Chapter 72 - Memories(4) (2/2)
There would be lots of drinks, dances, and the girls in the kingdom took it as an opportunity to widen the horizon in their search for partners. Of course, they would all act coquettish and pretend to have gotten there by chance.
They would feign disinterest and indifference, never slipping up or confessing to the fact that they had come there specifically, dressed in their best outfits to find a suitable, wealthy husband.
That evening, Kate, with the assistance of one of the old maids, Ursula, who had stayed to take care of her, contorted her body into a tight corset, and a gown that ballooned out from the waist. Her hair was made in a French plait, her cheeks were dabbed with rogue, and her face was slightly powdered.
”You look incredible!” Ursula exclaimed. She disappeared into a room and came out with a necklace made of pearls. ”This used to belong to your mother. It's a shame Meredith never gave you before she died.
I discovered it while cleaning this morning.” She hooked it around Kate's neck. ”I am certain your mother would have wanted you to have it. It suits you so perfectly and brings out the green of your eyes.”
Kate smiled. She thanked her, entered the carriage and went to the palace. She was in awe of the place and the efforts that had been put into the party. Gypsies, trick performers, and exotic dancers had been employed for their entertainment.
There were court jesters whom Kate disliked, but she watched the show go on anyway. She dropped her present for the princess. It was a coat which she mad made herself from endless yarns of sheep's wool.
Kate had been in a corner, watching what was going on with bright, keen eyes, when she spotted a man at the far end of the room. He was looking at her intensely, urging her to keep up the stare.
Kate took in his looks. First, his dark, dark eyes, his hair that hung down to his shoulders, the fine details in his long coat, the rich velvet of his lips. Kate looked away.
She pretended to concentrate on her drinks, but when she looked up, he was still there. Staring right through her with his dark eyes.
He was incredibly attractive, but there was a tension in the air hat was as solid as the goblet she was holding. It was something dark and unfamiliar.
Her stomach knotted and twisted on itself till she felt sick enough to step outside for some fresh air.
When she stepped out, she felt shrouded in peace once more. It was as though something heavy had left, like the strange, beautiful man had sucked up all the joy with the dark pools in his eyes, just like a dementor.
She watched the stars, the way they proliferated in the sky, standing out small but brilliant against the thick darkness. She could hear the noise from the party retreating into the distance as she walked farther and farther out.
Her carriage would not be ready until an hour letter, when the bell would toll and the hour hand of the clock would strike midnight. She could as well wait, but the party had become too suffocating for her.
She took in a deep breath, as though she were trying to affirm her freedom to breathe. She had not known what she was thinking, making all these efforts to dress up and socialize. It was not at all her thing.
She could not still get the image of the man out of her head. Yet, everything about him unsettled her.
”Hello.” A rich baritone voice calls from behind her.
Kate whips around.. The color drains from her face as she finds the same man she had just been thinking of, standing behind her, his hands in his pockets. How had he gotten there? How did she not hear his footsteps or perceived a whiff of this peculiar minty smell he had about him?