Betrayals of Spring (13 page)

I’m standing before the full-length
mirror looking down at my ruby-colored evening gown. I have my tawny red hair
hanging down in soft waves flowing down my bare back. It at least covers up
some skin. The silky quality of my dress feels smooth and soft as I run my
hands down the fabric. The shoes I’m wearing look amazing with it as well.
Let’s just hope I don’t fall and break my neck walking in the snow in these
shoes.

The gloves I’m wearing match the color
of my dress. I usually don’t wear gloves with my evening gowns, but knowing I
was going to be in the Winter Court I opted to wear them. They are long gloves
stretching up to my elbows where only my upper arms and shoulders are left
bare. I figured they might keep me somewhat warmer than if I went without.

“Mel, hurry up or we’re going to be
late,” Finn yells from outside the bedroom door. My heart jumps and it feels
like it’s in my throat from being startled unexpect-edly. Maybe my heart feels
like that because I’m nervous, who knows?

I grab my bow and arrows from the floor
and my black cloak that is splayed out across the bed. The cloak will cover my
dress until one of the servants will no doubt take it from me. I wonder what
Kalen is going to say when he sees me.

I stop at the bedroom door and I take a
deep breath. Here I go,
I say to myself. I open the door to step out
into the hall and I peer around the corner. Finn has done what I asked and has
worn his long, white-blond hair down. His black tuxedo is very elegant. He
looks ethereal with his appearance, but also devilish wearing black. It’s not
long before they all notice me staring at them from around the corner. I am met
with three sets of bulging eyes the minute I step into view.

Finn snaps out of it first and gives me
an enticing grin when he calls out, “Meliantha, you look amazing.” I can’t help
but laugh, and I soak up the compliment by twirling around in my dress to give
them the full view. Finn marches over to take my cloak and holds it open for me
to slide into.

“You do realize this is a black and
white affair, Princess?” Ashur utters silently.

I glance over at him and he’s shaking
his head in disbelief. I shrug my shoulders at him and taunt back
sarcastically,
“I guess I didn’t see that on the invitation, Ashur.”
I
put my hand over my mouth,
“Whoops.”

“You know you’re getting just as bad as
Ariella with breaking the rules.”

Thinking about it, this would be
something she would do. The thought brings a smile to my face and Ashur quickly
pipes in,
“Laugh about it now, Princess, but we will see who is laughing
when they throw you out of the ballroom.”

I wave him off and turn our conversation
vocal.

“They will do no such thing,” I tease.

I see Elissa waiting by the door looking
ravishing in a black jewel-encrusted gown. She smiles as I approach.

“Ashur giving you a hard time?” she
asks.

“Doesn’t he always?” I reply back.

“You look beautiful, Meliantha.” She
looks down at my hand and sees the bow and arrows I have clutched in my grasp.
“Do you really think you will need those tonight?” she asks dubiously. I hope
not, but with the way things are going, I probably will.

I shrug my shoulders at her and confess
softly, “You never know, Elissa. That’s one thing I’ve learned…you never know.”
I give her a warm smile. “You look amazing tonight.” She blushes and waves me
off.

She doesn’t seem frightened at all about
the dark sorcerer being around and for some reason that bothers me. She could
easily be a target just like Ashur and Finn could be. We all saw how easy it
was for the dark sorcerer to infiltrate his way into Finn’s body.

“Come on ladies, we need to go,” Finn
urges while gently pushing me toward the door.

“OK, OK, let’s go,” I give in.

Ashur opens the door and a blast of cold
wind comes rushing in sending shivers racing down my body. I grit my teeth to
keep them from chattering. I hate the cold weather. I notice two warriors
stationed outside the door on both sides and I kindly give them both a nod.
They bow their heads before preparing to escort us to the palace. I appreciate
the added security, but I also hate it because it makes me look helpless.
There’s nothing they can do against the dark sorcerer, or any of us for that
matter, because unfortunately no one has figured out how to destroy him.

Finn takes my arm and walks me down the
steps. I take a quick peek over at Kalen’s cabin and it looks eerily dark and
quiet. He must have already left. The back veranda of the palace is swarming
with people, and they are all milling about and smiling like they have no other
care in the world.

Twinkling lights are floating all around
and it reminds me of my sprites back home. I really miss them and the times I
would spend with them in my gardens. As soon as I get home, I plan to devote
all my extra time with them. The twinkling lights also remind me of the mortal
realm at Christmas time. We don’t celebrate mortal holidays here, but I guess
you could say this ball is our Christmas celebration, minus all the presents.
This is more of a Winter Court celebration that we are obligated to take part
in.

Walking in the snow in high heeled
sandals may not have been the best idea. My toes are numb and they’ll probably
fall off from frostbite. My temperature runs naturally hot, but the cold still
affects me. It only takes a few minutes to reach the veranda at the back of the
palace. Now that Kalen is the leader of the Winter Court Army, he must have
ordered extra security for the ball tonight. The place is swarming with
warriors.

We enter through the doors and are
motioned toward what I can only assume is the ballroom. I can’t really see
because of the huge mass of people scattered about. There’s a long line of
guests waiting to enter, and I can hear the booming voice of an announcer
calling out each individual’s names. I silently groan and squeeze Finn’s arm to
grab his attention.

“This is going to take forever,” I
whisper to him.

He just smiles and elbows me in the ribs
lightly.

“Look at it this way, Cinderella, at
least you get to make your grand entrance with that beautiful gown of yours.”
He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it softly. “I’m honored to be by your
side tonight.”

But for how long,
I think to
myself.

“I heard that,”
Ashur says,
interrupting my inner turmoil.

I peek over my shoulder to steal a
glance at him. He’s holding onto Elissa’s arm escorting her just like Finn is
doing with me.

“Kalen wasn’t the one that broke my
heart, Ashur. I’ve hated him for nothing, and because of what the dark sorcerer
did, I closed off my heart and soul to the people that cared about me the most.
I’ve missed out on so much.”

I turn my head forward and we continue
our slow pace to the entryway of the ballroom. Ashur’s voice comes back full
force inside my head.

“You may have closed off your heart
during the past five years, but I feel it beginning to open up again, and I
love the feeling. For the first time since I’ve been your Guardian, I can feel
that spark of happiness trying to come back into your life. The dark sorcerer
made a mistake when he played you for a fool. I hate to say this, but this
experience has opened your eyes and made you a stronger and smarter woman.”

My eyes begin to burn, but I fight it
off.

“I hope so, Ashur. I truly hope so.”

We eventually make our way to the
ballroom doors and the announcer obviously recognizes me.

“Good evening, Your Highness.” He bows
his head and lifts his gentle eyes at Finn and then back to me. “Who, may I
ask, is your escort for the evening?”

“His name is Finn, and he’s a warrior of
the Summer Court,” I kindly respond back.

The announcer is a short, pudgy man
wearing a white tunic and white pants. His rich, black hair and black beard
contrasts greatly with his pale features and white clothes. He gives me a warm
smile as one of the servants approaches me to help me out of my cloak. I hand
over my bow and arrows to Ashur so that I know they are safe while we attend
the ball.

The announcer’s eyes grow wide at the
sight of my dress and it takes him a few seconds to gain his composure before
announcing in his deep booming voice, “I give you Princess Meliantha, and her
escort, Warrior Finn, from the Summer Court.”

Everything goes in slow motion while I’m
met with hundreds of different pairs of eyes all trained on me. Some are
smiling, some are gaping, and some of them are giving me hostile looks. I look
around, but I can’t see Kalen anywhere. I can tell he is near because the pull
tugging on my soul is demanding I go to him.

We walk down the steps and into the
crowd. The room is immaculate with white draperies hanging from the ceiling and
glimmering in the light. Clear glass windows surround the room making it feel
as if we are in the midst of falling snow. The twinkling lights from outside
are also in the ballroom giving off the illusion of falling snowflakes. I find
it amazingly beautiful because the illusion of snow is a whole hell of a lot
better than freezing in the real snow.

“Would you like to dance?” Finn asks.

I look up at him and smile.

“I would love to dance with you.” Guilt
tightens my chest because even though Finn is my date and I love dancing with
him, I secretly have been hoping to dance with Kalen as well.

Finn takes my hand and leads me onto the
dance floor. He places his other hand on the middle of my back and moves his
body a little closer to mine. He smiles at me with a longing passion and begins
to sway to the soft flow of the music taking me with him. We dance together,
lost in the melodies of the music, when I notice Elissa dancing with a Winter
Court fae. He is a very handsome man, but I wonder what happened to Ashur. I
glance around the ballroom for him until I finally see him scowling in the
corner.

“Calm down, Ashur. I know she cares
about you, so stop looking at them like that.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like that to me,
Princess. Why do women always do this?”

His anger-filled gaze finds me and I
give him a scowl of my own.

“Men aren’t innocent either, dear
Guardian. Just hang in there. She can’t dance with you all night, now can she?”

His shoulders sag at my declaration and
his eyes become weary.

“I know she can’t dance with me all
night, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see her ogling another man.”

“She’s not ogling.”
I turn my eyes
from Ashur to take a look at Elissa again. She actually happens to be staring
at her partner with an evil glint in her eye instead of ogling. I’ve never seen
her look that way before. She takes the man by the hand and starts to lead him
out of the ballroom. I don’t know where they are going, but I know I don’t want
her traipsing about by herself.

“Please follow her, Ashur. Something
doesn’t feel right with the way she’s acting.”

“I will, Princess. Will you be OK in
here?”

I give him an incredulous look.

“Ashur, I’m surrounded by people and I
have Finn in here with me. I don’t think anything is going to happen to me
around this many people.”

He nods his head and then searches the
crowd for Elissa. We have lost sight of her, so he quickly exits the ballroom
in search of her. I hope he catches up to her. The sick feeling in my stomach
feels like warning bells ringing throughout my body telling me something is
wrong. I’ve had this feeling a lot today and I know it’s just a matter of time
before something awful happens.

“Is everything OK?” Finn asks. I look
into his worried amber eyes and I plaster on a fake smile.

“I hope so, Finn. I’m just a little
concerned for Elissa, but Ashur is going to check up on her,” I say, concerned.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Ashur isn’t
going to let anything happen to her. He’s in love with her. He has been for
years,” he informs. Yes, I know he’s in love with her. I think I knew before he
did that he was in love with her from the feel of his emotions being heightened
every time she came near.