Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
This was not how I wished to welcome Odette.
Nor was it what I wanted for my family. We were grieving, yes, but I did not want them to sit in this pain. Yet I did not know what to do. I could not leave, nor could I make Sophia leave. If Arthur came back from the grave for anything, it would be to terrorize me for dishonoring his beloved wife.
So, we sat in deafening silence, drinking.
I glanced over at Odette, who was turned away from our family and glancing back at the family den where the piano sat next to the window.
I opened my mouth to ask her if she wished to play, but she spoke first before I could.
“Do you mind if play?” Odette questioned, turning back to us.
“Not at all,” my mother replied gently. “Someone should, as that piano has been preserved for only gross neglect whenever the queen dowager is away.”
“The queen dowager? As in Queen Arabella,” Odette asked to my surprise, rising from her seat.
“Yes, my grandmother,” I answered, happy to speak again. “She is fond of the piano and tried to make us all learn, but none of us were any good.”
“You were all plenty good, simply not good enough for the queen mother,” my mother said, and I glanced at her, trying to see if there would be any resentment on her face.
Everyone knew my grandmother was not fond of Mother and vice versa, which was why my grandmother preferred to spend her time in Donaè Castle in the north. However, my mother let nothing away.
“It is the most beautiful piano I have ever seen,” Odette said, and when I looked back, she was beside it, running her hands over the golden engravings for a moment. Then without any reservation or thought, she stepped out of her heels, placing them carefully under the bench before taking a seat.
She pressed one key.
Then another.
And then smiled, stretching her fingers before they touched the keys, and in the blink of an eye, a dozen notes flew by. The room filled with soft notes, and it was as if the sun had appeared, the heavy cloud of sorrow and pain vanishing. She had everyone’s attention, my mother, my sister, the butlers who stood not to be seen, Persephone, and even that of Sophia, though I could not read the expression on her face.
The more I listened, the more words came to my mind to speak. When her brown eyes glanced up and met mine, the rest of the world fell away. I watched until I could no longer be so far away. Placing my glass down onto the table beside me, I rose from my seat, going to her, so she looked away. Beside her, my hand trembled as I fought my desire to touch her, my fading reason urging me to remember we were not alone. So, I stood there only for a second longer before taking the seat beside her. The notes she played flooded my mind, and the words I wanted to say became clearer. I did not have the talent for singing, but I could speak over her melody, and I wanted to, so I did.
“It is not by a ray, which the sun rises and falls.
But by my memories of you.
Words I revised a thousand times,
The walls of my heart disallowed me to speak.
What I feel only treasuries can keep.
Be it not for your hellos and goodbyes
Never would I have fallen this deep.
Now my soul bellows to your soul
Desperately for a reply,
Endeavoring forever to have you at my side.
By you my Achilles' heel and Golden Fleece
I decipher the days.
Dawn is revealed at the sound of your voice
And dusk is the masterpiece of stars in your eyes.
That is by which I know the sun rises and falls.”
When I finished, she looked at me and played gently, drifting off to the end of the melody. When she was done, her hands lifted from the keys and came to rest on top of mine. Smiling, they interlocked.
“Did you—”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I feel unwell. I think I will go back to bed,” Sophia said abruptly, capturing everyone’s attention.
She was shaking all over, her face clenched tightly as if she were trying to fight back whatever emotion was about to show. Even her hands were in fists.
“Yes, of course. Goodnight, my dear,” my mother whispered, her eyes wide and glossed over as she watched her.
Sophia turned to me and nodded before rushing out of the room. The door already held open by the butler.
“I should go check—”
“Go.” Odette nodded, letting go of my hand.
Rising from the piano, I rushed out as well, quickly down both halls, seeing her lift the bottom of her dress and running up the stairs.
“Sophia,” I called out, going after her, but she just kept running, and just as she got to the top of the stairs, she tripped forward.