Saving The Pirate (Book Two)

74. Public Announcement

Cora was standing outside of my door, looking at her feet. When she saw me, she instantly looked worried.

"You're crying," she said. "You went down there, didn't you?"

I wiped away my tears and looked down at the floor. I didn't have the courage to look her in eyes.

"Yeah," I said. "I did."

Cora issued me into my room, seating me down on my bed. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. If I didn't know any better, I would have said she looked like a mother.

"Now, what's on your mind?"

"Everything and nothing. Nothing and everything."

"Anne..."

I sighed. "I don't know why I went down there. I-. It's like my feet took me there. I don't know why."

Cora licked her lips like she was preparing what she was going to say. "What did you say to him? What did he say to you?"

"I thanked him. He asked me why and I told him that it was because he gave me a job. He thought it was because I felt guilty."

"He's an ass."

"Yeah."

I felt Cora's impatient eyes on me, like she was itching to say something, do something, but she didn't know what to do. Normally, I would have asked her what it was, but I just felt like going to sleep.

"I know this is hard to do, Anne, but you have to smile. It'll all be better in the end. I promise it will be."

"If you say so, Cora."

***

It wasn't time for everyone to get ready for the ball until around noon, when things were starting to be set up, food was being cooked, and people started getting ready.

Cora left after that and left me alone until around one. I was laying on the bed, turned to the side to look at the wall. I didn't have anything on my mind. Not on a single thought. Cora, though, did. She was waiting for me to get up. I sensed her every hour or so, poking her head in the room to see if I was up. When she saw that I wasn't, she left again.

She didn't stop until it was an hour before the guests were supposed to be invited into the castle. At last, she closed the door behind her, breathed a sigh, and told me that it was time to get dressed.

I was more of a mess than I thought I was because it took more than a simple wash-up routine. Cora practically threw me in the tub, scrubbing me clean of my own tears. She washed me from head to toe until I felt a layer of my skin come off.

She then dressed me hastily and threw me in front of the vanity to do my hair and makeup. She kept telling me to smile. I kept dropping the smile.

In the end, I looked like a doll. I felt like one. Cora pulled me up and told me everything was going to be alright. I didn't believe her.

She tossed me downstairs after that.

***

It wasn't hard to find the ballroom. Everyone was making a beeline toward it. I must admit, though, it was grander than I had ever imagined. It really was.

Large and spacious, radiating in all its glory. It was in itself, a work of art. Tall ceilings, clean floors, dazzling music. It was enough to crack a smile in anyone. It even affected me.

Couples were already dancing, people were already eating. It was as if the ball had been going on for hours.

I didn't know where to stand, so I took a spot somewhere in the crowd, watching the spinning couples. I looked around the room, trying to spot anyone I knew. It wasn't hard to find his royal Majesty. He was seated on a throne at the front of the room, talking to his wife. The princess was harder to find, but alas, she was standing where a bunch of maids surrounded her.