Page 44 of Cursed

Chapter Sixteen

Edeena smiled with genuine relief as the applause died away, moving forward as protocol dictated to first greet the king and queen.

King Jasen beamed at her, polite as always, but Queen Catherine looked her over with a shrewd eye. “I’ll have to give Magdalene a bonus,” she said mildly, and Edeena curtsied, then turned a little to show off the dress’s elegant drape.

“If this is what she came up with for the matchmaker’s dance, I can’t imagine what she has planned for the engagement ball.” Engagement ball. Even saying those words sounded ridiculous, as if she was talking about someone else. Still, Edeena kept her smile steady as the queen laughed.

“Tonight is all about being the wide-eyed ingénue. The engagement ball is about being a woman with a choice to make. Trust me, you’ll like what Magdalene comes up with. She is always astute at what will create the perfect impression.” The queen offered her an arm, and Edeena blinked in surprise.

“But the line—?”

“Jasen can handle the meet and greets, can’t you dear?” The queen raised a brow to her husband, who looked like he was barely able to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. “You’re the guest of honor, Edeena, and the round of the room is considered de rigueur.” She frowned, still looking at Jasen. “We haven’t had one of these in awhile, have we.”

“For good reason,” the king responded mildly. “Most sane parents have no need to put their children through this public exhibition. If there’s a need for a succession discussion, it can be held behind closed doors, and not with all of this lurid display.”

“Lurid,” his wife scoffed, though she smiled at him with clear affection. “You simply don’t like wearing a suit when there’s no one official around to see you in it.” She turned again to Edeena and tugged her along. “But come, we’ve much ground to cover in a short while. Have you already made your selection?”

Edeena’s heart sank as she allowed the queen to guide her toward the far wall of the ballroom. It was crowded, but there were nevertheless only about a third as many attendees tonight than what the ball later this week would drag in. Instead there were pools of men, young and old, talking amongst themselves. Every single woman in a five-mile radius of sufficient social status had also been tapped, and they stood in different pools, neither of the two groups allowed to intermingle until Edeena had danced the first dance—with the entire single male population of the room.

The entire thing seemed more ridiculous by the second, and she wondered what Vince must be thinking.

Vince. She lifted her gaze and scanned the ballroom, finding him more easily than she’d feared. He stood near the edge of the female attendees, a few feet distant from the nearest knot of men. Not a part of either group, yet he seemed as blessedly familiar to her as sun on a summer’s day. As their gaze met, he gave her a warm smile, and her heart stopped cramping so much.

“Edeena, dear, pay attention,” the queen said mildly, and Edeena tore her gaze away from Vince to survey the room. Had Catherine noticed her distraction? Probably not, or she would have already pounced on it. “Your thoughts?”

“Rand Millya,” she said, picking out the man in question at the far end of the room. He stood with four other men, and he truly was the best candidate by far. “He’s twenty-eight, so arguably more ready to settle down, he comes from a large, gregarious family, their business is profitable, and he’s always been polite.”

“Not too hard to look at either,” the queen observed blithely, and Edeena blinked.

“Well, yes,” she allowed, but almost of its own volition, her gaze strayed back to Vince. Even in his beautiful suit, he looked slightly disheveled, his body meant for a level of action the restrictive formalwear simply didn’t allow. He wasn’t out of place at this proper matchmaker’s dance, he was just—too large for it. Much like Dimitri Korba, who also scanned the room with the same studied gaze that Vince had adopted.

Realizing the queen was waiting for some kind of response, Edeena hurried on. “If Rand isn’t interested, then the older brother of the Staros family, Pietre, would be next.”

The queen wrinkled her nose. “He’s a rather fussy sort, don’t you think?”

“Is he?” Edeena looked around the room, trying to locate Pietre. She found him at the refreshment table, scowling over the offerings. His plate was empty and as she watched, he moved past three of the dishes, his hand hovering over each before retracting. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh,” the queen said. “Imagine what he would be like faced with a choice of true magnitude.”

“Fair enough,” Edeena said. Her heart was dangerously close to heading south again, and she struggled to hold onto her happy place. She’d done seriously thorough vetting of the top candidates in the room, but she was quickly coming to realize that nothing could replace the value of a personal recommendation. “Do you have anyone you think you might be a good match?”

“Oh, of course, darling,” the queen smiled, giving her arm a small squeeze. “But I want to give you at least the illusion of not being railroaded by a meddling monarch first. If you choose well, I promise to keep my mouth firmly shut.”

The queen turned her dancing eyes back to the milling crowd, her smile broadening as the musicians began to tune their instruments. Then her expression shifted slightly, and Edeena tried not to freeze.

“He’s here, isn’t he.”

“He is. Keep your smile steady, dear, he’s currently scanning the room for us, so let’s give due attention to young Rico Carras here. He was caught streaking through the Royal Beach by the GNSF guards out on maneuvers only yesterday, so I cannot recommend him to you. But your father is friends with the boy’s father, so he’ll be mollified if you appear to be paying attention to him.”

Edeena nodded, taking on her most appeasing smile as she tilted her head and watched Rico laugh with his friends. At least he had a good smile, quick and easy, his laughter drawing the attention of others in a positive way.

“Excellent, exactly perfect,” the queen said. “Now buck up, Silas is heading our way.”

“Radiant with joy, subservient daughter, or something in between?” Edeena asked under her breath.

Queen Catherine gave a most un-royal snort. “Screw subservience. Radiance will surprise him more.”

With that the queen looked up, her smile wide as if she only now had noticed her cousin. “Silas, oh, thank heavens you’re here. How is your sweet Maria faring?”

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