Night of the Forbidden

Chapter 2: The Engagement?

The night was dark and peaceful as Alexandros sat on his balcony thinking to himself, yet again. He could hear his sisters giggling and talking amongst themselves on the balcony below him. They were all suppose to be getting dressed in their best for the dance that night. Their father would be determining which of the girls were to be married who to. And also they were to introduce him to his future bride whom he was not looking forward to meeting. He sat on the ledge of his balcony and watched the fireflies flit and dance in the night for a long while, until his brothers swooped into his room with their booming laughs all of them teasing each other. They stopped suddenly when they saw their smallest brother sitting on his ledge looking extremely forlorn. Xailon walked over to him and gently put a hand on hsi shoulder and whispered, "Little brother, is something wrong?"


Alexandros shrugged and shook his head then stood up shakily. "Shall we retire to the great hall and wait for our guests?" He said half-heartedly with a sly smile.


They all gave a woop and left to maneuver through the maze of hallways to the great hall where the dance of the year was to be held. They were laughing and of course joking around with each when their lovely sisters entered from the South entrance. The boys stopped and smiled in pride at how gorgeous their sisters looked this evening. They bowed to the girls who in turn curtsied gracefully. A few servants came in and began to change out the rushes from under the tables before the royal family sat down. A few of the servants stopping to stare at the gorgeous siblings all of them unaware of how amazingly good looking they are.


The hall looked lovely with silk tapestries hung all over and new silk tableclothes on all the tables and emerald place settings for each guest. And the new thrones had arrived all gilded in gold with the family's crest from centuries past embroidered on each throne's velvet chair backing.


The Xailon pulled Alexandros aside and said in a low tone so no one else could hear him, "Andros, you are my baby brother and this is all father's choosing I can not change it. Do not feel guilty you will be a wonderful leader. Are you feeling alright? For you have lost weight and if I am correct you have lost some color in your hair."


He looked deep into his baby brother's eyes waiting for a reply. Alexandros stood gaping at his older brother for a few moments then whispered, "I do not feel guilt, Xailon. I do not want to rule. I prefer to ride my horses and fight with the men. I want to write like I always have its my passion. And...well, Father wishes me to marry this woman that I have never met before in my life."


Alexandros stood shaking, obviously terrified of the unexpected when the doors to north entrance swung open and their father and mother swept into the room all smiles and happy. They nodded their heads to their beautiful children who in return bowed and curtsied to their parents who didn't look a day past 35 but in reality were 1200 years old as of this day. The dance was in honor of their coinciding birthdays. Their father looked at each of his children with pride until he fell upon the face of his middle son Alexandros. He was proud of the boy but could not figure out why he was this way about ruling their lands. Alexandros smiled then seemed to get bored yet again and walked off to sit in his chair which was, of course, right in the middle of the second largest table in the room.


Alexandros sighed as he sat down in his throne for the evening. He was dreading meeting this princess from so far away. He had no doubt she would be gorgeous for she was of vampire lineage as was he. But he was never to much into the opposite sex. He had actually never been attracted to anybody. He looked around at the bustling servants and the knights guarding the doors that enter from the main entry halls of the castle. The guests, and his soon-to-be bride, would be arriving any moment and he couldn't be more terrified.


His brothers and sisters sat in their designated seats on either side of himself and started talking softly and laughing every once in awhile. Finally, the first guest arrived. It was the Count of Coretisan and his wife and 2 daughters and son. They came in standing stiffly before his father then turned to bow to Alexandros, one of the girls fluttered her eyelashes at him demurely before curtsying low enough for her headdress to slip slightly. Alexandros rolled his eyes and looked to his father who glared at him briefly before telling the arrivals to have a seat and enjoy their evening. The guests began to flow in right after that and the greetings to them was a blur for about 2 hours.


Finally, everyone sat down and began to talk amongst themselves and some of the young men and women danced gracefully in the middle of the room on the marble floor. Alexandros sat quietly, dreading the time his engagement to a girl he's never met would be announced. He was so nervous he was shaking like a leaf. Xailon reached over to pat him on the back to try and reassure his little brother it would all work out but the lad instead jumped almost out of his skin from fright. A few heads turned to look at the princes who were looking at each other but were quickly distracted by the gypsy dancers brought in to entertain the guests. Alexandros slumped in his throne slightly waiting anxiously for the inevitable moment to arrive.


Alexandros felt himself getting antsy yet again and tried to distract himself with the silverware next to his plate. He was distracted by his fork for about fifteen minutes when the trumpets played the salute to royal guests and made him jump almost out of his seat. A royal procession marched through the entry hall doors and made its way to the head table. Alexandros couldn't take his eyes off the the beautiful gowns the women of the family were wearing. They were glistening jewel toned gowns all of them had silver trim and had full long skirts. They took small dainty steps. The men walked around the women protectively as if these jewels were there prized possession. One of the men who was walking beside the procession was very young, maybe a year or two older than Alexandros, who was walking beside the youngest of the females of the jewel group. He was stunning and tall, with an emerald green velvet vest on, and matching tights with boots on that the candle lights were bouncing off of. Alexandros watched them all closely until they reached the table then stood as his father and mother did and bowed to the royal family.


Alexandros waited patiently as each person was introduced. They introduced Gariella, his betrothed, with a flourish and before he knew what was happening he was whisked into the center dance floor with this jewel toned beauty but his mind was on the amazingly handsome young man who was the brother to this girl. He attempted to make small talk once by saying, "Its a pleasure to meet you finally." Then blushing to a scarlet red.


She smiled and blushed also then concentrated on dancing and didn't say anything back to him. He clammed up and didn't say another word. When the dance was over he rushed to his throne and flopped into his seat and tried not to chew on his nails angrily. His life wasn't turning out to be anything he wanted and he was unable to make any decisions of his own. And to top it all off he was stuck marrying this jewel with that made a mouse seem like a chatter box. What was he to do? And on top of all that, he had that young man stuck in his head and couldn't stop thinking about him.