King Henry

"Presenting: the Princess Royal, Victoria Anne!" The doors open and Victoria walks into the room. She looks stunning. Any man would be captivated by her. I hope Clarke knows how lucky he is to be allowed to court my sister.

As her brother and her king, I escort Victoria inside. Bowing before allowing her to make her way to Clarke, I smile. I know she is going to be great at anything she sets her mind to. This is only the beginning for her. I take great pride in presenting my sister to the nobles of this great country.

I watch as she finds Clarke in the crowd. This is it. People are going to be talking about her next movements for months to come. I know she will live up to everything they think she is going to be.

The applause of my audience dies down as Victoria accepts Clarke's invitation to dance with him. He takes her hand and guides her to the center of the dance floor.

She looks confident out there.

She and Clarke swirl around the empty floor, swaying back and forth to the song. They look happy together. Though, I wish his hand wasn't so low on her back...

The music ends. Surely everyone now knows that Clarke's romantic dance with Victoria is going to be hard to beat. But just to solidify their engagement, I clap. "My sister, The Princess Royal and Sir Clarke Howard, betrothed."

I find Serena in the crowd just in time for the next song. Now is my time to make a move. "Care to dance with me?"

"Um," she looks around at all of the faces around us. She undoubtedly sees all the the eyes on her and I am sure they make her nervous. "Okay." I can sense the debate behind her eyes. She is still not sure if she wants this.

I take her hand gently and pull her into me. "It is okay to turn me down. Most would see it as an insult but I will take no offense."

She shakes her head. "I want to dance with my boyfriend. I'll have to get over the rest of it."

"Alright then, let's dance." I smile, spinning her around to the music.

Murmurs around us swirl just as we do.

"Are they together?"

"Are they engaged?"

"She'd make a beautiful Queen."

"Just look at that dress."

"Ugh, I am so jealous."

If I can hear their words, I know Serena definitely can. I just hope she is able to ignore them. I only want her to focus on me. Everyone else is irrelevant tonight.

"I'm," she looks up at me, making direct eye contact. "I'm sorry." She pulls away from me. Lifting her dress, she runs out, not even waiting for the guards to open the doors for her. She bursts through them herself without even looking back.

"Serena wait!" I call out to her but I am blocked before I am able to successfully follow her.

"She was beautiful, what was her name?" A woman asks me, holding a pad of paper. She must be a reporter. "And why did she run off?"

My face is pained as I try to escape the questions to run after Serena. There are too many people here. I can not escape.

I find my sister. Her eyes are glued to the escape route of Serena. She looks back at the crowd, no doubt following the commotion to find me within it.

She makes eye contact with me and frowns. 'I'll find her' she mouths, ditching her own date to find mine.

*
In this chapter you got to see a bit of Henry's point of view of Victoria and Clarke's dance and a little added bonus of his and Serena's dance