The Promised Dance

All of the guests, including the King and the Queens were now gathered in another hall. A melodious music could be heard throughout that hall. Few of the guests were already on the dance floor, paired up and swaying their hips and twirling. The whole atmosphere was fun and enjoyable.

King Dragomir was dancing with his beloved daughter Adeline. One reason was because it was her birthday, and another reason was that he did not want his Queens to feel jealous and envious of each other. So in the end, he decided that it would be best if he did not dance with any of his wives but just the birthday girl.

As the King was dancing with his daughter, he could not help but think about his beloved Auvera. He looked at Adeline with eyes full of love and whispered, "You look so much like your mother Adeline, except for your eyes of course. You remind me of her so much."

Adeline smiled but behind her smile there was a hidden sadness. She wished that her mother was here with her, looking after her and sharing laughs with her. She wished that she could do everything with her mother that a mother and daughter would do together. But this birthday wish of her was an impossible one.

"Father, how was mother like as a person?" Adeline asked her father with her curious eyes. She would ask this question a lot when she was still a kid but after she grew up, she had restrained herself from asking this question. Adeline did not want her father to feel that he was unable to give enough love to her. But tonight, for some reason, she was missing her mother very much.

King Dragomir's eyes started to dilute as he started to recall Auvera, the times he had spent together with her, and how he had fallen in love with her. "Your mother was a very kind hearted person Adeline. She was the most caring and loving person I had ever met in my life. She was my support, my hope, and my love."

Dragomir took a deep breath in and then continued, "But I don't know why God was so cruel with her. She had never ever harmed a living soul, and God was cruel enough to take her away from this world."

"I am sorry that you had to live without a mother." King Dragomir caressed his daughter's silver hair. Though Auvera's death was not his fault, he felt like somehow it was because of him and felt guilty.

"You don't have to say sorry to me father. You also lost your love. We both lost someone dear to us. Hopefully, she is in a good place now." Adeline smiled at her father but her sapphire eyes were full of tears, ready to fall down any time.

Nigel was standing a little further from the dance floor. He was standing with Prince Fenris. And both of them were constantly glancing in the direction where Adeline and the King were dancing, but for different reasons altogether.

Nigel had questions for Adeline which was eating him up from the inside. While Fenris was spellbound by Adeline's beauty and just wanted to have a dance with her.

After dancing with Adeline for some time, King Dragomir was already exhausted. His stamina had dropped lately. He did not know why but he would feel exhausted really quickly these days.

"I think I should go and rest for today. You should enjoy the dance." Dragomir kissed Adeline on her forehead and then stepped away from the dance floor.

Nigel was waiting for his father to take a leave from the dance floor because he really had to ask a few things to Adeline. He did not have the patience to wait until the whole ceremony was over.

Fenris noticed that there was an opening to dance with Princess Adeline. He smiled while gazing at Adeline and took steps towards her. However, Nigel had ran past him and reached in front of Adeline in a matter of few seconds.

Prince Fenris was confused as to what just happened. "Why did he run like that? What? He is now dancing with Princess Adeline… when I was going on and on about how much I wished to dance with her the whole time I was talking with him… I'll see him later." Fenris stomped his feet and returned back to where he was standing before.

To others, it seemed like a normal dance between a brother and sister but the whole atmosphere around the two of them was tensed up. Nigel had so many questions for his sister, and Adeline did not know where and how to start explaining things to him.

Finally, Nigel broke the silence and asked in a concerned voice, "Adeline, you can also see the Devil, am I right?"

Adeline knew that this question was coming her way sooner or later. She puckered her lips and then nodded with a bit of guilt feeling. Nigel was the closest to her and yet she had chosen to hide something from him.

"Since when can you see him? And why are we the only ones that can see him?" Nigel slowly started to open the pandora's box, asking the questions that would change his life forever.

This question from Nigel suddenly made a huge question click inside Adeline's mind. "Wait… why can I see him when I am a human? He said that he could perform a spell to hide himself from humans, but why can I see him?"

Before, when she was a kid, she just took it for granted that she was the only one who could see him. He had not given any reasoning and she never really thought about it either. But today, she remembered him mentioning something about veiling himself from humans.

And with all the preparations going on for the banquet, that sentence's impact never really got inside her mind. Now that Nigel particularly asked that question, she felt an uneasy feeling in her heart. "What am I? And what is brother Nigel?"

Nigel saw that Adeline was lost in her thought. But he wanted to know what was going on so he grabbed her attention, "Adeline, why are we the only ones that can see him? And what was he even doing in your room?"

Adeline was a little embarrassed when Nigel asked her why he was in her room. But she decided to completely ignore that question and said, "Remember when we were kids I used to tell you a story about my strange dream? A dream where I had travelled to a mountain's top and met a handsome Prince called Theodore?"

"Yeah I do remember… but what has that got to do with the question I am asking?" Nigel furrowed his brows and lines could be seen on his forehead. He was really confused.

Princess Adeline took a deep breath before finally saying, "Well, it has everything to do with the question that you are asking. Because all of it was real and not a dream. And Prince Theodore is the Devil."

The tensed face from Nigel's face lifted and he felt like some things were starting to make sense now. "So you really were taken to the Devil's Cave when you were kidnapped. And the kidnapper was none other than General Osmond… Then why did you never say anything against him? Why are you still getting trainings from him?"

Nigel could feel this strange feeling building up inside of him. It was anger, not just anger but fury, fury towards the kidnapper of his beloved sister.

But Adeline calmly said, "Theodore told me that General Osmond was acting on someone else's order. He told me to trust Osmond, so I put my trust in him."

"Then who was the real kidnapper?" Nigel asked in a furious voice.

Adeline could sense great changes in her brother. She had never seen her brother getting this angry. She felt like if she told a name, he would rip their throat apart right now. The aura that was coming off from him was very dangerous.

But even Adeline did not know who the real kidnapper was. Theodore had not told her anything more when they had met the last time, which was decades ago. And they were yet to catch up on many things. "I don't know who the real culprit was. I think Theodore knows but I have not got the chance to ask him."

"He was in the room with you and you did not ask that one important question? How can you even be so calm when you know that the one who tried to hurt you is still walking freely?" Nigel was now angry at his own sister.

"Whoever that is, they will not roam freely for much longer…" Adeline narrowed her eyes and spoke again, "And as for why we are the only ones who can see him, I have a hunch... because we are not pure humans."