41. Verena
Verena
I'm still not done processing this slew of emotions about being lied to when the knight I kissed yesterday—no, Prince Konrad—holds out a white-gloved hand.
"Care to dance, Ruby?"
I'm about to tell him hell no and that he can stop with that knowing little smirk and the warm brown puppy dog eyes.
But Queen Gisela gasps softly, her hands clasping over her heart.
"You already have a pet name for her? Thank Affelia—my prayers are answered and my son will not die alone one day without a flicker of romance ever having warmed his heart!
" Then she looks at me. "You have my eternal thanks for proving this rapscallion even has a heart.
He's not pleasant company to most, I'm afraid, but I'm certain he will behave for you. "
Prince Konrad looks both abashed and embarrassed, but fights a smile. "Thanks for that dog-like description, Mother. As if I wasn't already fighting an uphill battle here."
"Just try to be charming for once," she stage-whispers.
He rolls his eyes and puts his mask back on, offering his hand to me again.
"May I beg you for a dance, Ver—Queen Reinhilde?"
Did he just almost call me by my real name? I narrow my eyes suspiciously at him.
Still, Aurefeld's queen looks so damn happy that I decide there's no harm in dancing with her son one time, just to keep her high going.
Plus, he is Cinderella's prince, so logically he might still lead me to her.
Oh, fuck. This means I made out with Cinderella's soon-to-be-husband. I may need to apologize to her for that after they hit it off.
I take his hand with a tight smile. "Sure thing, Prince Charming."
Queen Gisela looks over the moon as her heartthrob of a son guides me toward the other dancers. He stops short, though, maintaining some distance around us as the orchestral music winds through the air.
I've gone to dances in my world, but for a split second, I realize I may have no idea what dancing should be like here.
Luckily, Prince Konrad sets one of my hands on his shoulder and keeps the other in his hand, beginning something like a waltz. It's not difficult to keep up, with the way he's leading.
We have an uncomfortable amount of onlookers, but at least we can't be overheard as I smile too sweetly up at him.
"So, you're a royal dick."
He laughs. "Maybe I am, but I didn't mean to catch you by surprise."
"Except you did. Otherwise, you would have told me I was rolling around in the hay with a prince yesterday."
"I think we should stick to the word romping."
I tamp down a smile. "Don't you dare use inside jokes to make me like you right now. What exactly did you tell your mother about us meeting?"
The prince spins me away, pulling me back much closer than before to murmur near my ear. The brush of his breath against my cheek makes my stomach somersault.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her about those teeth of yours teasing my neck or that you kissed me senseless. I told her next to nothing, actually—just that we met and I'm smitten with you."
I pull back to gawk at him. "What? You are not."
"I am."
"But you can't be."
Prince Konrad tilts his head. "Why not?"
"Because…" I guess I can't say we're literally at the ball where he's going to meet his future bride, so I finish lamely with, "I'm too old for you."
He snorts. "I'm twenty-four. That's old enough to know a half-baked excuse when I hear one."
"Fine, then I'm from out of town. Way, way out of town."
This infuriatingly attractive guy just shrugs, guiding me through more dance steps. "Oh, that. I hear that despite the rough winters, your kingdom is lovely. I'm truthfully quite sick of Aurefeld, so I'm more than happy to move to Isenmere to become one of your Favored."
What?
Holy shit, Prince Charming really goes all in fast.
"God, not this again," I groan. "Look, I'm flattered—but I don't have Favored anymore."
"Don't you?" he frowns. "I heard that you arrived with a northerner who seems enamored with you. If he's one of your lovers, just have him show me what you like in bed. I promise I'm a fast learner."
That makes me stop in my tracks, halting our dance to gawk up at him. I wait for the punchline, but he's dead fucking serious.
For some reason, that gives my depraved libido way too many ideas.
"You want Wulf to give you pointers on what I like in bed?" I repeat, wondering if maybe when he hears the words coming out of my mouth, he'll realize how fucking insane it sounds.
Hot, yes—but insane.
Instead, Konrad just muses, "So that's the Wulf I keep hearing about. Then yes. Surely it's normal for your Favored to learn from each other?"
This fairytale prince wouldn't know normal if it bit him on his very sculpted ass.
"I'm only going to say this one more time," I sigh. "I don't have Favored. My vagina is officially closed for new applicants, so you'll just have to be smitten with someone else. In fact, I bet a sweet maiden will show up at this festival any minute and—"
"I'm not interested in a sweet maiden," he cuts in before flashing a dazzling smile.
One of his white-gloved fingers gently pokes the beauty mark over my lip.
"However, I am interested in escorting you out of this stuffy ballroom.
How about we get some fresh air somewhere we can take these pesky masks off?
It's unfair to keep hiding such a face, when I've been forced to miss it since yesterday. "
Gorgeous and suave? That's not fair.
Because my brain is fucking evil, suddenly all I can think about is the way his blood smelled yesterday.
And the way it tasted—that smooth vanilla honey, the little twist of cinnamon, the way he panted harder when my teeth grazed his neck…
Fuck, this is bad. I'm literally salivating.
I need to get away from this persistent prince long enough to get control of my bloodlust and look for Cinderella.
Just as I'm wondering again where Eris went, since he's still not piping in with his two cents, a velvety man's voice speaks directly behind me.
"Might I claim the next dance?"
Konrad's gaze flicks to whoever is standing behind me. Whatever blunt charm he just exhibited for me turns into a glare.
"She is my dance partner."
Those words hit me like cold water.
In the old fairy tales I grew up on, that's exactly what the prince in Cinderella's fairy tale says to anyone who tries to ask Cinderella to dance.
He would dance with no one else. Whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, 'She is my dance partner.'
Oh, balls. Why is he saying that about me, instead of her?
I really need to find Cinderella.
"You were just saying you want some fresh air," I say quickly, stepping back from Prince Konrad. "Maybe you should take a beat and then find one of the many girls here who would love to dance with you, while I dance with this gentleman."
At the last word, I turn to face whoever just asked me to dance.
Whoa.
Whoever this tall, sleek man is, he is dressed with the appropriate drama for a masquerade. His pitch-black suit is fucking amazing, the cut of its sweeping red cape flawless.
While a simple black mask hides much of his face, the dark hair falling slightly over his brow, his dark amber eyes, and his sharp jawline make me think he must be…
"Handsome," I amend with a grin, setting my red-gloved hand into the black-gloved hand he's offering. "This handsome gentleman, is what I meant to say."
"Ruby—" Prince Konrad begins.
"Enjoy the rest of the masquerade and be sure to dance with lots of young ladies, Your Highness," I say pointedly before the dark-clad stranger leads me away.
As he and I move to another spot on the dance floor, I quickly scan the rest of the ballroom. Snow White and Ingrid are chatting animatedly with a few other young women near refreshment tables opposite the musicians.
I don't see Anika anywhere, which I hope means she and Prince Leif found somewhere quiet to talk.
I also don't see anyone walking around with a giant airport pickup sign that says, I am Cinderella. Which is really inconvenient, because I really have no idea how I'll recognize her now.
Maybe I should have asked Eris to help me search for a young woman dressed in silver and gold.
Then again, he would've had questions—and what good would any of it do, when he still hasn't popped back up again?
His absence is really starting to bother me.
As my new dance partner and I take up the waltz-like position, he tilts his head. "Looking for someone in particular?"
I focus on him. "Hmm? Oh, no. Well—yes, actually, but I don't know what they look like."
"How enigmatic."
The song begins, and I'm immediately relieved that this man also knows exactly how to lead so I don't have to pretend I know this dance.
In fact, he's so graceful that I find myself enjoying the steps and spins for a spellbound moment.
I smile up at him. "So, I see you're not afraid of the queen of Isenmere."
"Why would I be?" he scoffs. "Besides, the gossipmongers profess that you're a reformed woman."
"All hail gossipmongers, then. By the way, who are y—"
My question cuts off when a fucking terrible screech of a violin cuts through the air. The orchestral music stops abruptly and shouting ensues. I stop dancing to look over my shoulder.
Two of the violinists have gotten into a fistfight. A crowd is already watching, people murmuring as the other musicians try to hold the feuding musicians back. Aurefeldan guards are swift to grab the two irate men and escort them out of the ballroom.
Although the music sounds fine enough when the other musicians resume a second later, and people begin dancing once more, I frown.
"What was that about?"
"Who knows? Such cheap tempers fall prey to anything."
He resumes dancing, guiding me easily. Still, I can't help peeking over my shoulder one more time at the orchestral stage, scanning for green.
"He's not there."
I look back up at my dance partner. "Pardon?"
"The Pied Piper. You must be searching for him, unless the gossips are wrong about the moment you shared."
I grimace. "Fuck. They're calling it a moment?"
"A queen and a piper, gazing into one another's eyes in public?
" he points out dryly. "Don't underestimate how starved Aurefeldans are for entertainment.
They'll spin anything into a scandal—although, they may be onto something this time.
You plainly enjoyed the piper's performance. Enough to weep, even."
"Weep? It was barely two tears, and—" I abruptly stop our dance again to squint up at him. "Wait. Have you been watching me?"
"There's that Isenmerian vanity. As I said, the gossipmongers are paying close attention to you."
"And you're clearly paying close attention to them," I point out, peeved.
"Not as close as the attention you got from the Pied Piper. Or so they say." The man tilts his head again. "The piper's music was unexpectedly…captivating. A beautiful gift, don't you agree?"
Recalling the joyful music that made me forget my thirst and ache for my past self, I nod.
"Yeah. Really beautiful."
Speaking of beautiful, someone rushes past us in one of the most stunning dresses I've seen tonight, which is saying something.
My attention is temporarily pulled from my mysterious dance partner as I watch the full, luxurious silver skirt billow away, the gold floral-embroidered tulle on top refracting the lights of the chandeliers overhead.
"Anyway, that's enough about the piper and me," I say, glancing back up into this man's dark amber eyes. "I still don't know—fuck!"
Silver and gold.
"You still don't know fuck?" he repeats like that's the stupidest sentence he's ever heard.
"I didn't—ugh, no time to explain," I blurt quickly before hiking up my silver-and-blood-red skirts to race away from him.
After Cinderella.
For someone wearing such an impressively lavish skirt, this girl is fast as fuck.
I only glimpse her one more time on my way through throngs of people who gasp as Isenmere's queen sprints past them.
By the time I make it out of the big double doors, through the huge entry occupied by only a smattering of people, and out the grand doors of the castle to a completely empty moonlit staircase, I'm cursing my non-runner-lungs.
I look around helplessly, hoping to see one of the carriages rolling away that I can flag down, but there's nothing. No one.
Cinderella is gone.
I have absolutely no idea how she left the castle, but I think she's probably with Usain Bolt right now, laughing at the rest of us chumps who are ruled by the laws of physics.
Swearing at my slippers for not being running shoes, I take a moment to catch my breath under the bright light of the full moon rising in the distance.
Then I sigh and walk back into the big entry. I get some perplexed stares from some festival attendees standing out here, plus some Aurefeldan guards who look like they're not sure what to do with me.
Before I reach the big doors again, I stop and debate.
The festival is stunning. The ballroom, ballgowns, suits, music, and the fact that Snow White is clearly having a great time all get a huge thumbs-up from me.
But if I go back into this shindig, I'll be surrounded by onlookers and gossips once more. There's also a chance Prince Konrad might track me down and tempt my bloodlust again.
That's the last thing I need, because with the adrenaline of the chase now gone, my thirst is starting to get particularly nasty.
Plus, Eris is still missing, which bothers me. I'm not dying to stand around in my outcast bubble without being able to talk to him.
I came here to find Cinderella, and she just left.
So…I guess I'll just try again.
After all, in the fairy tale, she shows up for all three nights of the festival. Now that I know what her dress looks like, I can try to find her earlier tomorrow night.
I'll just turn in early tonight, after I change and check on Wulf in the barracks.
Several minutes later, I've wandered back down the Isenmerian wing of the castle. I get to my room, unlock it with the key I was given by the maid, step inside—
And immediately freeze.
Someone has been in my room. While it was locked.
I know, because I absolutely did not set up this table holding a flickering candelabra and two goblets in the middle of the room.
Cold sweat breaks out on my brow at the proof that my safe place has been tampered with. I take a step back, my skirt pressing into the wall as my breathing grows uneasy.
Yesterday, I asked the Aurefeldan maids to never enter this guest room while I was here. I even leaned into the evil queen shtick to ensure no one but me would be in this room, and they looked terrified enough to stay away out of fear for their lives.
Who would come in here and set this up?
While I'm silently panicking, something moves in my peripheral vision. I tense.
But it's just Eris, finally appearing in the full-length gold-framed mirror in the corner of the room. He looks strangely distracted as he frowns down at something in both hands.
I start to exhale in relief.
But then, as if he's leaving a mirage, Eris steps through the glass into this world.