New Rise - Book 4

Chapter 18

Over the next hour I was taken hostage by Anne in their home. I was her canvas as she went to work on giving me a formal air of elegance. It took thirty minutes for her to do my hair, ten for my make up and another twenty to get me into my dress.

When I was finished she moved me to stand before a large gilded mirror with Celtic engravings along the aged wooden frame. I glanced at my reflection and only half recognized myself.

I looked mature, beautiful in the way that aunt Rosalie did.

My curly hair was pulled back and clipped with a diamond encrusted stone so it hung over my shoulder but kept out of my face. A deep crimson shade painted my lips and there was a faint trace of cosmetics on my cheek bones to bring out my natural blush that normally came and went.

The dress I wore sparkled in an opal shade as it clung to my skin. As I looked down I noticed the bottom frayed in a feather-like manner. It was definitely different in a beautiful way. Upon further inspection I noticed that there were tiny diamonds embedded in the fabric of the dress.

"This is beautiful, thank you Anne." I said as I turned towards her.

She placed her hand on my jaw and smiled like Esme did when she looked at me. "I've always wanted a daughter I could dress up like this."

I felt my face blush. "Thank you."

She ran her thumb along my cheek once before dropping her hand back by her side. "No lady Renesmee thank you." She turned towards her large dresser to retrieve a golden clutch that she handed to me. Then she picked up a pair of diamond chandelier earrings. "These were my mothers, she wore them during her courtship with my father."

"I don't have pierced ears." I admitted.

Anne chuckled. "Neither did my mother, you see they are clip ons." She winked. "Back then jewelry was a luxury that only the wealthy could afford to wear but my mother was terrified of getting her ears pierced so she had them specially altered for her."

Very carefully she loosened the clasp and fitted them to my ear lobes before taking a step back.

"It's time, the ball room has been set up for your evening with my son."

In the next half a second Charles entered the room and held out his right arm across his chest before taking a slight bow, keeping my eye contact the entire time. "May I lady Renesmee." he asked before extending his hand out towards me.

I smiled shyly and curtseyed before taking his hand. "Thank you." I chimed.

Just as we headed out the door a elegantly dressed Anne was at my side taking my other arm into hers just like her husband. Then we headed down the stairs through a narrow hall I had never been through before and stopped before a pair of thick mahogany doors that stood ajar.

Then he was before me, he stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, the picture of nonchalance, and even as a half-mortal, he was too handsome for words. His dark blond hair had been combed back, falling softly around his face, and his blue eyes, though they should've seemed pale against all the white in the ballroom, glimmered more brightly than anything. And they were fixed solely on me.

He bowed just like his father, a large smile playing host to his lips. "May I-" Somewhere in the back ground a beautiful song began to play. "-have this dance." he grinned.

A child-like giggle slipped through my lips as I placed my hand into his. He took lead and we spun to the center of the ballroom floor where he began a gentle waltz. We swayed and turned to the music. He even dipped me a few times.

It had been a while since I had truly danced in such elegance. Moving in fluid motions was as easy as breathing to me since I had practiced ballet as a child. There were many times during our dances where I had to fight the urge to begin dancing. With my superself control I managed to resist it.

"What is on your mind my love?" Nicholi spoke as he spun me outwards and then brought me back to his chest.

I smiled as I gazed into his eyes. "Everything. But at the front is dancing." He smiled. "I used to dance ballet."

"Hmmm, tell me about this." He turned me so my back was to him as we continued sway. His lips hovering near my neck.

I felt goosebumps rise from my skin as it began tingle. "There isn't much to say except that I heard my mother call my aunt Alice a ballerina at heart so I was curious to what a ballerina was and found out they were dancers. Ever since then I taught myself to dance and would perform for my family in our piano room."

He spun me back quickly so he could look into my eyes. "Other men said they have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough." his words flowed like a gentle brooke, the scent of his breath like a springtime meadow.

"The day we met, why out of all the people around you did you choose me?"

That thought had ran through my mind on several occasion, yet now seemed the perfect time to confront it.

"You looked like you’d been trying to fade away. I thought you were a woman who needed to be seen." He whispered to me.

As I glanced in his eyes I saw all the other possibilities. The dream-world possibilities. The fairytale possibilities. The seemingly impossible possibilities. Yet I was not worthy. He was better, smarter, stronger, perfect.

"My eyes are not worthy to look upon your face Nicholi, yet they will not rest until they see you again." I tried hard to glance away from him but everytime my eyes were pulled back. I felt wrong, like I was stealing something that wasn't mine everytime I looked into him.

"Don't speak such blasphemy Renesmee." He took his hand and placed it over my heart before taking my hand and doing the same. "Our heart beats to one another."

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying you are my soul mate."

I felt a tear slip from my eyes as he spoke the words of love. "Soulmates?"

He brushed away my fleeing tears before he brushed his lips along the knuckles of my hand. "Soul mates are said to be two souls destined to be together, programmed to recognize each other across time and space. I didn’t know whether that was the truth, but I was inclined to believe it, especially once I met you." He kissed my hand. "My heart has never beat the same since I heard the song of yours. I know you were the one destined for me and the long lonely wait was worth it and still is."

I was left without any words. What was one supposed to say when such things were spoken to me? The only thing I knew I should do was continue to breath and that is what I did as I stared into the beautiful blue crystals that were his eyes.

He sighed. "Renesmee, please."

"What is it that you want Nicholi?"

"I want the permission to kiss you, I've waited what feels like forever."

I stopped swaying with him and stepped back. "I can't."

He took a step forward towards me. "You can't what?"

I shook my head. "I can't kiss you." I felt my cheeks ignite and I dropped my gaze to the stone floor.

He reached out and took my hand gently into his. "Why not, have I offended you?"

I frowned before allowing my eyes to meet his once more. "I've kissed before only it was a lie to try and steal the most valuable part of me." I replied as I thought back to the confusion bestowed up me by Gregory.

"I would never imagine harming you in such ways." He brought my hand up to meet his lips. "If I must wait a century to kiss you than that is what I will do. As long as I have you with me I am already satisfied."

He placed his free hand on my hip and began to spin us again before he started another waltz to the music playing in the background. I recognized this song as one by Tchaikovsky, his Overture Love Theme that made its fame alongside the movie Romeo and Juliet, one of my mothers favorites.

"Belief in love can be hard Renesmee, but faith in the romantic strings played by fate is faith in the symmetrical symphony sweetly delivered to comfort the screams of your heart. What’s meant for you will reach you in time, and if you embrace it with your arms wide open it will stay with you forever and bless you with more happiness than you could ever envision."

"Yet time can be cruel if you don’t use it wisely"

"The churning of a human mind is unpredictable, as is the anatomy of the human heart."

"Half human" I corrected. "I only say what is true."

"Half true. Renesmee I can read your aura and it shines brightly whenever you are around me."

I looked away from his eyes, too shy to want to admit. It was I who was conquered. In just under two months, I not only discovered that I had a heart that could love, but he stole it forever.

"Renesmee," he said. "Do you know how much I love you?" He spun me outwards.

I smiled and answered with a hint of sarcasm in my tone. Sarcasm was a newly found tool to avoid being straight forward. "Well, I’m not quite sure." This was a lie, I knew he loved me.

"No, I’m serious," Nicholi said, spinning me back so that he was facing me. His eyes were serious, something that I had never seen in him before as he was a naturally calm and content person.

I inhaled sharply and forced my lips into a thin line. "Yeah, I do. It’s the kind that hurts so good, right? Almost like you can’t breathe without the other person and the only thing that keeps you sane throughout the day is knowing that you’ll see that person soon enough. Nothing can come between you and that person. You would do anything for them. Be anyone they need you to be. Without thinking twice, you know you will be there, no matter what. That’s what loving you is to me." I snapped.

"I want to hear you say it," He said, pushing the stray hairs that had come loose away from my eyes.

"Yes." I whispered as he dipped me.

"Pardon me?"

"Yes, you have permission to kiss me."

I knew this wasn't what he meant but I wasn't ready to really say it to him yet.

"Renesmee, that's not what I mean."

I sighed and I can’t hold back any longer. I stroke his cheek with my hand and lean in to kiss his soft lips. I half expect him to push me back and demand an answer to his question, but he doesn't and I can’t stop myself right now. I have to do it. I have to kiss him. I need to kiss him.

As I leaned away I saw it deep in his eyes as they held the reflection of my face. We were from two different worlds, two entirely different people. he was ancient royalty and I was just a daughter of two gifted people. But upon our coming together, we created- we found- our own path and together we had our own world and in our own world, we were the same. Everyone else outside of it- everyone else was over there. Away. And we together- we together were here. We were right here. We were the same.