As the evening wore on, Simon found himself feeling oddly uncomfortable. Every time he looked at Odette, a peculiar feeling would come over him. It’s like I’ve… forgotten something. Something important. It didn’t help that Odette was behaving strangely. She seemed bored during the ballet performance, and she barely touched her dinner afterward. Perhaps she is just worried that Bartholomew will show up. Simon couldn’t blame her; the threat of Bartholomew stopping their attempt to break the curse hung over him too. Still, he had never seen her behave this way before. She replied distractedly to his attempts at conversation, and she kept tapping her fork in an impatient way. I’ve only known her a little while, but she’s never struck me as an impatient person. But was it really so odd? She had been waiting a long time to be free of Bartholomew; impatience was to be expected.
When the dinner ended and the dancing began, Odette finally relaxed a little. She accepted his arm, and they stepped onto the floor together. Simon felt his heart thumping harder than normal; he had only held her this close once before, the night he promised to break her curse. She had been nervous, but her cheeks had flushed a delicate pink color, and she had not been able to completely hide her smile. Now, though, she smiled back broadly as she twirled around the dance floor.
“You seem different tonight. More confident,” Simon said.
Odette flashed him another brilliant smile. “We have slipped out of Bartholomew’s grasp, and I am going to be free. Why shouldn’t I feel confident?”
“To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up here to try and stop us. He was invited, and no one would question him. He is too influential in local politics.”
“It does worry me that he hasn’t tried anything. The sooner we break the curse, the better. Do you have a plan in mind?”
Simon nodded. “It’s still early, though. I want to introduce you to my mother, and she will be networking for at least another two hours before we can get close to her.”
Odette frowned. “My time this evening is limited. I must be back on the lake before the moon goes down. We’ve already wasted enough time.”
Now it was Simon’s turn to frown. “I thought you were looking forward to it.”
A strange emotion flitted across Odette’s face, but she masked it so quickly that Simon couldn’t be sure what it was. She gave him another broad smile and tilted her head to one side. “I am just anxious to be free of the curse. To be with you. I have been waiting so long.” Simon nodded again, but that vague sense of uneasiness was creeping through him again. Odette was ignoring him now, looking around at the guests. “Is that your mother?” she finally asked, pointing a slender finger toward the front of the hall.
Simon looked around and spotted his mother standing in the middle of a large group of people. “Yes. Like I said, she will be too busy to talk for a while yet. We should enjoy ourselves until then.”
Another frown, this one more like a pout. “She can’t be so busy that she wouldn’t make time for her only son. We should go over now.” The music ended at that moment, and Odette slipped her arm through his and tugged. Simon suppressed a sudden urge to sigh and allowed her to steer him off the dance floor.
Regina did not look at them as they approached the group of people she was chatting with. She’ll ignore us until she has squeezed the last bit of potential out of her donors, as usual. For once, Simon didn’t mind. He opened his mouth to suggest dancing again, but Odette had let go of his arm and was gliding around elbows to the inside of the circle. She straightened her shoulders when she got there and cleared her throat. Regina turned to her, one eyebrow raised in mild surprise.
“Mrs. Vanin?”
“It is Ms. Vanin,” Regina said, her tone cool. “Who might you be?”
“My name is Odette. I am here with your son, Simon.”
Regina’s expression shifted to one of interest. “Really? Simon, where are you?” The people in front of him parted, and Simon reluctantly stepped forward. “Is this the young lady you were telling me about earlier?”
“Yes,” he replied, trying to ignore the staring of the other guests. Some of the most influential people in Boston were in this group; several council members, a few members of the state government, the head of the wealthiest bank in the state, and… Holy… that’s the mayor! If anything counted as a “moment of importance” for breaking a curse, this surely had to be it. So why don’t I want to do it? I love her, don’t I? What is going on with me?
“Simon actually has something rather important he wants to tell you,” Odette was saying, now standing close to his mother’s elbow.
“Well then, I’m sure Simon would prefer to wait until we can talk more privately. As you can see, I am rather busy at the moment.”
The conversation continued, but Simon was no longer listening. A movement across the room had caught his attention. It was the small group of dancers who had performed the excerpts from the ballet earlier. He watched them as they chatted, specifically the dancer who had played the role of Odile, the daughter of Rothbart, sent to decoy Prince Siegfried into declaring his love for her instead of Odette. Simon watched her for several moments, that same odd feeling tugging at him as though something was trying to push its way into his consciousness.
He felt his eyes widen suddenly as he realized at last why the evening had been so strange. Without another word, he turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could for the exit.
Comments (0)
See all