Page 95 of Fake Fae-Ancée

Kai threw back her neck, gasping audibly when, with a whirring sound above our heads, the ceiling slid apart like the dome of an observatory. Behind paneled glass, the night sky over Helsinki appeared, flooding the banquet hall in silvery starlight. The crowd around us went Ooh and Aah and broke into applause, and the orchestra played a flourish.

"Here we go," I whispered to her, pulling her along with me.

"What's going on?"

"The dance is starting."

Kai

All the fairytale movies I had secretly watched, late at night or early in the morning when Aunt Gytha was still snoring in her bed, had not prepared me for suddenlybeingthe princess. Neither had the last weeks of training with Yli-Pekkala and her army of subordinates.

But now, as Yuri pulled me onto the dance floor while the orchestra played the first bars, my heart skipped a few panicked beats and I couldn’t breathe.

Everything inside me screamed that I didn't belong here. I was wrong. This shouldn’t be me. The dress was a waste on me. I was no princess. I was a bumpkin who had been put into pretty clothes and given a face paint job.

But there was no backing out now, and Yuri's gentle tugging on my hand and the sounds of the waltz made one thing clear — I had to pull through.

Fake it till you make it and all that jazz.

"I'm leading," he whispered close to my ear. Before I knew it, we were spinning across the dance floor while above our heads the stars shone their cold light into the night sky.

It took me a few beats to realize: we were the only couple on the floor.

"What's going on here?"

"This is what Baba has planned," Yuri murmured back. "The grand entrance."

The surrounding crowd of elaborate guests, in their tuxedos and shimmering ball gowns, with their tiaras and fans and monocles, formed a wall of wondering and reverent faces as we glided across the dance floor to the sounds of the orchestra.

Like a freaking wedding waltz!

I stepped on Yuri's foot.

"Careful." His little smile kicked me right in the heart and ruined everything. My defenses collapsed.

"Sorry…" I uttered, wondering where the hell my heartbeat had gone. It felt like it had stopped altogether and was running away with lightning speed all at once.

"Nothing to be sorry about,little star," Yuri whispered.

Throat tight, I rolled along, somehow keeping the smile on my face and dancing when another murmur of our audience startled me out of my thoughts and I almost stepped on Yuri’s foot again.

"Look up," he said.

I did.

And gasped.

The sky was filled with fire. Stars had begun to fall, the Leonid shower had chosen this exact moment to light the night sky with its meteoric shine. Everyone around us ooh-ed and aah-ed. This must be it, the mystic moment happening once a year. In the world of Bears, the Mother Bear was coming down from the sky, blessing all their children with her light. Bringing with her peace and goodness to everyone.

And prophecies.

The orchestra was still playing. Yuri and I kept revolving on the dance floor, the meteoric shine of the Leonids reflecting in the polished marble.

Something entered my mind.

The world faded out.

The light disappeared.

---