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“Okay?” I gave her a full-on grin. “Eleri, you look amazing.”
She grinned back. “It is a nice dress.”
That was an understatement.
She took my arm and the staff came behind her, carrying her train.
We went up the stairs and through various winding corridors to the main entrance to the ballroom, and the whole time we were followed by staff who were holding her train and stopping us to pick at little elements of her sequins or rearrange her hair.
Finally, we got upstairs, just outside the entrance to the ballroom. The press was waiting for us there, cameras at the ready, and a member of the staff went forward to negotiate with them, telling them to hold off until everything was in place.
They moved us around, me and her, getting us in position, draping out her train and my cape. Then the cameras were flashing all over the place, and they were telling us to smile, and then to look natural and talk to each other, to pretend the cameras weren’t there.
“Totally impossible to pretend the cameras aren’t there,” said Eleri, giggling.
“Impossible,” I agreed. I felt like a million bucks, this gorgeous woman on my arm. She was too beautiful to exist in that moment, beaming at the attention. I thought it spoke to her omega in a way. She was in her element.
I felt like I was in a movie, like we’d stepped out of real life and into some long-ago fantasy. Maybe that was what the Queen was always talking about when she spoke of the power of the monarchy, the pageantry and the splendor. But even though I was part of it, I didn’t feel in charge of it. Instead, it was as if a thread of something ancient and powerful—something almost magical—was working its way through me, taking charge and I was just moving through it, playing my role.
Eventually, the doors opened.
There was a musical fanfare, with actual trumpets, and the ballroom appeared in front of us.
These doors opened onto a set of wide and shallow stairs. It was less than a story up from the ballroom floor, but we would descend them, going over a red carpet, between the trumpeters.
Below, spread out were the guests at the ball, distinguished guests from the peerage of Angleford and a number of titled guests from other countries, all in their finery. They were gathered together to each side, smiling up at us as we walked in.
Circular, gold chandeliers marched down the ceiling of the ballroom. The floor-to-ceiling windows were flanked by long, cream curtains. The walls themselves were cream with recessed gold details. There were elegant tables with white flower arrangements in the middle of each and impeccable place settings.
It felt as if we were stepping into some other world, some world of heightened reality.
We made our way to the front of the room, where the Queen stood in a red dress, flanked by her alpha pack, all of whom were dressed like me, complete with capes. The Queen had a crown on her head, fur around the edge, topped with towering jeweled spires. In her hand, she held a jewel-encrusted scepter.
We approached her and both bowed our heads.
The Queen stepped forward and gently tapped each of our shoulders. “I present to the court the Duke and Duchess of Littlefeld,” she said in a voice that carried through the room.
Everyone applauded.
We turned, Eleri’s train curving artfully around her.
There were more photos.
Then the music began.
Three staff members darted up to gather up Eleri’s train and hook a ribbon on the underside around her wrist. Now, her train was up off the floor so that she could dance.
She took my arm again, and I escorted her to Devlin.
I stepped away as they joined hands. There was more applause, more pictures being snapped, and then the two took to the dance floor, where they whirled under the lights.
They looked good together, I had to admit. I thought about the two of them naked together, near me, my mates, and I was overcome by a wave of emotion.
I wasn’t entirely sure how this had become my life. It was nothing like what I’d expected for myself, what I’d planned.
On the other hand, I hadn’t made much in the way of plans for my life, truly. While other people were settling down, starting families, I’d thrown myself into my work for the Queen. Maybe some part of me had known this was coming, maybe the alpha part of me had been sitting, waiting, ears pricked, knowing that my pack was waiting for me here.
sinclair
