“Princess,” said another voice and they turned to face their oldest brother, the crown prince Dario.

“May I have this dance?” he asked while offering his hand.

She was hesitant at first but finally reached out her hand and he smiled.

Being much older than his youngest siblings and training as an heir meant that they barely had a chance to spend time together besides there being a division between the empress’s children and the rest. He could at least do this one thing for his youngest sister just to assure her that she was indeed part of the family.

They walked towards the dance floor as some of the elders smiled at the scene. The music started, and he twirled her around as they started their dance across the floor. Mid-dance, Kamaria found herself spun around and standing face to face with the commander who continued dancing with her.

She had the brightest smile on her face as he was something of a father figure to her. Having him join her at that moment meant more to her than anyone knew.

A short while later, she found her partner had changed as she turned to face the mischievous Khayri who couldn’t help but hug her as they danced, not caring what people said. He let her go after a few moments and continued dancing.

Unknown to her, he had already analysed the crowd to see who she could dance with next since their second brother wasn’t attending.

Kamaria guessed the dance would come to an end as she had danced with all the attending immediate male members of the Sherali family. Just as she thought it was over, Khayri spun her into someone else.

The empress sat and watched from her private area after her brother had left. Velia stormed in and sat down next to her mother.

“Shouldn’t you be out there?” she asked her daughter.

“What’s the point when that little pig is hogging all the attention?”

Empress Livinia had to admit that it was partly her fault that the Consort Johari’s plan had slipped past her, but she couldn’t do anything about her son being gentle with his siblings nor the commander liking the girl.

If anything, that gentle look Kamaria always had on her face even when she was being bullied made the empress want to step on her. It even made her doubt the girl’s intelligence sometimes.

The youngest princess’s demeanour really made her out to be someone that could be bullied easily or someone to be protected because she was so timid.

“Princess, you shouldn’t be stressing your mother,” insisted the steward but Velia only pouted.

“One of the twins already have a sure marriage proposal and I haven’t seen you with a proper prospect.”

“Eldest brother had all the attending princes talking about politics with him, so I barely had a chance to meet any of them,” she insisted.

“In that case, don’t come here and annoy me, Velia. I have a headache as it is.”

Velia was slightly shocked at her mother’s words and her eyes started tearing up.

The empress closed her eyes and inhaled, trying to get her thoughts in order.

“I’m sorry my sweet. My headache is making me irritable,” she said after opening her eyes and hugged the young woman sitting next to her.

It was nothing, it wasn’t as if Kamaria was dancing with suitors or anything of the like, but it annoyed her that the girl seemed to be enjoying the attention.

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There were a few whispers as Kamaria and her next partner stared at each other barely hearing the music but before Kamaria could react, he smoothly recovered from the initial shock and continued dancing with her.

Lark was busy chatting up one of the ladies when someone suddenly tugged him out of the conversation.

“Mahalia, you hoodlum. What do you want?” he asked with a tone of impatience in his voice.

“You wanted to know what fae queen we were talking about didn’t you?”

“What? She’s here? Where?”

He simply had to see this magical being. For all he knew they were lying just to keep him in restless suspense since Sorin had neither agreed nor disagreed with them.

“Look,” said Mahalia while gesturing to the dance floor.

Lark’s jaw almost dropped. Sorin was dancing? He had never seen such a thing before. Sometimes they even forgot that he was a noble and it was possible for him to do something so refined. Not to mention that it was not any ordinary noble he was dancing with but the imperial princess who looked extremely familiar.

The empress consort couldn’t help but smile at seeing her daughter so happy. It had been years since she had seen her smile so much, but she was also interested in this dance partner that Khayri had chosen. Why choose the promoted officer?

Khayri was impressed with his handiwork but not so for the person who had found his way next to him.

“Oh, Urien, there you are.”

“Why is Mari dancing with that man?”

Urien recognised him from the night of the festival. Who would have thought that he would turn out to be someone they would meet again?

Other than the one meeting, he was sure that they didn’t know each other and yet, Kamaria seemed oddly comfortable with him.

“He’s not just that man, he’s a guest of honour, of course she has to dance with him as a visiting fellow aristocrat and ranked military leader of our age group.”

“An aristocrat?”

“He’s part of the Ulfric family, isn’t he? So of course, that makes him an aristocrat,” assured Khayri but it still didn’t sit right with Urien.

After her family should have at least been one of her suitors and not a random soldier from a far-flung border region of one of the kingdoms.

From what he knew, the Ulfrics were barely even aristocrats and besides just because the soldier had the last name didn’t mean he was even part of the main house. It was not that he was looking down on the man’s origins since he would helping govern such people after all.

Maybe it was just that he felt uncomfortable with Kamaria being so close to another man. In fact, he was still confused as to why Khayri hadn’t passed the dance onto him so he could make his intentions about Kamaria clear to everyone.

“Should I take this dance as a ‘thank you’ gift as well Princess?” whispered Sorin when the music dramatically paused for a few moments.

Kamaria could only shyly smile after glancing up at him.

She couldn’t explain why she was suddenly so shy either when they had spoken so frankly before. Sorin donned a barely noticeable smile as they looked at each other while dancing in graceful circles across the floor.

Their black and white outfits were in stark contrast, but the silver worn by both seemed to connect the two making the colours harmonious instead.

“We’ll call this honour a parting gift instead,” he said and after a few moments Kamaria realised what he meant.

It occurred to her that everyone had to go back to their lives after this. The magical nights and wonderful outfits she had worn in the last few days were all temporary fixtures.

No spell could last forever so it would be back to spending time trying to stay out of sight in the palace. Sorin noticed the slight change in her expression.

“That said, it’s a temporary parting gift. I’m sure I’ll run into Imperial Princess’s trouble again.”

“Now, you’re saying I’m trouble again. You’re really daring, Lieutenant Colonel,” she said he only smiled before spinning her around one last time.

They finally separated and Kamaria knew that was the end of the magic as she curtseyed, and he bowed.

Other people now joined the dance floor as she found her way to Lili and Raisa who were ready to start talking in hushed whispers about the situation.

Kamaria was tired, anyone else who wanted to dance with her would have to wait. Urien wanted to walk over to her before he realised that there was a hand holding him back.

“Brother Urien.”

Both him and Khayri turned to the voice to see just who it was. Velia had figured that she had to start somewhere so she thought Urien was the best choice seeing as they knew each other.

“Would you mind?” she asked sweetly.

He glanced at Kamaria and then nodded to Velia who happily linked arms with him. Khayri rolled his eyes at the gracious gentleman and walked away with Nima following.

The least he could have done was take a simple walk with Kamaria if he was so determined about her. He would have to give his friend a few good lessons about chasing people.