The crowd is loud, and my stomach begins to roil, my head spins. They cheer, but some faces look less than satisfied with me. Women in green grimace in disgust as if I’m a rotting carcass in their midst. Men dressed in red eye me with evident discomfort. Even our nobles dressed in blue appear vexed. My throat closes in; I’ve failed to make them all happy.

He grabs my hand and squeezes.

I squeeze back.

Once the adults begin to drink, I remove the blasted veil, and the celebration grows fun. Those who earlier scowled at me are now an hour into dunking their faces in Baellilean wine; they’ve only smiled since. Even King Lester’s mood lightens with a drink, and he loudly laughs and jokes at his table. I hate that the nobles laugh when he isn’t funny. My father isn’t funny either, and people always laugh at his jokes.

“Do you want to dance?” Teddy swishes her dress with a giant smile on her face. “The musicians are about to play an Aeradian classic. Come with me!” She holds out her hand, and I laugh as we run to the middle of the hall, where the tables are set far enough apart for us to move freely. She braces herself and pulls me around, then clasps hold of my other hand and leans back. We spin, and her dress swells in the wind we create. As Teddy giggles and spins faster, I give in to the moment. I throw back my head and laugh as we twirl. The music picks up speed, and our whirling follows suit.

We spin and spin, and then I fly hard into someone. We drop our clasped hands as the sudden thump propels us to the floor. I regain my balance and look up to apologize. I jerk back as an old woman with one eye much larger than the other leans over me.

“What is this then? Who has done this to an old bat like me? Do you not know how easy it is for a woman my age to stumble?” She surveys us both.

“I’m so very sorry, Madam! My friend and I were dancing, well, spinning really.” I stammer an apology. “We just got carried away and didn’t watch where we were going. I didn’t mean to cause any harm!”

Her cloudy eyes peer further into me before she pulls back.

“You are the Princess of Verdana, no?”

I gulp and nod. I pray she doesn’t tell my mother.

She cackles. “Why should a Princess apologize to a nobody like me? Truly, it is I who should apologize to you, Your Highness.” Her old body cracks as she bows, and I wave my hands.

“No, really! It was my mistake, princess or not; I apologize. I’m sorry, and I pray for your forgiveness on the matter.”

She leans back and tilts her head. “How disappointing. You have taken after him,” she mutters.