Daydreams with the Devil

The Chairman's Waltz

It was as if time stood still for them, even the storm causing chaos beyond the ballroom walls seemed to still momentarily, as if holding its breath.

As if waiting, just like the entirety of the ballroom was, to see what was to happen to the traitor that had been caught by the guards, forced to her knees before the King, who had to ultimately decide her fate.

Unlike most criminals, who would drop their head in shame if caught, she kept her head held high, her emerald pupils boring into his brown. Between them, there seemed to be an unspoken challenge;

Well? What are you going to do?

The king stood, his back straight, looking down his nose at the traitor that had been slithering the walls of his castle and for the briefest of moments, his facade slips. There's a sort of sorrow in his eyes, a sort of sadness that if given a second more, we would have deciphered it, but with a blink, it's simply wiped away.

"Take her to the dungeons."

There was no emotion to his voice, the words ricochetting off the walls. He holds her gaze for a few moments more, before being the first to turn away.

She, however, didn't seem to expect this. The smirk that she wore mere moments before fell away, the confidence behind her eyes faltering to the same emotion that the King had; only she didn't disguise it as well.

Betrayal.

The guards pull her to her feet, dragging her away from the ball and she doesn't give any resistance, her eyes boring into the side of his face. As the music starts to swell once more, life was breathed into the room again and the castle was alive with the sound of music and dance.

He looks back at her, once.

And only once.

-

03/03/21