“Look at you, playing the part of a proper lady. But we both know who you really are.” He held her too closely; she needed air. “Just a library girl, a commoner of low birth and no title to speak of. Then again,” he sneered at her as they linked arms, “you’re not just a library girl, you’re a library girl who takes secret lunches with the emotionally stinted crown prince.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vhalla looked at the other couples dancing around them, praying they weren’t overheard.
“Oh, don’t play ignorant. Tell me, is Lady Rose Prince Baldair’s pet and Vhalla Yarl Prince Aldrik’s?” Vhalla’s mouth fell open. “I’ve hardly even seen the crown prince with a woman, and I have known him for quite a few years more than you. Are you someone special? Tell me, has Prince Aldrik finally taken another lover?”
Vhalla’s cheeks flushed against every scrap of will she had, and the Senator watched each growing shade of red with a dangerous glint to his eye. Taking a deep breath she shook her head and dug deep for her diminishing supply of courage.
“Please excuse me, Senator, I fear I have overheated from all the dancing,” Vhalla announced boldly.
“Certainly.” The senator released her, save for her hand; she fought a grimace as his lips brushed upon its back. “Perhaps you may retreat into the gardens for some air. I hear those dressed in black prefer the darkness.”
The music shifted and partners changed. Vhalla stepped out of the dancing reel. She couldn’t stop herself from looking back. Egmun was smiling and carrying on as though nothing had happened. Vhalla started for the balcony that overlooked the water gardens. She felt a pair of eyes on her back, lifting the hairs at the nape of her neck. She turned, but couldn’t find anyone’s gaze to pin it upon. Vhalla brought her hands together and fidgeted as she plunged through the crowd and into the mostly unpopulated night.
The terraced water gardens had a grandeur that she had never seen before, with wide semi-circular structures overlapping at different intervals of height. The wall of each was thin white marble and the water contained within was flawless and still, reflecting the night sky like a mirror. Marble stairs led down from the balcony and cut a winding path through the inky blackness of the water. Small, circular plant gardens had been placed at varying intervals along its lazy way before it wrapped back around again on the balcony’s other side.
She clutched the railing and took a deep breath of the clean night air. How dare someone speak of her and Aldrik in such a manner! It wasn’t as though they were... Vhalla looked out across the garden with a small sigh, what were they anyway? Briefly, something in the darkness shifted before leaning back against a tree. Vhalla was down the steps without glancing over her shoulder.
The stars stretched out above and around her as she walked to that small oasis of marble and greenery. She stepped up onto the platform, holding her dress, careful not to trip, and smiled faintly. This was what she had come for.
Aldrik stepped away from the tree’s trunk.
“What are you doing here?” The question was slightly accusatory, but there was no aggression in the prince’s voice.
“Your brother invited me.” Vhalla walked under the shadow of the foliage.
Aldrik snorted in disgust and shook his head. “A woman comes at my brother’s call.” He took a half step away from her. “I have heard every variation of that before.”
“I didn’t come for him,” Vhalla whispered softly. The gardens were surrounded by a tall palace wall that blocked most of the mountain winds. The prince heard her with little problem, his retreat stalled. “I came to see you.”
“Me?” He looked back in disbelief.
“Yes, you,” Vhalla laughed softly. Her chest hurt, and she couldn’t decide if it was from happiness or heartbreak. “And you’re out here trying to skip the party.”
“I could not stand watching all of them, my brother, dance with you,” he said defensively.
“Well, why didn’t you ask me then?” She tilted her head to the side, a touch coy.
“Fine. Vhalla Yarl, may I have this dance?”
He held out his hands, and she crossed the remaining distance. His right hand timidly landed on her waist and her right hand settled in his left. She placed her free hand on his shoulder and, ever so faintly, they heard the echo of music across the water. He stepped first.
It was a slow dance with deliberate steps. He didn’t possess the flair that his brother did, but he didn’t need to. Vhalla felt his movements through his palms, the shifts in his waist, the closeness of this way or that. They danced together to a faint melody drifting across the water, among the star-filled pools, with the heavens shining down upon them. She closed her eyes and felt him with every sense she possessed.