Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Romantic Tale
Panic swirled in Anaisa’s middle. Or was it that breakfast was sitting ill?

“Your Majesty, I–” She tried to come up with any words that would get her out of the responsibility, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to the monarch. “I am unprepared to pretend being the princess, and if I should be recognized–”

“It is a masked ball, you will not be recognized.” The king waved off the concern, “and now that I’m aware of your background, I’m satisfied that you can interact properly among the upper class.”

“Well–”Anaisa hedged, but was interrupted again.

“I know, I should let you rest and prepare. I’ll have the dressmaker sent up for a final fitting.” The king nodded to himself.

“What about me?” Sapphira chirped.

The king cut her a look. “You will play the role of a servant and stay near to me at all times.”

Sapphira pouted. “I want to meet people. It’s hardly a coming out ball if I meet no one and no one meets me.”

“They wouldn’t know it was you, so what would be the point of you mingling?” The king pointed out.

“We could reveal at the end who I am,” Sapphira suggested hopefully. “That way I still get introduced to the kingdom but without the danger of being myself all night.”

“How much danger do you anticipate, Your Majesty?” Trace cut in seriously, and Anaisa eyed him.

“You will be undercover, keeping a close eye on things,” The king said. “Check in with each other regularly so that any suspicious behavior can be reported immediately.”

“Undercover?” Trace asked with trepidation in his voice.

“While the dressmaker is here I will send some extra guards. Report to the tailor to be fitted for a costume for the ball. Pose as a noble, dance among the people, and gather what information you can, but stay close to the pretend princess. If she’s attacked, we cannot allow anything to make the public doubt that the princess is all right.” The king cut his eyes over to Anaisa. “I will have more specific instructions prepared, but for now, focus on becoming healthy. There will be a lot of dancing and the princess must not appear to be ill.”

Anaisa was not amused. She’d been poisoned, and the most important thing was how the princess appeared. Still, she was not feeling well enough to give rise to her temper just now; she would have to deal with everything later.

“I’m rather tired.” She tried to smile politely as she hinted that she wanted King Harold to leave.

His eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “I will be off, I have much to do.”

Trace bowed, and Sapphira curtsied as the monarch left. Anaisa sank back into the cushions of the sofa, anxious about what was to come.

“Only two days,” she murmured. That was not near enough time to put in the type of preparation she should to impersonate royalty.

“The queen told me long ago not to worry about the ball,” Sapphira placed a hand on Anaisa’s arm. “Most of the men will only want to talk about themselves and nothing else. It should be an easy thing to smile at them and nod at all their boasting.”

“Sounds delightful,” Anaisa deadpanned. “I can tell I’m going to enjoy it a great deal.”

Sapphira giggled. “At least you get to dance, I’ll be stuck next to Father all evening.”

“If I thought we could get away with it, I’d offer to trade places,” Anaisa teased, feeling the pull of fatigue.

“That would be fantastic! Oh, Annie, could we?”

“I’d be executed for treason before the end of the first set,” Anaisa sighed. It was one thing to fool strangers, but King Harold was already overprotective of Sapphira, and he would not be easily put off.

“That would make for a memorable coming out ball,” Sapphira smirked. “No one would ever forget it…”

“I’ll never forget it anyway,” Anaisa replied. “The few balls and parties I’ve been to were not particularly enjoyable, but of course, I didn’t have to be the center of attention at any of them.”

The princess’s eyes cut to Trace, still standing off to the side, but Anaisa shrugged. It seemed pointless to keep anything from him now. He’d had access to her dreams this whole time, and they doubtlessly contained much more information than he was likely to glean from conversation.

“Can you tell me about them? Did you ever meet anyone handsome? Who are the young men likely to come for my hand?” Sapphira’s eyes lit at having a new source of information for gossip, but Anaisa frowned.

“I mostly only met and danced with the men Father wanted to use to further his political career. I’m afraid I’m very little help as to who the eligible young men are. I know only a handful, and you wouldn’t want any of those,” Anaisa grimaced.

“It’s a shame you didn’t marry before your father… well, you know,” Sapphira looked down at her hands. “You could have kept your status if you’d married someone of rank. Was there nobody good enough?”

Anaisa heard Trace shift uncomfortably, and she smothered a small smile. After how he’d made her feel, she felt the childish urge to return some of the favor.

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about all that,” Anaisa teased with a smile. “You’ll have plenty of opportunity for your own intrigues, you mustn’t entertain yourself with tales of mine.”

The princess’s eyes widened and she scooted closer. “Tell me everything,” She commanded in a conspiratorial tone. “I need to know. For research for my own intrigues.”

“Oh, I couldn’t!” Anaisa brushed her off, and a moment of silent pleading ensued until Anaisa’s smile broke through her serious expression.

“Annie please,” Sapphira pouted.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Anaisa laughed. “I was joking, there was never anyone for me at those parties. I mostly tried to stay invisible. I’m sorry I don’t have some great romantic tale to inspire you with.”

She finally allowed her gaze to drift towards Trace, who was looking at her with a deep and complex expression. Maybe… just maybe Anaisa did have some great romantic tale in the making after all.