Nadine Book 4

53. Elek Borin

I almost sit down when that prince who asked me out is in my space. "Will you dance with me?"

"Of course sir."

"NO."

"Tye it's a dance."

Asa looks at me. "You already insulted him. He's probably going to throw you on the floor."

I'm kind of hurt that he would do that.

"I won't. It wasn't an insult. She's to young. She doesn't even know what she was saying."

"I'm not that young."

"That's not what I meant."

Momma and daddy crack up laughing.

"I'm only asking for a dance."

Asa loses it. "They can't communicate in the slightest Aurelia."

"Let them try. It is hilarious to watch."

"I'm not dancing with you. You think I'm a little girl."

Half my tables laugh.

"I'll throw you in the air."

My eyes pop open and I stare at him.

"He'll throw you on the floor, princess."

"I'm not that mean. I promise I will catch you."

Drake stands at the bottom of our tables. "Will you dance with me?"

"Yes."

He smiles and roams away.

"Why was that easy for him?"

Thora sits up. "You see how big he is, right?"

Tye is instantly pissed. He slams his hand down and glares at Thora.

I look at the man. "I know Drake. We've danced before."

Asa shakes her head. "He's not going to throw her on the floor."

"I'm not going to throw her on the floor."

Thora crosses her arms. "We don't know that."

The man rubs his eyes.

"I will dance with you sir. But if you drop me, Tye will stab you."

Omar looks at us. "Tye might stab him anyway. You might want to pick another one."

"Fine. Dipak will stab you if you drop me."

Dipak nods. "I will stab you if you drop her."

"HE IS MY PRINCE BACK OFF."

Thora's got her finger in an usher's face.

Momma rolls her eyes. "We don't hurt the ushers. And by rule, he has to dance with a princess. So sit down."

She slams herself down and crosses her arms.

The usher says something to Marcus and then turns to Tye.

"DON'T YOU EVEN LOOK AT HIM."

Tye laughs finally.

Momma stands up. "Enough girls. This is a standard dance at any ball. There are a lot of families here. It is a dance. They will come right back. And no more threatening the ushers. They are only doing their jobs." She sits back down.

The man smiles. "One dance. I will bring you right back, and I promise not to drop you."

"I will dance with you."

"Thank you."

One of my servants smiles. She's elegant and happy. She can tell she loves being dressed up. "You get to pick from chicken, boar, or fish."

"Chicken. Thank you."

"And you, sir?"

"Boar, thank you."

"My pleasure." She holds the gown and curtseys. Then she seems to float off smiling.

"Well, they are happy."

"Yes they are babydoll. I have to dance with someone else."

"WHAT?"

"You have to dance with 2 more. I only have to dance with 1. But all I want to do is cuddle with you."

I love him.

An usher comes and gets Marcus. Thora glares at him. But she lets Marcus go.

When he gets back, Drake comes up to my table and holds out his hand. "Thank you. These girls are afraid of me."

Tye nods.

I get to the dance floor as another prince finishes his boring ass formal dance. "Princesses are stupid. Why be afraid of someone for no reason? My brother was even smaller than me, and he was the mean one."

Drake spins me right then. "They're not afraid of me. I wanted to dance with you. They're boring."

"Tre and Tye say they're doorknobs."

"They are. In some ways, I'd rather bring an actual doorknob."

Then we get announced on the floor. Kane stands by a corner of the floor, but he's the only one who comes out. And he seems to be more interested in the usher than me.

He starts off formal. "You remember last time I danced with you?"

Then he spins me and switches to another dance. "You kept switching dances on me."

He switches dances about 10 more times in 2 minutes. I try to keep up. Then he takes me back to Tye.

Tye stands up and Drake hands me off. "Always nice when I don't have to tell them their shoes are pretty 300 times."

Tye nods at him.

I lift up my dress a little. "But they are red and sparkly."

All my boys and Drake say, "You have pretty shoes." At the exact same time.

"I don't even think any of them glanced at your shoes." Thora about falls out of her chair. She's laughing so hard.

I shake my head and sit down.

"Thank you for the dance."

"Thank you Drake. You're always fun to dance with." Drake leaves and then an usher comes for Tye.

He kisses my hand. "I will be right back babydoll. Then we can eat, hopefully."

"I'm hungry too."

I watch him dance with a princess. He is formal with her. That is boring.

He sits down and winks at me. Then his little sister gets announced to the dance floor. He jumps back up. One of the younger princes from that group we had in our sitting room is dancing with her. He heads back out to the dance floor.

Tre gets up and follows him. "That whole group is pissing me off."

I watch them. Tre and Tye stand at a corner of the dance floor and watch them dance. 2 guards from the Yanin village stand by the floor too. My boys walk them back to her table after the dance. Then Tye yells at his parents. They point at me. The boys come back.

Tye sits down beside me and rubs his eyes.

"You ok, sir?"

"She's to young."

"Oh she's not to young to dance. And that little boy tried hard to make sure her dance was nice."

"I should stab him."

"I'm pretty sure you and Tre already scared him half to death. Standing over him like that. He's a little boy like she is a little girl. Both trying their best to be royalty and fit in. He was probably trying to pick a princess that wasn't super old for him. That has to be awkward for kids."

"Yea maybe. I'll kill my parents if she has a date at the next ball."

"I doubt that. Your dad is very protective."

He nods and the servants sit our food down. "Thank you. It's lovely."

"My pleasure." The servant glides away acting royal.

"You gave them jewelry and ball gowns, babydoll. They have never been fancy. And they are girls, so they are happy."

10 minutes later, the servant comes back. "How was everything this evening?"

"It was wonderful. Thank you." She takes the plates and glides away.

The prince, who I don't know the name of, holds out his hand and I take it.

I stand up and seem to get my shoe or my dress or something caught in the chair.

Three servants run over and kneel down. They mess with it. "I am giving them high heels next."

Mary shakes her head. "Oh dear God no. They have never had heels on. They will be falling all over the place."

"We could bet on who would be the next one of us to get taken out by a servant trying to walk."

The servants pop up smiling at me. "All better."

"Enjoy your dance." They glide away royally.

I stare at them for a few seconds, and then back at the prince. "I'm good now."

He leads me to the waiting line. There is a prince dancing formally with a girl on the dance floor.

He spins me. I smile and put my hand on my stomach.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry."

"Didn't you eat?"

"It's hard to eat with this. It takes me twice as long as everyone else. And it was rushed. You think they would let me hide in a sitting room and actually eat? Maybe one of the boys brought some grapes or something. Usually I eat before I come to these, but I was doing the servants' hair and forgot."

"You do servants' hair?"

"They like to be fancy too."

"I can tell by the gowns and jewelry. They seem happy. They jump to action whenever anyone needs anything. I might give ours some fancy dresses for balls too."

"It was my idea. I designed it. Even the necklaces."

"Very nice." He spins me again. "What was up with your date and that other one running to the floor on my brother?"

"That's Tye's little sister. He's not ready for her to be around boys. He went and yelled at his parents after that."

The man smiles.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Elek Sandro Borin. And you are?"

"Hypatia Nadine Sandu. Everyone calls me Nadine."

"Well then I am Elek." Then he leads me on the dance floor.

He puts his hand on my waist. He is cute. I love his eyes.

He winks at me and dances formally. Then he spins me a couple of times.

"What was that other one he did? He grabs my hand and pulls me into him backwards."

"Oh the twirl." I spin away from him, but don't let go of his hand.

"Yes. That's different. It is neat."

He spins me and twirls me a couple more times, then he grabs my waist and throws me in the air. He catches me and I giggle. "You do like being thrown."

I nod so fast.

He smirks and does it again. He catches me. Then he puts me down and starts twirling me and spinning me. He's fun.

Then he throws me up in the air really high. I nearly hit the ceiling. He catches me and puts me on my feet as the song ends. Everyone cheers.

I jump up and down. "AGAIN!"

"Nope. No." Kane shakes his head. "3 was enough. I nearly fell over dead on the last one."

I keep jumping. "But yes, Kane."

"No. Your dance is over. You go back now."

I stop jumping and shake my head.

"Take her back. We will be standing here all night."

Elek leads me off the floor. I give him a dirty look. He turns his head, so I don't see him laughing.

Tye helps me sit down. "Seemed like you had fun."

"I wanted him to throw me more, but he wouldn't."

"I'll throw you more later babydoll."

"Now they are doing group dances. This is going to take forever too." Thora rubs her eyes.

The first group goes out to the floor. They dance and do the switch partner thing. "They are putting the couches up Thora."

"I didn't see that. Those are nice."

A Borin servant comes up behind me. I nearly jump out of my skin. I did not see her coming. Which is weird, she is in white, and we are in black. I really should have seen her. Everyone is staring at me.

"Sorry ma'am, I did not mean to startle you."

"It's fine. I wasn't paying attention. How can I help you?"

"Prince Elek sent this for you." She puts down plates of meat, vegetables, and bread.

"Wow, thank you."

"I will let him know you said thank you ma'am." I start eating the meat.

Tye raises his eyebrows.

"I told him I was hungry."

"Are you?"

"Yes I'm starving."

"Why didn't you say something before?"

"It was rushed, and I'm slow with the veil on. They always take the food. I didn't even notice I was hungry until I got out there."

"You eat. Take your time. This should take a long time anyway."

I tune the dancing out and eat. I eat until I'm full, and my servants take the food away again.

After a few minutes, the ushers show up and tell us we're next.

Omar stands up. "No one throw her. You will wear the food she ate."

"Thanks for the warning."

Tye takes my hand, and leads me down.

None of the boys twirl or spin me. They also don't throw me. I give Tre a dirty look.

He winks and hands me to Marcus.

Marcus dances formally with me, and spins me slowly. I smile at him. "I'm giving you back to Tye, so it's fine."

Tye smirks. "Enough of that."

I laugh as we go back to the couches.