The Ninth Chapter | Fancy a Dance? (II)

The Ninth Chapter | Fancy a Dance? (II)

"Cedrick? What on Earth are you doing here?" Alvera hissed, not wanting to draw too much attention to them.

"You're the one that called for me," he replied, running a hand through his dark locks.

"What? When?"

"I recall you saying, 'I wish Cedrick was here.' Or am I mistaken?"

"That was an offhand remark and you know it. I didn't even say it in ץչאק๔ɭเฬђ, why did you bother?"

"I was watching over you earlier."

The thought of Cedrick watching her was a little bit creepy, but she was surprised to find that she didn't mind too much. However, that didn't mean she wasn't going to tease him about it, and hopefully get the reaction she wanted.

"Mhm, are you sure you're not just here to ogle at me?" Alvera asked as one of her hands settled on her waist.

"I can assure you that I am not. I was put in charge of you by the Council. I'm supposed to look after you, remember?"

That was not the reaction she wanted.

"That's on Ravensfield, not on Earth," she persisted, before taking her drink back from his clutches and taking a short sip. She waited a moment before asking her next question. "How did you even get in here? This ball is invitation only."

"I'm a magical being with a powerful illusionist as a friend. I can pretty much get in anywhere I want."

"That makes some form of sense," she replied as she took another sip.

"On a more serious note, you probably shouldn't be drinking that," he warned, pointing at the glass of champagne in her hand.

"Oh come on, it's my first glass."

"Alvera, it's your seventh. Don't lie to me."

"Don't call me that here! What if someone hears you?" she shushed.

"Calm down, you're so far from basically everyone else that the chance of that happening is slim to none."

Alvera gave him a short glare.

"Doesn't alcohol do something to your human systems?"

"It's called getting drunk, Cedrick."

She paused. "Have you ever had champagne before?" She expected a negative response.

"Of course not. We don't have that in Ravensfield. I think we gave something similar, but I've never tried it myself."

"Wanna try some?" she asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I'm... not too sure that's a good idea, M'la-"

Before Cedrick could even finish, Alvera had sauntered off to go get him a glass. She somewhat expected his alcohol tolerance to be low. He definitely seemed like the type. So she would only restrict him to one glass... probably. She just wanted him to have a taste. Alvera didn't have to go too far before she got one and handed it to Cedrick, who had unknowingly followed behind her.

Cedrick was reluctant to try at first, very much expecting the worst, but Alvera persuaded him. They clinked glasses and each took a sip of their respective drink. Cedrick's eyes darted in different directions as he examined the taste. He seemed to enjoy it because, before long, he had downed the whole thing.

"That's.... surprisingly good," he said.

"Right?" She was finishing up hers as well.

From her peripheral vision, Alvera could clearly see the Duchess approaching them both, her own gown trailing behind her. No doubt she was going to pull Alvera over to some random gentleman and force them to dance or something.

"Averill, there's someone I want you to me- oh? Who's this?"

Just like she expected.

Alvera's eyes widened slightly. What was she going to say? The Duchess definitely knew of every young man in the nearby kingdoms that she could marry her daughter off to, so she would be suspicious if Alvera introduced him and she had no idea who he was.

"I'm-"

"This is Lord Cedrick. He's not from around here," Alvera cut in, effectively signaling to Cedrick that he should shut the hell up.

"Really? Where's he from?"

"Up north. Very far up north. So far that you've probably never heard of his Kingdom." Alvera replied, arguably faster than normal.

Lord kill her.

"Paera," Alvera replied, saying the first kingdom that came to mind.

"I didn't know they had a son?" The duchess replied, genuinely intrigued by this new contender.

Shoot.

Again, Alvera replied with the first thing that came to mind.

"Uh... he's adopted, very new to the dynasty." Before giving her mother a chance to reply, she cut in again. "Oh Lord Cedrick, you ask me for a dance earlier. Shall we?"

Alvera immediately dragged Cedrick to the ballroom floor, putting one of her hands in his, and the other on his shoulder. If the Duchess saw her dancing with people she would surely get off her back.

Well, that's if you could call it dancing. Surprisingly, Cedrick couldn't dance, or at least he couldn't waltz. He seemed like the type to know how to do everything perfectly, so Alvera was somewhat shocked when he danced like he had two left feet. In fact, she was on the verge of letting out a very unladylike laugh. He looked utterly confused.

In the back of her mind, she prayed that either nobody from the Paera Kingdom was attending, or that her mother wouldn't go around asking questions about it. If she did, and she got answers opposing to what Alvera had told her, she would undoubtedly interrogate around her later. She wasn't ready for that.

Alvera silently cursed at herself for using Cedrick's real name, even though it didn't matter much. He wasn't on records anywhere after all. To everyone there who knew nothing about Ravensfield, he didn't even exist.

"You seem to be struggling, Cedrick."

"You don't say." His voice dripped with sarcasm, his eyes rolling afterward.

This time, Alvera did let out a laugh.

"Can you blame me? We don't have things like this in Ravensfield," he retaliated

"Oh trust me, I can tell," she laughed.

Alvera waited a moment before speaking again.

"Would you like me to teach you so you can stop embarrassing yourself?" She joked.

A bit over five minutes later, Cedrick was able to dance without tripping over his own feet. Alvera had to admit, he was quite a fast learner. But then again, she mostly just taught him simple steps. They somewhat glided across the floor, soft music playing in the background, and Cedrick was getting more into it with every step. Alvera wasn't surprised.

Soon enough, the song came to an end and before Cedrick could insist on dancing another, Alvera grabbed two more glasses of champagne and led Cedrick out to the garden. She handed him one of the glasses. Yes, she only planned on giving him one, but it hardly seemed fair for her to get one and leave him hanging.

The garden was rather large, obviously. It was filled with fond memories of Alvera and her mother. She would bring Alvera out there whenever she had a break from her duties. Her mother would braid flowers into her hair at times, and sometimes Alvera would do the same for her, though she never quite got it right. They would often have these long conversations and Alvera would ask dozens of questions. Alvera smiled to herself as so many memories came rushing back to her. It was then she remembered why she hadn't been back to the garden in so long. She would usually just end up in tears.

The garden was a large stretch of land behind the castle. It was lined with hundreds of flowers in bloom. They were doused in different colors, from deep, flamboyant reds to pale, light blues to sharp, edgy yellows. They were mostly arranged, all the flowers of the same colors in the same area, blending out into a rainbow of sorts. Her mother liked to be rather organized, and after she died, the Duke made sure the garden remained in perfect condition.

"This is Marigold's Garden. One of my favorite places in the entire kingdom," she said, gesturing to all the flowers.

"It's beautiful-" he paused, touching some of the petals of a nearby flower. "-but who's Marigold?"

Alvera paused before answering his question.

"She's... my mother. Well, she was my mother. She died when I was twelve."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Alvera."

She knew he meant it. He had lost his father too, and if they were as close as she was with her mom, he definitely knew how she felt.

"It's fine. I've already accepted it. I'll always miss her though, and I have this garden to remind me of her. However, it's a bittersweet sort of thing."

Jesus Christ, Alvera's feet were killing her. Lord knows how the people wearing heels dealt with this. She looked over at the garden bench. The bench where she sat and cried for so many weeks, months even, grieving her dead mother. Alvera was telling the truth though, she had accepted it. The fact that she could mention it without crying was proof enough for her. She walked over to the bench and took a seat, patting the spot next to her with her hand as an invitation for Cedrick. He joined her.

"You know, it's actually quite fortunate that you're here. I was going to tell you earlier, but I got so caught up with the ball and planning that I kind of forgot. I had a... weird dream. At least I think it was a dream."

"When? What was it about?"

"It was right after I blacked out in the Mirror of Alternates. I was... somewhere, I'm not exactly sure where though. There was this noise. I think it was... thunder? and someone was screaming. A vicious blood-curdling scream. And it was getting louder and louder every second. I tried to go find who it was but I couldn't. There was this sort of force that was pulling me downwards. It forced me onto my knees and it was putting pressure on me. Then, everything stopped. The screaming and the thunder. This dark figure stood in front of me, wearing a black cloak like the one Lodema was wearing. Its eyes were this deep, pure red and it sort of held out its hand to me, probably wanting me to take it, but I didn't. I think it got... mad? Or annoyed? Something along those lines. So it left, but it said something first. I... I don't remember what it said to me though, not even a word. I really wish I did. After that, all the noise continued and then I woke up. It was weird and it felt so... real, but at least didn't wake up crying like the first time."

"What first time?"

"When Graham spoke to me for the first time in a dream. I woke up with tears basically pouring out of my eyes. It was strange."

"I don't know if that's normal. We've never really had to contact someone from outside the realms. Apart from your father at least, but it wasn't through dreams."

That statement alone sparked several questions in her, but before she could ask, Cedrick spoke again.

"This seems like... a lot. I can't exactly tell you what that means, as I am far from an expert at interpreting dreams. Lady Parisa however can probably help. We just need to go find her. She might even be able to help you remember what happened in the blurry parts. What the figure said might be important."

"Or it could just be one big dream that has no meaning," Alvera countered.

"You don't just have weird dreams like that out of nowhere, especially since you've been in the Realms recently. Plus, if you really thought it was nothing, you wouldn't have told me. Anyway, even if it is nothing, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

"Alright, but just one problem. I still have to sit through the rest of this ball. If I even try to disappear, my mother will definitely find out."

"So be it. Seems like we'll be here for a while."

"Might as well make the most of it then," Alvera said, taking a sip from her forgotten champagne glass. Cedrick followed suit. The glasses quickly emptied as Alvera and Cedrick just sat there, talking and enjoying each other's company, before Alvera made a suggestion.

"Fancy another dance?" She asked, smirking.