The Breeder's Daughter

Chapter 26 | Carry me away Cupid!

In that moment the whole ballroom begins to blur before my eyes in slow motion; all the sounds fading to the background. I stand still for a while longer like that, aware only of my heart violently pounding against my chest. This is it, this is the part where everyone finds out I'm a fraud.

But they didn't- the young girl who'd tapped me simply picked up a few egg-halves from the plate held in my trembling hands and left, leaving me to stand alone in the crowd with a feeling of embarrassment deep in my stomach. I need to calm down.

It was much easier to calm down once I'd finally reached my beacon, standing still yet confident under Cupid's wintry wings,  I finally let my guard down as I took in the scene before me. It looked like not many people enjoyed good old Cupid's company, as few guests dotted this specific corner, their mingling barely audible over the commotion occurring in the rest of the ballroom. Their faces too, seemed much more serious and down to business, as if they were unlike any of the other guests.

My eyes found Lana's loosened braid against the fabric of the dress we'd picked out for her, instantly taking in the three others she stood animatedly conversing with. A gentleman sporting a hitler mustache to her right, and another one next to him but with a full on beard, his figure short and stoic as a tall and lean blonde stood next to him, their arms enwrapped.

Their animated conversations carried on through the hour, every now and then I could see their backs shaking with polite laughter, save for the blonde woman who didn't give much more than a slight curve of the lips, as if the jokes were funny but not quiet funny enough to deserve much more than a slight curve, or rather twitch of her sparkling violet lips.

A few guests came to grab delicacies off my platter every now and then, and as each one left without giving me so much as another glance, confidence began to surge through me, we might actually get away with this.

I let myself relish at the thought of escaping the palace with the pendant in our hands, running through the night ecstatic with our feat. A pang of guilt shot through me, yet it went as fast as it came, there was no time to think now, only to act.

Lady Eva's familiar face wore a pompous expression, her chest puffed out in pride under her cascading double chin; the pendant gleaming with great opulence underneath it.

My eyes were glued to her as she descended the grand staircase Lana and I had been on only moments ago.

Light from the chandliers twinkled across the surface of the pendant, making me wonder again how on earth Lana was going to pry that thing off the woman's neck without getting noticed, it was like a magnet of attention.

Turning my head, my eyes met Lana's, her eyes were deeply set with determination, she gave a slight nod as to say we can do this, and then resumed talking with her group.

My eye shot back to the great round ball that was Lady Eva, she'd joined a group of older guests, many of them with graying hair, yet undoubtedly and noticeably one of the most rich looking guests in the ballroom. 

When Ed had shown us the picture of Lady Eva on the screen in his helicopter, he'd given us a short briefing about her, 46, divorced thrice and currently seeing a man 16 years younger than her, mother to two very spoiled sons. But he hadn't mentioned what she did, or how powerful her position must be in order to so casually saunter up to some of the most prominent figures in the republic. This lady was powerful, and if we were to get caught- there was no telling what she could do to us.

I tried not to wallow back into fear, but that fear soon turned into fright at the sight of Lana excusing herself from her group and heading towards where Lady Eva stood with her group- the sight of Lana approaching them looking too uncomfortably similar to that of a child walking into a dragon's den. 

I watched. Lana greeting the dozen or so women and gentlemen surrounding Lady Eva, I even watched Lana greeting Lady Eva herself, so close to the pendant yet impossibly far with the searing eyes surrounding her. 

Part of me wondered how she maintained the courage to not only walk up to them, but stay so despite their evident un-wanting of her in their company. It was as clear as the ice that made up cupids wings above me, that to these people, Lana was a below. Below worth giving their attention, clearly unwelcome, yet somewhere in their weird codes of etiquette is was okay to look at someone as less equal to them, but it was not okay to dismiss them.

So they tolerated Lana's presence, for four full minutes they engaged in what seemed to be the most dreaded conversation on their part, until somewhere between completely being annoyed by Lana, and sticking to rules of etiquette, Lana began to head in my direction, with Lady Eva following shortly in her trail.

My eyes grew wide with horror; all I could do was stare as they got closer and closer, and no matter how hard I wished for the ice cupid to carry me away with his wings, he stood just as still, just as cool, and just as lifeless.