A brutally honest opinion

Chapter 68| A Brutally honest opinion

"You look beautiful," Biggest understatement of the millennium but he needed to make sound and say words rather than drag out his gawking and the silence between them ever since she had effectively stolen his breath away from him and made his speaking abilities useless the minute he had caught sight of her olive-colored bareback and her altogether made into perfection everything that had thrown him off guard. She tipped her head straight barely nodding in delight to the tune of the harp being played as they waited for her to be announced.

She turned to hold his gaze even as she offered him a polite smile but refusing to acknowledge she had checked him out and had noticed the way his bulging muscles filled out the indigo traditional made wear he wore and how much she hated him for looking so damn gorgeous without even trying, as his hair which was thankfully still braided though it caused a nuisance to her chest as she couldn't help the warm feeling of noting just incredibly good-looking he was on them. Oh God, she wondered in exasperation but she was at least thankful his hair wasn't down which made her entertain thoughts of dragging the tips of it as his lips assaulted her while she discovered how soft his mane was.

"You smell nice. Like cedarwood and cinnamon," she quipped, and then as she noticed the shock and then smirk that grew on his face, she almost palmed herself in the face but restrained herself remembering that wasn't elegant at all even as she sulked inwardly on how tactless she had been while trying to apply tact.

She didn't just give out the fact that she had paid more attention to him physically to even decipher his scent, did she? But it was hard not to? The strong scent of those assaulted your nostrils and senses. She had this great nose for picking scent so she have been told, so that meant absolutely nothing she thought to herself.

She scowled even as he stood aloof and unmoving, the smirk on his face almost like it was her lucid imagination the minute she had caught sight of the Abba making her note the similarities of the two men now they stood side by side.

He muttered something to Tristan and she didn't bother straining her ear to hear because if he had wanted her to be wouldn't go through the trouble of standing so close to Tristan and whispering, then not sparing her even a glance, rather than a short curt nod when she had curtseyed. He briskly walked out while she rolled her eyes, cursing him inwardly.

"You do know the basics of playing the piano right?"

She nodded, not knowing where the question was leading to, and although she had surprisingly known more than just a few basic notes the last time she had played, if she was being honest with herself that felt like a spur of the moment incident but her ego seemed bigger than her rationality obviously because she raised her brow and asked like an authoritative presence, "Why?"

"You'll be entertaining the people a little with your dazzling few notes. Remember don't do too much but do enough to make it memorable."

She rolled her eyes, even as tension bolted and buzzed from her head to toe while she wondered why she wasn't confessing that she had dismissed her pianist because she had felt like she didn't need him anymore because of one moment of only God knows what had happened with her, "No pressure."

He grinned showing off an endorsement-worthy set of teeth, "There is. You had raised that bar the minute you had stride in here looking like a fucking princess so the people of Indiosia would be expecting someone who acts like one too." He brought out his hand which she looped hers into hoping that she didn't fall face flat as she followed him to the elevated spot which made sure all of Indiosia saw her and gawk at her. She was out. This was her unveiling and she was going to rock the hell out of it.

Once he was done, helping her sit on the seat behind the piano and took a step backward. Immediately he watched her crane her neck to the side, an arrogant goofy grin on her face like she knew everyone at the moment was under her spell, he already knew she was going to make sure she was all that would be in the lips of all her spectators for weeks and as she produced a sad tune from her piano that made him harshly exhaled, he noticed her pursed lips, elegant fingers that glided hitting each key almost instinctively and unbelievably so perfectly he couldn't help but be lured in by her sad lone tune as he closed his eyes wondering if nobody could hear the aching sadness she wore on her face even as she entangled them in a complicating spell that made sure you were aware of how stunning she was.

***

"Goddess who are you and what have they done to my Kimberly?" She chuckled lightly even as she spun in his arms remembering how he had almost battled to make sure he was her first dance.

She was beginning to realize that dancing and waltzing in Indiosia was the second next must-do since she had a long list of young men who wanted to have a dance with her. She had lost count of accepting their request after the thirtieth person.

"Not only do you look different but you act differently?" He met her gaze even as she turned yet again and spun falling in his arms as graceful as a trained dancer. From her peripheral vision, she was beginning to notice that people were beginning to pause their dance to gawk at her.

"Is that a good different or a bad one?" They took three steps forward and two backward, he smiled.

"I can't seem to make up my mind. When you had been behind the piano producing sounds that had made most of your audience who listened to your sound have this glassy telltale expression and few who feasted their eyes on you with a noticeably unmistakable leer in them, I couldn't help but suppress the scream that felt like flying out of my mouth of how much I know the girl who seems to have abandoned me in the commoner status and have upgraded to royalty overnight."

She shrugged, "Still the Kimberly you know."

"I like that confident side of you behind the piano. You oozed so much grace and although I've been in this palace with you all this while, I find myself fascinated at this side of you I never got to see."

"But?" She flashed him her teeth, expectantly.

He sighed, even as he turned, interchanging with the dance partner in front of him and then back "When you had smiled with the Duke and entertained their wives. It felt really real. Like you were now a morphed egoistical princess overnight who has fun sipping from a rum glass and laughing squeakily to inflate the ego of these men."

"Wow," she swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry as she had not expected such a brutally honest opinion even though she had asked for it.