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Nearly tripping in my heels, I allowed him to guide me to the top of the stairs. At my first glimpse of the faces staring up at us from the floor of the grand ballroom below, I instantly wished I could shrink back into our rooms. One of the Princesses leaned into another, whispering and not even trying to hide it. Aric smiled at my side, playing the role of the proud brother even if he thought it ridiculous for me to be unveiled so dramatically. But I hated it, and I couldn’t even pretend otherwise.
The fitted nature of my dress made it difficult to step down each stair, but I did the best I could not to fall on my face. What a debut that would be, to ruin all my mother’s plans so spectacularly!
Princess splatter.
As we approached the bottom of the steps, my eyes finally landed on my mother's face where she lurked at the edges of the ballroom with the other chaperones. With the number of unwed Princesses about, it was only necessary that they be there. But on our first night, we entered the ballroom mostly alone. I was lucky I had my brother to escort me. Her gaze never met mine, too busy watching the crowd to even glance my way. Her smug smile broadened with every face she studied, pride filling her gaze as she watched them watching me.
She'd successfully made a spectacle of me, and she couldn't even be bothered to look atme. I heaved a sigh of relief when my heeled, subtle golden shoe touched the ballroom floor, putting me on even footing with the others. I didn't like the feeling of them all staring at me, and blending in with the crowd brought me peace, even if only for a moment. Aric guided us out to the dance floor, placing a hand at my waist and settling me into a waltz along with the music playing in the background. Others followed suit, and I focused my attention on the steps of my feet. On not tripping over myself, and trusting the years of dance Mother had seen fit to foist upon me.
"There. That wasn't so bad," Aric whispered, his kingly smile firmly fixed in place. My brother always had to go out of his way to seem friendlier than most royals, given the fact that he towered over the majority of them. The same genes that gave me the punchy curves that stood out made him taller and broader. Coming from one of the poorer Kingdoms didn't help our scenario in terms of perception, so he always had to overcome that.
We were both trapped by the circumstance life placed us in. We never had to worry about there being food on the plate, or other concerns that many of our people suffered, but we were trapped nonetheless. Suffered in our own way, even if it couldn’t compare.
"May I cut in?" a man asked, stepping up to our side and halting our dance.
Aric cleared his throat, releasing me and stepping back so that I could turn to face the future he hated for me. "King Corbin, of course," Aric said, informally making the introduction. I appreciated that he didn't bother to pretend I didn't know who the man was.
"Your Majesty," I murmured, placing my hand in his and bowing my head respectfully. Though his hair was speckled with flecks of white and his age showed in the lines around his eyes, he wasn't as unattractive as he could have been, since my mother didn't care about my attraction to my prospective husband.
Only his wallet and the power of his military truly mattered. The strength of his influence on the world.
"Alina," he whispered, already too familiar for a man who hadn't seen me before a moment prior. I wondered if he and my mother had ever discussed the potential alliance, or if the idea of it only existed in my mother's head. She seemed so determined for me to seduce him into a marriage, I'd never given any thought to the fact that she might have shared her intentions with him.
It felt icky, and slime coated my skin as he stepped into my space. His chest brushed against mine, his thin form too close to be respectable for a first dance. Still, I forced myself to allow the contact as he slid a hand around to the small of my back and pulled me tighter.
"I was very sorry to hear about your loss," I said. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I tried not to be too obvious in my reminder of his recently deceased wife. It hadn't even been a year since her death, and though I knew nothing about their marriage, his lack of grieving shown in tabloids didn't make me feel fuzzy about the potential for our own.
"Yes, it was tragic to lose her so young." He danced us across the floor, stepping on my toes periodically. Like a good little princess, I neglected to mention the bruising pain that crushed them and smiled up at him kindly.
"How is your daughter fairing?" I asked, wincing at my own reminder. His daughter was sixteen. Only a few years younger than I, and yet, if all went according to plan, I would be her stepmother.
"She misses her, but I hope that she'll soon realize her relationship with us will be changing, with her coming of age and moving to a Kingdom of her own. Nothing can possibly erase the pain of losing a parent, but it helps to know she would have lost the relationship they had anyway." I nodded my head in agreement, even though I wholeheartedly disagreed.
If I had a mother I loved and had a good relationship with, nothing would ease the pain of her passing. Distance would certainly have been preferable to outright loss.
Silence descended between us when I failed to formulate an appropriate response. Corbin made no effort to fill the void with words. My teeth sank into my lip, the pain distracting me from the tears that burned at the backs of my eyes. I was meant to marry a man I couldn't even hold a conversation with long enough for a single dance.
He didn't care to ask me any questions about myself. All he might need to know stared him in the face.
As he spun me, my mother caught my eyes. She rolled her hands, a bright smile on her face to remind me to keep mine bright and sunny. I released my cheek, allowing the phony pageant girl smile she’d taught me to take over my face. A Queen was meant to be her husband’s refuge, his warmth and respite after a long, arduous day.
From the corner of my eye, a man in a suit of unrelieved black thundered towards us. Dark blue eyes glittered as he made his way through the crowd. I jolted, startled by the intensity of his steps. "I—do you know him?" I asked Corbin, turning wide eyes up to him and gesturing with my head towards the stalking stranger.
His face twisted in confusion. "That would be King Reece, my dear. Whatever he could want, I don't know. Have you done something to offend him?"
I furrowed my brow, grinding my teeth as I fought the urge to snap.
"I've never seen him before," I admitted, knowing I would never have forgotten the cruel lines of beauty etched into his hard face.
Corbin spun me slightly to face the intruder, his fingers toying with the skin the low dip in the back of my dress left bare.
"Unhand her," our intruder growled. I sucked in a harsh breath when those eyes narrowed in on mine, crashing into me like waves against the shore. He stripped me bare with just that one look, saw straight inside me in a way I'd never felt before.
King Reece, the sadist, melted my mother's training with nothing but a glance.
Uh oh.
