“Miss Blakeley, if anyone gets to dance with you, it should be the one who learned with you, don’t you agree?” Roger said. His smile looked like he had practiced it in the mirror for hours.
I sighed. I had endured much worse than this. One dance wouldn’t kill me.
“As long as you don’t throw mud at me afterward,” I said, shaking my finger at him in mock rebuke.
“Moi? Jamais! Vous êtes trop belle.” Why was he speaking French to me? We didn’t take French lessons together. I looked away from Roger as he continued to unnecessarily speak French to me, spittle flying out of his mouth, and I thanked Frederick for a lovely dance. His smile returned, though it was now touched with unabashed envy.
Roger continued to speak French, and from what I could tell he was saying that he was glad I had bought myself a new dress and that I really was the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. He placed himself in front of me, and I reluctantly put my hand on his upper arm, slightly grateful for the relief after Frederick’s height, though I quickly learned I would have taken an aching arm over the close proximity of Roger’s face. He wrapped his arm so tightly around me I could barely breathe, unless I wanted to breathe his own breath coming out of his open mouth, which I most certainly did not.
I had been wrong. This dance was going to kill me.
He was so close to my face that his two eyes became blurred into one giant eye that refused to look anywhere else or even blink. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so uncomfortable and unbelievably annoying. I tried to be polite at first, but soon I was pushing against him to get some air and to try to turn his one eye back into two.
“Mr. Wallace,” I gasped. “I … can’t … breathe.”
“Oh, I have taken your breath away, have I?” He chuckled and I continued to push against him.
It was more like a wrestling match than a waltz. He never backed off, but he did seem a little surprised by my strength. He might have been surprised to learn that just this morning his dainty dance partner had pulled a stubborn cow out from the barn to the pasture and had carried two large gallons of milk to the house, one in each hand. Maybe Victoria really did know I was at the ball, and she sent Roger to come dance with me as my punishment.
When the music ended, Roger did not let go, even to let me applaud. His face was inches from mine. I turned my head so I could catch my breath. He leaned in toward my face, his lips in a ridiculous pucker.
“That will be quite enough of that,” a familiar voice said. Will sounded both extremely irritated and extremely entertained at the same time. He placed his hand on Roger’s chest and pushed him roughly away from me. Then Will not so subtly squeezed his way in between me and my suddenly furious dance partner. Roger stumbled backward, trying not to trip over his own feet. I refused to thank Roger for the dance—or whatever that was—but I did thank Will out of deepest gratitude. Past Will’s shoulder, I could see Roger stomp off angrily in the direction of the courtyard.
Will laughed. “What a detestable scoundrel.”
“Do you know Roger well?” I asked, a little surprised.
“I don’t need to know him to know exactly what he is.” Will smiled. We both laughed. Will wrapped his arm around my waist and I placed my hand in his. He had never officially asked me to dance, it just happened.
“How did you know it was all right for me to come out and dance?” I asked, my eyes scanning the crowd again.
“Our dear Victoria and her delightful daughters are talking with some friends in the courtyard. Victoria is sitting on a bench looking like she’ll fall over dead any second and the wicked sisters are flirting ostentatiously with any man who looks at them. They tried it on me for half a second until they realized who I was and they glowered at me like they had just seen a skunk in a suit … a handsome skunk in a suit.” He winked and laughed out loud.
I felt instant relief. They were as far away from me as they could possibly be. I smiled up at Will and saw that he was already smiling down at me, the same look of admiration in his eyes. He was such a wonderful dancer. I didn’t even have to think about the steps or worry if he would run me over or try to wrestle with me on the dance floor. It was effortless.
I was about to ask him when and where he had learned to dance, but then I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his suit coat. My guilt returned, knowing that it was probably against the rules for the servants to dance with the guests and he had to be inconspicuous.
“Will, I don’t want you to take any more risks for me. I would feel horrible if you were to get in trouble for helping me.”
Will shrugged. “How else was I supposed to give you the latest news? It doesn’t look like there will be a break in dance partners. There’s already a line behind me.”
I peered over Will’s shoulder and indeed saw a large group of men staring at me. In the group I saw the man whom Will had pointed out as the prince’s advisor. I thought it odd that he would be standing there in the middle of my not-so-secret admirers. But something told me he wasn’t waiting in line for a dance.
I didn’t notice that the music had ended until Will stopped dancing. He was looking down at me, still holding me as if we were dancing. I couldn’t seem to find the willpower to let go of him. I was suddenly terrified to be left alone while that man stared at me. All I could figure was that Victoria was behind it somehow. Will didn’t seem ready to let go of me either, but my determined crowd of devotees descended on us. He gave my hand a little squeeze.
“You’re safe,” Will whispered as he stepped back, and I was instantly bombarded by potential dance partners. They were trying to appear attractive to me, while also subtly nudging the nearest contender away with their elbows.
Before they could reach me, however, I felt someone gently tap my shoulder from behind. I spun around and saw a lovely woman with soft brown eyes and a glowing smile. Without saying a word, the woman held her arms out to me and pulled me into a gentle embrace. I stood there stunned and then embraced her back. For some reason it didn’t feel awkward at all, holding this woman who I’d never met before.
Without letting go, the woman said, “You look so like your mother, my dear.” She pulled back and gazed at me. “I was at your parents’ wedding and I would recognize that gown anywhere. It was all anyone could talk about for months after.” She laughed. “I’m sorry I never introduced myself. I am Ruth Haywood. I grew up with your mother in Milton. Eleanor and I were the dearest of friends.”
Her eyes began to glisten in the candlelight and, in response, mine did too. I was too stunned to speak, but I felt closer to this sweet woman than I had ever felt to any other woman in my life.
“When you walked through those doors,” her voice trembled with emotion, “I thought your mother had appeared in the form of an angel.” She smiled. “She always did enjoy a good ball.” Her smile grew as she glanced around us. “She could gather quite a crowd too.” She subtly nodded her silvery head in the direction of my eager, and increasingly impatient, admirers.
Ruth started to pull back but paused as my face fell and I clung to her.
“I don’t want to take any more of your time, dear. But please come and visit me sometime. I should like to reminisce with you, if you wouldn’t mind enduring an old woman’s babblings.”
Hot tears spilled over my cheeks. “I would love that more than you know,” I said with a thick voice. She affectionately wiped my tears with her soft fingers as I still clung to her arms. She then gave me the name and location of her house, and I promised to come and visit as soon as I could. We embraced one more time, and I had to force myself to let go.
I was wearing my mother’s wedding dress. I didn’t think this night could be any more magical. I looked down once more to see my gown again in this new light. I heard someone clear their throat and I remembered my eager audience behind me. I took a breath to compose myself, wiped my cheeks, and turned around to find Sir Thomas inches from my face. I gasped and stepped back, but his face turned apologetic when he
realized he had startled me. He held out his arm and I automatically placed mine on his. I knew I could not refuse.
“Please, come with me.” We walked forward and the crowd parted before us, all eyes were once again on me.
Chapter 20
MY HEART POUNDED AS WE WALKED OUT INTO THE courtyard … and closer to Victoria. I remembered Victoria’s threat that she would have me removed from the palace if she discovered I had come, and I knew that would only be the beginning of my punishment. I assumed that I was in the process of being thrown out of the ball by this man, but I couldn’t understand why we were moving away from the entrance. Perhaps there was another way to exit the palace, perhaps through a dungeon where I would be punished for my treachery.
My imagination ran wild, and I was grateful that Sir Thomas had gloves on, because my hands were slick with sweat and I refused to dry them on this dress. My glass slippers clinked quietly against the stone, and as soft as the sound was, I wished I could stop and take them off so I wouldn’t attract any more attention to myself.
The farther we walked, the farther the fear fled that Victoria had anything to do with this. Sir Thomas was very professional, and it didn’t seem like he was taking me to be punished. The walk went on and on, and I wondered if I should make polite conversation with my guide. I glanced up at him sideways under my lashes. He smiled kindly at me but made no move to say anything. I decided to remain silent.
The crowd thinned and soon there was no one but Sir Thomas and me. I had never been alone with any man before, except for Will, but Will was a friend. This man was a stranger and he was leading me off into the darkness. A part of me told me I should run away, but there was another part of me that was strangely curious as to where we were going and why it was me he was taking there.
I was suddenly aware of another set of footsteps besides mine—a woman’s footsteps. They were quick and I could hear the soft clink of a heel. I had been wrong. Victoria knew I was here and was going to punish me. I tried to reign in my terror as I imagined Victoria suddenly appearing from behind the wall of bushes, but I was stunned to see Jane Emerson emerging out from behind them instead. Jane hadn’t seen me yet, and I was too surprised to see her that I forgot that I should be hiding from her.
Jane had a small smile on her lips, her hand placed over her heart and a blush that was obvious, even in the moonlight. She was brought out of her reverie when she saw me walking with Sir Thomas. She stopped instantly and her face displayed so many emotions it was almost a spasm. Her first reaction was surprise, followed quickly by embarrassment, replaced by confusion, and then she finally settled with accusation.
I couldn’t imagine what Jane was doing out here all alone, so far from anyone else, but I didn’t think to ask. Similarly, she probably couldn’t imagine why I was there at the ball and not sick with madness at home as she had most likely been told. I would have given her some explanation, but I was too preoccupied with the way her eyes narrowed into slits and the expression on her face that looked undoubtedly like resentment, as if I had betrayed her somehow. We passed each other in silence and it hurt more than I ever thought possible that this girl, who had been my closest friend a week ago, had somehow become more like an enemy.
All thoughts of Jane were pushed out of my mind when Sir Thomas led me to a wide, open space. I marveled at all the beautifully manicured shrubs and the intoxicating aroma of the countless blossoms hanging from planters all around the garden. There were intricately carved stone benches spaced about every thirty feet lining the garden, and dozens of statues of elegant birds with long, graceful necks that I had never seen before.
All these details I took in in a matter of seconds. The main sight that caught my attention, and held it, was that of a silhouette of a man about one hundred feet away. He was facing away from me, standing in front of a low stone wall, his hands clasped behind him, his back straight, his head held high. This could only be one person.
My guide gently cleared his throat and I looked at him. He glanced down pointedly at his arm, and I laughed nervously and let go of him. My hand ached from clinging to his arm so tightly and I stretched my fingers and glanced up at him apologetically. He smiled in understanding and dropped his arm. Gesturing to the man with his other arm, he said in a regal voice, “His Royal Highness, Prince Kenton.” He bowed deeply and was gone before I could exhale.
Chapter 21
I STOOD ALONE IN THE MOONLIGHT. I WASN’T SURE IF I WAS expected to wait for the prince to come to me or if I was supposed to go and meet him. After a moment of neither one of us moving, I stepped forward. The tinkling of my footsteps was the only sound in the stillness and I felt terribly self-conscious as it echoed through the otherwise silent garden.
I slowed to a stop when I was about ten feet away from him. Not knowing if there was any protocol on how close one could stand to a prince, I kept my distance and waited. Out of habit from dealing with Victoria, I waited to be spoken to before I allowed myself to speak.
The prince slowly turned to face me, his hands still clasped behind him. He was absurdly handsome, even more so in the moonlight than at midday when I had last seen him. A satisfied smile touched his full lips as he looked me over.
“You’re a brave one,” he said in a low, smooth voice as he stepped closer to me. “The last girl stood back there for five minutes before she came over to me.”
I found my voice, though it was breathless and trembling. “I don’t blame her.” I didn’t exactly feel like defending Jane at the moment, but I suddenly felt a surge of pity for my friend. Poor Jane must have been in complete terror standing there alone in the dark, wondering what she was supposed to do. “I thought I was being taken out here to be executed.” I surprised myself by laughing a free, easy laugh. Perhaps I was giddy with relief that I was going to leave the ball with my head still attached to my body.
He looked at me for a moment with an amused look on his face and then laughed with me.
I bowed my head to hide my flaming cheeks and curtsied as low as I could with my billowing skirts swirling around me. “It’s lovely to meet you, Your Highness.”
“Please … call me Your Majesty. It’s much more … majestic,” the prince said.
I blushed even more deeply as I opened my mouth to form a clumsy apology, but it couldn’t make it past my dry throat.
The prince laughed again. “I’m so sorry. I should leave the joke-telling to you.” He chuckled and relaxed his stance, placing his hands in his pockets. “My name is Kenton. I would say that you may call me that, but I think we’d better settle for Prince Kenton. My parents want me to keep at least some distance between me and the commoners.” He rolled his eyes as he said the last word. He smiled down at me, seeming to try to make me feel more comfortable. “But you’re anything but common, so I don’t think we have to worry about that.”
I flushed to my hairline and I tried to command my heart to slow down. It disobeyed, naturally. As I silently beseeched my cheeks to return to their normal color, I tried to reconcile this prince with the prince I had first seen in town and who I had seen driving through the countryside. The man who stood before me seemed very different from the man who had climbed up onto the fountain in the village square and enthusiastically invited us all to the ball. That prince was larger than life, flirtatious, and almost too much to take in—probably trying to excite the crowd. The prince from the countryside was captivating and seemed almost mystified. This prince was, so far, very charming.
“Come this way,” he said. I followed him to stand in front of the wall where he had been waiting for me. I gasped when I saw that this was not only a wall, but a balcony from which we could see the entire kingdom blanketed in moonlight.
Far off in the distance nestled behind the hills was Lytton, and beyond its borders was the sea. I hadn’t been there since I was a little girl, but I could almost smell the sticky, salty air and feel the grainy sand in between my toes. To my right was Maycott, my little village. I could see the
hill that Father and I rode horses on when I was a little girl. Beyond the hill, there was a thick patch of tall trees and I knew that in the middle of it was the glassy pond, and just beyond it was Ashfield. If the sun had been up, I probably could have made out a tiny tower in the distance that was my bedroom. I looked far to my left and saw the very edges of Milton, the village my mother grew up in. My whole world, my past and my present, was right in front of my eyes in one sweeping glance. I wondered if I could also see my future from where I stood.
I didn’t know how long I had been staring out over the kingdom and laughed a little at myself for being so preoccupied with the landscape when I was standing in the presence of a prince.
“What’s so amusing?” the prince asked. He was standing startlingly close and I jumped a little.
I turned to face him but took an instinctive step back because of his close proximity. “Please forgive me, Your Highness. I suppose it’s difficult for me to look away from beautiful things.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” he said, gazing deeply into my eyes.
I blushed furiously and my rebellious heart pounded in my chest. I was sure the prince could hear it, which made me blush deeper. I took another faltering step back.
“Please forgive me. I … I …”
“You keep asking forgiveness, but you’ve done nothing wrong.” He smiled kindly. “You look like you need to sit down. Come with me.” He offered me his arm and I hesitatingly raised mine and linked it through his.
We walked toward the closest bench. He gestured for me to sit and he sat beside me. I pulled my arm out of his, but the prince grabbed my hand instead. I was shocked by his boldness. The only man close to my age I ever interacted with was Will and he had always kept a careful distance between us, or I had.
I looked down at our hands and was relieved once again that the prince was wearing gloves so he couldn’t feel the moisture on my hands. I made a silent note to myself that the next time I sneaked out of my house in a stolen carriage to go to a forbidden ball to meet a prince, I would be sure to wear gloves.
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