Page 287 of Night's Fall
The deep curtsy she gave me choked me up.Andthe affectionate clasping of my hand in both of hers nearly had me losing it.
The last was meeting the royal family ofLand’sEnd.
KingNiall,QueenLaoiseandPrincessRowanwere warmly greeted byAleksei,QueenCalisaandKingFillion, and they warmly greeted me.Mydinner partner the night before had beenBainon, whoIfound was an interesting and often amusing male.Evenso, throughout dinner,I’dnotedPrinceCormacseemed quiet, watchful and reserved, almost broody, likeTanyn.
His family was the exact opposite, which was a relief.
But that was the end of the list of the highlights of the receiving line.
The day had been busy.I’dmade the decision to trail the queen andAleecearound, because this would one day be my responsibility, soImight as well dig into learning how to pull it off without delay.
This meantIhadn’t had any time for my gals that day, and since they were staying at thePalace, they hadn’t gone through the receiving line.
I was dying to see what they were wearing.
Though,Errolwas back, looking peaked and discombobulated, even with this obscured by his raven mask.
I was surprised at how easy it was to pretendIdidn’t know all he’d done to me.Buthe’d laid the groundwork by not being friendly or approachable, soIjust kept playing at that.
As time wore on,Inoted a certain someone hadn’t gone through the receiving line.
This beingArnaud.
But sadly, only a few minutes afterAlekseibent to me and whispered in my ear, “Onlyten more minutes of this, love,”shehit the line.
I felt her the minute she did.
She wore a gold and ivory feathered mask tied to her golden-haired head with ivory satin ribbons (her ensemble was dove themed, and it might be petty, but her coming from theDayrisehouse,Ithought that wasn’t very inspired).Thismask matched her gold and ivory gown that was a miracle of feathers which also highlighted her every curve, and significantly highlighted her cleavage (and okay, so her gown was inspired).
Even through her mask,Iknew her eyes were blazing hatred at me.
PrincessAnna.
Behind her wereKingDagsbrunandQueenDelanta.
Aleksei noted her too,Iknew this when his lips came back to my ear.
“Remember, you outrank her.Shecurtsies to you.Youdo not do the same.”
I was sure that would go over well.
“And your status means you do not offer a formal curtsy toDagandDelanta,” he concluded.
I nodded.
Timothee, standing at my other side, glanced across me to his brother.
Aleksei nodded to him.
When the royal family ofDawn’sBreakarrived at him, he bowed to the king and queen, then left the line and tookAnna’shand.
Anna’s perfectly formed lips curled in a butter-didn’t-melt smile, her chin dipped, but her eyes floated fromTimotheetoAlekseito gauge his reaction.
Behind my mask,Irolled my own.
I sawErrol, who was on the other side ofTimothee, jerk in response to this.
So he didn’t know some ofTimothee’stomfooleries either.
