Althena

49. Royal Party

We get outside the ballroom door and I freeze. "Why is this so difficult?"

"You're worried about being judged. But don't worry. You got this. Back straight. Head up. Walk with purpose. Who are you going to?"

"Mike."

"Then walk to him. Don't worry about anyone else. Take a second to find him in the crowd. Then lock your eyes on him and go. Walk with purpose and remember to keep your head up."

I step into the ballroom and there have to be at least 150 people in here. I scan the crowd for Mike. I hear a dish break but don't let it break my focus. Then I see him. He smiles and winks at me. I smile and walk as tall as I can. I hear Clayton and Chris crack up laughing across the room.

Then an arm gets wrapped around me. "We haven't seen you in so long. How are you, sweetie?" It's Queen Anita Gold.

"Queen Gold. It has been awhile. I'm lovely. How are things with you?"

"Don't be so formal child." Then she looks at Darmon's fiance. "Thena is the daughter I never had." Darmon is missing. He's not even here. His fiance doesn't seem to like me. She is staring daggers.

Clayton and Chris do it again. Then, suddenly, Mary is standing with us. "Isn't my stepdaughter lovely tonight?"

"Absolutely stunning. She was always beautiful though. I remember her when she was 15, getting her hair done in my shop. That was the first time we met. I knew there was something special about her then."

Mary pulls me away. "There's plenty special about her."

"Obviously. She's a princess now. You must be so proud."

"We are." Mary pulls me away from them. I'm happy to be away. I spot Mike again and walk towards him.

Storm and Drogon cut me off this time. "Dad, leave her alone."

Storm stares at me. "It really is you."

"Yea. I'm me."

"You kids lead double lives nowadays." He roams away.

Drogon nods. "He'll be alright. Do you need a drink?"

"May..."

"Can we talk?" Darmon is right beside me.

I stare at him for a second. "No. No, thank you. You're not worth my time. Goodbye." I leave them standing there. I will get to Mike tonight.

"OOOHHH"

"OUCH." Chris and Clayton cheers on juice cups.

I see Jax out of the corner of my eye. He goes for them.

Then my dad grabs my arm. "This is King and Queen Stone from Eldervale."

"It's lovely to meet you."

"You as well, princess."

"And these are their sons." I feel myself sigh and Clayton, Chris, Conner, and Jax laugh. "Princes Dacious, Atlas, and Cyrus."

"It's nice to meet you, gentlemen."

One of them kiss my hand. "It's our pleasure." He doesn't take his eyes off me. I can feel the heat in the room go up 10 degrees. He is sexy, and I don't know who is who. "Will you dance with me?"

"Yes." I step towards him. It's like his eyes are pulling me in.

"No." Dad is rubbing his face.

"No?"

"There's no dancing right now. There's no music. You have to wait."

He winks at me. "We'll dance later."

Chris pulls me away. He says, "Always with the princes." under his breath.

I get to Mike. "I made it."

"That was a hell of a trip, babygirl." He puts his arm around me. "Only got sidetracked by one prince. I'm proud of you."

I smile and lay my head on his shoulder. "It wasn't even Darmon."

They laugh and Chris goes back to his viewing area.

We get something to drink and I get some crackers.

"You hungry, baby?"

"A little. I ate fast and not enough."

"Yea, we were rushed. Can you bring her something more than crackers?"

"Yes, sir."

We sit at a little table off to the side and eat. "You are sexy as hell, woman."

Clayton and Chris burst out laughing. No idea why.

"Not beautiful?"

"You're still beautiful. But you upped the sexy level with this outfit. Damn near gave me a hard on when you walked in."

I put my finger in front of my lips. "Shhh."

"Always so cute when you're shy. I love everything about you."

"I love everything about you too. Like how your c*m tastes."

He chuckles. "You turned so red."

"I'm trying."

"I know. I love it. And I love you."

"I love you too. I'm so glad you're here. I was lost without you. There's no way I could have done this alone. I never want to be without you again."

"We'll figure it out, baby. I don't want to be without you either. We'll get there."

There's a weird noise and someone screams. I glance over in time to see a chandelier falling. I don't even have time to react. I throw a shield up before it hurts anyone. It bounces off the shield and crashes to the ground. I put my hand down quickly. "I'm going to pretend that didn't happen."

"Probably for the best." He eats a piece of meat. "That was insanely good reaction time though. You saved the 3 princes from getting hit. I wonder why it fell?"

"Is granny or Phira here?"

He laughs. "Yes."

"I'm surprised it wasn't my dad they were trying to kill."

"It may have been. He was there too, but he ran for it."

"IF IT ISN'T THE QUEEN WHORE."

"I had better do something."

"Right behind you."

I throw a shield around Mary before she can move. Then I shield everyone. They're all stuck in place. Nobody expected this.

"Hi, sweetie. They forgot to invite us."

"You weren't invited on purpose. You keep trying to kill my dad."

"He killed my daughter. I will never forgive him."

"I'll never ask you to. I'll never forgive him either. But maybe we can move forward. He's trying."

"I'll think about it."

"We can talk more later. I've learned a lot. Maybe you'll never be friends. But I don't want to lose them too. Being civil may be the goal. I don't know."

Mike puts his arm around me. "You have to stop trying to kill her dad. He's not perfect, but he's still her dad. The only one she has."

Granny nods. "We'll go. For now. We can talk later."

"Fair enough."

Phira does something and the entire room fills up with smoke or smog, maybe. I raise my hands and blow out two of the windows, then bring the wind in. It ends up being too much wind though. It blows all the windows out. Smoke is gone though.

Phira smiles. "You're a wind magician. That's good to know."

I point at the door. "Out."

They giggle and walk out.

I turn around, and my dad is standing behind us. He has tears in his eyes. "Forward sounds good. We would like that."

I give him a hug. "We'll figure it out, dad."

"How about we start with letting the people out of the shields, baby?"

I snap, and the shields come down at once. Everyone is still in shock.

Then Clayton and Chris jump up and start clapping. "BRAVO BRAVO. What happened though?"

"We couldn't hear a damn thing."

Mike shakes his head. "We'll tell you later."

Mary runs to me. "Are you ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine. Everything is fine. They left. We can keep going. Sorry about the windows."

She nods. "Clean up that chandelier please."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mike and I go back to our food and eat again. "I think everyone knows I'm a magician now."

"Yea. I don't think we can lie our way out of that." He picks up a stone from the centerpiece. I watch it turn into a red rose. He hands it to me. "You're not the only one."

"You never said anything."

"I only found out when you were at the concert. I was talking to the crazy old magicians and they knew somehow. I don't know anything other than how to turn something into something else. And only small objects."

"It's something." I hold his hand. "It takes practice and time. I'm sure you'll be amazing. You already are anyway."

He smiles and rubs my hand. "I can't imagine how much more in love with you I can be. But I fall deeper every day."

"So do I, love."

Then I get pulled up. "Enough lovey time. The drama has died down. We need you to walk around again." Clayton pushes me a little.

Mike chuckles and kisses my head. "Have fun, babygirl."

"I'll be coming back."

"I know." He winks and I walk with Clayton.

Conner comes over. "That was a good show."

"Those old witches forced my hand. I couldn't let them hurt anyone."

"I know. You weren't ready to come out. You should send the snake ropes loose for the 2nd act."

I laugh. "I'll probably get thrown out."

"Doubt it. You're all people are talking about. They want you on the throne now."

"Why?"

"Your dad ran, and you went straight to them and protected everyone."

"It was my grandma."

"They don't know that."

I shake my head. "I'll never take the throne from Clayton. He was born for it. I was an accident."

"You're the true heir. 1st born to soulmates."

I shake my head and he smiles. Then he spins me and music starts playing. "How?"

"I was watching them get the band together. I knew they were going to start playing." He points at the band.

"That does make sense." I hug him, and he wraps his arms around me.

"This is nice."

"Yes, it is."

"No." Clayton pulls us apart. "Drama. Why are you loving on Conner? Go walk around."

"We're dancing."

"We are bored to death. Please give us something."

"I'll walk around. Maybe some drama will find me."

"Thank you." Clayton takes off.

Conner grabs me again and we finish our dance. Then Mike takes my hand and we dance. After that, a couple of other men dance with me. Then the new prince finally asks me.

"What is your name?"

He pulls me right against him. "Cyrus."

"It's nice to meet you, Cyrus. I'm Thena."

"You're new here. You've never been to another meeting of the cities."

"I'm new. It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"I'm afraid we don't. It's nearly dinner."

"Can I see you tomorrow?"

"I'll come to the event tomorrow."

"Thank you." He kisses my hand and hands it to Drogon.

Drogon pulls me towards him. I lay my head on his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. "You tired?"

"My feet are." He walks me off the dance floor and out a side door. I step out of my shoes. "I just need a minute without them."

"Take your time. I have to go back in. You looked like you needed a break."

"Thank you so very much. I do need a break."

I watch out over the back garden and take a few deep breaths.

"Can we talk?"

I look in the air and sigh. "No."

"We used to talk. You used to care about me. I want that again."

I feel my aura growing. "You had a fiance."

"We weren't engaged then."

"You would have been. You wouldn't have called things off with me. You tried to hide your party from me. You said you were going south."

"I'm sorry. It was you I wanted. But I need a Luna. I didn't know you are a Luna."

"There were a lot of things you didn't know. You never bothered to ask. You saw an orphan mutt. Someone you could take advantage of. You were too ashamed to even take me into public. Now that I have a title, I'm suddenly worth your time? You'll never be worth mine."

Mike puts his arm around me. "Go back to your fiance, Darmon. You're making a fool of yourself."

"f**k you. You're not going to get her. You are nobody." Darmon clenches his fist and steps closer.

Mike's aura expands fast. Fast enough to knock him onto his ass. "You want to try to hit me again?" He takes his jacket off and guides me towards Conner.

Darmon gets up and goes inside.

Chris lets go of Drogon. "Warning, next time, please. You about knocked me off the balcony with that one."

Clayton laughs. "Go in now. The drama is back inside."

I put my hands on my hips. "How long were you all out here?"

Chris smiles. "We followed Darmon out. We knew you would tell him off again."

"AAAHHHH" Someone screams inside. Everyone runs in.

Darmon is hitting his fiance. King Gold lays him out. "WHAT THE f**k IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Then he picks him up by the throat and drags him out.

Mary and Anita run to her. She keeps saying she's ok. But she has quite a bit of blood on her face.

Dad puts his hands up. "That's enough for tonight. Get a rescue squad here for her. Everyone but the royal party, get out."

"Awww."

"Chris, you're in the royal party."

"Oh, cool. We'll keep Drogon too. He's invested in the drama now."