Chapter 28 - Fairytales and Villains

Wherein Rose enters a realm beyond her imagination.

As the carriage joined the line of others driving up to Baron Brisindi’s mansion, Rose’s nose was glued to the door’s little window. The mansion itself was as big as at least three townhouses on Stygian Way, but more square and solid. It was mostly made of light grey stone. Roofs gleamed black in the ambient light coming from below.

The driveway leading up to the grand entrance was lit with numerous glowing lights. The park surrounding the mansion sported more of these thaumatic lights, creating an enchanted atmosphere, akin to those in fairy-tales.

A footman opened the door as soon as the carriage came to a halt. Rose accepted the hand that was offered and stepped down gingerly. Falling flat on her face would very much break the illusion of being a princess.

Music spilled from the open doorway before her, clashing with a counter-tune being played in a garden, unseen and to the side.

She let herself be led in with the other revellers, Valentina at her side, Bosra at her back.

"Thank you, fairy Godmother," she giggled to her friend.

This seemed to pull the princess from her melancholy reverie. She smiled back. "You're welcome."

"Will your parents be here?" Rose asked as they passed several salons filled with beautiful people.

Valentina shook her honey curls. "They are at court this night."

A confused little sound left Rose. "Shouldn’t the baron also be at court then? Or is it  different for certain nobles?" 

"He is at court," Valentina confirmed. "He will be until midnight, when the official Winter Wake devotions end. After that, the baroness and he will come home and join the festivities here. The party will continue until dawn. But we can leave before that." 

Rose felt she missed information. At home, the Winter Wake was spent by going to the temple for a special service that lasted an hour. Afterwards, people would share a drink and food, then they would go home. Only the leading men of each family would stay awake throughout the night.

Obviously that wasn’t the case here.

They were coming up on the ballroom entryway. A throng of people awaited their turn to be heralded. So many women in wonderful dresses and gentlemen in dark suits. Rose thought she spotted a few teenagers on the younger end of the spectrum, but couldn’t be sure. The crowd was of mixed descent, counting half-talls and gnomes as well as humans and half-elves. Bosra was the only highlander, but was dwarfed by a greenskin of half a head taller and twice as wide.

Before she could point him out to her friend, it was their turn to be announced.

"Lady Valentina of Effyne, and her companions: Bosra and Rose."

Rose stifled a nervous giggle as they descended a sweeping staircase. She was distracted by the orchestra, playing off to the side and tripped over the hem of her skirt. Bosra kept her from falling.

The elevation of the stairs offered a great view of the dancers below. Their stiffly choreographed steps reminded Bosra of a country dance executed at half-speed. She held back a snort. Tonight she would have to mind toes and egos.

She hung back as Rose and Tina danced. They seemed to experience no lack of invitations. Valentina turned down several overeager would-be suitors, where Rose had no issue dancing with a half-tall gent who barely reached her waist.

When Rose went for a stroll with a man, Bosra followed. She kept her distance, listening to the superficial chitchat. She saw Rose leaning into the man a few times. She saw the doe-eyed glances up to his too slick face.

Upon return to brightly lit areas, Rose offered the man her hand and smiled her charming, disarming grin that put whatever happened firmly into dreamland.

"Having fun?" Bosra asked as the man stalked away.

"Donkeys and horses may crossbreed, but pigs and goats sure don’t," Rose lilted, followed by a wistful sigh. She, too, watched the man stalk away. "I am having fun," she continued, looking up at Bosra.

"Hmm."

"Smiling is allowed," Rose teased.

Bosra snorted, then grinned. She was about to say more when Rose stiffened and the colour temporarily fled her face.

"What's up, Pupper?"  

"Nothing," Rose hoped. She turned back to her large grey friend. "Shall we get a drink?"

"Okay." Bosra stayed alert, sticking closer to Rose than before.

Upon their arrival, the Baron and Baroness opened the dinner buffet. A line formed instantly. As Rose, Bosra and Valentina came up on the tables laden with a King’s banquet, Brittany passed them by on the arm of a handsome young knight. Both held filled plates in their hands.

"They'll let in anyone these days." Brittany projected her voice so all could hear. "That's a Fairfields girl if I ever saw one."

Somewhere, someone oinked.

Rose felt her cheeks heat. She pressed her instantly clammy hands against them, looking away and gritting her teeth. She would endure.

"Too bad high born ladies have no manners anymore these days," Bosra growled in low tones. 

The young knight stepped in front of his companion, squaring his shoulders and levelling hard blue eyes upon the highlander. "I shall not accept this insult to my lady's reputation."

His hand closed on nothing as he reached for the hilt of his cavalry sabre. It would have been there, had he not been at a Winter Wake gala in Splendor.

"Yeah?" Bosra let go of Rose's shoulder. She stepped in front of her friend, stopping only when she was toe to toe with the little shit. "Your lady apologises first, then I will."

"I have nothing to apologise for." Brittany’s voice gained a shrill quality. 

"You broke a family heirloom. I have witnesses who say you made it happen on purpose," Rose replied quietly. "Aside from that, you’ve been picking on me since the beginning of the semester." 

Brittany sniffed and pouted. "I did nothing of the sort."

"Liar." Bosra stared daggers at the pretty princess in her violently pink dress.

The knight once again reached for a weapon that wasn’t there. "I have no difficulty harming females, should you keep insulting my fairest maiden." 

Bosra met his icy stare with stone cold tenacity.

"Maiden," Valentina scoffed under her breath, only now joining in. "You must be new in town if you still favour that belief."

The knight looked askance at Valentina. "She is my companion for the night and you shall not tarnish her reputation."

"She can do that all by herself," Valentina smiled with the charm of a dragon.

"Who is your escort, that I may challenge him to a duel?" With that remark, the knight demonstrated why he was at court, not overwintering in the marshes. 

Bosra sized him up; young and agile, on the tall side for a human, wearing a ceremonial cuirass under his jacket and cravat. He did not top her shoulder. "That would be me," she smiled languidly.

"One lady escorting another?" He seemed unable to grasp the concept.

"Yeah. Now back down, and have your lady apologise, or I'll make you perch like a wyvern-wyrmling." Bosra was thoroughly done. 

The knight, however, did not back down. At this point Valentina guessed it was about his own honour as much as her cousin’s, whom he was probably courting now for her fortune and her father’s influence at court.

"I shall meet you on the morrow and we shall contest each other with blades." 

"I shall meet you now, in the garden, fists are all we need," Bosra replied. She stepped forward, forcing him to take a single step backwards or chance falling on his ass. "Scared, wyrmling? Scared you'll have to eat dirt?"

He stepped back, coming chest to chest with her. His jaw tight, his fists balled. "Who dost thou think I am?"

"A boy, trying to wear a man's armour."

"Fisticuffs it is." 

~

Zanna Bear is happy to announce the release of her short story Leap Year Curse. This shifter romance story features plenty of witty banter and all of two steamy kisses.

A curse took away Rowan's memories of his mate, and it couldn't have come at more inopportune time, as the peace treaty he worked long and hard for demands he marry his enemy's daughter.