Uncharted Expectations: Part 9 (Original Story-Romance/Fantasy)
In part eight, Tanya and Alyssa learned more about Chrysanthe and Nerine's relationships with the royal family. Read on to find out what happens next!
Tanya and Alyssa noticed Hyakinthos staring at them. He watched them from the moment they walked in the room until they sat down. Tanya and Alyssa looked to each other wondering what was going on. Alyssa shrugged her shoulders. “If you stare at them any longer, brother, your eyes may fall out of your head onto your plate.” Chrysanthe rolled her eyes slowly and smiled to herself. “My dear elder sister, I highly appreciate your concern. I simply had a fear your attitude gave Princess Tanya a chill.” Hyakinthos narrowed his eyes at her. “Children! Please retain your manners!” The queen said as if she was about to jump across the table and smack both of them. “We do have guests, after all.” She said calmly after a sigh. Her tone made Tanya and Alyssa sit up straight in their chairs. The king firmly nodded and gave their prayer.
“How was your experience with Chrysanthe, Princess Tanya?” She saw Chrysanthe’s eyes shoot to her the moment the words left her father’s lips. “It was an educational experience, your royal highness.” Tanya smiled. “Oh,” the queen looked towards her. “What did you learn about our wonderful kingdom?” Tanya saw the queen smiling at Chrysanthe. “Princess Chrysanthe taught me about your kingdom’s excellent selection of books. She suggested a wonderful history text for me. I look forward to reading it.” Tanya decided to leave out the entire classroom experience altogether. “I had forgotten about that book!” Alyssa’s eyes lit up. “I want to read it, too!” “Princess Alyssa, you can ask me anything you wish to know!” Nerine grinned. “I look forward to spending more time with ya!” Alyssa and Nerine giggled. “Ah yes,” the queen looked toward Nerine. She instantly stopped giggling and sat up straight.
“How did you enjoy your time together, Princess Alyssa?” Alyssa beamed and bounced in her seat towards the queen. “It was really fun! The fountain was cool! I didn’t know ya had something like that!” She bounced as she turned to her plate. The queen smiled at her. “I see you and my youngest daughter make an excellent combination. Do you agree Nerine?” “Yes, mother.” Nerine gave her mother a small smile. “I heard, Hya-, Prince Hyakinthos is an even better musician that I thought!” Alyssa smiled at him. “Well,” Hyakinthos leaned slightly forward. “I would be overjoyed to perform for you.” He finished this statement looking into her eyes. Nerine clasped her hands together. Her hands made a subtle clap. “My brother and Laurus can put on a delightful performance tomorrow. Father, mother, do you think this is an agreeable idea?” The king and queen nodded to each other. “I think this would be an excellent opportunity to show our son’s extraordinary talents.” The king beamed. “Yes, indeed.” The queen smiled.
“Wow! We get to hear some more awesome music from them!” Tanya nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s going to be great.” Hyakinthos and Laurus met them going down the hallway. “My, my, Princesses, you look lovely today.” Hyakinthos leaned in. “May I escort you to the hall?” Chrysanthe bumped him to the side. “I shall take you there.” Hyakinthos looked at the ceiling and back to Chrysanthe. He opened his mouth as if he was about to talk. He turned to Laurus and mumbled something instead. “Follow me if you will, Princesses.” Hyakinthos stood behind them to follow. “Brother, you should take the other path. It would be much faster for you to arrive that way.” Hyakinthos stopped. “I do appreciate your concern, my dear elder sister.” His voice had a slight growl to it.
“This is where you will sit. My brother and Laurus will perform in that location.” Tanya and Alyssa watched Chrysanthe’s guided tour of the ballroom. “Remember when we sung in that contest, Princess Tanya?” Alyssa grinned. Tanya raised a brow. “Yes, I remember. Why are you bringing that up? Alyssa walked over to Tanya and stretched her arms. “This reminds me of that!” They told us where to sing and where our folks would sit.” Alyssa folded her arms. “This is like a bigger version of that.”
Chrysanthe walked up to them. “Oh, you two have musical talent?” Alyssa smiled and nodded. “Yep, we used to be a duet singing group. We sung all kind of cool songs. Isn’t that right Princess Tanya?” Alyssa’s eyes glistened with joy. “Yes, that’s true.” Tanya said slowly as she watched Chrysanthe give a sly smile. “You two should perform after my brother. I believe it would be very interesting.” Chrysanthe ended that with a small laugh. “Yep, I think that’ll be fine.” Alyssa grabbed Tanya’s hands. “Don’t ya think so, too?” Tanya glanced at Chrysanthe’s sly smile. She wanted to pay her back for those insults the other day. “Of course Alyssa, but you know we’re out of practice.” Alyssa put her arm across Tanya’s shoulder. “We’ll just sing an easy song. Ya know, one that doesn’t kill our vocal chords.” Tanya smiled back at Chrysanthe. “We accept your invitation, Princess Chrysanthe.”
Alyssa had a bounce in her step as they walked to her bedroom. “Let’s sing a love song!” She asked while blushing slightly. “I think a love song would be a little too…” “Direct? I want Hyakin to know my feelings!” Alyssa held a hand to her heart. “I don’t think the royal family would appreciate it. Let’s try a song about friendship instead.” Alyssa put her hands on her hips. “No! I want to sing a love song!” Tanya wondered what would convince Alyssa while rubbing her forehead. Meanwhile, Alyssa wondered why Tanya was being so stubborn. ”Would you sing a love song to Nerine?” Alyssa paused. “That would be weired. No, I wouldn’t do that. Why’d ya ask something like that?” “Nerine is in your audience.” “Oh, yeah that’s right.” Alyssa said quietly. “Let’s sing the song that won us the talent show.”
“Ladies!” Hyakinthos said as he quickly walked up to them. The servants were leading them to the ballroom. “I heard you will be performing after us!” Alyssa nodded. “Yep, what do ya think about it?” Hyakinthos smiled at them. “I look forward to hearing your voices! I have no doubt in your talent.” Laurus looked to them and whispered. “Please do not embarrass yourselves or us for bringing you here.” Tanya smiled. “Don’t worry, Laurus.” Alyssa grinned with fire in her eyes. “Yeah, we got this!” Laurus nodded and walked off with Hyakinthos ahead of them.
There was a large audience of people dressed in a variety of clothing. They looked elegant and refined. However, the royal family was much more spectacular than the audience. Hyakinthos let his fingers dance across the keys. He smiled and tossed his hair as he played the song. The melody sounded like a person sprinting. Laurus strummed quickly along with him. His lute provided a slightly slower background to the keyboard. It almost sounded like grass under marching feet. Tanya and Alyssa thought they look somewhat like a small rock band because of their flashy clothes. Hyakinthos parted his lips and sung. Tanya and Alyssa opened their eyes in shock. He sung in English. He paused to look into each of their eyes in between the verses. Hyakinthos and Laurus sung the chorus together. Laurus had a deep bass and strong mid tone. His voice made an excellent match for the high notes Hyakinthos would sing off and on. Hyakinthos tossed his hair back as he sung a legend about the kingdom’s origin. A fairy told the first king about the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. It was a flower with many colors. It grew over a spring with rainbow water. The king built a kingdom to celebrate the spirits creation. Alyssa nudged Tanya and mouthed, “I saw that fountain!” Tanya nodded and signaled for Alyssa to continue watching.
Their second song talked about a legendary love between a king and queen of ears past. The queen was a merchant. The king always bought fruit from her. One day, he told her he wanted the sweetest fruit in her stall. She wondered what it was. He held her hand and looked into her eyes. She was the sweet fruit he desired. He revealed he was the king. They had a passionate romance. This fire is where their branch of the family came from.
Everyone applauded as Alyssa whispered to Tanya. “Let’s do that love song I wanted!” Tanya couldn’t help but agree. Hyakinthos and Laurus just sung a romance song, although it was important historically.
Tanya and Alyssa walked to the stage. Alyssa strode in front with her head held high and swinging her arms. Tanya walked a bit more slowly clasping her hands in front of her. Their first song was about a strong friendship. Tanya hoped the royal family would figure out that this was a gesture of peace and respect towards them. Alyssa often held Tanya’s hands and put her arms around her shoulders. She wanted them to feel their strong bond. The royal family smiled brightly. Chrysanthe narrowed her eyes while giving a small smile. Hyakinthos swayed to the beat. Laurus gave them a smile and nod of recognition.
Their second song was about a strong intense romance. Of course, it wasn’t explicit. Yet, it showed the feelings of the singer. Alyssa would often pause to look into Hyakinthos’ eyes throughout the song. She hoped he would pay more attention to her after this. Tanya watched this while she sung. She gestured across the entire room while holding her hand to her heart. Eventually they both matched their movement in their last verse and chorus.
“We thank you for your excellent performance!” The king smiled and grinned after a strong applause. “Yes, it truly aroused our senses. What do you think, my children?” Hyakinthos spoke up first before his sisters could say anything. “I am overjoyed I invited you here princesses. If I had known of your immense talent, I would have asked you to perform on the first day!” “Really?” Alyssa asked. Hyakinthos nodded “Yes, indeed.” Chrysanthe cleared her throat. “You defied my expectations. I never would have expected I would be so emotionally moved by your singing.” Nerine clasped her hand together. “I throughly enjoyed it! It would give me great happiness to hear you perform again!” Hyakinthos walked up to Tanya and Alyssa. “I need to speak with you both. Find a way to get to my chambers after lunch tomorrow. This is urgent.” He whispered. Then, he turned to his parents. “May this gesture show peace between our three kingdoms!”
Read the next part here!
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