Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(43)

Luca gave me a strange look and Marybelle commented.

“It sounds like you have a big fan here, Cynder.”

I’d gone too far again. In trying to speak up for the men, I was inadvertently showing favoritism. Something I really shouldn’t be seen to do.

“I hope so. I’m a big fan of hers.” He looked me right in the eyes as he spoke, and I had to look away to stop my heart from fluttering wildly in case, by some weird miracle, the people could see how he made me feel. Luca grabbed my hand—another act of ownership. I wanted to yank my hand away, but a hundred thousand people would see, so I had to smile and pretend I didn’t care.

“How did you and the queen first meet?” asked Marybelle, not picking up on the tensions between the three of us.

“She was preparing for the ball last year and had been working so hard that she missed dinner. She came down to the kitchen to get some food, only to find me dancing around the kitchen doing the dishes. I made her something to eat.”

“Ok, so she missed dinner one night, and she was hungry. We all get that, but why did she keep coming down? Word has it that this is when you began an illicit affair.”

My insides squirmed, but I couldn’t butt in now. The raucous crowd quietened considerably, both sides eager to hear what he had to say. I held my breath as he spoke.

“Yes, I can’t deny it! We began a torrid love affair.”

I could hear the crowd’s collective intake of breath. My heart hammered in my chest as I took in what he was saying, and I almost didn’t notice Luca’s hand gripping mine so tightly it was cutting off circulation.

Even Marybelle seemed lost for words.

“Really?” she squeaked.

“No, of course not. She came down for my cooking. She’s already told everyone what happened.”

I breathed out in relief, and Luca finally let go of my hand that had turned purple.

Marybelle’s expression changed from one of pure excitement to one of acceptance. She’d just lost the scoop of the century. Served her right.

“Surely, she could have eaten dinner with the rest of her family after that first time?” continued Marybelle, trying to eke some juicy morsel of gossip out of him.

“She said she liked my cooking. The head chef that worked in the palace at the time made a lot of very rich foods and the queen, or Princess Charmaine as she was then known, wanted something a bit different. With me, she could pick what she wanted rather than what was on the official menu.”

“She came down for the food? Every night?”

“Every night until the ball.”

“What else did you two do when you were down in the kitchen alone?”

“We danced.”

Marybelle perked up considerably at these words. “You danced?”

My heart fell at how this would sound. I’d not coached Cynder on what to say, so I couldn’t blame him, but I was hoping our dancing wouldn’t come up at all. To feed me meals was one thing, but for a kitchen servant to be dancing with the future queen was something else entirely. It proved a closeness I didn’t want to admit to publicly.

“Can you show us what you danced like?”

“I don’t think so. We’ve both been out of practice for a while now.”

“Come on. The people want to see, don’t you?”

A loud cheer went up. At least, they were all on the same side about something.

I was just about to jump in and say no when the whole crowd began to chant in unison.

“Dance dance dance.”

My heart dropped as I realized it was not something I was going to be able to avoid. They were chanting as one, their voices in unison. It was the first time I’d ever heard Magi and non-Magi come together over anything before.

Cynder stood up and crossed the stage to me. He held out his hand. I could see that he was as nervous as I felt. This could go so badly wrong, and we both knew it.

“I guess a few steps can’t hurt,” I said aloud, giving a quick smile to Marybelle. A few quick steps would be enough to make the crowd and Marybelle happy without giving the appearance of closeness.

I shrugged quickly at Luca, hoping he would understand I’d once again been backed into a corner by the media. His expression was unreadable.

Every time I’d ever danced with Cynder had been a magical experience, and yet now, I felt sick with nerves. I remembered a quaint little dance my old dance teacher had taught me and which Cynder and I had practiced for a short time. It involved little to no touching and was perfect. I whispered the name of it quickly to Cynder, and he nodded.

He held my hand in preparation, but before either of us had the chance to move, slow music began to flow from the speakers.

Slow music which would be impossible to dance this particular dance to.

I gulped as Cynder pulled me closely to him. The crowd cheered, but I could hardly hear them over the sound of my heart thumping. Just like that, we were back in the kitchen again, just the two of us. I rested my head on his shoulder without even thinking and our fingers entwined. I knew these steps without thinking. There was no name for this dance, but it was ingrained within me. I could dance this way with Cynder in my sleep. He twirled me slowly around the stage while a battle raged within me. I knew I needed to stop what we were doing, but as always, when dancing with Cynder, I was spirited away to a magical place, and I couldn’t stop. Eventually, the piece of music came to a close and Cynder pulled back, breaking the spell. Before I knew it, Luca was in front of me, his face like thunder. In front of a hundred thousand people, I’d messed up in the worse possible way. Again!