Chapter 112 A Perfect Reunion

• Narine
• I watched anxiously as the maidens began to cross the polished floor to dance with him, starting with the first woman standing closest to him. At first, I tried to keep my face neutral, serene, as any proper candidate should. But the longer I watched, the more impossible it became to disguise what I felt. My heart was beating so violently that I thought it might bruise my ribs from the inside. I was utterly mesmerized, helplessly caught by the graceful rotations, the solemn splendor of it all.
• How effortlessly each woman curtsied, how easily his hand guided them into step as though they’d been rehearsing their entire lives. The musicians played their haunting waltz with practiced ease. And on the other hand, sheer dread was raking up my body in waves. I didn’t know how to dance. Not in any civilized, courtly way. Not in any way at all. I had never danced a single step in my life. Never been to a party. Never learned the rhythms everyone else here carried in their bones. Even back then, when I was still going to school, still trying to pretend I could have a normal life, I had avoided anything that might have put me in the limelight. No birthday gatherings.