Though it had been a difficult task, I had managed to sneak away from the suitors prowling around the courtyard, searching for an opportunity to claim the title of my fiancé, by hiding in my chambers for a little while as Sabre had suggested. Even getting to my rooms had been troublesome as they were roaming the halls too, pestering the servants for any clue to my location.

I was looking forward to when the ball would be over so everything would go back to normal. As normal as life could be, anyway. With Icrodeia's movements still unknown, I doubted that the tension rising in everyone would vanish for a while.

When Sabre had discovered her own surname, her own potential parents, I didn't know what to feel. I despised seeing her so distraught, so furious, but I was also angry at Trik. Why wouldn't he have told her this whole time? Even when she was an adult? Something didn't add up. It felt strange, like a piece of a puzzle was missing and nowhere to be found.

Now, as I stood at the top of the grand staircase that overlooked the ballroom, peering down at the guests that mingled with one another and twirling to the time of the music the royal orchestra played, that same uncanny feeling stuck with me. As if a forest spirit was attempting to tell me something was going to go terribly wrong, but the message couldn't quite get through.

While I waited for Sabre to arrive, I admired the decorations my mother had ordered to be displayed. Instead of the usual cream carpet that was rolled out across the staircase, a deep green one was in its place, small golden details embroidered onto the edges. Several chandeliers burned brightly above us, the glass shards hung from them creating patterns of light across the walls, even with the darkness outside. Guests crowded around a long buffet table filled with small delicacies to snack on and flutes of wine to carry around the hall while you conversed with others, meaning there wouldn't be a chance of me getting any sort of food tonight without getting bugged by the suitors I had been avoiding all day.

I patted my pocket, feeling a small box sitting in it. Hopefully, the announcement of my engagement, fake or not, would deter them from pestering me and give Icrodeia the message we wanted to send.

It frightened me that it was very likely that at least a few Icrodeian spies stood in the same room as me. I didn't know who was plotting a war against me, who would stab me in the back.

Pulling me from my thoughts was the doors opening beside me, a woman stepping through them. A beautiful, alluring woman that I got to call my fiancé for a short while. Her dress was the perfect description of what my mother had provided. Sabre's skirts were formed of several different shades of green, some were made of a mesh-like fabric while others were made of lace or silk. The bodice was a similar shade, but what made it stand out was the jewels embedded into it and the golden stag antlers sitting around her waist, the symbol of Racaea which brought her golden Icrodeian eyes to life. It was a perfect match for my own suit.

Her usually scruffy onyx hair was neatly brushed and tucked behind one of her ears. I could imagine the stylist's fury at the short length of it as there wasn't much she could do to it. Sabre's face had been ridden of the charcoal that always found its way onto it and instead her eyes were lined with dark kohl. A smile twisted her newly reddened lips.

"You look... amazing." I struggled to find a word to describe her appearance. Nothing could ever compare to the beauty I saw with my own eyes.

"Thank you." She practised a small mock curtsy. "You look good too, I suppose." Despite her happy expression, I could tell there was something hidden underneath.

"Are you nervous?" I asked as I walked over to her side.

"A little, though I'm more excited. I've never been to something like this before." Sabre's eyes raked me up and down, landing on the cravat I had struggled to tie. Judging from the way she smirked, I knew it had to be crooked. "Are you?"

I nodded. "It's difficult not to be. I just have this feeling that something is going to happen, something bad."

She reached out to squeeze my arm in reassurance. "It's going to be okay. Icrodeia will see that one of their own is going to be the future queen and it will make them second guess their plans. We can offer to talk to them to ask what we took from them and everything will run smoothly from there." I hoped that was how the next events would turn out, but that feeling lurking within me told me it wouldn't

"Oh, before I forget!" I reached into my pocket to pull out the box. "This is for you, my dear fiancé." Before the ball began, I had gone out of my way to specifically set up a few things myself. One of those was to get an engagement ring. I opened it to reveal a twisted gold band with three small emeralds nested into it. "It's nothing compared to what you could probably make, I know, but-"

"Kayne." I looked up to see Sabre holding out her hand, her cheeks turning red. "It's perfect. Though I haven't got one for you, you'll have to wait until I can make you one." Challenge and determination filled her, causing me to laugh as I slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I'll be looking forward to it." Linking my arm through her's, I walked us towards the top of the stairs where an announcer was waiting to call out our presence to the rest of the ballroom.

The orchestra fell silent midway through their song and a singular trumpet played a short tune to gain everyone's attention. "Prince Kayne of Racaea and his fiancé Lady Sabre," the man called, turning everyone's heads towards us.

Every step we took down the stairs felt like a descension into our demise. The suitors that my mother had invited to multiple gatherings and meetings for the chance of becoming my partner glares sent silent threats to us, wondering why they hadn't been chosen. Others simply stared at us, deciding whether or not the two of us would be a good fit to rule their kingdom.

At the opposite end of the hall sat a large throne which held the High Fae Queen who was deep in conversation with a citizen of Racaea. It wasn't the true throne as that was still locked away in the throne hall, but it was a replica carved from stone specifically for this occasion and was still just as grand. A queue of people winded around the wall of the ballroom, each person waiting to talk and discuss issues with her. It wasn't often she made an appearance before the people.

We approached the buffet table, smiling and waving to people we passed. I had done this too many times before. Greeting lords and ladies who I could never for the life of me remember all the names of, trying to think of topics to keep conversations flowing. It was boring.

While we talked to the guests who had attended the ball for one reason or another, I couldn't help but look around the room, searching for any spies that could be seen, if there were any golden eyes lurking. But my hunt was fruitless.

I glanced over at Sabre who was talking to a few lords who seemed to question why they had never heard of her before, ignoring the two suitors who had approached me to demand an answer to why they hadn't been chosen. They appeared to be growing annoyed, impatient, and I prayed that they wouldn't cause a scene.

As if the spirits of the forest had heard me, the current song the orchestra played ended and started a new one, one that I could have recognised easily from the number of times I had heard it coming from the blacksmiths.

"Excuse us," I interrupted one of the lords talking to Sabre, taking her hand in mine, "but we're needed elsewhere at this moment in time." Without even waiting for their replies, I led my fiancé to the centre of the room where sets of couples had already begun to dance to the new tune, though it was one most of them had never heard before.

It had taken a lot of skill to enter the blacksmiths unnoticed, sneaking my way into Sabre's workroom without getting caught by Auron or Trik, but it had been worth it to see her face as the first few notes were played. I had borrowed the disc she had bought from a salesman from Icrodeia a long while ago and played it to the orchestra, asking them if they could replicate it for tonight. They hadn't disappointed me in the slightest.

If we were to only have one dance to cater to Sabre's lack of practice, I would make it a memorable one for both her and the rest of my kingdom. To show Icrodeia that we didn't want war in any shape or form, we would dance to one of their own ballads.

Sabre's face only held shock as I took control of our movements, her feet struggling to keep up with the pace I set, causing her to step on my shoes a few times. "Is this your doing?"

I smiled smugly. "I told you I couldn't hide in my chambers as I had things to do before the ball, right? I bet now you feel sorry for leaving me behind to suffer."

She laughed, the kind that I had heard when I was standing outside of Miss Brynn's sewing room. "Dream on. But, thank you so much."

The rest of the couples cleared off of the ballroom floor, retreating to the buffet table or watching from the sideline, as they didn't know the dance to a song they had never heard before. If only they knew we didn't either and I was just making it up as I went along, hoping to be somewhat in time to the melody. We spun and stepped for what felt like hours, losing ourselves to the music playing around us until the song came to a close.

Breathless, we bowed to the crowd that clapped for our performance and left the floor as the orchestra began the next tune. From there on, the dances would only get more difficult, and by the end of the evening, only the experts would be left alone to have their spotlight.

Sabre had stepped on my feet on several occasions and had even tripped over her own dress once, but I reckoned it was successful nonetheless.

Just as I was about to offer to get us some alcohol, my fiancé's expression turned from joyful to vengeful within the blink of an eye. "What's wrong?" I asked, following her gaze.

Auron and Trik had just stepped into the ballroom, searching around before their eyes landed on us. They approached us and Sabre approached them too, determination in her stance. "I'm going to talk to Trik. It's not going to do me any good dwelling on ifs and maybes."

"Would you like me to join you?"

She paused in her tracks to consider my company. "No, I need to do this on my own. Thanks for the offer though." Sabre smiled back at me before continuing her walk over to Trik. I could only wish that everything would go well for her. Trik was a good man, but I wouldn't have put it past him to hold important secrets from people.

I made my way over to the buffet table to have other guests follow me, one of which was Lady Lorella.

She curtsied, the thick, white skirts of her dress flowing out around her like a snowflake floating to the ground. "Prince Kayne," she greeted, a hint of worry laced in her tone. "Congratulations on your engagement, I hadn't believed it was real at first since you arrived at a decision so quickly."

"Thank you." I took a sip of the wine flute I held. "Are you enjoying the ball so far?" Whilst I had been scanning the people for any sign of Icrodeians, I had seen her father amongst them. He must have been annoyed that he hadn't been able to gain more power through his daughter's engagement.

"Not really. No offence to you or your mother, your highness, but there's something wrong about it. Something feels odd." She crossed her arms and shuddered, as if there was a ghost-like wind following her around and playing tricks on her.

I couldn't be mean to her like Sabre had, I needed to keep good relations with her in case I needed to marry her instead in the future, even if she was being rude about the ball we were hosting. "How so?"

Lady Lorella shrugged. "I'm not sure. Something bad just feels like it's going to happen."

It was just like I had felt before I had descended the stairs with Sabre. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence. I chuckled to cover up my own nervousness. "You only feel strange because you haven't experienced enough of the festivities tonight. Have you tried my favourite wine?" I reached over to pick up another flute of it from the table for her. "This is the rarest and most expensive alcohol in all of Vahan, some say it's magic that makes the bubbles rise and-"

A guard rushed up to me, one I recognised from the tower I had ventured into a few days ago. "You need to stop the ball and have everyone's identities searched and checked. Now," she panted, obviously having run here.

"What? Why?" The after taste of the wine turned bitter, something sour that had rotted.

"The prisoner has escaped."