Lycan Alpha's Witch

4 - Our secret

“Dear esteemed guests, I am truly honored you have all undertaken such a long journey to join us for tonight’s evening. As you all know, this is an important event for our kingdom. It will make our kingdom stronger against our enemies. As queen I am delighted that tonight is the long awaited engagement ball of our princess. My dear daughter, Valencia, has finally reached the golden age when a witch needs to get married. And it is tonight that she will make that choice. So, dear wizards, do not hesitate to approach our princess and show her your sincerity!” The queen’s speech was, as always, very admirable and powerful. And here I was, down in the ballroom, while she was up on the top of the stairs, sitting in her mighty chair.

While giving her speech, her shadow was almost touching the tips of my shoes. It was a psychological show of power. She looked more powerful than anyone else in this room. All the guests were gulping every single word of hers as if it was the most delicious ambrosia nectar.

I turned my head away and took a sip of the champagne I was holding in my hand the whole time. In fact, it was at least my third glass already and I wasn’t planning on stopping. This evening was only survivable when one could disappear using any excuse present. I gulped down the whole glass at once, ready for another one. If I could use being drunk as an excuse… Anything would work. I just needed to get out of here as quickly as possible, preferably single, without getting engaged.

“Princess, would you do me the honor of a dance?” A yellow-haired wizard bowed down with his arm stretched out to me. Well, he was the first one to find me among the crowd, no matter how much I was trying to hide. I could give him at least that credit if nothing else. His fashion sense wasn’t down to earth at all. His hair was bright yellow, the same color as a four-year-old kid would use to draw sun with. His white pants and formal jacket with a cummerbund in bright blue. Was he really trying to play a happy sky on his own?

“Thank you, baron…”

“Delvey.”

“Baron Delvey. However, I am not a good dancer as it is and I have chosen an awful pair of shoes it seems. It even pains me to be standing. If you’ll excuse me, I will go sit down.” I uttered with an annoyed smile on my lips and walked, trying to sneakily dash, away, leaving him there hanging. I wasn’t going to dance with anybody. Not a single man. I wasn’t getting engaged, no matter how much my mother wished for me to do so this exact evening. But no matter where I went, there were more and more annoying wizards, all dressed in weird colors, with weird hairstyles and awfully unnatural hair colors.

“Princess-”

“Sorry, another time.”

“Princess!” I sped up walking. I had already stopped counting how many times I had heard this.

“Sorry, busy.” I quickly evaded the wizard who was trying to catch my attention. I picked my skirt up and ran through the whole ballroom. I opened the double-winged glass door, which was a part of a window stretching from the floor to the ceiling a few meters high, and slipped away from everything.

At least the guards would let me have a few minutes of fresh air without letting anyone in. It felt like I could finally breathe here. I slowly walked to the edge of the terrace and took a breath of fresh cold air. I was finally alone. It was quiet. Nobody was calling out to me, there were no annoying faces right in front of me. Our hidden floating castle was currently above some big water mass, perhaps an ocean, which the moonlight was reflecting in our garden. The water in the fountain not far from me looked almost silver as the trees looked green and not their usual black in the dark night. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my mana flow. Everything was so calm, only my mana was out of hand. It was frantically flowing in my body, even giving me goosebumps. I needed to calm down, or else my magic could get out of hand.

“Ahem, your highness…”

“NOT interested.” I shut down another wizard just before he could say anything more. I didn’t even bother to turn around to see what he looked like. Or who he was. I didn’t care. He would be another crazy-looking dude with maybe even green hair color and definitely brown shoes, impersonating a tree perhaps.

“I believe that was a bit rude to that guy back there.” A different voice, with a mocking tone, talked to me. This was the first time someone actually didn’t try to get my attention in a weird sleazy way. My curiosity made me turn around. It was a wizard, who didn’t look as bad as the ones before him. He was wearing simple clothes, unlike the others. Just a handsome tuxedo, white shirt, but no clan insignia anywhere. He was taller than the average, I would dare say he was even a few centimeters taller than me!

“And you are?” I raised my eyebrows, not recognizing this person.

“A secret. Between you and me.” He put a finger on his lips while smiling mischievously.