Page 36 of The Pureblood Princess
“What is it?” she asks, giggling as he pulls her away from the buffet tables and through the crowd.
Gazes follow them as they make their way across the ballroom floor, and Nadia’s brow furrows when Theodore leads her up the dais to where the orchestra is performing. The concertmaster makes quick eye contact with Theodore, and the strings go quiet, accentuating the murmur in the room.
“Theodore?” Nadia whispers, her stomach flipping as she looks out from atop the dais and finds hundreds of eyes staring back at her.
Theodore gives her hand a squeeze, then turns to address the curious onlookers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, I beg but a moment of your time.”
Theodore’s voice carries through the ballroom, and the gathered audience draws closer, curiosity buzzing in the quiet. From here, it’s easy to spot the Rosettis in the crowd. Lord and Lady Rosetti stand arm in arm, lips turned up in matching smiles. Contessa and Charlie still hover near the edge of the room, though they’re no longer writhing against the marble column.
“I wish to bring your attention to a most amazing woman, Miss Nadia Magdalena.”
He turns to her then, and the weight of his gaze pulls Nadia’s eyes from the crowd. All she can do is look back at him, entranced by the green in his eyes, lost in the depth of his stare.
“As I hope many of you will come to know, she is...” He hesitates, a smile on his face as he seems to search for a fitting word. “Aforce.”
There’s scattered laughter, and Nadia holds her breath.
“I’ve never met a woman so mystifying, so absolutely enrapturing.” He reaches out and takes her other hand. When next he speaks, his voice carries, but he’s looking directly at her. “She has ensnared me, body and mind.”
A moment of silence passes, and Nadia’s chest grows tight with anticipation.
Theodore flashes her one of his gleaming smiles, then turns to address the crowd once again. “Miss Magdalena and I have discovered we are bonded, and I’d like to announce to you all that I plan to make her my wife.”
The ballroom erupts with a mixture of surprise and applause. A flash of yellow catches Nadia’s eye, and she locks gazes with Konrád, who’s clapping slowly, almost mockingly. The sight makes her stomach pinch, and she looks quickly away.
Theodore holds up her left hand, allowing the crowd to see the ring, and the ruby atop the golden band glows in the light. He presses a kiss to her knuckles, and it feels like she’s in a dream as he nods to the orchestra and leads her down the dais accompanied by a swelling of strings. As soon as their feet touch the ballroom floor, they’re swarmed by a crowd offering congratulations and expressing warm wishes.
“Bonded?” one woman says. “Why, it’s almost unheard of!”
An older woman reaches for Nadia’s hand. “Congratulations, Miss Magdalena! You’ll make a beautiful bride.”
Not everyone seems happy for them, however.
“Wasn’t he promised to the Kazamir girl?” a man says, not trying in the slightest to keep his voice down.
“Maybe she’s with child,” says another, and those gathered around her snicker.
Nadia tries to tune them about, and amidst the chaos, she catches sight of a golden-haired beauty, her arms crossed and her blue eyes simmering with contempt. Honora remains in the ballroom for only a moment longer, then turns sharply on her heel and storms from the room.
Some part of Nadia rejoices at Honora’s scorn, but as her gaze shifts and lands on Lord Kazamir and Sister Kazamir standing side by side, that joy is dampened. They wear expressionsof unguarded disdain, and the frigidity emanating from them sends a shiver down Nadia’s spine. It seems her dance with Konrád failed to smooth the tension between them in the way she’d hoped.
Contessa slips through the crowd to wrap Nadia in a tight embrace. In her ear, she whispers, “Don’t let the naysayers get to you; they’re envious they’ve never experienced a bond of their own.” Pulling away, she hugs Theodore, and then Charlie takes his turn congratulating them both.
Lord and Lady Rosetti join them a moment later, and when the countess pulls Nadia in for a hug, it’s warm and safe and right.
Lord Rosetti squeezes Nadia’s hand gently, then steps back. “A dance!” he says loudly, waving a hand at the orchestra. “A waltz for the betrothed!”
The crowd parts, and when Theodore takes Nadia’s hand and leads her to the center of the floor, she thinks her heart might burst. He’s beaming at her,forher, and being held in his arms as the entire ballroom watches makes joy bloom in her chest. For once, she’s proud to be seen, to be watched, to be the center of attention. She wants everyone to know that she belongs to Theodore and he belongs to her.
“Viscountess Nadia Rosetti,” Theodore whispers as he pulls her close, his cheek brushing hers. “It has a nice ring to it, does it not?”
“It does,” she says. She leans back slightly to look into his eyes, and her own image is reflected there. Rising onto her toes, she presses a kiss against his lips, and she doesn’t care if everyone sees. “And I can’t wait to be your bride.”
Chapter Fourteen
A steady rain has beenfalling since Nadia awoke in the late morning, and it taps against the window pane as she sits in her bedroom in Graystone, an inked quill in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.
