Chapter 16- Welcome to the elites ball

Bloyd's POV

Chapter Soundtrack: Middle Of The Night by Elley Duhé

When we stepped into the ballroom, I was immediately captivated and stared in awe at the grand hall. Its ceilings were high and had lots of chandeliers that illuminated the huge room. I could not bring myself to guess the amount of money that would go into building such a hall and decorating it so beautifully. A billion dollars, I guess. 

When finally, my attention was brought back to the room, I took in the sights of beautiful ladies in the room all dressed in their finest dresses with their hairs carefully styled. There were a variety of dishes, sweets, desserts and drinks being paraded around by the servants. I signaled a servant over and he obeyed with a good natured smile on his face.

"I'll have one of those. Thank you." I picked a champagne flute of Madeira wine from his tray and Arabella copied my attention. She looked anxious and her eyes fidgeted around. Anyone who would see her would be quick to point out her low confidence. It irked me. 

"Enjoy the party, misses." The servant curtsied before the both of us and walked away again. Arabella tudged on my dress lightly.

"You seem to be the spotlight of the party. Look. Everyone's staring at you."

I glanced around and true to Arabella's words, almost all the ladies in the party had their eyes on me. Some in judgment and jealousy of my daring dressing, others in admiration of my dressing. Arabella was right. I was the star of the moment. Just exactly as I wanted. 

Bloyd, the Alpha Assassin is back. Y'all better get ready. 

"Alcot was right. You look absolutely dashing in that dress." Arabella drew my attention back to her. Her face had an admirable smile as she eyed my dress again. "Who would have thought the school's tomboy would look this breathtaking in a dress?"

I rolled my eyes at her and looked away before taking a dainty sip of my drink. Arabella followed. 

"Are you planning to spend the entire evening, copying everything I do? Go ahead and interact with the other girls."

"Only if you come along with me."

"Jezz. What are you? A child?"

She raised a brow at me, sending me a are-you-serious look.

"Are you kidding me? This was the reason I asked you to come with me to the ball in the first place. Do you think it was easy convincing my brother to let you set foot out of the castle?"

Her words caused the memory of the day I had my escape-encounter with Alcot and let him kiss me. For the hundredth time whenever I recalled that moment, an unwelcome sensation of lust and want for him washed over me. I bit my bottom lip slightly and shook my head at the thought. I shouldn't be thinking this way about him. Not Alcot. No. Not him. 

Luckily for me, I was interrupted from my thoughts when a group of girls walked towards us. Their eyes raked my body from my head to the soles of my foot and their noses churned in hatred. They moved their eyes to Arabella and she seemed to shudder at the sight of them, her fingers gripping into the sides of her dress. 

The girl in the middle, a pretty redhead, crossed her arms over her chest and eyed Arabella with a small smile of mischief playing on her lips. 

"I see you finally attended the party with your new friend."

Arabella blinked and her body looked tense. She faked a shaky smile. 

"Hi, Riley."

Oh, that was the bitchy ex friend?

"You shouldn't have come to the party, Bella. You're only embarrassing yourself. You definitely look out of place." Riley replied with a thick tone of sarcasm and the rest of the girls laughed. Willow, who was standing a few feet away from us, talking with some other ladies pretended not to take notice that Arabella was being bullied. 

I tried to look away too and pretend none of this was my concern but Riley's next action was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"Who even styled your hair? Didn't your new friend tell you how horrible it looked on you? Let me fix that for you." Riley's hand reached for Arabella's hair but my hand was quick to catch her hand by the wrist, stopping her from doing whatever she planned to. She glared at me, both in shock and detest.

"Don't you even dare."

Riley struggled to release her hand from my grip but my hold was tight and hard against her wrist. She could hardly move her hand. 

"Let go of me!" She raised her voice at me in a tone of command but I returned it with a smirk. She could tell by the look in my eyes that I was enjoying every moment of my grip mercilessly pinned against her wobbly hands.

"I'm going to warn you. It's going to be my first and last warning. If you try as little as to touch a strand of her hair, I will break your pretty hand. I will not repeat myself again. Do you understand me?"

She did not break eye contact with me. Hers were burning with rage and her teeth were clenched together. She looked red in the face from anger and embarrassment. 

I raised my lips in a lopsided grin again before releasing her hand. She snatched her hand away as soon as I let her go and gasped to see how light pink the area I had grabbed was. 

"Oops. I guess I must have gripped it too tightly. A cold ice over the area would do." My smile widened and she stared at me as though she had met a psychopath. She backed away from me.

"This is not over." She seethed at me before storming away with the girls. Arabella stared at me incredulously and opened her mouth to say something but I shut her up by stealing her drink from her hand.

"I need to use the washroom."

"Let me come with you." 

"No." I handed the two empty champagne flutes to her. "Stay back and enjoy the party. You deserve to have fun as everyone else."

Her face fell but I ignored her and walked away. A servant described the way to the washroom to me and I followed the path. When I got to the washroom, I washed my hand under the sink and dried it off while staring at my reflection. What was I doing, letting myself get swooned by the son of the man who ruined my life and the life of others? What was I doing standing up for the daughter of my parents' murderer? I shouldn't be attending a damned party with a descendant of a Tarium. I should be attending their funeral instead.

My finger gripped against the sink and I dragged in a few deep breaths. After tonight, I will have my chance again. I would not allow a descendant of the Tariums make me waver on my quest. Never. 

I straightened my posture again and walked out of the washroom but as soon as I stepped out of the door, a voice, lurking in the shadows stopped me to my heels. Its whispers came behind me, all-knowing and a recipe for disaster.

"Bloyd, the acher. Trained by Wallace Graham. Daughter of a Nectar pack peasant. The only survivor of the Red Moon infant massacre."

My blood instantly ran cold and my heart stopped beating at that moment. The world seemed to halt as did my heart beat.

"I know your secret."