Action Behind an Apology

Caio thought back to the invitation that had arrived at his residence that morning. It was an imperial invitation from the emperor, indicating that he would make an official announcement at the upcoming ball and all of his concubines would be in attendance. He already had an inkling that Alessandro may do something like this during the general assembly with the ministers. And it caused him to be even more on edge because it would propel 20 on the spotlight – which may put her in danger again.

That's why he went to the palace well ahead of his scheduled meetings, so he could talk to her first. And that led him to now, looking at 20 staring up at him with a confused expression as they stood on well-worn corridor leading to the pantry.

'Why do we need to go together?' I wondered, totally at a loss now. Balls were attended only by the royals and nobles; everyone was well aware of that fact. The last time was an exception, and I assumed 1 only did that because he wanted to confirm my identity. But that matter had long since been settled, so there was no reason for me to attend a ball anytime soon – or ever.

"All the concubines are invited again," Caio answered, taking out the invitation card from his jacket and handing it to her. 

'Huh,' I openly mused with a grimace. Now I had no idea what was going on in 1's mind. Even with his promise not to keep things from me any longer, he sometimes had the habit of talking in riddles and using cryptic words. And because I was bad in both, half the time I didn't know what he really wanted to say.

"Look at the bright side," Caio coaxed her. "At least you'll get a lot of good desserts."

I grinned. 'Yes, that's definitely something to look forward to.'

"So I'll pick you up outside your room on the evening of the ball, all right?" Caio said, and I nodded with a smile.

*****

"20, where are you?" Alessandro asked. He had just finished a very tedious meeting and had pushed back the next one to an hour later. He didn't have enough energy – and patience – to deal with it right away. And since he was technically on a break, he figured it might be a good chance to catch 20 and continue their interrupted conversation from this morning. She could always ignore him if she was busy. He grinned – actually, she already did that quite often enough. He didn't need to tell her. 

'At the main hall,' I replied. Since the ball was only a week away, Madame Leone had made the list of corresponding tasks to prepare for it during lunchtime, effective immediately. And that's why I was at the main hall this afternoon, because I was assigned to mop and polish some sections of it for the upcoming social gathering.

"I'll meet you there," Alessandro said, striding out of the meeting room. When he arrived, he saw 20 at the center of the main hall, mopping the floor with a pail of water beside her. Streams of the bright afternoon sun shone through the giant glass doors on the other side of the room, and they shone like flickers of diamond dust in the air.

'Aren't you supposed to be at work?' I chided 1 as he walked towards me. 'Why did you want to meet?' I paused from my task and set the mop against the pail so it wouldn't fall, and I turned to him.

Alessandro chuckled. Trust her to call him out whenever she felt the need to do so – which happened regularly. "I am on a break, you know," he informed her. 

'So why did you want to see me now?' I insisted, realizing that he had only answered my first question.

"I wanted to continue our talk from where we left off this morning," Alessandro replied, suddenly turning serious. He took a deep breath. There was probably no better place to ask her this question than here. "Would you like to go with me to the ball?"

I cocked my head to one side. 'Oh, but I'm going with Caio,' I replied.

"What?" Alessandro was outraged. "Why would you go with Caio?"

'Because he offered to be my escort,' I said matter-of-factly, surprised to see how upset he was.

"How could you have accepted his invitation when I asked you first?" Alessandro felt more than slighted at the notion and he took another deep breath, this time not to gather this courage but to calm himself down.

'No, you didn't,' I pointed out.

"Well, I was about to!" Alessandro shouted, losing any semblance of his cool temper. 20 could rile him up in just a few words, something no other woman was ever able to do. "But you cut me off, don't you recall that?"

Now that he had mentioned it, I vaguely remembered him asking me something, but I interrupted him halfway through because Ara was knocking on my door. 'All right, it was indeed my fault.' I bit my lower lip. 'I'm sorry.'

"That's not enough," Alessandro countered softly.

'What?' I gawked at him.

Alessandro took half a step forward, bringing him mere inches away from her. "I said that's not enough," he whispered.

'What do you want me to do?' I scoffed, trying to ignore how close he was.

"Dance with me." Alessandro used his forefinger to tilt her chin upward so she was forced to look at him directly in the eyes, instead of keeping her eyes on the floor. "At the ball, you have to dance with me first."