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The ball was beautiful. The room looked like it was made of gold and the people looked just as spectacular, in dresses of all shapes and colors and tuxedoes of black and white with ties and vests of bright, beautiful colors as well. The king and queen looked especially regal tonight in their outfits, and Hillarie looked just as stunning as I’d said. Corin’s eyes had popped when she’d appeared.
I was dressed in my light blue dress and my hair was braided intricately. Although my makeup was light and my dress wasn’t near as fancy as some of the others, I still drew looks as I was announced into the room. The diamond arrow on my left shoulder glittered brightly under the lights and the diamond earrings and necklace I was wearing matched. The jewelry was mine, gifts from Randall for various holidays, and I saw him smile fondly as I walked across the floor.
I smoothed my hands anxiously over my dress again and again. I was so out of my element here. Everyone else seemed happy; I was wishing for the Light Bearers to try to attack again when Quinn appeared in front of me. He smiled. “It would be appropriate for the Champions of Valeria and Linson to dance together, don’t you think?” He bowed. “My lady?”
I curtseyed and took his extended hand, feeling slightly relieved. “It would be, especially since you’re my date.” Quinn had asked me to go to the ball with him this morning, and somehow he had managed to match my outfit. “Are you a wizard at dancing too?” I teased.
He laughed as he led me onto the dance floor. “I’ll let you decide.” Before we started to dance, he pulled a corsage out; a traditional rose, pure white, with rosebuds on either side and a pale blue band the same shade as my dress. “I didn’t forget. This is for you.” He slid it on my wrist and smiled down at me.
“Thank you,” I said with a touch of shyness. He took my hand, and then we started dancing.
He moved with grace on the dance floor, and I moved effortlessly with him. All the practice I’d put in was paying off right here as I followed his steps with ease.
As I spun back into his hold, he murmured, “You look lovely, by the way, Joan. Absolutely beautiful.”
*
MARTIN FUMED SILENTLY. Joan was smiling at Quinn with a look that said he was the most wonderful person in the world. Quinn was smooth, but he was a known philanderer, and he was Joan’s date. Charlene was his, and he wished wholeheartedly that the roles were reversed.
Charlene came over to him. Martin had to admit she looked stunning in her dark blue dress, accenting her blue eyes and chestnut brown hair, but he could barely stand Charlene anymore. He was here because of a promise, and that was it. Charlene knew it, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t working to make him change his mind. Joan was too hurt to forgive him just yet, and so he waited as Charlene told everyone that she was his mistress. No matter that he’d corrected her every time she’d said it in front of him, she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Martin,” Charlene purred. “Dance with me.” She pulled him onto the dance floor and her hand brushed his shoulder as she looked coyly up at him. He had the brief thought that maybe if he stepped on her feet too many times she’d give up and leave him alone, but was distracted by Joan’s laugh as she waltzed by, her hazel eyes on Quinn.
*
QUINN WASN’T THE ONLY one to dance with me. By the end of the third waltz, someone tapped on Quinn’s shoulder, and I saw Liam, who was grinning broadly. “May I cut in?”
Quinn graciously stepped aside. “Of course. I can claim dances later. I won’t share too much though. She’s my date.”
Liam bowed to me and I curtseyed before taking his hand. “You look great, Liam,” I said.
“So do you,” he said lightly. “I think even Princess Hillarie is a little jealous.”
“Oh, so now you’re flirting too?” I teased.
“Only because I know that I won’t be able to for long. Soon you’ll be with someone else.”
“Uh-huh,” I said doubtfully.
He smiled. “So you didn’t notice that you caught the attention of every single male in the room? I thought the Champion of Valeria would be a bit more alert.”
“Alert enough to know that I only have to be here for three hours and thirty-six more minutes.”
He laughed. “Plenty of time for me to claim another dance then?”
“Sure,” I agreed. “I don’t mind.”
He wasn’t the only one to cut in. In the next six dances, I had six different partners before Quinn came to claim me again. “I told you that you were gorgeous,” he murmured as we swept around the room. “I believe I counted at least a dozen others waiting in line to dance with you.”
“I’m curious as to how many of them just want to dance with the girl from the Flip Side.”
“I’m sure the beautiful part helps too.”
I giggled. “I guess that would help.” As the dance ended, I paused for a moment. “Can we take a break?” I begged. “I think I just danced the distance to Valeria and back.”
Quinn smiled and directed me off the dance floor. “A drink, then.” He handed me a glass. “Non-alcoholic,” he assured me.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the glass. “Out of curiosity, is there a drinking age here?”
He shook his head. “Everyone grows up around alcohol, so it’s not such a big deal. Your sister would be of the age to have a glass of wine at dinner with her family.”
I considered this briefly as I took a drink and admired the outfits of the dancers on the floor. Of course, my eyes somehow instantly went to Charlene and Martin, and I noticed with a painful twinge that Charlene looked beautiful as always, and Martin looked, as Gina would have said, drool-worthy. He didn’t have the same lean grace as Quinn, but he looked good in a suit. Really good.
I moved past that as soon as I got my brain in working order and watched the other dancers. Quinn rested his hand between my shoulder blades, his touch light. “Anyone in particular you’re watching?” he murmured.
“Hillarie and Corin. If I could pull off that dress, I’d ask to wear that. And Corin looks absolutely adoring of her.”
“It has been my experience that to people in love, their partner always looks more beautiful,” Quinn said lightly. “I have seen it many times, and Their Highnesses, both the king and queen and the future king and queen, are very in love.”
“Alan and Florinda are too,” I said softly.
“Were your parents?”
I nodded, feeling a pang that my father was no longer living. I missed him. “I wasn’t that old when my mother died, but I know she and my father loved each other a lot. I can only hope to find that much love in my life.”
“I wouldn’t say you had that far to look,” Quinn said. “You make friends easily.” He kissed the back of my hand. “And your beauty and intelligence certainly don’t hurt.”
“You’re flirting again,” I said with a smile, but I felt the cold pit in my stomach fade just a little. It was nice to be appreciated so extravagantly.
Quinn smiled down at me, and then the music changed and his face lightened. “Come on, Joan, let’s dance!”
I hung back, fear growing. “Quinn...I can’t,” I whispered, ashamed. “I don’t know how.” Whatever it was, it wasn’t in triple meter and it looked incredibly complicated.
Quinn looked surprised at the embarrassment on my face, and then Randall appeared. “Quinn, my lady would like a dance, and I’m getting too old to dance so much. If you would entertain my lady for a little while, I will return the favor. Your lady looks a little tired still.”
Quinn accepted and took the hand of Randall’s date, Norma, with a bow, leading her onto the dance floor, everyone pretending to accept the excuse Randall had given.
Randall tipped my chin up. “Head high, Joan,” he said gently. “You’re doing very well tonight. You look like a natural out there.”
I offered a small smile. “Thanks. I thought it was going well, until just now.”
“When we get the chance, perhaps you could learn it. It’s not as difficult as it looks.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Joan. Enjoy the night.”
I was distracted from watching Quinn dance by a young man, probably my age or a year younger, appearing in front of me. “My lady, my name is Don Greentermenner.” He bowed respectfully. “It is an honor to meet you.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Don,” I said after a moment’s surprise. I curtseyed, and he bowed again, barely hiding his enthusiasm. “I’m Joan Ilion.”
“Mistress Ilion, it would be a pleasure to dance with you.” He offered his hand and I had to scramble for a way to politely hold him off.
“Perhaps in one of the later waltzes I could dance with you, but Randall Winters has claimed the next dance.”
Don’s eyes lit with excitement. “Thank you, milady. I will find you.” And he disappeared as Randall chuckled softly.
“What?” I asked.
“Quinn had better hurry back, or he’ll have to wait in line to dance with you again,” Randall said with amusement.
“He’s my date; he can cut in whenever he wants. And I don’t care how many people want to dance with me. At the stroke of midnight, I’m out of here like I’m Cinderella.”
By Randall’s smile, I assumed he knew the story. I heard the song end and another waltz strike up as another man headed for us, looking as eager as Don. Randall swept me out of the way and onto the floor. “I can only hold so many people off,” he told me. “I feel like I need to start carrying a gun.”
I giggled. “I’m not sure that’ll work here. I carry a gun and it seems to encourage them.”
“Yes, but you’re not the father, now are you?”
We spun on the floor and I didn’t miss a step, the knot of tension and shame loosening its grip on me.
A hand tapped Randall’s shoulder at the end of the second dance. “I don’t waltz well enough for your lady,” Quinn said with a quirked smile. “If I may...”
We switched back and Quinn led me around the floor. “Sorry about earlier,” he said contritely. “I didn’t realize you didn’t know that dance. It’s almost like you grew up here, you waltz so well, and I’ve heard that not many people in the Flip Side know how to waltz.”
“I didn’t know how up until a month ago. The waltz is all I can do.”
Quinn performed a complicated step and I spun briefly out of his arms before spinning back in. “You do that very well,” he complimented me. “You continue to amaze me, Joan.” He kept up a steady stream of compliments as we whirled around the floor, dance after dance. It felt good to be like this, with Quinn, knowing the admiration in his face was real and more than just infatuation with the girl from the Flip Side. It didn’t hurt when I realized that I was dancing just as well, or better, than some of the others here who were native to this world and all its customs.
Don cut in sometime later, and Quinn graciously handed me over, whispering in my ear, “If you need me to rescue you, let me know.”
Don was a decent dancer, and although he didn’t know as many elegant and difficult moves as Quinn and Randall did he looked graceful with what he knew and he didn’t step on my feet once. The next person to cut in, however, made me look like the queen of dancing. I managed to get through the dance with him stepping all over my feet, and thankfully someone else cut in. It was only when I realized it was Martin that I froze.
His eyes were serious and slightly pleading. “My lady?” he asked softly, holding out his hand, more of a question than the opening statement.
I willed myself to stay strong and placed my hand in his. His touch was careful, almost hesitant; as if he was afraid I would push him away. In fact, the opposite was happening; I wanted to put my arms around him and let him hold me.
“You look beautiful, Joan,” he said quietly.
I gave a sharp reply in order to keep my emotions in check. “And Charlene?”
He winced slightly but said with quiet honesty, “You look much more beautiful than Charlene, and you always have.”
Although I hadn’t intended to say anything, words popped out of my mouth. “You look great.”
Martin accepted this quietly. I mentally winced. It wasn’t me who was dancing with him all night, it was Charlene. I wished that didn’t bother me as much as it did.
*
EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS still angry and hurt, the dance ended far too soon for him. From the corner of his eye he saw Quinn head toward them, and so he let her go, kissing the back of her hand softly. “Thank you, my lady,” he said, reading the sadness in her eyes before he stepped back.
Quinn appeared beside her, taking her hand and blocking her view of him as he moved in front of her. Martin turned his back and worked his way through the crowd to the drinks. Charlene appeared after a moment, face flushed with anger, although she didn’t dare protest. Instead, she latched onto him with no intention of letting go.
Normally he would accept this, knowing he couldn’t push her away or the gossips would be after him in a moment, but suddenly he didn’t care if it was rude. He drained his glass, set it down, and firmly disengaged himself. “Enough.”
She looked stunned. “Martin...”
“I’m done, Charlene, do you understand? I’ll have nothing more to do with you unless it is purely business.”
Her face narrowed in anger. “Martin, you can’t do this.” She reached for him, but he stepped back.
“Enough,” he said again. “I’m done.” Then he turned and walked out, feeling better than he had in weeks.
*
YAL GRINNED AS QUINN escorted me down the hallway to the room I shared with Mari and Cathy. “Well, I wish I had a camera.”
I had pictures, lots of them. I would send them to Gina in a few minutes. “Thank you.”
Yal kept grinning. “Can I claim a dance?”
“Won’t you be busy babysitting?” I asked snidely.
Yal’s grin widened. “Before I’m busy babysitting. It would be an honor, my lady.”
He bowed and I gave in. “Sure, Yal. You can claim a dance.”
Yal nodded and turned serious. “The girls are trying to stay up but I think they fell asleep about an hour ago. They haven’t caused any problems, but they want to shoot arrows before we leave tomorrow. I swore on my sword that I would tell you that.”
I fought a smile. “Well, I guess your sword is safe then.”
“They’re all yours, Joan.” Then he turned and trotted off down the hall and out of sight, leaving Quinn and me alone.
“Thanks, Quinn,” I said with a touch of shyness. “For everything tonight. Despite the fact that it was a ball, it wasn’t so bad.”
Quinn laughed quietly so as not to disturb the girls inside. “I think that’s the best I’m going to get from you.” He kissed my cheek. “You still look beautiful, Joan,” he said sincerely.
I gave a grateful smile, warming slightly. “I don’t know if I said, and I certainly can’t compliment you as many times as you complimented me, but you look wonderful. Any girl would be lucky to have you.”
“Keep that in mind, milady.” He winked to soften the serious tone. “Good night, Joan.”
“Good night, Quinn.” I said softly.
He strolled down the hall, whistling, and I disappeared inside. I called Gina and sent her the pictures, finally getting into bed at one-thirty, hoping the girls slept late in the morning, but my mind wasn’t quite ready to let me rest. It kept replaying the scene I’d seen with Martin and Charlene, with Martin publicly abandoning her, and the emotions deep in his eyes as we danced. Martin, why did you have to make things so difficult? I thought tiredly as I buried my head under the pillow.