Hello, my loves! It's one of my favorite times in any of these books: the ballroom scenes. I've listed below the music that inspired me while writing this chapter. I've also put in links to Youtube within the chapter so you can play the music while listening to those specific parts if you'd like.

Moonchild Ballad by Lyn from Tale of the Nine Tailed

https://youtu.be/-xOL2LrktiE

My Love And... by Gaemi and Park Jung Hwan from The King: Eternal Monarch

https://youtu.be/juP0ZUTPcUQ

Erik~~

Iris's screams ring through the hallway. Veil are stationed on either end to keep any would-be heroes out.

I cross my arms, frowning. After running into her and the two Veil in the hall, I followed them.

It's been thirty minutes, and she hasn't quieted down.

They wouldn't torture her, would they? This is only her throwing a temper tantrum, right?

I wish I could be sure because one wrong move, one misstep, and I'll have ruined all of Rydersin's efforts in becoming Preeminence. I'm not going to screw this up for the woman who wants my help over the one who didn't.

"Erik?"

I turn, hoping I'm successfully keeping a grimace off my face.

Colton walks toward me, all while attempting to see past me. "What's going on?"

Percy follows close behind him.

Iris screams.

Their eyes widen, theirONLYONWATTPADBENDERsteps quickening. Grabbing hold of Colton, I keep him from passing me. When he tries to pry my hands off, I tighten my grip.

"You can't get involved," I say.

Lines form across his forehead. "What are you—What are they doing to her?"

"I don't know." I sigh. "Probably nothing."

"Erik, it's Iris."

Obviously. I scoff. "You can recognize her from her screams, can you?"

His eyes narrow.

"Where's Jonas?" Percy asks before Colton can punch me.

I shrug. "Don't know."

The pounding coming from her door grows more insistent, and she cries out.

Colton stiffens. "Did they do something to him?"

Giving him a wary look, I let him go. "I know nothing. Happy to hear me admit it?"

Colton rubs at his arm, his gaze on Iris's door. "She's done this before. Once. And not like this. Only the screaming. And that was in her sleep."

"Are you often near her when she's asleep?"

"She was loud enough to wake me and many others in the Estate."

"And was Jonas torturing Iris to illicit this screaming?"

Percy frowns. "She was having a nightmare that Odette was killing Jonas." If she'd learn to lucid dream, she wouldn't end up in a situation like that. She could whisk her and her beloved Jonas off to a meadow where the grass tastes like rock candy and unicorns graze on it.

"You think Iris is screaming because she's worried about Jonas?"

Colton clenches his hands into fists. "Maybe," he says and pushes past me, but two Veil block his path. "Let me through."

Somehow, I think I liked him better when he was trying to kill Iris. What is this knight-in-shining-armor BS? And how on Earth— or is it Amoria now?—did Percy get dragged all the way here?

"Apologies, Beta," the Veil on the left says, putting his hands against Colton. "Only the Head Order is allowed to pass through here."

Colton shrugs him off. "What are they doing to her?"

"Nothing, Beta," the other says.

Percy walks past me, coming to stand by Colton's side. "Then why is she screaming?" And since when in hell did she win over Percy?

"Apologies, Iota," the Veil on the left says. "If her screaming is bothering you, we could have you shown to a quieter part of the house."

"Yes, her screaming is bothering me, and we'd like to be shown to her, not another part of the house." Percy takes a step forward by the Veil puts a hand right below Percy's shoulder. "Now."

"Please walk away before we're forced to alert the Head Order."

Percy steps back, shaking off the man's hand.

"Where is Preeminence Blackwood?" Colton asks, his voice freezing over.

"In his chambers," the same Veil says. "Both raggioets are to remain in their chambers until the ball."

Colton circles back to me. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"I've been warned not interfere."

"And that's stopped you before?"

"It isn't just about me this time." I hold his gaze before walking away.

*****

The ballroom is awash in black cloth that draws in the lights of the chandeliers as if the dresses and tuxes are their own blackholes scattered throughout this galaxy that is the ballroom. The diamonds worn on necks and ears and sewn into fabrics fracture the light into rainbows.

Rydersin stands beside me, the ends of her dress brushing my right shoe. The
dress leaves her shoulders bare, and the fabric drapes down her arms and ends in bell sleeves. Behind us are Xiaozhi, Karn, and Meilin, all dressed in ceremonial uniforms for Veil.

At one end of the room is the grand staircase we used to enter. On either side of the wall is a balcony where silver and black curtains hang in the doorways. A staircase descends from each balcony and meets in the middle to create the grand staircase.

"I hate these things," Meilin says, and I surprise myself by asking, "Why?"

"You try guarding Rydersin in a room full of drunk people."

"Okay, I will then."

Rydersin glances at me but doesn't sayONLYONWATTPADBENDERanything.

The five of us take a turn about the room, making sure the majority sees we're in attendance.

"Do you see any of your family?" Rydersin asks, and I shake my head. I don't even know if Jonas and Iris are all right. I avoided Percy, Colton, and Vienna after my encounter with my cousins in the hall. Maybe they found out something about the unhappy couple. Maybe they learned what the Head Order has planned for them. I can't imagine Colton or Percy would have shared any of it with me, not after I showed such a lack of concern toward Iris. And we all know Colton worships the ground she walks on.

"What are you thinking about?"

Startled, I look at Rydersin. "Did I look that pensive?"

"No, you just looked upset."

I force a smile. "Oh . . . that's just my resting face. There are I guess worse ones to have. Do you want to dance?"

She purses her lips.

"What?" I'm worried she didn't buy my excuse.

"I've told you that dancing and I are not good together."

"We have danced before."

"But this is different." Her eyes flick to the dancefloor where couples whirl past as the song reaches its coda. "This requires coordination and knowing what the steps actually are. And I wasn't in a dress like this last time. Out there I'd be a disaster waiting to happen."

I sweep my eyes over her dress and meet her eyes. "At least it will be a nice disaster." I hold out my hand. "I won't let you fall."

"What if you fall?"

"How would I fall?"

"By tripping on my gown."

The song comes to an end as my lips inch up to the side. "I've danced with many a cumbersome gown." I hold out my hand, palm face up, and wiggle my fingers to taunt her. "I'll make a deal with you. If you don't have fun, you can give me one less palace once you're Preeminence."

"I was never going to give you a palace. Maybe just a nice house."

It was worth the try.

"Come on, Rydersin. I want to one day say I danced with the Preeminence of Acquaellia at a ball."

She sets her hand in mine, and I close my fingers around her. Her hand is smooth in mine, and for a moment I wonder what it would feel like if she ran her hand up my arm, her skin against mine, but between my tux's jacket and undershirt, I won't have the opportunity to find out.

https://youtu.be/-xOL2LrktiE

The next song begins; the notes from the violas and piano glide through the air past us.

She tries pulling back, but I clench her hand.

"I don't know the dance to this song."

"Who said we had to follow someone else's dance?"

Pulling her by the hand, I lead her through the crowd and onto the dance floor.

The other couples dance in a circle, the leads holding their partners steady as they brush past on the tips of their shoes.

"I can't make a fool of myself."

"You don't have anything to worry about when your partner is the biggest fool of them all. I'll overshadow you every time."

She frowns and steps toward me. I guide her hand that holds mine and place it on my shoulder. Fingers splayed against her back, I join our hands once again.

Her chest rises, and she bites her lip.

"I've got you."

Her shoulders relax.

It's strange to see this woman who is so incredibly—wondrously confident in every other aspect of her life nervous by the prospect of dancing.

I start us off slow, swaying us back and forth and letting the music rise and swell over us like a tide.

I breathe it in, and the music run through my veins, into my heart, and through my lungs.

I raise my arm, and Rydersin allows herself to spin, the skirts of her dress arcing and brushing against me and the floor.

Her lips spread upward, and she laughs. "What am I doing?"

"Dancing." I tug her against me, moving us into a simple waltz. She focuses on the ground, her lips moving to silently count the steps.

"Rydersin?"

Her eyes remain firmly fixed on our feet. "What?"

"Look at me."

"I'll mess up."

"No, you won't."

She raises her eyes painstakingly slow to mine. "They're all looking at us. I can't do what they're doing. They're going to think I'd make an incompetent Preeminence."

"Because you don't know a dance? They're not looking at us, and how do you know you can't execute this dance one day just as flawlessly?"

"I've never done this dance before, Erik."

"For the next few minutes, just follow me."

Clenching her hand and gripping her back, I waltz us through a spin before letting go of her back and unfurling my arm until she's an arm's length away. Her dress sways before falling back into place.

She smiles, and I draw her back to me.

"You look radiant."

Her lips part, and her brows furrow.

"Who cares if you aren't doing their dance? A leader creates their own."

"You're the one creating this dance, Blackwood. What does that say about you?"

The remaining notes dissolve into the air, and I take a step back, bowing to her.

She curtsies.

"Rydersin, you're—"

https://youtu.be/juP0ZUTPcUQ

A note rings out across the room like a chime.

Rydersin stiffens, and she whirls in the direction of the staircase, the note repeating again.

On either side of the upper two staircases is Iris and Jonas. Iris has been dressed in a crimson ball gown, the skirt and bodice connected by a black band with gold stitching. Her hair falls in curls past her shoulders. Jonas's tux is made of the same deep red and trimmed in black. My stomach curls. On each of their heads rests a black laurel wreath crown.

"Erik." Rydersin turns to me. "The chimes."

I know I've heard them before. Somewhere. At some other time.

Preeminence Moretti steps out from the curtains behind Jonas. "The raggioets."

Iris turns her head to look at Jonas or maybe Moretti. Her shoulders are pulled back, her chin tilted up, but her face is stricken, hollow.

Moretti motions with his hand to them, and Iris and Jonas descend the steps to where they meet in the middle becoming a grand staircase.

"This isn't right." Rydersin takes hold of my arm. "You need to do something."

The Order's warning is still too fresh in my ears. "I can't."

She lets go of me. "They're your family."

I swallow down the thick lump in my throat. "I can't."

Jonas and Iris meet, and the chimes are joined by the hum of violins. My cousin holds out his hand to Iris, and she casts her eyes out over the crowd before placing her hand in his.

As the dancers begin clearing the floor, Rydersin shakes her head at me. "You know what this is?"

As one my cousin and Iris descend the staircase.

"No. No, I don't."

"It's an old Amorian tradition I thought had died." Pressing her lips together, she grabs my hand and pulls me toward the edge of the dance floor.

"What tradition?" I ask as she pulls me. I try to look at them again.

She stops once we reach the edge. "The Death Waltz."

I feel the blood rush from my face leaving me feeling hollow. "But—" Jonas and Iris are closer now, and I can see that their crowns are cracked and chipped. Each wreath is streaked with red veins in the black.

We learn the dance in Elleany out of tradition. I've never seen it performed at a ball. On Amoria, balls are sometimes thrown to celebrate the life of one who's Expiring the next day. In the far past, the Death Waltz would be performed by the one who would be dying and someone important to them.

But the tradition died off as all traditions are wont to do, replaced by newer traditions. It was rare for anyone to finish the Death Waltz. Both parties would be too overcome by emotions.

And so it needed to be replaced.

The Death Waltz is love. It's sorrow, and it's goodbye without the promise of seeing each other again. It's the living telling their love to the ends of Amoria and the stars beyond, go well, and the dying pleading with fate to let them return to them once more.