Chapter 15 #2
Luna’s brow puckered. Ballgowns, carriages, moonlit gardens .
. . despite Extremely Great Aunt Amelia’s subsequent protest that her Sight wasn’t what it used to be, all these visions seemed to have manifested out of nowhere.
As for the daring man, well! Ward had protected her last night, hadn’t he?
He’d risked a lot by turning over the evidence of her broken earring.
If anyone were to find out, he could lose his job. He was nothing if not daring.
“So, no rhinoceroses after all,” Luna murmured, looking down at her hands in her lap. She turned her wrist, staring at the patch of bare skin where a tattoo ought to be, and could almost swear she felt the sheen of ensorcelled cream smeared there. She hastily moved her corsage to cover it.
“Hey, why so glum?” Ward reached out and took her hand, threading his large fingers with hers. “Tonight’s going to be a night to remember. Just wait!”
Luna managed another weak smile. “All right, Ward,” she said and closed her eyes.
For some reason, she couldn’t stop seeing an image of her carpetbag, sitting on the floor back in Mr. Grimm’s apartment.
She was going to have to go back there. After the ball.
To fetch it. Before heading to the station.
Perhaps she should have brought it with her now, but that might have given Ward ideas!
No, it was better like this. Only she didn’t know how she’d manage it without seeing Mr. Grimm again . . .
Mr. Grimm.
A mental door yawned wide, bidding her to enter. Hastily, she slammed it shut. If she let herself start thinking about him, start thinking about that moment upstairs . . . if she let herself dwell on what she had done, or almost tried to do, or possibly seriously attempted . . .
No!
She wouldn’t think about it. None of it. It was her last night in the city. She should do everything in her power to enjoy herself. After all, she was attending the most glamorous event of the season with the handsomest man in Ballycastle. Surely that was one for the memory bank!
“You can leave your coat in here if you like,” Ward said as their carriage drew nearer to the top of the driveway. “You won’t need it.”
“Oh, right.” Luna nodded and hastily undid her buttons. She felt very conscious of Ward’s gaze on her well-fitted bodice and bare shoulders. Strange how a similar look from Mr. Grimm had set her blood boiling, but from Ward it just made her skin feel slithery and uncomfortable.
“Ye gods, Luna!” he exclaimed, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him. “You’re just it, aren’t you?”
So saying, he planted another kiss on her, trying to catch her lips. She turned her head, and he caught the corner of her mouth instead. “Careful!” she cried, covering her discomfort with a giggle. “You’ll smear my makeup.”
He chuckled at that. “I’ll do my best, but make no promises,” he said, his voice a low growl. “You’re too much for me, did you know that?”
The carriage rolled to a stop at the head of the driveway.
The footman hopped down to open the door.
He handed Luna out first, and she took a moment to fluff her rumpled skirts.
Guests and dignitaries and luminaries from across the kingdoms lingered on the great front stairs, dazzling in gowns of sapphire and silver and shimmering iridescence.
Thank the goddess she’d not tried to wear Myrna’s green dress after all!
Luna couldn’t imagine how out of place she would have been.
But, thanks to Mr. Grimm’s powers, her double-delight dress was without equal.
What blossom in creation can outclass a rose, after all?
Ward offered his elbow and led Luna up the stairs.
For just a moment, Luna allowed the little girl inside her to revel in the fulfillment of every childhood dream.
If this wasn’t a proper princess moment, she didn’t know what was!
And Ward certainly made for a dashing prince-stand-in.
He spoiled it a little by leaning close and murmuring in her ear, “Sorry I’m a bit sweaty.
I’ve never been to a big do like this before!
It’s all new to me.” He grinned then and shot her a wink that once would have sent tingles all the way to her toes.
“It helps knowing I’ve got the prettiest girl in Ballycastle on my arm. ”
Blushing, Luna dropped her gaze, toying with the little corsage of gardenias on her wrist.
A herald stood at the door, stunning in gold braiding and a traditional silver wig.
He announced them as: “Officer John Ward, Special Sorcery Suppression Department, and Miss Luna Talbot.” The next moment, they were through the doors and swept into a glorious, glittering world of chandeliers and gold and dazzle.
Luna stared out on the sea of strangers before her, and found herself fervently wishing she was back home right now.
Home in The Arcane Bouquet. Tucked away in the nook behind the counter, sipping a cup of orange llarmi tea, her feet propped on a stool in front of the dilapidated stove.
Enchanted ballgowns notwithstanding, a little homey mouse like her was not meant for this world!
A happy squeal broke through her daze. Luna turned to see a vision in lavender wafting her way. “Miss Witch!” a cheerful voice cried out, and Luna’s hands were grasped in satiny gloves. “What are you doing here?”
It was one of her Silly Young Things. But, of course, after all those orders she’d fulfilled, she had to expect to bump into quite a few of the High Society misses she ordinarily served.
“Oh, Miss Peabody!” she said with a smile, watching how the girl surveyed her rose gown with obvious appreciation and no little jealousy.
“I’m so glad to see you. And . . . and is Oliver Trimble around? ”
Miss Peabody flushed prettily and stepped in close to Luna, or as close as their massive skirts would allow. “Ollie hasn’t taken me under the rose arbor yet. But the night is young!”
“And have you thought about what you want?” Luna asked, recalling details from the tea vision she’d scried for the little miss only yesterday.
Miss Peabody tossed her curls. “We shall see!” she said airily. With another friendly press of fingers, she scampered back to her group of fashionable friends, if one can be said to ‘scamper’ while clad in a gown and jewels like that.
“Friend of yours?” Ward asked, eyebrow quirked.
Luna smiled. “Client, actually.”
As they moved deeper into the ballroom, Luna was accosted by several more such clients, many of whom grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away to introduce her to their friends, proclaiming her the “cleverest tea witch you ever did meet, no really, you simply must visit her tea shop on Addle Street! It’s a scream!
” It would actually be quite a good way to drum up business for the shop.
If it weren’t for the fact that she was leaving.
“Hey now, there’s that glum look again,” Ward’s voice spoke low in her ear. Luna turned to him, and he tilted his head with concern. “Aren’t you happy?”
“Of course I am!” she protested at once. “Just a little . . . overwhelmed, perhaps.”
He nodded sagely. “I know what you need, Luna Talbot.”
“You do?”
“Yup. You have the look of a girl in desperate need of dancing!”
With that, he pulled her out onto the dance floor, and Luna soon discovered that he might actually be on to something.
Ward was, after all, a very good dancer.
When he moved and twirled her about the floor, she didn’t have to think about anything.
Just music and movement. It was easy. Fun, even.
She had always enjoyed dancing with him.
But then the musicians modulated from an elegant waltz into a lyrical rendition of the hit tune of last summer. And Luna’s heart sank.
“Watched you dance with someone new,
Heartbreak wrapped in shades of blue.
Every smile you give away
Turns my dreams to shades of gray.
Oh, love! Like a rose in the rain.
Each petal a sigh, each thorn a sweet pain!”
Suddenly, she wasn’t under the crystal chandeliers and surrounded by ostentatious floral displays and all the upper crust of Brython on display.
In her mind, she was underneath a banquet table at The King’s Crown, her head bent at an awkward angle, her body held in the arms of Nigel Grimm.
She could hear this same song playing, feel the warmth of his hand at her waist, his other hand gripping her fingers.
The texture of his work apron was rough under her cheek as she rested against his shoulder.
And his voice, that rich, elegant, velvet-dark voice, crooned in her ear: “What is life, after all, but the striving after impossible dreams, day after day?”
The song ended. The musicians paused for a break, and couples drifted from the dance floor.
Ward took Luna’s hand, leading her away, and she found she couldn’t quite bear to meet his searching gaze.
“Hey,” he said, “how about a little break from dancing? We probably need to stand in line to meet the governor, you know. It’s only polite. ”
Luna nodded mutely. They moved to stand in the receiving line.
It wasn’t as much fun as dancing, but this was an important event for Ward, so Luna did her best not to fidget.
He had been awfully nice to her after all.
And though that last dance hadn’t helped her mood very much, she suspected a few more might be just what she needed.
All told, this wasn’t the worst way to spend her last night in Ballycastle.
A final, flashy memory to tuck away in the back of her mind before she made her getaway.