“Ah, a Tajanian three step. Yes I recall the steps for that one. One, two, three, and?” He stepped back on his right foot and led her as promised. Heloise may not be the crowning jewel of Oscaria, but she had the same skills as her sisters. Dancing may not be her favourite pass time, but she was graceful enough due to the many hours of practise she’d had with her governess. More than proficient to keep up with the tall Wraith King. 

“You are very graceful your highness.” 

“As are you, Princess.” He chuckled and they turned elegantly around the dance floor. They were not alone, of course. Her parents were also dancing, and many of the ton had deemed it was appropriate to do so as well. “Now are you planning to flatter me on my form next? My foot placement? My rise and fall?” He released her back to twirl her on the spot three times and then flamboyantly snapped her back into hold. “Or might I be graced with your motive for inviting me?” 

“I am happy to be honest with you your highness, though, there is no doubt that your form and foot placement are without fault. However?” They changed direction and he twirled her whilst they turned together in an arch. “Your rise and fall could use some work.” Heloise blushed, and he laughed with mirth. 

“You could attest that to our height difference? We are not well suited for ballroom. If you could be persuaded to dance something a little more from the South of the equator, well, then you could make some lovely shapes as I span you around my shoulders.” Her cheeks matched his hair and she flustered at the thought. He span her to full extension on his left arm so they danced in parallel with her right hand in his left. His right went to the small of his back and her spare hand elegantly lifted her skirt. 

“I-I do not doubt your skill for a moment, your highness.” She did her best to keep up with his larger stride as they continued to dance the moves side by side. “But I fear lack the training or constitution for such a thing.”

“What a shame.” The Wraith King chuckled and lifted his eyes to see Ishtan and his wife part on the dance floor. The crown prince was clearly intending on capturing his sister’s left hand to pull her into hold with him. “I am still waiting.” 

“What for your highness?” 

“Your motive.” The Wraith King turned 180 degrees and seamlessly reeled Heloise back into hold. Without missing a beat he continued to turn with her around the dance floor. His black cape billowing spectacularly with each twirl, as did her brown skirt. “Why have you invited me here in an untraditional and borderline scandalous fashion?”

“Like I said a moment ago your highness? I am more than happy to be honest with you.” He lowered her in hold to pose with her neck exposed, before lifting her back up to continue their dance. “But the dance floor has many eyes and ears.” 

“Oh, you wish to speak in private? Perhaps your game is that of seduction then, Princess? How salacious of you?” He chuckled, his orange-tinted lips making his smirk seem feistier. 

“N-not seduction, your highness.” Her heart raced, and not from the fast pace of the Tajanian three step with such a tall partner. “Nor do I suggest that we are alone when we speak. I do not aim to cause a scandal for either of us. Please believe me.” She looked him right in the eye and hoped he believed her. They released each other to stalk around each other with their arms down by their sides. 

“Then what do you want Princess?” He smirked at her and periodically took in his surroundings. Many noble Lords appeared to be more interested in watching his every move, than their own dance partners. Heloise was right. The dance floor had many eyes and ears. He smirked and every lady on the floor stopped so their male partner could come to stand behind them. Heloise blushed at the feel of his left hand in hers as he raised it to rest on his shoulder. Normally the lady’s hand was held in the usual hold position. This was far more intimate. Especially when he didn’t take her other hand, but held her waist. “Because I do not like games, unless I am the one playing them.” Despite this variation in how he held her, which definitely sent ripples around the ton, he still led her as they turned together around the dance floor. “So speak frankly, before my interest wanes.” 

“I wish to speak frankly your highness.” She gulped and now the Wraith King wasn’t filling her vision, she could see the worried and judgemental eyes of the ton, and her family, watching her every move. “Simply, out of earshot.”

“Oh, is that all?” The Wraith King chuckled and leaned closer to her right here. “Stop dancing in three, two, one.” He used his hold on her to force her to stumble to a stop and the strangest sensation came over her. Static like her hair generated on cheaper fabrics, but a thousand times stronger, ballooned though the air from where she and the Wraith King stood. She gasped, finding herself inside a bubble of sparks. Like tinted glass, she could see that everyone outside the bubble had stopped moving. 

“…I…have seen magic…but nothing like this before.” She was in awe and raised her right hand to touch it. 

“If you don’t mind losing your fingers, go ahead.” He giggled and Heloise turned on the spot, snapping her hands to her bosom. She shuffled back toward him and the centre of this magical bubble, where there was the most space. “I can maintain this for quite some time, but I’ll be far too bored to do that in about…” He made a show of looking up and doing fake math. “Two minutes. That’s how long you have before I drop the spell and walk out of here.” 

“Oh, goodness, only two minutes.” Heloise flustered and moved her hands from her chest to press to her navel. Hoping to quell the swarm of butterflies in her stomach. 

“Less than two minutes now.” He teased her and dusted off his lapel. 

“Okay.” The pressure was on. So much was resting on her not to fail, it felt unfair to have ‘less than’ two minutes to make her case. “I am a Princess of Oscaria, and the only royal daughter who is unwed. I have a royal dowry, and when my nation isn’t utterly desperate, I have a very agreeable temperament. I will make a very dutiful wife, and I am not strong-headed. I would not be a difficult wife and-oh yes, I come from very good stock. As you can see, my family produces multiple heirs easily enough. As would I as-” 

“Stop.” He pressed a gloved finger to her thin rounded lips and sniggered at her. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it almost sounds like you’re trying to ask me to marry you?” Her honey brown eyes darted down to his finger on her lips, so he moved them so she could answer him. 

“Yes.” He blinked and waited for the punch line. “I had a whole speech planned as to why it would be advantageous for you to marry me, but with less than two minutes I can hardly-”

“Wait.” The Wraith King put his hands together like he was begging her to spare him and his orange-tinted lips smirked on the other side of his fingers. “So, to be clear, you invited me here with the hope of giving me a speech full of reasons to make you my Queen?” 

“Yes your highness.” Her cheeks were flushed and she struggled to come across as the strong woman she was trying to be. Her nerves were strife with anxiety. This was not going accordingly to plan at all. “I intended to be very persuasive.” He raised a cheeky brow. “V-verbally.” She blushed even deeper and absently brushed her hands down her brown skirt. “Correct me if I am wrong, but you have a whole kingdom and no heirs. I am from a long uninterrupted royal bloodline and would give you many children.” He pressed his clasped hands to his mouth and canted his head and black crown to one side curiously. Well? He was certainly entertained by this little brunette, that’s for sure. “I would never undermine you and be most content to follow your lead. I have had the best education money can buy and am most accomplished. My skills include-”

“Your two minutes are up.” He chortled and parted his hands to splay his fingers towards the time bubble around them. 

“D-don’t say no right away, your highness. Would you not do me the courtesy of thinking about it?” He couldn’t wipe the smile from his orange lips. “I could write down all the reasons why I would make you an excellent Queen. You could read it at your leisure? We could certainly enter a courtship first?” 

He narrowed his orange and yellow eyes on her, as well as his triangular pupils and she hoped for a moment he was considering it. Her expression was hopeful and she clasped her hands over her chest. 

“You realise I am a monster?” He lowered his hands and leaned right into her personal space with a crazed grin that showed off the points of his teeth. “An unholy creature of the abyss that revels in the suffering of my enemies?” 

“You are a King.” She countered, lifting her chin despite wanting desperately to cower from the gleam in his eyes. 

“So my crimes are excusable?” He served right back at her. 

“Your crimes are no different to my father’s.”

“How so?” 

“He uses his armies to do the very same as you do with your magic. The outcome is the same. Enemies killed and made an example of.” 

“Do you know that I killed your uncle? Crushed his skull with my boot?” Heloise swallowed thickly then. “Doesn’t that bother you?” 

“My Uncle was a vial man, by all accounts.”

“As am I?” He chuckled, enjoying that she hadn’t simply surrendered at the first sign of his chaotic nature. “What happens if someone comes along and puts their heel through my eye sockets?” She flinched at the graphic imagery, but held his mad gaze regardless. 

“Firstly, I have done my research, and I don’t think such a force exists.” He giggled in his throat at her nervous admission. “Secondly, if that were to happen, your Kingdom would currently be without anyone to take the throne. W-with me as your wife, I would dedicate myself to the purpose of providing you with heirs for just such an eventuality.” 

“Hmmm.” He folded his arms and stroked his chin curiously at her. She’s not the fool I thought she was. She’s thought this through. “Ah?” He released his chin to point at her. “But if no force exists that can vanquish me, then why would I have need of heirs? I am immortal, after all.”

“An eternity alone sounds very lonely.” His faltered at her soft reply. “I may not be immortal, but surely your children must be? If they take after you? Even if they are not, they would then have families and you would never be without heirs or companionship that is your own blood. Is that not something everyone desires one day, regardless of lifespan? Companionship?” 

He folded his arms and glared down at her. Heloise worried she’d crossed a line. “I meant no offence your highness. I was simply-”

The Wraith King flung his hands outward and the time bubble popped. The ballroom gasped at the sparks that launched up through the air as the spell was burst. To onlookers, it would have looked like one moment Heloise and the Wraith King were in hold, and the next they were facing one another and lighting sparked up towards the ceiling. The orchestra screeched and twanged to a sudden stop. Everyone dancing huddled back with their partners warily. 

Before she knew it, Heloise was alone in the middle of the dance floor with the fiery Wraith King. 

“Thank you for the dance. It was…entertaining.” He chuckled at her and dramatically bowed before her. Heloise hurried to curtsey and hope still lingered in her honey brown eyes. “I will depart now.” He announced to the hall. “I thank Oscaria for her gracious hospitality. Farewell.” Heloise took a step towards him, hoping to ask him to stay a while longer, but he raised his right hand and clicked his fingers. 

Winds howled, tousling everyone’s hair, skirts and coattails. The candles all flickered out for a moment to cast the hall in darkness, and then he was gone. As dramatically and eerily as he arrived, the Wraith King left. Immediately the ton erupted with gossip and Heloise found herself faced with her parents. The King and Queen made a show of congratulating her for being so hospitable to their guest, but she could see in their eyes she was in a lot of trouble. Behind closed doors she would hear of this. Likely first from her parents, and then from her older siblings a well, from the way they looked at her. 

And it was all for naught. I failed to convince him… 

Once the party was well and truly concluded Heloise sat by her vanity table, her chambermaid helping her to undress as her father the King unleashed his wrath at her. She nodded and apologised in the right places, but already her mind thought about what she would try next.  I could write to him again? But this time I’ll list all the reasons he should make me his Queen. I could invite him to take tea with me next time. Perhaps he isn’t one for large events like today…though he can certainly dance well, for a tyrant. 

It’s as the saying goes? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The most powerful warlock of all time is everyone’s enemy, and so as his wife, Seclya wouldn’t dare to invade Oscaria. But how do I convince the Wraith King that he should ask for my hand? 

Note from the Author- 

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