The house was rarely empty – Pheobe stood in the golden light spilling through the windows and smiled faintly. The house was empty and silent, warm and expansive. There was nothing but tranquillity and so she had to break it. Just a little. Silk and chiffon skirt hissing, she sashayed to the covered piano and pulled the lid up, letting her elegant fingers trail a tinkling journey across the keys. It was wonderful to hear them ring out into perfect silence. Like the illicit pleasure of being the first to leave a footprint in fresh snow.
Or leaving lipstick on perfect white linen.
Rolling her soft shoulder, Pheobe played out a simple jingle. Upbeat and sparkling, it was the kind of thing she and Constantin had played, or had others play, at parties. Not the formal compositions of the court. Something with a little more life. Then, as if on their own volition, her hands slowed and started to play a smooth, staggering love song. She couldn’t remember the story that went with it. Something terribly tragic, she supposed, where the princess loves the guard captain and he’s sentenced to death by a jealous prince. Or where the serving girl gives up her life for the king who doesn’t even know her name.
There were a million love songs on the continent, and few of them were happy. But the music was sweet, and for all she was a grown woman, she felt a girlish thrill when she played them. Something about the music and her body at the piano felt like elegance – as if her hands were saying ‘gosh, aren’t we sophisticated’ with every note. She stopped and giggled, shaking her head in a way that sent blonde tresses tumbling around her shoulders.
“You play well.”
The voice was so unexpected that, for a moment, she had no concept of who it could belong to. Pheobe whirled, heart hammering in her throat, and then sighed,
“Captain Vasco, do you simply walk into the private domiciles of all the women you know, or am I the only person to have that dubious honour?” The words were undermine by the quiver in her voice. Vasco simply smiled and bowed, removing his hat. The tan skin of his face was a little red… sunburn, or perhaps something more immediate in nature.
“I did knock, lady, but you were too engrossed to hear me.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have entered,” she snapped, body humming with the acute mortification that only comes when someone is caught unaware. Vasco nodded and turned without speaking, “wait! No, I… I’m sorry Vasco, come in.” She stood and pushed the stool under the piano, “I was just shocked, how are you?”
“No, you’re right. Truth be told, I heard the music and I was curious. I didn’t know you could play… certainly not so well,” he said, almost with a wistful air, “I love music.” Pheobe tilted her head, awed by the vulnerability in his face,
“Would you like me to teach you how to play a song?” She asked, voice firm but soft. Vasco’s eyes widened, then a grin spread across his face slowly but surely,
“I would. Very much,” he curled his tongue around the words almost hesitantly, as if tasting them. As if it was too good to be true. But when she extended her hand to him, he took it without waiting only to blush when he realized she had been about to beckon him. The laughter that spilled out between them broke the tension and brought the world back into line with itself. “I would like that, De Sardet,” he said, “very much so.”
“Then come over here,” Pheobe said turning away before she added, “after you take off those filthy boots.”
This is so incredibly sweet and vdbshxhzhvzhxvzgzhsvshachzjaj
I simply love how Pheobe is so arrogant and huffy and at the same time so fuzzy inside ahahahahahaha and how she is all alone once again, since it’s almost always the case. You wrote it so well ;w; I am in aweeeeee
And Vasco being just a soft boi uwu She gonna teach him how to play the pianoooooo maybe they would even sing together vsvsgsczhvzhsvajja the imagination!! I simply love it, thank you soooo sooooo much, it’s so utterly precious and lovely, I feel so touched aaahhhhh ♥️♥️♥️♥️
