Life is Not a Ball
*Rowan*
Music pours from the stage where a small orchestra plays one of Mara’s favorite songs. I smile and sway to the music, a drink in my hand, but this isn’t what I had in mind. Not even a little bit.
The Alphas and their families don’t seem to notice as they spin across the dance floor, broad smiles on their faces. Every once in a while, one will come over to speak to me, and inevitably, the question will come up. “Where is the Luna Queen? Where is your mother?”
I’ve told each of them that, regrettably, she’s not feeling well. They wish her well and go on about their business, but the fact that my mother isn’t here at the ball welcoming my sister back is disconcerting. She’s not ill, not any more than she has been for the last five years. She simply doesn’t believe that my sister is my sister.
And I don’t understand why.
Mara isn’t acting like herself either, that’s true. She’s standing between Dean and one of her friends from the village, a woman named Haylee. Before she was kidnapped, Mara had Haylee over at the castle all the time. Haylee’s father is a merchant, not a noble, but it didn’t matter to Mara. They went everywhere together. While Mara was gone, Haylee got married to another villager. Cliff stands next to her, looking bored. I’ve never found anything remotely interesting about him, and I’ve tried. Their children are home with his mother, I’m told.
Haylee and Mara are not fast friends anymore. It seems they have very little in common at all. Haylee is smiling, but it’s forced. She must have noticed how very different the princess is. We can continue to chalk it up to her being shocked at being home, but I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t something else going on.
I’ve watched her dance a few times. Eager Alphas’ sons, desperate to have some sort of an in with the royal family, have asked her to dance, and she’s said yes a few times, though I’ve also watched a few of them limp away, licking their wounds.
It’s not like her. She used to enjoy balls and parties so much. She’d be out there with a different partner for every song, laughing and twirling. Now, she looks like a timid deer standing in a clearing in the woods, waiting for a larger animal to appear and pounce on her.
That’s why I asked Dean to shadow her tonight. Of course, when she’s on the dance floor, he’s free to do as he wishes, but while she’s standing around, I want her to feel secure. If someone the size of my Beta can’t make a person feel safe, I don’t know who can.
It’s getting late. I still haven’t asked my sister to dance. I need to. It’s important for the Alphas and other guests to see the two of us reunited and happy–even if we’re both faking it.
With a deep sigh, I finish my drink and set it on a tray being carried by on the hand of one of our servants. I cross to Mara who doesn’t turn her head to look at me. “Mara?” She says nothing. Doesn’t even turn her head. “Mara?”
Dean nudges her, and she startles, her eyes widening, and her hands flying up. What the hell did they do to her over there? He apologizes, and then she looks at me. I extend my hand. “Would you care to dance, sister?”
She looks at me for a moment and then says, “No.”
I can’t remember the last time I asked a woman to dance, and she said no. I don’t think it’s ever happened before. “Mara,” I say, taking a step closer to her. “I believe it would be good for the kingdom to see us dancing together–happily.”
She blinks a few times and then says, “Of course,” and slips her fingers into mine. As we walk to the dance floor, I hear her muttering under her breath, but I’m not sure what she’s saying. I hear my name, something about Mother, and then… “he’s dangerous…” maybe?
It’s strange. I’ve already decided I want James to do a more thorough examination of her.
In my arms, she’s stiff and robotic. She won’t look at me, and when I glance at her eyes, she’s focused somewhere over my shoulder. No matter how I move her around the dance floor, she will not look directly at me.
“Mara?” I say in the softest voice I can manage. “What happened to you over there?’
She blinks twice and says, “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Aren’t you happy to be home?”
“Of course. I’m so happy to be home, brother.” The smile she etches on her face is as fake as the ones I give the Alphas’ daughters earlier when they came to flirt and hope I’d ask them to dance.
When the song ends, I’m done pretending for the night. I walk Mara back over to Dean, make another round through the crowd, and then find a way to duck out of the room. My heart races as I sprint up the stairs toward my room. In there, it was easier to ignore the pain because I was focused on Mara, but now, I feel it again in full force, and it hurts worse than ever.
I know what I did was the right thing to do. I had to get Mara home safe and sound. I just wish I would’ve found a way to keep Hezzlie here, too. I’d put all my eggs in the basket of finding Solomon’s daughter. I hadn’t been expecting her to be my fated mate, of course. I hadn’t been willing to open my mind to any other possibilities once I could see my plan starting to come together. I realize it was a mistake now, of course, but it’s too late.
Getting Hezzlie back now would be nearly impossible.
In my room, I look out the window and see the castle in the distance. The lights are blurred from the distance, but I have to wonder if one of those rooms where a lamp is on might be Hezzlie’s room. Is she looking out the window now, looking toward me?
I can’t use the mind-link to talk to her again now, no matter how badly I want to. If it were possible to pull her back here through my bond with her, I would do it.
But it’s too late. I’ve fucked up, and there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just have to live with the pain.
Or find a way to defeat her father once and for all.
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