Unlocking the Spell (14 page)

In only a few short minutes the steward was back with effusive apologies and an invitation to join the queen in her chambers. As they followed him through the corridors, Gwendolyn let her hood stay down. She smiled when people stopped to stare as she passed by. “I know people sometimes stared at home, but I was so used to it I didn't pay much attention,” she whispered to Annie. “But after spending days hiding in that hood, this is kind of fun. I don't know how you can stand being ignored all the time.”

“I've never been treated any other way,” Annie replied. “When you're around, most people don't even look at me.”

“I'm sorry,” said Gwendolyn. “I never realized. I guess I just never thought about it.”

“There you are, my darlings!” cried the queen as they entered a sun-filled chamber. “Welcome to Floradale!” Four of her ladies-in-waiting stood and left the room at a nod from the queen. A fifth woman continued to play a harp in the corner.

“Your Highness,” murmured Annie. Both girls curtsied while Liam swept a deep bow.

Annie thought the queen looked nice. She was beautiful, of course, with dark brown hair and perfect features, but she also had kind eyes and a smile that made you want to smile, too.

“Let me look at you,” said the queen. “Ah, yes, I can see that your parents hired a talented artist to paint your portraits. Yours looks just like you, Annie. But Gwendolyn, I'm afraid yours doesn't do you justice. You really are extraordinarily beautiful. I wish I could have met you girls before this, but that whole thing with spinning wheels… Even so, your mother has written to me so much about you that I feel I know you already. And this is Prince Liam? I've heard about you as well. And what about the bear? Your mother told me that your true love is an enchanted prince, Gwendolyn. Is he here as well?”

The queen looked around as if she might see the bear lurking in the corridor behind them, but Gwendolyn just laughed and shook her head. “He doesn't like cities.”

“Of course not! Particularly on a day like today.
Everything is in a shambles as we prepare for the ball. Oh, dear, how could I have forgotten! You must get ready for the ball. Ainsley will be so delighted that you're here in time to attend! Maud,” she called to the lady-in-waiting, who set aside her harp and hurried over. “See to it that the servants get hot baths, food, and the appropriate clothes for our young guests.” As Maud nodded and hurried from the room, the queen turned back to them saying, “Let them know if there's anything else you need. Now go! The ball begins in two hours.”

Annie glanced at her reflection in the mirrored wall. The only other time she had worn a ball gown, she had been entered in a contest to win the hand of Prince Andreas for her sister. The gown she had worn then had looked delicate and sweet. This gown was bolder, with a lower-cut bodice and more form-fitting lines. A pale yellow, it had slashes of brilliant blue in its sleeves, and on the bodice and hem. It wasn't her favorite shade of blue, but it did go nicely with the yellow. She turned to check her reflection from the side. The gown looked as if it had been made for her and would do very well.

Gwennie, on the other hand, looked exquisite in a gown that hugged her perfect figure from shoulders to waist, where it swirled down to the floor in a cascade of rose over an underskirt of silver. The fabric shimmered in the candlelight and would have been gorgeous on a
stick, but on the most beautiful princess in all the kingdoms it was entrancing. The maid who had styled her hair had let it fall in soft, gleaming curls down her back. She had put neither powder nor rouge on Gwendolyn's face because the princess didn't need it. Her skin was flawless, her cheeks were flushed with a natural pink, and her eyes glittered with ever-increasing excitement.

With all the time that had been spent on her own preparations, Annie knew she looked the best she had in her entire life. Unfortunately, she also knew that entering the ballroom with Gwendolyn meant that no one would even notice her, let alone what she looked like. Because she was the older sister, Gwendolyn would go in first. Annie might as well be invisible when she walked down the stairs.

She was waiting for her sister to reach the landing at the top of the steps when Liam entered the corridor. He looked magnificent in the blue jacket with the silver piping of Dorinocco royalty, and his bearing was that of a king's. Suddenly Annie understood why the ladies-in-waiting had chosen her ball gown. The blue was the same shade as Liam's jacket.

Annie was certain that even Liam wouldn't be able to resist Gwennie's allure tonight, but he never glanced her way. Instead, he kept his eyes on Annie, and the look he gave her made her heart beat faster. As he took her hand to lead her to the stairs, Annie gazed into his
eyes and realized how much he had come to mean to her. She had never felt so strongly about anyone before and she wondered if this might actually be love.

When Gwendolyn reached the top of the stairs, Annie heard a collective gasp as everyone in the ballroom saw her sister at once. Liam squeezed Annie's hand and she smiled up at him. She no longer cared if every courtier in the castle ignored her. Liam was hers and he was all she wanted. Walking to the stairs hand in hand, she felt a warm glow inside of her that calmed her nerves and made her confident enough to go on.

Liam paused on the landing and gave Annie's hand another reassuring squeeze. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered, sparking a ripple of happiness that started at her heart and washed through her. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but just then the herald announced their arrival in a loud and carrying voice.

When Liam turned to face the crowd below, Annie followed his example. A sea of strangers dressed in their brightly colored finest filled a room at least twice the size of the great hall at home. Turning back to Liam, she saw that his grin was genuine and it gave her the courage to descend the stairs, one slow step at a time. They were only partway down when she noticed that the crowd was moving as if currents carried them from one side of the room to the other, redistributing them by gender. Many of the men seemed to be drawn like
cats to a dish of cream located near the foot of the stairs, while the women moved to get out of their way. Annie glanced down and saw what was drawing the men. Just as she suspected, Gwendolyn was the cream.

Annie and Liam had scarcely reached the bottom of the staircase when a young man took Gwendolyn by the arm and escorted her to the center of the room. From the glimpse Annie had caught of him, the young man appeared to be her cousin, Prince Ainsley. The floor around them cleared as the musicians at the far end of the room struck the first notes and Ainsley took Gwendolyn in his arms.

They were dancing one of the more modern dances like the one Annie had danced with Prince Andreas. Although it was a new dance, both Ainsley and Gwendolyn seemed to know it well, and they swirled across the center of the floor so gracefully that it was hard to look away. Annie did, however, noting that while the men were watching Gwendolyn with great longing, the women's eyes looked angry or disappointed.

The first dance had ended when Liam pulled Annie into the center of the floor. As the music began again, other couples joined them and soon they were caught up in a swooping, spinning romp across the room. They passed Gwendolyn and Ainsley twice. The prince's eyes were fixed on Gwendolyn's face with such adoration that it made Annie uncomfortable, but her sister
seemed more interested in watching the other dancers around them.

When the dance ended, Annie leaned close to Liam and said, “It's time I start what I came here to do. I'm going to see if I can find that girl.”

“Fine,” said Liam, “but I'm going to claim you for another dance in a little while.”

“I certainly hope so!” said Annie, and slipped off into the crowd lining the sides of the room. She walked among them smiling and talking to the women and girls while making polite excuses when men asked her to dance. Although she couldn't deny that she loved dancing with Liam, she was there to find the girl who could lead them to Moonbeam… and from there to that evil dwarf!

Everyone seemed friendly at first, welcoming her to Floradale and asking about Treecrest. Most of the girls seemed to be around her age, although some might have been a few years older. Annie decided that the women who were with them were mostly their mothers or aunts, and were there to encourage a match between the prince and their charges.

Everywhere she went, Annie bumped into people or brushed up against them in unobtrusive ways, watching to see if anything about them was altered by the disappearance of magic. A few girls changed slightly; one's nose grew longer and another's beautiful hair became lank and dull. Neither change was drastic
enough to have warranted a fairy's last-minute intervention, however.

As she walked among them, Annie couldn't help but overhear snippets of conversations between people who didn't realize that she was there. She learned that she was right about the older women. She also learned how much they resented Gwendolyn.

“If that princess hadn't shown up, the prince would have been dancing with you right now!” one mother told her daughter.

“No one stands a chance with that princess here!” exclaimed another.

“Two princesses coming to the ball when we weren't expecting any! Why did we even bother to come?”

“You're both much prettier than the younger princess, but no one can compete with the older,” said a woman with her back to Annie. When her daughters shushed her and pointed, she turned and saw Annie. Acting as if she'd done nothing wrong, the woman curtsied so low that her black wig shifted on her head. “Hello, Your Highness,” she said. “Welcome to Floradale.”

“Thank you,” Annie said.

“My name is Lady Lenore Fauxliette, and these are my daughters, Lady Wilhemina and Lady Zelda.”

“She called us ‘ladies'!” the larger girl whispered to her sister in an overloud voice while jabbing her with her elbow. When her mother turned and glowered
at her, the girl lost her smile and looked away. The other girl, as tall and thin as her mother, gave Annie a simpering smile.

“We're delighted that you were able to grace us with your presence this evening,” Lady Lenore continued. “Unfortunately, it's awfully hot in here and will be getting hotter as the night goes on. Perhaps you and your sister won't be staying the entire evening?”

“I'm not sure how long we'll be staying,” said Annie, trying to think of a way to leave the woman without being rude.

Lady Lenore was unable to hide her irritation when she said, “I see. Your sister seems to be enjoying her dance with our dear Prince Ainsley. She is aware that he is her cousin, isn't she?”

“I know people who married their cousins,” said the larger girl, who was heavier, but had a nicer demeanor than her pinch-faced sister.

“Willie!” snapped her mother. “Don't speak unless you're spoken to! I'm sure the princess doesn't want to talk about such things.”

Annie had had enough. She wanted to make her excuses and leave, yet she hadn't forgotten why she was there. It seemed highly unlikely that a fairy had used magic to help either of these girls get ready for the ball, but she might as well make sure.

“It was lovely to meet you,” she said, and leaned forward to kiss Wilhemina on the cheek. When she
stepped back, the girl looked surprised, as if she hadn't expected Annie to talk to her, let alone kiss her. But then Wilhemina lurched forward to plant a forceful kiss on Annie's cheek, surprising the princess with her vehemence. When the girl didn't change in any way, Annie turned to Zelda and kissed her cheek as well. Nothing happened. It wasn't until Lady Lenore looked as if she wanted a kiss that Annie said good-bye and walked away.

Annie was determined not to get caught up in another such conversation if she could help it, but suddenly two men were standing in front of her. “I am Lord Weatherby,” said a large man with loud, booming voice. “May I have the honor of—”

“I was just about to ask her, Weatherby,” said a smaller man with intense, dark eyes and thick, bushy eyebrows.

The two men were glowering at each other when a third stepped up, brushed them aside, and led Annie onto the dance floor without even asking. “I apologize, Your Highness, but I didn't think you wanted to witness their argument. Those two argue over everything, and are too tedious for words. My name is Lord Camril and I am the best dancer at the ball, other than Prince Ainsley, of course.”

“I'm delighted to meet you, Lord Camril,” Annie said, wishing she could have escaped him as well as the other two men.

“So what do you think of our fair kingdom?” he
asked as the music started and he led her into the first steps of the dance.

“The parts I've seen of it are lovely,” said Annie.

“And what parts have you seen?”

“We came through the Dark Forest in the south.”

Lord Camril looked confused. “Don't you mean the Black Woods? They are lovely, but they're located in Montrose to the west of here. I went there once to hunt wild boar with my uncle, who was a friend of the king. We never did see any boar, but we did meet a family of dwarves who owned a mine. The entire family worked in it. Wait, I do seem to recall another forest with a similar name to the south. It's much smaller than the Black Woods, and not nearly as interesting. Look! There's Weatherby dancing with the younger Simplin girl. He does look angry, doesn't he?”

Before Annie could ask Lord Camril about the dwarves, the dance carried her away, handing her from one partner to another until she finally ended up with the nobleman again just before the dance was over. Seeing Liam waiting for Annie, Lord Camril bowed to her and was about to leave when Annie stopped him, saying, “Those dwarves—what else can you tell me about them?”