“I won’t be a part of this. It’s cruel,” she breathed, anger coloring her voice before she turned on her heel to make her escape.
Victor snatched her arm, holding it tight against him. “Don’t embarrass me, pet,” he growled in her ear.
Yvette shook him off, refusing to even look at him again as she stormed through the crowd. Her heart hammered. She’d never defied him like this. It was not as if she were blind. She knew he could be manipulative and hot tempered and often thoughtless, but this… It was cruel. She would have no part in it.
Keira
It had taken a few songs, but Keira found her footing in the dance. All these court dances followed a repeating pattern, so after a clumsy first turn, she could usually make it through the rest rather fluidly. It helped that Caspian made almost as many little blunders as she did, and that they’d had just enough mulled wine for them to be more humorous than embarrassing.
The song ended, and Keira bowed to Caspian, a wide smile on her lips. It was still strange to see him all trussed up in his doublet. The bear of his house was embroidered on the chest in gleaming silver thread. She supposed she looked equally transformed in her golden gown. The skirt was full, and the bodice was fitted tight. The satin sleeves hung off her shoulders, leaving them bare. It was an unusual sensation, feeling her hair tickling her skin. She felt more exposed than would normally suit her, but the final effect was well worth it.
When the music resumed, Caspian leaned down to whisper in her ear. “This is a sampling dance. We’ll be trading partners.”
Well, maybe she wasn’t completely over her self consciousness. Keira took a calming breath. Everyone Caspian had introduced her to had been perfectly wonderful. As they took position in a hold, it was closer than the other courtly dances, which left a space between partners.
Her heart was fluttering against Caspian’s chest as he led her through the steps. It was a simple sequence, ever rotating around the dance hall.
“Here comes the change,” Caspian whispered.
Then he angled her into a spin. His hand withdrew from her waist. As she completed her turn, another’s hands replaced his. It seemed the partner change was in the opposite direction of the dance’s rotation, disorienting her for only a moment. Her new partner was a few inches shorter than Caspian. His eyes were brown, as was his hair. His beard was cropped short. She didn’t think they’d been introduced.
As they began the same steps, Keira put more of a distance between them. That is until his hold on her waist tightened until she was flush against him. Keira gasped, only to see him smiling at her with a chuckle in his throat. She almost tripped over the next step, but he kept his tight hold until it was time for the change.
Keira was still flustered from her last partner’s forwardness when she came to the next. A sense of relief washed over her as she saw Prince Gilbert’s face. He smiled at her, and Keira did her best to return the gesture. She had been wondering if her last partner had pulled her closer to correct her form, but the prince held her at a perfectly respectable distance.
“Don’t be nervous. You’re doing well,” Prince Gilbert whispered to her as he prepared for the turn.
In the next moment she was dancing with another. He was taller than most. His touch came to her ribs instead of her waist. “Lord Westbrook,” Keira recalled. Caspian had introduced them earlier at dinner. His eyes lit up at her recognition.
“You remember me.” His mouth curved into a smile.
His gaze fell from her face. She followed them to the exposed cleavage of her chest.
“I must say I would find you very difficult to forget.” As he spoke, his hand moved ever so slightly so that his thumb skimmed the side of her breast.
Keira stumbled, only settling more weight into Lord Westbrook’s wandering touch.
He laughed as he spun her.
She tripped through the next few steps as her heart pounded. A surreal, dreamlike quality fell over the ballroom, pushing against her senses. Her body continued, caught up in the inertia of the dance, even as her mind reeled.
Her new partner was young, perhaps twenty, with copper red hair. Even as she watched his face, his fingers trailed up the laces of her gown to the exposed skin of her back.
The music was becoming distant and distorted. She tried to follow the movements as the only thing she could think of was the crawling discomfort of his touch.
“You have very lovely skin,” he whispered into her ear.
Bile climbed in her throat as panic gripped her mind.
This time the spin caught her entirely off guard. Unable to catch her footing, she nearly fell into the arms of her next partner. It was Lord Redfield. She remained still as the dance continued around her, no longer able to remember the steps.
“Are you alright?” Lord Redfield asked her. His blue eyes were studying her face with concern.
“I- I have to go.”
Keira took her skirts in both hands and pushed her way through the watching crowd.
At first, she was unsure where she had emerged, but then she recognized the corridor that led to the East Wing. The hall was lined on one side with a row of windows, which looked over the hedge gardens. Faint moonlight spilled over the floor, creating patterned shadows. She hadn’t explored this area of the castle much as it was in the opposite direction of her rooms,but she was not going to cross that party again to get to them. She couldn’t. Her breaths were quick and panicked, a cool sweat covering her brow. At least it was quiet here.
