Leora - hidden light

Chapter seven

Perks of having a controlling father is that you never get to do the things you've always wanted to do. One such thing is attending a ball. Zerukio's "Pall under way" showed me depictions of what a soirée or a ball would look like. Reading about it wasn't enough so I'm here, taking in the huge ballroom owned by my kidnapper.

"Have you ever been to a ball before?" Laylea asks me. She keeps popping up out of nowhere which is strange considering her complexion is deadly white.

"Am I that obvious?" I ask her. For some reason no one in Kodurk is bothering me as much, which is weird. Everyone seems friendly. But they do make jokes related to feeding you to the dragons.

"Oh! That's my date. Sorry, can't hang. I'm a terrible friend, ditching you on your first ball. I suggest you find someone to dance with!!" She squeaks out the last part and swishes away to her tall, black haired date. Despite my father calling me "little one", I'm pretty tall for a girl in Thestronia. But oh my, Kodurk has won that one.

"You guys are friends already? You're lucky Laylea didn't chop off a finger when she saw your sad face." His voice is a big give away now. He hoverss behind me while he says,
"Did you see the dragon?"

Oh my Lords. How egotistical can one be? You got dragons, cool. But why is he up in my face about it?

I slowly turn to face him. He just stands there with his hands in his pocket. "I get very cold..." He tells me as a matter of fact.

"Oh? Am I supposed to care, Dony?" Yes, I know calling him Dony might give him some bad ideas. But I said it to irritate him and it seemed to have worked. He crunches up his eyebrows in disgust as he says, "Do you always have terrible nicknames up your sleeve?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't wear sleeves."

"Was that a joke because that was tuh-ribble." He says back but slightly transitioning from the grump to a moron who can't stop chattering and smiling.

I turn back because I don't care anymore to chat up with Adonis. I need to meet up with the Queen and Lucian. I start to walk when I feel a cold hand gripping my wrist.

"Where are you going?" He asks me, in a low voice.

"Back to being the grump, are we?" I say as I turn around to face him. His jasmine scent is so light that it feels soothing to inhale up this close.
His dark eyes scan the room before saying,
"Mother won't meet you alone. You need your brother and he," he pauses, does a quick scan before saying, "isn't ready yet." He now looks into my eyes.

"So madame, will you dance with me?" He does a half bow and puts a hand forward. In shock, I don't reply. Dance? With this guy?

"Oh my lords, I can't do it. I tried the action method, you know 'nice guy', someone you'll probably like. But I can't." He lets out a slight chuckle whilst having his hand over his stomach.

"Dance with me, Queen's orders." It feels like witchcraft the way his face going back to being all sharp and serious.