I felt like one or both of them wanted to ask me something. “What?”
“Is Madame Jacqueline still intent on showing this off at the New Year’s ball?” Shelly asked, with a knowing smile.
I nodded. “She’s already designing something fabulous, apparently. I don’t know why she’s so obsessed with it.”
“You’re a noble with a rather large tattoo, my lady,” Gerta said as though I might not have noticed. “I highly doubt she’s had the pleasure before now. Come on, let’s get you to bed. Are you chatting with Miss Jenn and Miss Bea tonight?”
I shook my head as Gerta and Shelly helped me out of the dress. “Nope. I wasn’t sure what we’d be doing with Lina and Faith in so late.”
“All right. Well, you have a nice relax and sleep as late as you want, my lady. Nikolai will let us know when you need us.”
“If I have tomorrow to myself, do you just want to come past in time for ball prep?” I asked.
I saw them exchange a look, then nod.
“If you’d like, my lady,” Shelly said.
I nodded. “I think I’d like tomorrow.”
They both smiled and gave me a curtsey with a, “Good night, my lady.”
“Night, Gerta. Shelly.”
They headed out and I wondered what I was going to do with almost eighteen hours of free time. The possibilities at that point seemed endless.
Chapter Fifteen
“Now presenting…” Larry cried, his stick pounding the floor twice as he shot me a warm grin, “Lady Tatiana Bethany Penrose, second daughter to His Grace Maximillian Arturos Penrose, seventh Duke of Genovich, escorted by His Royal Highness, Prince Dominic.”
“You’re lucky they didn’t pull out the full name for me. Bertold doesn’t usually go down so well.”
“Bertold?”
“My middle name.”
I let out a nervous snort. “Your middle name’s Bertold?” I whispered to Nico.
“Shut up,” he chuckled as he took a step forward and I followed.
Rex had insisted that one of his boys escort Lia and me for our presentation as close family friends. But it would have been a little unseemly for Dmitri to escort Lia, so Kostin had done the honours and that left me with Nico.
There were so many people. Like Nico, some of the men wore their dress uniform and others wore white tie, and the women wore various colours and styles of ball gowns. There was a polite smattering of applause as we walked in and the hush that fell actually awed me.
After looking at myself in the mirror, I was under no delusions that I was at my most beautiful or anything. I mean, I looked nice. Madame Jacqueline had done an amazing job with the dress and I did look stunning. But I looked about as me as I had for the last three weeks. Honestly if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was looking at a life-sized picture of Lia, not my reflection in the mirror.
Still, this wasn’t actually about me. Not as a person. This was about what I represented. For Dad. For Lia. For Rex and Hilde. For Gallyr. I didn’t have to be in the spotlight, but my life wasn’t completely my own anymore – as evidenced by the multitude of camera flashes that went off as Nico and I stopped at the top of the stairs.
“You ready for this?” he asked me.
“Not in the slightest.”
I felt his hip bump mine gently. “I’m with you. Every step of the way.”
I looked at him and we shared a warm smile. “Thank you, Nico.”
His eyes were soft and his smile sincere, there was no hint of the playboy prince. He was just my friend. “Always, Anya.”
“Lady Tatiana!” Rex cried and there was a polite titter of laughter among the cheers and raised glasses.
As tradition dictated, I curtsied low and slow before Nico led me down the stairs. That sweeping grand staircase was as nerve-wracking as I’d expected, but Nico was there for me every step of the way, just as he’d promised. As we alighted off the last step, the quartet started up and we started the first dance with every person in the room with their eyes on me no doubt – and I felt them all.
All in all, that first dance could have gone a lot worse than it did – I only stepped on his feet twice, and he hid it wonderfully as we smiled and laughed and put on a good show for the cameras and assembly of unknown people gathered at my unveiling. It seems all that practise had actually paid off.
“You okay?” Nico asked as we twirled.
I shrugged. “I think I just remembered that I know about ten people in this room. And that kinda sucks.”
Nico’s smirk came out loud and proud. “I’ll make sure we document this night the way you’d rather remember it.”
“Getting drunk and taking awkward selfies?”
His smirk widened. “If you like.” He looked at me, an almost tenderness in his eyes. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“You know, Nico…” I started.
“What, Anya?”
“You might not be everything I thought you were.”
“I suspect the feeling is mutual,” he said with a cheeky grin and I lost my footing as I laughed.
He caught me as we paused in our dance. I looked at him for a few moments with a smile until he whirled me back into the dance and finally other people started joining in until I felt like we could get lost in a sea of bodies. Which was totally preferable to me.
“Mind if I cut in?” a very recognisable and welcome voice said and Nico halted our progress to pass me off.
“Not at all, Uncle Max.” Nico gave us a short bow, then disappeared among the dancers.
Dad picked up almost seamlessly from Nico, and he was wearing a look of immense pride on his face.
“Dad…” I started. “I know I haven’t been all you’d hoped for–”
“Tati, stop,” Dad said softly as we spun among the other dancers. “The whole Arnell thing…”
I nodded. “I cocked up.”
“Tati,” Dad hissed, looking around and I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t…cock up. If anyone cocked up, Arnell was the one who cocked up.”
“Can we stop saying cock?” I asked him and we shared a smile.
“My point is, Tati, I was harsher on you than I should have been.”
“Oh my God, was that almost an apology?” I gasped sarcastically.
“Quite frankly, you handled the situation with a singular sense of aplomb. As Rex’s advisor, I can’t condone it, obviously–”
“Obviously.”
“But as your father, I think you did well.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
“In both capacities, I think you look stunning tonight, kiddo. You came down those stairs like a vision and I haven’t been as proud since I saw your sister walk down them three years ago.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you, Dad.”
“Thank you, Tati, for being such an amazing young woman. Who, I believe, deserves a beer.”
“Oh, now that I can get behind!”
Dad smiled and manoeuvred us out of the dancers.
But of course, a beer meant that we were in prime position to talk to people. This wasn’t so bad when it was people like Rex and Hilde who complimented me and gushed over me. Or people like Faith and Lina and Lia who smiled and said I looked beautiful and they were very impressed I hadn’t fallen down the stairs. Or even people like Nico and Kostin where we chatted amicably for a few minutes before I was claimed by someone else.
It was slightly more terrible when it was people like Lord and Lady Chatswold, whose noses were so stuck up they may as well have been holding them up themselves. It didn’t help that, when they were introduced to me, I thought Dad had said he was the Earl of Branvich. And anyone who knows their history of Gallyr knows that the Earl of Branvich is so very much not Lord Chatswold that he is in fact Lord Chatswold’s enemy. But I figured as soon as I’d turned around with that beer in my hand, nothing would have put me in a good light with them anyway.
“Wel
l, aren’t they lovely,” I muttered as they moved on and Dad fought to hide his snigger.
“We are barely a quarter through the night, Tati. Try to delay your frustration, yes?”
I huffed. “Fine, then make sure I lay off the alcohol for a while.”
“Duke Genovich. Lady Tatiana.”
I looked up and saw a very handsome man who still somehow gave off seriously dull vibes, standing with an older man and woman and another younger woman, who smiled at me like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to or not.
“Lord Barr,” Dad said, inclining his head and I was already going through who the hell these people were.
Lord Barr was the son of Lord Hastings, so the young woman with them was probably his sister, which made her…Lady Roseline…?
“Pleasure to meet you, Lord Hastings, Lady Hastings, Lord Barr, Lady Roseline,” I said with a curtsey, telling myself my feet weren’t actually hurting.
“Pleasure, Lady Tatiana,” Lord Hastings said, losing a tiny bit of that annoying smugness.
“You look so much like your sister, my lady,” Lady Hastings said.
I nodded. “So, I’m told. Our colouring is a perfect mix of our father and mother apparently.”
“Oh, is your mother here tonight?” Lady Hastings looked around.
“No. She couldn’t make it unfortunately. But she will be here for Christmas.”
“Oh, how lovely.” Lady Hastings looked far too nice to be stuck with a man like Lord Hastings who I’m sure had just imagined what was underneath my dress.
Although he wasn’t the only old, lecherous noble I’d noticed that night. Not that they had to be very old to get a bit leery.
“I have heard you’re to go to GNU next September?” Lord Barr asked. He really was very nice looking, in a boring sort of way.
He was all classically handsome with hazel eyes and light brown hair swept off his face. It was like putting Sam Heughan in a suit and realising he lost everything special about him. Yes he was a gorgeous man, but in a suit he was no more gorgeous than any other gorgeous man in a suit. And Lord Barr was just like that.
I pulled my mind away from where it wanted to start thinking about Tom Hiddleston in a suit and nodded. “Uh, yes. That’s… That’s definitely the plan.”
Lord Barr smiled. “What are you planning on studying?”
I gave Dad a quick look and answered honestly when he nodded. “Ideally Film Studies,” I said.
Lord and Lady Hastings obviously had very strong thoughts about the appropriateness of my chosen degree. Lady Roseline looked like she’d walked in on her brother naked. And Lord Barr just gave me an amused smile.
“You want to be an actress?” Lady Hastings asked as though such a thing were scandalous.
And I’d had just enough to drink and was just nervous enough that I barked a laugh. “God, no!” I shook my head vehemently. “No. I want to be on the other side of the camera. Writing preferably.”
“You’re a writer?” Lord Hastings asked and I was sure that was worse than if I’d said I was an actress.
“Not really. I want to write film scripts. Although I’m yet to finish one. Maybe that’s a sign it’s just not meant to be,” I giggled awkwardly and wanted to slap myself upside the head.
“Well, I’m sure that’s part of what study is for, is it not?” Lord Barr said, looking at his parents. “Finding our true path.”
Lord Barr was getting a little more attractive the more he opened his mouth.
We all talked for a little longer, then I had to move onto the next lot, and the next, and the next. The list was never ending.
Some I did all right with. Some I stuck my foot in it almost every opportunity I got. And some, like with Lord Barr and his family, I trode a fine line between uncouth and passable. Still, when Kostin asked me to dance, I was just pleased to spend some time with someone I felt relatively normal around.
“You seem to be doing wonderfully, Anya,” he said. There was warmth in his tone, but his face was settled in that politely robotic neutral.
I waggled my head. “Eh, I win some and I lose some. I’m yet to spill anything on anyone, or tread on someone other than Nico or…you,” I added as I almost trod on his foot, “and nothing’s caught on fire.”
“See? Wonderfully.”
“I don’t know how you do it, Kostin.”
His eyes lit up sympathetically. “We were born into it. We don’t know any different.”
“Lia wasn’t and look at her.”
We both turned to see her looking every part the Disney princess. Her dress was a soft purple, with a wide marshmallowy skirt and bits of lace and silk and floaty stuff I didn’t know the name of. She stood straight, her arms never at awkward angles, her smile never too big or too small.
“I envy her.”
“You and Lia have different strengths, Anya, that is all.”
I smiled at him. “True. But at least her weaknesses aren’t in danger of setting anything on fire.”
A small smile broke through the mask for a second. “If you set anything else on fire, I’ll follow suit so it looks intentional.”
I laughed. “Thanks, Kostin.”
“We’re like family, Anya. I have your back.”
“Right back at you.”
We danced for a while longer, sometimes talking about stuff and nonsense and sometimes not talking at all. I smiled, feeling the most at peace I had all night away from Dad. Kostin just had that effect on me. He might have been half-robot, but I felt calm and settled and normal around him. Then it was time for me to do more rounds.
I got through a few more people before I saw General Arnell. I did actually look around to judge the likelihood I could get away from him. But the odds were not in my favour.
“Lady Tatiana,” he said as he bowed.
“General, what a pleasure to see you again.”
He looked me over like that bad smell he couldn’t get out from under his nose and I seriously didn’t know what his problem was.
“And you, my lady.”
“General. Lady Tatiana.”
Oh good, just what I need.
“Your highness.”
Of course the bow Arnell had for Dmitri was less low than it would have been had Dmitri not been in that uniform that did indeed, in Jenn’s words, make me want to rip off his uniform and explore his body with my tongue. Thankfully, Arnell spoke and I wasn’t thinking about that – as much – for long.
“I was just about to tell Lady Tatiana how beautiful she looked. Don’t you think, your highness?” Arnell asked.
Dmitri looked me over so slowly I felt it. I didn’t even care whether that was his intention or not, but I did. Finally he inclined his head once.
“Ja. Madame Jacqueline is very good at her job. She is lucky that Lady Tatiana has the bearing to pull off one of her creations.”
I literally bit myself so I wouldn’t start my next sentence with, ‘I’ll pull off your…’
“Indeed.” I had the sneaking suspicion Arnell did not agree.
“If you’ll excuse us, General. I owe Lady Tatiana a dance.” Dmitri bowed to the general, then extended his hand to me.
I looked at it like a stunned mullet for a moment, then took it, curtseyed to Arnell, and let Dmitri lead me to the dance floor. He brought the hand he was holding to his shoulder, before placing his on my waist and taking my other one.
“I feel like I should thank you for saving me,” I told him as I tried to control the wild fluttering in my heart.
Dmitri’s head incline suggested I didn’t have to.
“Ah,” I said slowly. “You were worried I’d make a scene? Perhaps discuss your balls in front of him again?” Oh, I shouldn’t have been discussing his balls in front of him!
Those dark brown eyes shone, but the rest of his face only held a hint of humour I don’t think I’d have seen if I wasn’t so close to him. “That was not all I was worried abo
ut.”
I looked down for a moment and nodded. “I don’t think you need to worry about Mr Passive-Aggressive over there. He’s much better at playing the low-key insults.”
“Indeed.”
I looked back up quickly at that tone. “What?”
Dmitri couldn’t seem to meet my eyes. “I did not want to allow him a chance to insult you again.”
“That’s actually almost nice of you. Unless you just wanted that honour for yourself?”
He actually smiled at me. It was small, but it was there. “Nie. I’d rather not allow myself the chance to insult you either.”
“Oh,” I pouted sarcastically, “but I do so enjoy our little arguments.”
And there was a short laugh before he got it under control. He murmured something in Gallyrian, then said, “Well, I would hate to let you down,” as though translating what he’d said.
I had a feeling that wasn’t the literal translation, but it covered it.
I danced with him for a little bit longer, then excused myself with the usual charade of needing a drink. Only I totally did need one because, even though it was minus God knew what outside, I was boiling. Dmitri pulled away from me gently, bowed to me and escorted me off the dance floor.
“Dakke, Tatiana,” he said.
“Di nanda, Dmitri,” I replied and he nodded almost like he approved.
I found myself a glass of water and saw the door to the patio. As I made my way over, I smiled at people politely, but kept moving. Finally I managed to slide outside and found the blast of cold air and muted noise refreshing.
I looked up at the sky and let out a deep breath, fairly impressed with what I’d achieved so far.
I still needed to work on my clumsiness. My work with Mrs Lukin was far from over and I promised myself I was going to make a more concerted effort starting the next week.
But it was official. I was a Lady. Capital letter ‘L’ and everything.
And that was only the beginning.
Now Presenting
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Now Presenting (I'm No Princess Book 1) Page 15