They speculated about what Dominic might wear, giggling as they declared him handsome despite his beastly features. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t dispute their claims. I wouldn’t have called him handsome exactly, although he was certainly compelling, demanding your attention in a way that couldn’t be denied. And he had most definitely been handsome before the curse—at least if his portrait was anything to go by.
They all made me close my eyes while they brought out my dress and carefully placed it over my head. It slid across my skin, as soft as silk, and settled around me with considerable weight. I was led to a mirror and then told to look.
When I did, I gasped. Tight fitting across the bodice, the gown flared out at the waist into the biggest skirt I had ever seen. But that wasn’t what had elicited the reaction. The entire dress glowed. Shimmering in the candlelight, it shone like…“sunshine,” I whispered. “And moonbeams.” When I looked closer, I realized the entire dress had been woven out of actual gold thread, mingled with silver.
“However did you create such a thing? And so quickly.” It must be worth a small fortune.
They all laughed and assured me their seamstresses had been more than up to the task. I think they were merely relieved to have something more challenging than servant’s clothes to work on, said Tara. It’s been years now since any ladies visited this castle.
They arranged my hair so that it was only half up, the curls cascading over one shoulder, and then declared me perfect. I actually blushed at their extravagant compliments. I couldn’t help wondering what Dominic would think when he saw me.
The ballroom had somehow been polished in the short time since the servants had announced the ball, and the rose garden had managed to provide enough blooms to decorate the large space. I stood at the top of the shallow flight of stairs that led down into the room and took a deep breath. I tried to tell myself my nerves were due to the roomful of invisible people, and not to the one person I could see.
As I descended, light hit my dress from every direction, the chandeliers reflecting in the tall mirrors that lined the walls. Now I truly did shine like the sun.
The effect of the mirrors made the room seem much larger than it truly was, a gorgeous riot of silver and gold and crystal, punctuated with the red of the roses. I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked up into Dominic’s face. He stood several steps away from me, dressed in a long jacket that matched the deep red of the roses and was embroidered with gold and silver thread that glowed like my gown.
His piercing blue eyes were locked on me, and the expression in them made me swallow nervously. He strode forward, stopping far too close for comfort.
You look…beautiful. He held out his hand in a silent request for a dance.
I dipped down into a slight curtsey before placing my hand in his. “And you look very dashing.”
An invisible orchestra struck up a waltz, and his hand encircled my waist, pulling me against him more firmly than the dance strictly called for. I didn’t protest. He twirled me around the room as effortlessly as if I were flying, leading us through the other dancers who I couldn’t see. My heart soared at the beauty surrounding me and the exhilaration of the movement, and for a moment I forgot the way time pressed in upon us.
Apparently, Dominic felt the same way, because when the music paused at the end of the song, he whispered, Can we forget everything else, just for now, and dance?
I nodded my agreement, ready after the last few days to be free from the pressure and stress for one evening. We danced, clasped close together, as if in an embrace, for song after song. Dominic’s strength made even the most difficult of moves simple, and he twirled me through the air as easily with one hand as with two.
This whole strange summer had been like a dream, removed from the normal realities of life. But never so much as during this ball, when I danced through a ballroom that appeared empty, but was filled with the sound of other dancers. Sometimes I forgot that Dominic and I weren’t the only ones there, and then Tara or Lottie would call a greeting as they, presumably, swung past in the dance, and the illusion would be shattered.
Every few songs we paused to seek the drinks and refreshments that had been set up on a long table to one side of the stairway. Tara sidled up to me at one point to let me know that Samuel had danced the last two dances with Lottie. She sounded triumphant, and I wondered what she had done to bring the two together.
At one such break I saw an entire pile of sticky buns leaving the table, and caught Gordon in the act of sneaking out of the ball. He assured me that he wasn’t up to any mischief and would, in fact, be on his best behavior—he just needed me to refrain from letting Gilda know he had disappeared. He assured me earnestly that he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing so, except that one of the stable boys had found a lizard longer than his forearm out near the stables, and if he didn’t go now, he might miss it.
I laughed and swore myself to secrecy, and then Dominic swung me back into the dance. I could feel his silent chuckles, and I wondered if he had been fascinated by lizards as a boy, too. I remembered how uncomfortable he had been when I included the servants in my birthday cake on my actual birthday. He showed no discomfort now, to be dancing with them all. I couldn’t pinpoint a moment when his attitude had changed—it had been as gradual as the warming weather.
When I smiled to myself at the thought, he looked down at me quizzically, but I just shrugged, not wanting to put it into words. We danced for dance after dance, but eventually I grew weary enough to welcome a rest. He offered me his arm and led me through a curtain and onto a balcony which looked out over the gardens. I leaned on the stone balustrade and stared up at the stars. Here I could truly believe that we were all alone.
“I keep asking myself what is the strangest thing I have experienced since coming here, but I cannot decide.” When I looked sideways at Dominic, I saw he was watching my face. I flushed, glad the darkness hid the color in my cheeks.
I have been thinking that I have never experienced such an evening. I had always considered balls tiresome before this. He shook his head as if unable to believe his foolishness.
“Ha! I knew you were delaying this one.” I smiled. “Although, in truth, I also thought I was sick of balls after the endless number we endured during the Tourney.”
Ah, yes. The Tourney. Darkness closed over his expression. Will it always stand between us?
I straightened and spun around to lean backwards against the stone rail. “How can it not? It’s the reason for our betrothal and for my presence here.”
I never intended to use a Tourney to choose a bride. But what other choice did I have, trapped here as I am?
I bit my lip, not wanting to ruin the evening with a fight. “You could have chosen not to seek a bride at all, could you not?”