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I saw her. Barely a glimpse through a gap in the crowd.
“All right,” I said, grabbing him by the arm. “This way!”
We entered the ballroom and I cast around for her again. Still no sign.
“Damn!” I said.
Zes was stumbling side to side. He was going to collapse any second. I angled him toward a table, already occupied by a pair of lords I didn’t recognize. They glared at us as Zes collapsed on the chair, his head banging against the tabletop.
“He suffers from narcolepsy,” I said. He didn’t really. He just had a habit of overeating and passing out. “I’ll let him rest for a bit and he’ll be back to normal in no time.”
I left the table before they could offer a single word of complaint—which they would. The wealthy were always the first to complain.
I headed in the direction I’d last seen the girl and peered around at the empty space. Most of the tables were empty. Most of the guests headed upstairs to their rooms. Some had come from distant moons and far-flung planets. The tables that were occupied only had a single couple. They sat facing the stage at the front.
I scratched my head. I’d lost her.
Again.
A band set up their instruments and began to play classical music. If the other guests weren’t already tired, they soon would be.
Feeling despondent, I approached the bar and ordered a Titan ale.
After all that excitement, I’d lost her. In a palace of this size, she could have gone anywhere. I would never find her again. She might as well be on another planet.
It wasn’t like anything was going to happen. I didn’t even expect anything to happen. I just—
What? What did I expect?
I sighed deeply. I just wanted to look at her. I looked at the portrait of my wife all the time but that was two-dimensional and incapable of conversation—no matter how often I spoke to her.
It was probably a good thing. Nobody liked to be ogled and stared at. Especially by someone they didn’t even know.
“One ale,” the bartender said, sliding it over to me.
I cupped it between my hands and watched as the tiny bubbles popped, making a squeaking noise that only ever seemed to get louder the drunker you got.
Get drunk. Now that sounded like a good idea. Then I could forget this whole thing had ever happened and maybe, if I was lucky, I might mistake this whole thing as yet another dream I had about her.
I took a healthy drag on the ale and turned.
I almost spat it out. Some of it did spill down my costume.
There she sat, on a barstool at the other end of the bar.
She idly stirred her brightly-colored drink with a tiny umbrella. I’d never seen a drink with an umbrella before. It looked… exotic.
I sized her up from this angle, and as she turned to peer at the stage, I got a good look at her ass.
Wow.
She was in excellent shape. A little taller than I thought and with bigger curves. Her dress clung to her figure, dark against her pale skin. Her black hair spilled down to her shoulder blades.
She was stunning.
I should go over and speak with her, I thought. Before someone else does.
But I didn’t make a move. I huddled back over my drink and drank another mouthful. Maybe if I drank enough, I could work up the confidence I needed… and then fail spectacularly when she couldn’t understand a single word I said.
