Betrothed

Chapter 20: Allie

It is finally the day of Nikki's ball and I could not be more excited. I had a new dress made specifically for the event. It is a sea-foam green dress with a matching headband and slippers. I am also wearing my favorite diamond earrings and the matching necklace. We are pulling into the drive of what I assume to be the Jernigan manor. It is the manor with all of the carriages in pulled up in front of it. I am amazed by all of the people showing up; Lady Caroline must know every family in London. As our carriage stops and I get out, with Thomas's hand in assistance, I stare in awe at the splendor around me. I look towards the street when I hear the sound of another carriage pulling in behind ours. I watch as a young man with dusty brown hair, that looks perfect in the dim evening light, gets out of the carriage and holds out his hand to help a girl who looks a little bit younger than me exit the carriage as well. The gentleman looks so familiar to me but I cannot remember where from. As if on cue from my thoughts the young man turns to look at our party.

"Lord Thomas!" He calls out to my surprise. Apparently my betrothed knows this man. I watch as Thomas looks over towards the mysterious man and sighs. I follow Thomas as he walks over to the man who has now been joined by what I assume to be his family.

"Lord Evan" Thomas replies as we stop by the man. "I did not expect to see you here tonight."

"I did not expect to see you either. Who is this?" Lord Evan asks referring to either me or my father I am not sure which.

"Oh. This is Lady Alyssa Wembley and her father Lord Maxwell Wembley, the Earl of Portsmouth. Alyssa and I are betrothed." Thomas responses to him with a bit of challenge in his voice as if daring Lord Evan to say something.

"Wow Thomas you are betrothed, congratulations." He replies. "Where are you from Lady Alyssa? I do not believe that I have seen you around London before." He asks me.

"Well that is because this is my first time visiting London, Lord Evan. I hail from the small village of Harrison about a three-quarters day ride away." I respond to him.

"A three–quarters day ride? That is a long way to travel for a ball." He replies in surprise.

"It is a long story as to why we have come all this way and I would not want to keep us all outside by explaining it to you right now." I tell him a little defensively. "Speaking of all of us, I do not believe that you have introduced your family yet."

"She is right son, where are your manors. Are you not going to introduce us to this young lady?" An older man who I am assuming to be his father scolds him.

"Oh right. Lord and Lady Wembley, this is my father Major General-Lord Richard Speight, the Marquess of Downshire" He says, indicating to the man who had just spoke.

"Pleased to meet you" The man cuts in.

"Right, moving on then. This is my mother Lady Clarissa Speight, the Marchioness of Downshire" Evan indicates to the woman standing next to Richard. "And this is my younger sister Lillian." He finishes, pointing to the young girl who I saw him help out of the carriage

"It is Lily, Evan! It is a nickname." Lillian corrects her older brother.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you all, now should we head inside?" My father says to get everyone moving. As we all reach the door I notice that it is hanging wide open, so there is no need to knock. We walk in and walk down a short hallway to a door which I see has three people standing in front of it. The people are Lord Brandon, Lady Caroline, and Nikki. My party drops back to let the Speights enter the ballroom first. We wait as they stop and chat briefly with the Jernigans. Once they enter the ballroom we step forward.

"Lord Maxwell, Lady Alyssa. I am so glad that you could make it." Nikki says to us with a smile as we approach. I seems as though it is just a simple greeting but I catch the double meaning behind her words. She was afraid that my father would forbid me to come to her ball.

"Are you sur-"

"We are glad as well Lady Nicole." I cut in before my father says something that will reflect badly on both of us.

"Now while I was at your castle I heard of your betrothal however I do not recall meeting your future husband. Is this him?" Nikki asks, trying to seem civil but I can see that she is actually very curious to meet Thomas.

"Yes Lady Nicole this is my betrothed, Lord Thomas Langley." I respond to her, playing along.

"Ah, well it is a pleasure to meet you Lord Thomas. I am sure that I will see you all later during the evening." Nikki replied while hinting that we should enter the ballroom now.

"I am sure that we will." I tell her before leading my father and Thomas inside.

***

A little while later I see Maddie and Quentin walk in, followed by their parents and their brother James. When I see them I excuse myself from the company of Lady Robin Desford and go to join them.

"Hello Maddie, Quentin. Lovely ball is it not?" I ask them as I approach.

"Hi Allie, I am so glad that you convinced your father to let you come." Maddie says in reply.

"So am I. So have either of you spoken to Nikki yet?" I ask.

"No, she seems busy trying to keep up with all of the new faces straight." Maddie sighs.

"I guess you are right." I say. This is a lot of new people to get to know.

"Sorry for interrupting My Lady I just wanted to comment on how lovely you look tonight." I hear in voice of a girl trying to sound like a man but failing at it. I turn around to see who it is.

"Nikki!" I exclaim.

"Hi everyone. Can I join into your conversation?" She asks teasingly.

"Of course." Maddie replies. "So how are you adjusting to noble life?"

"It is ... different. I have to act more civil and I still do not feel like people should call me 'My Lady'. That and the fact that I know nobody here other than you three and my new family, makes noble life a challenge so far." She replies truthfully.

"Do not worry, you will get used to being called 'My Lady'. And while you know nobody right now, I am sure that will not be true by the end of the night." I try to assure her.

"Plus we are at a ball and I have no idea how to dance." Nikki sighs.

"Well then I will have to teach you." Quentin speaks up for the first time. "Lady Nicole Jernigan, would you please do me the honor of having this dance?" He asks, a little more formally than necessary, though very romantic.

"It would be my pleasure to dance with you Lord Quentin Queshire." Nikki replies, going along with his overly formally play. Maddie and I just watch as the two of them head of onto the dance floor. After three minutes or so of us watching them and commenting another guest comes over.

"You two ladies seem very fascinated by my cousin." Said the man, he was opulently dressed and had short black hair with matching dark eyes. "Either that or the gentleman she is dancing with." He continues, amusing himself. We both turn to him.

"We were just admiring how well the two of them dance together Sir." Maddie replies sharply to the man.

"Whoa. Easy there, I was just trying to start conversation. I never pass up an opportunity to speak with a beautiful, mysterious lady. I have not seen you around London before." He starts up conversation.

"That is because we are not from London. We live in Harrison, a little village not too far from London." I reply for both of us.

"Oh well then I guess it shall be my job to help you get acquainted with London." He tells us. "We can start by stating our names. I am Prince Joseph Caryile. Who are you?"

I look over at Maddie and she is all red in the face. Speaking sharply to a Lord outside of your family is one thing, speaking sharply to the Prince is another thing all together.

"I am Lady Alyssa Wembley and this is my friend Lady Madeline Queshire, Your Highness." I say with a curtsy and I motion for Maddie to curtsy as well.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you ladies. So what do you think of my fine city so far? Lovely is it not?"

"Yes it is quite beautiful Your Highness." Maddie manages to stutter. While she is speaking though I see my father motioning for me to come over to him.

"Please excuse me Your Highness; my father seems to wish to speak with me." I excuse myself.

"Of course Lady Alyssa. It was lovely speaking to you." He replies.

"And you as well." I say before hurrying off to meet my father. Once I get there I ask,

"What is it father? Could you not see that I was speaking with the Prince?" I inform him.

"Alyssa do not speak to me that way. And never mind the Prince, I need you to go and speak to the young Clemons girl. Get a conversation going and try to feel out if it would be good to align ourselves with them. The girl is over there." He informs me, pointing to a place near the corner where a girl who seems a little younger than me is standing by herself. "Her name is April. Report back to me when you are done."

"Sure thing Father. She looks as though she could use some company anyways." The first part was sarcastic; the second part though was true. It did look as though the girl could use some company. I make my way over to her.

"Hello." I say once I am standing right in front of her.

"Hi." She says sheepishly in reply.

"My name is Alyssa." I tell her. "Lady Alyssa Wembley, I am new here. What is your name?"

"My name is Lady April Clemons" She tells me.

"April, I like it. So do you stand in the corner often or is this just a onetime thing?" I try to joke with her and start conversation. It works, we talk for about five minutes. During that time, I look across the room and see Nikki now talking with her mother and younger sister, Willow, instead of dancing with Quentin. I also see Maddie, still talking to Prince Joseph and it appears as though they are having a good time. After I finish looking around I turn when I feel a tap on my shoulder. As I face the man who tapped me, I recognize him immediately as Lord Evan, or the man who asked me to dance in my dream a few weeks past.

"Excuse me miss, would you like to dance?" He asks me after a polite bow. I do a slight curtsy in reply.

"That would be delightful." I say before thinking. "I am sorry April; perhaps we can continue this conversation another time?"

"Of course Alyssa, please go have fun." She replies as Evan takes my hand and starts to lead me to the dance floor. However, just as we are getting ready to dance Thomas walks over.

"Lord Evan. how many times do I have to ask you to stay away from my betrothed?!" He says. He turns to me then, "Alyssa come along, if you are going to be dancing with anyone it should be me." He snatches my hand away from Evan's and pulls me away, I shoot Evan an apologetic glance as he does so. As we dance I can see Maddie dancing with the Prince and Nikki dancing with Quentin once again. They both seem happy. Why can I not be happy too? I think gloomily as Thomas leads me along.