Meredith stood by Isabella at the side of the dance floor. As soon as the coronation had finished, the celebration had begun. Meredith had demanded from Isabella an account of the crowning of the king, since she, as an employee of the palace, had not been present.

Now, Isabella was practically giddy, and was pointing out to Meredith who she thought was handsome. Meredith allowed herself to participate, being, for once, a girl, simply carefree.

"Who's that?" said Meredith, pointing at a tall, gangly man who seemed to be attempting to dance with every young lady in the room.

Isabella gave a rather unladylike snort and snickered. "That's Lord Richard. He's clumsy as all get-out and yet believes himself to be the best dancer of the court. I have my work cut out for me avoiding him. What? You don't think he's handsome do you?"

"No, certainly not, the poor man. But I can't help feeling sorry for him..."

"Who would you dance with?" said Isabella. "Choose three."

"But...I don't know anyone."

"I'll enlighten you."

Meredith turned her gaze back to the crowd before her, some dancing, some, like her and Isabella, standing aside talking. A cheery waltz was being played by the orchestra.

"Hmmm..." she muttered, and then her eyes fell upon a man who wasn't bad-looking, even if he was a bit plain. "Him maybe..."

"Lord Andrew, hm? My mother is convinced that I should dance with him, get to know him. In her mind, we'd be a perfect couple." Isabella rolled her eyes. "Who else?"

Meredith peered at the people once more. "He's nice looking," she said, pointing.

Upon seeing who she was pointing at, Isabella abandoned all pretense of ladylikeness and laughed out loud.

"What?" said Meredith. "He is!"

Isabella only laughed more. Finally, she managed to speak. "He's...my...cousin!"

Meredith simply gaped at Isabella, then turned to look more closely at the man. He looked nothing of how she had expected him to. Gone was the pale weakness of his youth. This was a prince. A king now, she reminded herself, taking note of the crown he now knelt to retrieve from the small boy in front of him who was simply beaming as he handed it back.

Isabella was still chuckling. "You have high ambitions, Meredith!" she giggled. Meredith blushed.

"I wasn't aware that he was your cousin." Meredith found herself watching Antony as he greeted people, shook hands with the men, and bowed to the ladies. What really caught her attention, however, was when he didn't ignore the smaller members of the court, like the little boy whom he had let try on the crown. Where he seemed stiff around the other adults, the children he seemed comfortable with. She watched him bow to a little girl who walked with a limp, and saw her eyes light up with happiness.

"You're not!" said Isabella incredulously. "You're not falling for my cousin are you?"

"Of course not," said Meredith. "He's just...not how I expected him to be." She shrugged and turned away, smoothing the fabric of her dress. Isabella smiled, but was soon distracted by the dark-haired man that entered the room just then, and made his way to the new king's side.

"Kade..." she whispered, half under her breath.

Meredith smirked.

"Who's really in love here?"

Isabella looked rather sheepish.

"I...suppose I should probably tell you. A lot of those times I went outside to escape from my mother...I went to talk with Kade. He's one of Antony's generals, so he's been around a lot, getting the palace guard into shape and helping Antony coordinate his plans for the army. I've been talking with him. He's just so...polite. And I think he likes me...but for me. Not for my position or money. I'm...This may sound premature of me but...I'm in love with him, Meredith."

Meredith watched her friend for a few moments, before turning back to look at the crowd. 

Isabella, next to her, laughed softly. "He was the son of our head groom, back around the time that Antony came to stay at Mansfield. Kade was competitive, very much so, and he challenged Antony to a horse race. Antony ended up with a twisted ankle somehow, but it would appear that there are no hard feelings...look at them."

Indeed, Antony was smiling at his general and Kade laughed at something Antony said. Then, Antony pointed in their direction. At Isabella, Meredith realized.

"Isabella..." she said. "Does your cousin know about you and Kade?"

"No...no one but you knows."

"I think you're about to receive a formal introduction."

Isabella looked up, just in time to smile at Antony and Kade.

"Isabella," said Antony, smiling back at her. "I wonder if you remember Kade?"

Isabella nodded somewhat dumbly. Meredith watched, a few steps behind her friend.

"Princess," said Kade, coming forward and taking her hand, kissing it and bowing, looking at Isabella with a twinkle in his eyes.

Meredith somehow managed to keep a straight face, but almost lost it when she saw Antony roll his eyes.

"I wondered, My Lady," said Kade, smiling at Isabella. "If you might have this dance with me?"

Isabella simply nodded again.

Meredith smiled and watched as Kade offered Isabella his arm and they prepared to enter into the dance. Suddenly, Isabella turned around and rushed back to Meredith, grabbing her cousin's arm on the way by to pull him back from leaving.

"Antony," she said, and turned to smile encouragingly at Meredith, who suddenly felt as if all the heat in her body had risen to her face. "This is my friend...the Lady Meredith of...Devonshire."

Meredith inwardly groaned. I am not a lady! She looked frantically at Isabella and shook her head as subtly as possible, but Isabella pressed on.

"Lady Meredith," said Antony, bowing politely. Then he turned to Isabella. "I apologize Isabella, but I really must..."

"Nonsense, Antony!" said Isabella, cheerily. "You've spent no time dancing, whatsoever. You should dance with Meredith! She's a lovely dancer..."

Meredith looked at Isabella in horror. She hadn't danced in years!

Antony sighed and, looking as if it were the last thing he'd like to do, finally nodded. "Alright, Isabella."

I'm going to kill Isabella once this is over.

He turned to Meredith. "May I have this dance?"

Meredith nodded, stupidly, and took Antony's proffered arm, glaring at Isabella as Antony led her past and onto the dance floor.

The waltz began and Meredith found herself surprised to remember most of the steps. Antony was a very good dancer, and she wondered why he did not seem to like to dance at parties.

"So..." said Antony, finally, and she jumped slightly. "Devonshire?"

She must have looked rather confused, so he clarified. "Do you miss your home while you are here in King's City?"

"Oh! Yes! I mean...yes, I do."

They continued around the dance floor in silence, until Antony spoke again.

"Who are you, really?" he finally asked, meeting her gaze. "For you are not the Lady of Devonshire."

She seemed struck dumb, unable to answer him.

The dance ended and, as was customary after a waltz, she curtsied to him, and he bowed to her.

"Lady Meredith?" she heard him call as she made her escape from the floor. She turned to face him.

"You may want to inform Isabella that if she wishes to lie, she should think it through, beforehand."

He turned and abruptly disappeared from her view.

She had never felt so mortified in her life.

How could Isabella?

As Antony danced with the Lady Adelaide, he found himself curious about the girl Isabella had introduced to him as Lady Meredith.

Lady of Devonshire said Antony to himself, smiling a bit. He angled his gaze around the room until he saw the real Lady of Devonshire, a tall, skinny woman, who looked more like a long-necked bird than a lady.

However, this poised the question: who was Meredith, really?

"How does it feel?"

Adelaide's voice pulled him from his musing and he smiled. "How does what feel?"

"Being king."

"Ah yes, that."

She smiled at him.

"Honestly...It's a bit strange...but I don't feel much different, I suppose."

They finished their waltz, she curtsying to him, he bowing to her.