Riley

 

In graceful circles, my new dance partner twirls us around and around and around. The stranger with the rapier easily weaves into the flow of the dancing crowd. Luckily, I know the steps of a waltz quite well and don’t let panic freeze me. That would cause a funny pileup in the middle of the dance floor for sure. Nevertheless, I wish he would ease up on his firm grip and let me escape. Phillip made me feel utterly safe and protected when he steered me across the glass platform. But with the intense gaze of this blond noble man fastened on my eyes instead, I feel strangely like prey.

“What—in—who…?” My voice sounds like the croak of a dying frog. We make an entire lap around the dance floor before my tongue forms a coherent sentence. “Why did you steal me away?”

His haunting gaze has never left mine this entire time, and my question is met with a small smile as if he finally appreciates me speaking. “With over fifty gentlemen waiting to dance with you, I wanted to be the first.”

“Well, you’re hardly the first. The lord of the castle surprised me with the news of opening the ball with him three minutes ago.” I make a wry face since the man seems to know nothing about etiquette. “He’s actually the one you stole me from.”

“There are plenty of other fine women to dance with.” He waves a hand at the many people surrounding us. “The prince can have his choice. Besides, Phillip is my cousin. I’m sure he doesn’t mind.”

My breath freezes in my lungs as I stare into the gleaming sapphire orbs behind the silver mask. Phillip’s eyes are blue, too, if not this striking. And they both have fair hair. My gaze quickly flows down his body and then rushes up again. Same build and similar uniforms. Holy dream castle, is it a stroke of fate that I’m dancing with a close relative of Rory’s husband? She did say this week how lovely it would be for me to marry into their family.

Phillip’s cousin leans so close that I can feel his lips moving as he drawls into my ear, “I bet now you’re surprised.”

With lowered lids, I try to hide the shiver that his warm breath on my skin just triggered. “Maybe…a little.” Then my gaze snaps up to his face once more. “Shouldn’t the plenty of fine women have worked for you, too? No need to rob your cousin of his dance partner.”

“None of the others interest me like you do.”

My eyebrows quirk in astonishment. “I…do?” And I’m back to stammering again. Dang it. This is not how a princess would behave. He’ll debunk me as a phony in no time. Not only will he lose interest in me, but the rest of the single men at the feast will think that I’m a waste of time, too.

Pull yourself together, Red Riding Hood, and don’t ruin this!

“I mean…that is very kind of you, Prince…”

“Jacob of the Snow Plains.” He cracks a teasing smile. As if his name should ring a bell.

“Oh, the Snow Plains.” They are legendary, even though I know nothing about the royal family who reigns there. “Aren’t they far up in the Marble Mountains? It is said to be the most beautiful place in Fairyland’s North.”

“It certainly is.” The string quartet ends their song, and we come to a halt with all the other couples on the glass deck. Still holding my hand, he bends forward and plants a gentle kiss on my knuckles. His brows move up as his gaze locks with mine. “But not as beautiful as you, Lady Riley.”

My hand trembles under his lips. He may be a dance partner thief, but he certainly has the charm of a true prince.

“Would you honor me with another dance, milady?” he asks softly as he straightens again, smiling down at me.

I’m just about to nod when someone interrupts our lovely moment. “I daresay it’s my turn to kidnap the fair princess for a dance.”

The voice is faintly familiar—I’ve heard it before, I’m sure. However, it takes a look into a feathered mask for me to recognize who it is. The robin.

His striking orange linen shirt stands out against the dark leather pants and boots of his costume. He no longer wears the beautiful, feather-embroidered cape from earlier. If his intention is to dance, it makes sense. The precious thing would only be in the way.

I would love to sway across the dance floor with Jacob once more, yet the robin’s request flatters me. When he holds out his hand to me, I instinctively put mine in it and send Jacob an apologetic smile. Except, he doesn’t even see it. The two men appear to be fighting a silent staring battle, neither of them backing down an inch. As if the alphas of two wolf packs were standing in front of me. Their gazes are like fire and ice.

Perhaps it’s best to leave the guys to themselves and return to my friends. I certainly didn’t come to this ball to start any rivalries. With my hand already clasped by the bird man, however, there’s no means of escape. And he makes sure of that by wrapping his fingers tighter around mine.

He’s also the first one to break the stare between Jacob and him before he turns to look at me. His face lights up with a warm smile as he walks me a few steps backward, away from Prince Jacob. The new song is much softer than the one before, the waltz a few beats slower. In a perfect dance position, we begin to move. Only this time, we twirl on the spot instead of dancing around the entire glass deck.

“Are you enjoying the feast, Lady Riley?” He tilts his head to one side as if trying to read my face and my reaction to him disrupting my encounter with the Prince of the Snow Plains.

I love the tender accent on my name when he rolls the R. It feels like the single word is sliding all the way down my body. “I’ve barely had a minute to breathe. But the company is very nice. The only thing that worries me is that I keep getting abducted by strangers.”

“Strangers?” He chuckles. “That is a rough term, don’t you think?”

“Hardly. I don’t even know your name.”

“Let me tell you then.” He swings me around in a zestful swirl in order to avoid a collision with an oncoming couple, and I feel how my gown fans out. When our dance is slower again, he gives me a dimpled smile. “I am Jaccomo Casanova. Prince of the South, and Duke of Secret Garden.”

My chin almost drops. “That is an incredibly long name.” If I’ve even heard it before, no wonder I can’t remember.

He laughs softly. “How about you just call me Jaccomo?”

Thank the thirteen fairies. That sounds a lot more manageable than the entire litany of his title.

Again, he moves me out of harm’s way when Cindy and Jason sweep past. In a turn when Jaccomo can’t see it, she flashes me a grin and gives me a thumbs-up over her husband’s shoulder before they disappear into the crowd again.

“I should have known that no man in this room would give you up easily.”

My attention is drawn back to my dancing partner. He looks like a robin, but his eyes are as sharp as those of a predator. I don’t know if it’s his intense gaze or his compliment that causes a light sizzle over my skin.

“Oh, now I think you’re exaggerating.”

“Am I?” He casts a brief glance to the side of the dance floor.

I turn my head, too, and find Prince Jacob still standing there. His right hand clasps the hilt of his sword, ready to draw, and a muscle works his jaw.

A soft laugh caresses my ear. “I bet he’d love to behead me for taking you away from him.”

The tickle on my neck from his breath makes me lower my head, but my gaze lingers for another short moment on the ousted prince. Would he really? The knuckles of his hand turn white from his hard grip on the rapier’s hilt. A wave of nervousness rolls through me, and I miss a step. “Goodness, he wouldn’t really, would he? He’s got a sword.”

“Your worry about my safety honors me, dear Riley. But I can assure you, I know how to defend myself. It wouldn’t be the first battle I’ve fought in my life.”

“It sure would be the first battle that someone fought over me,” I croak, barely able to rein in my drumming heart.

With frightened eyes, I search Jacob’s face until he allows our gazes to lock again across the distance. Silently, I plead with him not to do anything reckless. Every second that he stares at me with narrowed eyes feels like hours. Eventually, the hard lines of his face soften. His hand slips from the hilt of his weapon, and he presses his lips together in what looks like defeat.

“I can hardly believe that.”

“What?” I absently reply to the robin’s gentle words as he twists me away, and we dance a few steps toward the middle. It’s quite clear that he wants all of my attention. And he has it when I look up into his demanding eyes.

“That men haven’t been fighting over your beauty every day in the past.” He pulls me a little closer. The enticing smell of the wind clings to him and strokes my intrigue awake. It must come from the feathers on his mask. In this tight embrace, I can also feel how his body ripples with muscle under the orange shirt.

When my gaze trails down, he lets go of my hip and gently lifts my face with one knuckle under my chin. “From the moment you bumped into me, and your friends dragged you away, I wanted to learn more about you.” His voice is as dark as his eyes, seductive and slow. As if he had trained to speak this way.

Mine, on the other hand, is squeaky as I grimace. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to run you over.”

He gives me a little push and twirls me under his arm. As soon as he holds me again, his gaze captures mine as if tethered by an invisible cord. “Don’t be, sweet Riley. How else would I have met you tonight?”

A dreamy sigh threatens to escape me, but I keep it in check. I was absolutely right in my assumption that it always takes royalty for romance. Living proof holds me in his arms right now.

The song comes to an end, and while many couples leave the dance floor and others replace them, Jaccomo doesn’t break our swaying. An insecure smile escapes me. “The song is over. Shouldn’t we stop?”

“So that another stranger can abduct you?” Bringing his face very close to mine, he wrinkles his nose and slowly shakes his head. The gleam of desire in his eyes raises a nervous heat inside me as he whispers, “I don’t think so.”

When a new and slightly faster tune drifts from the string quartet, he picks up the pace, and we mingle with the dancers again. His determination makes me laugh. “But we can’t dance the whole night.”

A long moment of frowning passes as he considers that. Suddenly, something changes in his eyes—they blaze with delight. “You’re right.” He drops his hand from my side, but the other tightens around my fingers. Without warning, he cuts between the twirling couples and pulls me off the dance floor. “We should go outside. More privacy there.” His sneer meets me over his shoulder. “And no one to steal you for another dance.”

With this man, there really is no getting away. Giggling, I follow him off the dance floor and let him pull me toward the wide-open French doors. A refreshing waft of air hits me as we get closer, and a short stroll through the garden suddenly seems like a wonderful idea.

Hitching up my skirt with my free hand, I watch my steps and trust Jaccomo to lead us accident-free out of the ballroom. Only when he slows down, and I hear him say, “Phil… nice party!” do I lift my head.

We pass a group of seven. Avalyn and Sebastian are the first ones I recognize, standing between Phillip and a man that I think is Prince Thomas. It should be him because he’s holding Princess Rapunzel’s hand, and she isn’t hard to recognize. The mile-long golden braids wrapped into multiple coils and pinned to the back of her head are a dead giveaway.

The other two individuals with them are women I’ve never seen before. Their voile and wrap-around-style dress costumes in all shades of green and orange are a striking contrast to their flawless caramel skin. And standing between them, with the hand of the younger-looking exotic girl looped around his arm, is Prince Jacob.

“Casanova,” Phillip acknowledges my escort with amusement in his voice. “Taking my runaway dance partner for a walk, I see.”

Jaccomo laughs. “Too crowded in here.”

I have the feeling I should apologize to Phillip for leaving him in the middle of our opening waltz. Only I can’t bring myself to look at him as the fair prince with the silver mask holds every ounce of my attention captive. I don’t even know how he’s doing it because he doesn’t speak a single word, nor does he move even one muscle. He just stands across from me, rigid and with his hands casually in his pockets as if he couldn’t care less which beauty holds on to him.

I open my mouth to say something, to react in some way to the blue-eyed stare he freezes me with. But his silence is so loud, it overrides every thought in my mind. And then a firm tug on my hand makes me move. With my head turned over my shoulder, I find Jacob’s gaze following us until the very moment we round the corner. A little shiver trails down my body.

I shake it off as Jaccomo guides me out onto the beautifully decorated patio. Light from the ballroom falls through the French doors and tints half of the paved area in warm shades of gold. The rest sleeps in warm shadows. A thick marble railing surrounds the semi-circular terrace, opening up to the side where a pebbled path leads away from the castle, deeper into the garden.

The few guests out here are mostly gathered close to the door. Jaccomo salutes them with a nod, and I tell them quietly, “Good evening.” In the next second, I free my hand from his grip and run across the patio of the dreamy place. Lovely Chinese lanterns are strewn about the entire garden, glinting like fen fire in the dark. With my palms braced on the marble railing, I tilt back my head and close my eyes. A smile slips across my face. For one infinitesimal moment, it’s only me in this amazing fairy tale. The crown is mine, the people in the ballroom are my guests, and the entire garden lies at my feet to explore if I want to.

I’m the princess of this castle.

A hand appears before me, holding a beautiful pink rose. “I hope you like flowers, my lady.”

And my prince has just come to me…

Bewitched by the magic of the evening, I swirl around to Jaccomo and beam. “I love them.”

But he doesn’t give it to me. Instead, he breaks the stem, tosses it aside, and sticks the lovely blossom into my hair. “Just beautiful.”

I lower my gaze. “Thank you, Lord Jaccomo.”

“Will you wait here for me?” He strokes a wisp of hair behind my ear. “I’ll run in and get us something to drink.”

I nod. My first hour at the ball has been quite busy. I haven’t had anything to drink since I came, and all the excitement has really dried me out.

For a moment, I gaze after him as he heads toward the ballroom again, then I turn back to the banister and study the night sky above the garden. So many lights up there, so many stars to wish upon. And yet there’s only one thing I really want for myself. To find true love tonight.

“They say all the stars up there are really the tears of the moon which he cried at every happy ending of a fairy tale in the world.”

The soft caress of the voice behind me makes me close my eyes for a moment. “It is a lovely thought, isn’t it?” I whisper. “Did the moon cry over your happy ending, too…”—I look over my shoulder—“…Jacob?”

He leans against a nearby apple tree, both hands in his pockets, and his sapphire eyes fixed on me, completely ignoring the glory of the stars above us.

“If he cries, they are tears of laughter, I’m afraid.” With an almost sad chuckle, he casts a brief glance to the ground and then looks at me again. “Every story needs a villain. And they never win in the end.”

Gripped by the sentiment of his words, I turn around and face him, clasping the edges of the marble banister behind my hips. “So you aren’t a nice guy?”

Head tilted to one side, he thinks for a moment before he pushes away from the tree and ambles closer. Beside me, he stops and leans forward, bracing his forearms on the banister. “I’m still trying to figure that out,” he says, his gaze wandering out to the garden.

Forehead creasing, I study him from the side. “How can you not know?”

“Sometimes, things aren’t that easy, Riley.”

I don’t know what to say to that, but he has me more intrigued than ever. Jacob must sense my confusion because, after a moment, he straightens and turns around so we’re both standing with our backs to the railing. A deep sigh leaves him as he glances down at me. “Let’s take your new friend Casanova for instance. If I tell you that you’ll be waiting in vain for the drink he probably offered to get you because he got…distracted inside, would that make me a good guy or a bad one?”

“What…?” The information takes a second to sink in. Then my entire body stiffens, and my gaze snaps past him to the French doors.

And there, by the sparkling pyramid of champagne glasses inside the ballroom, I find a striking orange shirt. Jaccomo holds a flute in his hand. A girl in green veils and a wrap-around dress in front of him does, too. Even from here, I can see how he cocks his head and smiles as he swipes a strand of her black hair behind her shoulder. And as he strokes her bare neck with his fingertips, he leans in and…

In that single moment, the ball loses all its magic for me. It just seeps out of my body like the color certainly seeps from my face. I swallow so hard, it hurts my throat, but it does little to give my voice more strength. “She was on your arm earlier.” The words come out dry and flat.

Jacob glances at the couple near the champagne pyramid, clearly seeing what I do. “She was trying to get me to dance with her.”

I sniff. “Why didn’t you?”

His head turns my way, his fervent gaze burning the side of my face. “Because it’s you I wanted to dance with.”