowed to leave the Queen’s side for the rest of the ball, as long as she stayed in the ballroom.

She treated herself to some royal cuisine and stayed to the periphery, out of the crowd’s way. She may be the Queen’s handmaiden, but she was still the Queen’s handmaiden and that meant a single slip-up could cause her to land in a lot of trouble. She had enjoyed royal respect and facilities for far too long to cross her limits and be stripped of all the privileges she had been given. And the fact that the queen trusted her so much was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Richard, on the other hand, was facing a very different dilemma. From the moment he returned to the ballroom, there had been an excited hush around the room, among the females.

And then the games began.

One after another, the ladies tried their best to woo the prince. The tactics became preposterous as the night went on, from fainting in front of him to simply tumbling over thin air to land in his arms. The ladies were adamant to begin shooting their shots at the young prince from the first ball. It all could’ve been tolerable if their sole purpose hadn’t been to have a dance and to seduce him to share his father’s throne. None of them cared about his likes and dislikes or the type of man he was. It was infuriating to think that he was expected to choose one of these by the end of the week.

He soon realized that he wouldn’t be left alone unless he had danced at least once tonight. He could see his mother was getting disappointed at his lack of interest in the ladies. Richard saw that there was still some time remaining until midnight when the queen would make the announcement, before which his leave would be rude. So he had to stay and quite possibly dance.

In his desperation, a familiar brunette head caught his attention. He wasn’t going to become the man who breaks conventions but when he saw Jane-Anne becoming more and more agitated by the presence of some lord seeking her attention, Richard made his way straight to them.

Jane was minding her own business, when this handsome duke from one of the Southern states of the kingdom, came to introduce himself. It all seemed fine until he began suggesting something explicit because he came to know that she was not a lady but only a handmaiden. Despite her many tries to tell him off politely, the Duke seemed quite persistent, going as far as almost holding her wrist, if it wasn’t for the prince to make his perfectly timed entry.

Both Jane and her creepy Duke curtsied to Richard as he approached them. The whole ballroom was silently witnessing the scene as every eye in the room was trained upon them. Jane hated this much attention but she was glad that the Duke would probably leave her alone now. But the prince’s presence confused her until he put one of his hands forward and the other one behind him to formally smile and ask, “If I may have the honor of dancing with the pretty lady.”

Jane almost began mumbling ‘I’m not a lady’ and ‘What are you doing, your Highness?’

But all eyes were on her. Her hands had gone cold and she felt like her legs might give way, her eyes wide as saucers.

The last thing she wanted was to make fun of herself. But that was the least of the problems. The King and Queen wouldn’t be very happy if she accepted to dance with the prince. On the other hand, Richard was still standing, waiting for her hand to join his, and she couldn’t possibly refuse the prince and embarrass him. She was stuck in a lose-lose situation. But it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to feel like a real lady and dance like one. Jane never wanted the riches or anything that came with it, but deep inside she was still a girl who liked feeling important sometimes. But this was the worst of times that fate chose for her to feel special.

Richard brought her out of her terrified trance with a soft, “Jane?”

She glanced swiftly around the ballroom, where all the eyes were on her, and not a single one seemed pleased as she placed her ungloved hand in his gloved one. Richard gave a negligible sigh of relief as he led her into the center of the ballroom and a waltz of music filled the air.

He pulled her closer by the waist and, due to lack of poof like other ladies’ huge dresses, they seemed closer than intended. A little involuntary gasp escaped her as he placed a hand on the small of her back and they started swaying to the music. Thankfully, being the queen’s handmaiden, she had indirectly learned many different types of dances, including the waltz, so she was hoping not to embarrass herself and the Prince further. Many couples joined them on the dance floor out of respect and propriety, if not curiosity.

Richard finally stated, “For a second there, I thought you were going to refuse.”

In her disoriented state, she blurted, “I almost did, your highness.”

She quickly realized what she had said but it was too late now as Richard replied surprised, “At least you’re honest about it.”

Before she could apologize, he asked seriously, “He wasn’t bothering you much, was he?”

Jane realized what he was referring to as he twirled her gracefully across the ballroom. She sighed, “Lord Mountwell, the Duke of Hemmings, simply found an opportunity in the form of a lowly handmaiden in a room full of respectable ladies and princesses and wanted to cease it.”

Richard didn’t need an explanation as he felt a wave of strange anger rising in him because of the said Duke. “I’m sure you don’t have to worry about him anymore.” He replied with his mind elsewhere.

“On the contrary,” Jane explained when he gave her a quizzical look, “If a prince who hasn’t danced the whole night, ends up choosing a girl to dance with finally, every eye is going to be on them. You just highlighted the presence of a handmaiden in the ballroom full of potential queens of this kingdom. This act would be taken as their humiliation-”

Richard rolled his eyes, “At least, Duke Mountwell isn’t bothering you anymore.”

“Yet!”

Jane-Anne simply spoke facts. He twirled her around and held her gaze only, not even looking at the partially composed and partially horrified expressions on his parents’ faces.

Jane spoke to him about what he had just done and made her do, “Do you realize how angry the King and the Queen must be about your choice of the wrong dance partner tonight? I consider my job lost, not to mention all the hate and trouble you have steered my way! And to think, all I wanted from the night was some good food and a good night’s sleep.”

He pulled her closer and her breath hitched, his blue eyes capturing her. She had never been this close to his face before and now realized what an entrancing shade his eyes were. She found herself tongue-tied as he shocked himself, and liked the way she felt in his arms. He had danced before, with many ladies, and held a few even closer in his arms, but none felt like the perfect missing piece of some puzzle, made to be there.

The music suddenly slowed down to nothing as the whole crowd watched them sway to a halt. The Queen finally had had enough. She had motioned for the music to stop, just as the huge clock struck twelve and announced midnight. The mist that had enveloped the odd pair of dancers suddenly dissipated and the weight of his actions finally fell on his shoulders when Richard saw his father staring intensely at them with a blank expression. That was never a good sign.