May Death Do Us Part

257 Chapter 257 : The ball

“Gareth? Gareth is that you?”

“Mother..” the dark haired elven king walked into his mother’s open arms and gave her a hug. “I am so glad you could make it, Eira will be most pleased”

“Speaking of the birthday girl, where is my little princess? I haven’t seen her in ages.” Tauriel looked around the crowded ballroom but sighed disappointment. “Curse these bloody masks, I can’t even tell which one of these young women is my little Eira.”

“I am assuming that’s the point,” Queen Melissa responded with a smile. “she wouldn’t even let me, her own mother, know what she was wearing to her own birthday ball.”

“I hope you’re not being too strict on the little girl,” Tauriel responded before pulling Melissa into a hug. “because it sounds a lot like she’s rebelling against you.”

“Oh, she is far from being a little girl anymore mother I can assure you that.” Gareth responded with a chuckle. “I am sure we will all get the chance to meet with her soon enough, she is probably still mingling with some of her friends.”

“speaking of little ones...” A woman wearing a white peacock mask and a matching dress walked towards Melissa and touched her tummy. “when do we expect to see another one running around the palace?”

Melissa squint her eyes, trying to figure out who the beautiful woman was. When she noticed the purple eyes behind the mask, she gasped in glee. “Estel! Goodness, it is you! I hardly recognized you underneath that mask, you look so beautiful.”

Melissa and Estel hugged earnestly. The last time they had seen each other was when Eira Was still a little toddler.

.....

“And you look amazing as always Melissa,” Estel complimented the redhead. “It’s hard to believe you’ve had a child before.. and that dress looks gorgeous on you, blue is a lovely color on you, it compliments your eyes.”

“Did I just hear someone talking about little ones?” A rough stern voice reached Gareth’s ears.

The Elven king scoffes when he saw a man with red hair approaching him. “Aidan, how are you doing you bastard? I’m surprised you made it, I thought you would be neck deep in responsibilities as the king of Ervelon.”

“Unlike some people, some of us were born to rule.”

The two men exchanged a firm handshake before patting each other on the back.

“I swear Gareth, if you are trying to knock up my sister again I will have your head.”

“and who invited this man to the party again?” Gareth fired back with a taunting smirk.

“Oh shut up I’m not here for you elf,” Aidan responded with a laugh. “where is my little princess Eira? I have a birthday present for her that will have all her friends drowning in envy.”

“The birthday girl is attending to her guests I am assuming,” Gareth replied. He pointed towards the high table and gestured everyone to follow him. “Why don’t we sit down in the meantime and have a chat, Eira should join us momentarily.”

*

“Is that him?” Isabella asked her friend for the hundredth time.

“No it’s not him,” Eira responded. “if I’m right, he should be wearing a wolf mask.”

Isabella jumped from her seat and pointed towards the door. “Oh, oh I see ears! I see ears” she pointed towards the man who was walking into the ballroom with a mask that had pointy ears like that of a wolf.

Eira squint her eyes and looked at the man Isabella was pointing at intently, but unfortunately, it was not the man they had been waiting for.

“That is a cat mask Isabella,” Eira responded. “and that man is a woman” The princess got up from her seat and gave her friend a slight nod. “I think I’m going to get a drink. My nerves will be shot if I don’t ccalm down.”

Eira walked through the crowd of people who were talking among themselves, towards the table where the beverages had been set. At any other party hosted by her father, different people would have been swarming all over her by now. But in this moment they merely gave her way to reach her destination, not knowing that it was the crowned princess under that mask.

The feeling was refreshing, having people she barely knew hound over her the entire night was not how she wanted to spend her birthday. The idea of making it a masquerade ball was perfect.

she reached the table and grabbed herself a glass before walking towards where the wine bottles had been stacked and poured herself some. As she turned around to head back to her table, she bumped into someone nearly making her spill her wine.

“Oh pardon me,” The man who had bumped into her apologized. “I didn’t see you down there. Are you all right? I hope I didn’t ruin your dress.”

The man was extremely tall, even taller than Eira’s father, and that was saying something considering Gareth was one of the tallest men in the kingdom. It’s no wonder he didn’t see her, she was a dwarf compared to him.

“I am quite alright thank you,” the princess responded. “no on need to apologize.”

The man smiled and gave her a bow. “well since we are already here,” he muttered softly. “would it be peculiar if I asked you for a dance my lady?”

The redhead looked down at the cup of wine she was about to down, and then back up at the man who was bowing slightly in front of her. Distracting herself with a dance was much better than getting drunk was it not? The Princess put the glass of wine back on the table, and curtsied.

“Not at all,” Eira responded. “It would be my pleasure to dance with you.”

The tall gentleman offered Eira his hand, and she took it before the two of them walked towards the dance floor.

This was another moment that made Eira glad she decided to have a masquerade ball. If it was any other party, everyone would have wanted to know who the princess of Gavaria was dancing with. Whispers would have already filled the hall, mumbles of people wondering whether the man she was dancing with was a suitor or not. But in this moment, they were just two people dancing at a party.

Upon arriving on the dance floor, the tall gentleman tenderly pulled Eira into his embrace, and placed his hand on her slender waist.

“By the way, Gavin is the name.” The man whispered in Eira’s ear as they swayed to the Orchestra of classical music.

“I am Eira,” the princess responded without thinking.

The man’s eyebrows rose in surprise behind his mask. The smirk on his lip smacking Eira realize that she had disclosed her true identity. “You mean thee princess Eira? The reason we’ve all been forced to wear these monkey suits and attend this snob fest?”

The princess knitted her eyebrows together and cocked her head the side as she watched the man’s lips tug into a smirk.

“I am assuming you did not want to be here?”

“My place is not on the Dancefloor princess,” Gavin spoke, “neither is it in these hellishly uncomfortable clothes.”

“I see, enlighten me then. Where exactly is Your place Lord Gavin?”

“I am no Lord either princess,” Gavin responded with a chuckle. “my father is nothing but an alchemist, so please refrain from bundling me up with all these royal types.”

Eira chuckled at Gavin’s words, it was refreshing to meet someone who did not like the bureaucracy that came with the monarch as much as she did.

“As long as you promise not to tell anybody who I really am,” Eira responded as the man dipped her and brought her back up to the changing tempo Open music. “Yhere is a reason I wanted a masquerade ball to begin with, so please promise me you will not tell anybody my identity, and I promise not to bundle you up with Royals.”

“You know what, you are more likable than I thought you would be.” Gavin responded with a chuckle. He swung Eira around before coming to the stop when the song ended. “You have my word,” he spoke with a low bow. He made a locking gesture at his mouth before uttering the words “your secret’s safe with me.”

Eira was about to respond when she saw a man walking into the ballroom that nearly took her breath away. Her heart skipped several beats as her eyes strolled up to his face and noticed the wolf mask he was wearing. That was him, that was Eric.

“Umm excuse me Gavin,” Eira muttered in an edgy tone. She turned to walk away, but stopped mid stride and turn back to him. She couldn’t just up and leave him like that, it was rude. “Thank you for the dance,” she spoke with a curtsy. “I hope we get the chance to meet again before the end of the night.”

The hybrid princess did not even give Gavin a chance to respond. She clenched her dress and practically ran towards where the man with the wolf mask was walking. She couldn’t believe he had actually come, after hours of waiting she had almost lost hope, but now here he was, her knight in shining silver hair.