4 Thirsty

Cecil smiled back, blushing and Brian was impressed on how much of a good actress she was. 'Or too shameless!'.

"Ah, please…" He stopped another guest with an urgent tone. "Would you mind helping miss… ?"

"Cecil Gilling." She answered, too surprised to not answer directly.

"Yes, Miss Cecil Gilling with a cup of something to drink? She is thirsty." He said and the man bowed.

"It would be my pleasure, Your Highness." The man walked away and Brian looked at Cecil.

"He will help you. Now, I must go, my lady. My partner is waiting for me." He raised the cups slightly, bowed and went after Vivian.

Cecil swallowed her anger. She had to keep her nice face. She had to. People thought she was a sweet girl and if she ever acted different, how would they keep taking her side and not Vivian's?

'Always this woman! But she will not win the Prince's heart. I won't let this happen! If he is to fall for one of us, that one is going to be me!', she smiled at that. When the man Brian asked to help her arrived, she thanked for the cup of juice, showing a gratitude she didn't feel.

"Are you okay, my love?" Uriel approached her with a cheesy smile and, after seeing the Crown Prince from closer distance, she thought Uriel lacked in looks, and everything else.

"Yes, Uriel. Thank you. You are so good to me." She lowered her head while saying that with a sorrowful voice, as if she was about to cry.

"No, no… don't cry. You just deserve to smile." Uriel said and put his fingers under her chin, smiling sweetly. She corresponded with a smile, mocking him on the inside.

Meanwhile, Vivian was talking to other ladies when Brian got near her and all the women around the young blonde woman giggled.

"Here he comes!" One of them whispered and Vivian frowned, turning her head discretely and when she saw it was the Crown Prince, her heart skipped a beat. It was not only his looks, there was something about him, something she couldn't explain, but that made her feel safer, warmer.

"My lady, I am so sorry for the delay in bringing you something to refresh you." Brian told her with more than politeness and offered her a dazzling smile.

"No need to say sorry, Your Highness. I am the one thanking you."

He handed her the cup and VIvian just realized how thirsty she was when the liquid touched her lips. She drank it all and when she out the cup down, she found Brian looking at her with amusement.

"Your Highness?"

"Here, have mine." He offered his cup and he still had a slight smile on his lips and Vivian squinted.

"No, thank you. I must decline. You also must be thirsty."

Brian held back a bold comment about other ways of being thirsty. She was a lady and he had to refrain himself, even though it would be quite the picture to see her stunned expression. His eyes darted to her lips and indeed, he was thirsty.

Vivian noticed his smile died, substituted by a different stare she had never seen in anyone while talking to them. He was slightly leaning forward and she frowned.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" She asked, truly worried and that served Brian to blink and realize he was acting out of instinct and that it would be disastrous if he did what his body seemed to be interested in doing.

"Yes." He cleared his throat and drank from his cup, smiling at her. "In fact, I am thirsty."

Vivian smiled.

'I told you so!', she thought, smugly.

He asked for another dance. At the end of the second dance, he decided to ask her again to dance.

"I am flattered, Your Highness, but that would be inappropriate." A man and a woman dance more than two dances consecutively was seen by the others as if they were having a more than acceptable behavior.

"I don't mind the scandal, but I will respect your wishes." Then, he saw Uriel and Cecil and smiled. Vivian followed his gaze and she felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Brian leaned in her direction. "Are you sure you don't want to dance, my Lady? They have danced three dances in a row and that is their fourth."

Vivian turned her head at the Crown Prince and frowned, smiling.

"Are you competing with them, Your Highness, to know who is being more inconsequential?"

"Maybe." Brian grinned. "Why not?"

"That is not wise. " She looked around and lowered her tone. "You and I are not really in any kind of romantic relationship, Your Highness. It will come to an end, eventually."

Her words were true.

'Why am I being so not myself, tonight?', Brian thought.

"You are absolutely right." He smiled, but this time, not so jolly. "Must we then wait for the next dance?"

"At least two more." She said neutrally.

"As you wish, My Lady."

After they waited three more dances, just to make sure no rumors of bad mouthing her honor would be heard, they danced one more time.

Next day, Vivian had a line of men in her house expecting to have a chance to talk to her.

"My dear, I can't believe in this!" Lady Aleena was smiling from war to ear. "I thought all the hopes were lost when the Marquis rejected you, but.. look at that!"

Vivian said nothing, because she knew better. Not that she feared being scolded. No, she normally would speak her mind, but the thing is: there is a moment in life that you know when to keep your words to yourself in order to avoid arguments. With her mother, those arguments would go on and on. Vivian was tired and didn't want to ruin her day.

Smiling, she recollected the dances with the Crown Prince. He was so charming and so different from the other gentleman. He would speak his mind, not meaning he was rude or inconvenient. No. He knew how to behave and was even witty sometimes. One of the best companies, no, to be fair, the best company she had found in all her eighteen years of life.

'Don't forget your father, Viv. He is great', she told herself. Lord Heinrich was a great company, and Vivian couldn't put together how he married her mother. Not that her mother was a bad person, or didn't know how to behave and talk, but.. they were very different.

"Vivian!" Lady Aleena's displeased tone made Vivian look at her mother instantly.

"I'm sorry, mother. I was.."

"You were not paying attention! Vivian, go put something better on." She shook her head and, as Vivian was not moving, she put her hands on her hips and started to tap her feet on the floor. "Vivian?"

"Oh, sure, I am going. Sorry."

When she finally arrived in the living room, and saw all those men, she swallowed hard. So many flowers… She wanted to find a husband, indeed, as the Crown Prince said she should get over Uriel, but she was doubting this was the best thing to do. Looking at those faces, she was sure she would not fall for any of them.

"Lady Astley, hello!" A man with brown hair and greenish eyes said in a more than polite voice. "You look even more beautiful this morning!"

The flattery. Empty flattery. She hated it.

By lunch time, Vivian was exhausted.

'The worst has passed', she thought, trying to feel relieved, but then, Betsy entered the room with a pitiful expression.

"What happened, Betsy?"

"Well…" the maid looked down, trying to find the words. "Lord Barless is here, ma'am."