Chapter 44
After we returned to the ballroom, with everyone following us with their eyes, we climbed the stairs toward the royal table, and as he always did, Lys pulled out my chair for me.
"Princess," he said gently, though there was still a hint of something else in his voice, as he pulled the chair out behind me and pushed it beneath me as I sat down.
"Thank you, Lysande," I replied, and he gave me a small smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the same servant approaching him, but before he could say anything, I raised one finger into the air. "My knight stays with me." I hadn't even realized how sharp my voice sounded in that moment.
"But, Princess, the King's orders."
Although he was several chairs away from me, most of the seats between us were now empty. Father, in his royal seat embedded with crystals and golden buttons, sat beside Mother, eating something from his plate. I rose without thinking and walked over to him.
Before he noticed me approaching, I pouted my lips and widened my eyes into the soft, doe-like expression I knew always managed to soften him up.
"Father." He turned toward me, and the moment he saw my face, his eyes softened.
"Yes, daughter? Is there a problem?" He put aside everything he had been doing and stood from his chair, gently taking me by the shoulders. "You look sad. Did something happen?"
"Father, I want my knight to stay with me tonight, not down there with the other lower-ranking guests. He is my Blood Knight, and that is an insult to me as well."
I said it sadly, looking up at him through my lashes.
I immediately saw that his face melted into a gentle frown.
"Faran said he wanted to give you two freedom tonight, so I thought that was for the best."
I pouted again and shook my head. "No. I want him with me."
He smiled and kissed my forehead. "If that's what my little princess wants, then of course."
I kissed him on the cheek, and the moment he sat back down and could no longer see me, a satisfied smirk replaced the pout and doe eyes.
I glanced at the far-away table where Faran was sitting with yet another lady, and as I predicted, he was staring right at me. I did not do anything but straighten my back and make my way towards my chair.
As I passed Lys, I gently patted his arm, and he moved even closer to my chair, close enough that his body cast a shadow over my plate. Servants placed several pastries in front of me, and I immediately picked one up and ate it.
"Lys," I said, picking up another pastry and turning toward him.
"Yes, my princess?" he asked, already expecting that I needed something.
"Try this, please. It's so good." I held the pastry out to him, and for a moment he looked at it in confusion before looking back into my eyes. A soft, boyish expression appeared on his handsome face.
"Thank you, Princess," he said quietly before taking a bite.
After that, a few little things happened, but the ball seemed to end almost as quickly as it had begun.
I returned to my plate and spent the rest of the evening sitting there and talking with the others.
Meera and Corian returned about ten minutes after I did, using her dizziness as an excuse and saying they had walked through the gardens.
She told me nothing else, and of course, I never mentioned what I had seen.
Throughout the rest of the ball, dozens of boxes filled with gifts were brought before me, along with golden goblets, jewelry, rubies and diamonds, dresses and fabrics. I smiled and thanked everyone for each of them, just as I always did.
Prince Haarza never got his second dance either.
I informed him I was tired and that my head hurt after he came to me, and like the true gentleman he was, he accepted it without complaint. There was one reason exactly why all of it had felt so unimportant.
For the only important thing stood behind me with his arms crossed over his chest.