Dancing on Strings

Forever and Always

Mai glared at him. "Oh, I see! A common whore you can just force yourself upon. A princess you harass and threaten and hope for the best."

He looked genuinely horrified by the words. "Force?! How despicable do you think I am? I merely meant I wouldn't be refused by anyone but a princess. Or you, to be more precise."

"How highly you think of yourself."

He chuckled and absently smoothed her hair back from her face before reaching down and catching her wrists.

Leaning back, he rolled off her and started to pull her up, but instead of standing, he kept falling until he landed flat on the carpet and Mai collapsed on his chest, flattening him as he coughed in surprise.

"My god, those skirts really are heavy," he laughed, dropping an arm around her waist as resting the other behind his head.

Mai stared, her cheek pressed his her hard chest.

"What, exactly, is your game here?" she growled, snapping her head up and glaring down at him.

"Now we're even," he said with a grin, "You've pinned me."

"We are far from even!" she snarled.

"Relax, My Lady, have a little fun. It's just us."

"A princess does not just 'have a little fun'," she reminded him.

"A princess also does not professionally practice ballet. She does not let men touch her casually as your dance partners do and she does not – by any means – allow herself to be in the presence of a man without a chaperon present, even a man of excellent breeding. And yet, here you are."

Mai pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes. "Are you saying you're from excellent breeding?" she asked.

"Far from it, I'm from common blood," he said and Mai smacked his chest before shoving off him, sitting back, wrestling her skirts out of the way to stand.

He sat up and caught her arm gently, making her look at him.

"I'm sorry, I know I scared you," he said, "I won't do it again. But I didn't want you to just leave."

"Then why did you say not to trust The Black Rabbit? If you don't want me to trust The Black Rabbit and yet expect me to stay, whom am I supposed to be talking to?"

"Griffin," he reminded her, "My name is Griffin. I'm originally from the kingdom across the sea. My father was a watchmaker. My mother was an inventor. My brother took over the family business. My sister married a tailor. I learned to make watches from my father and those mechanical creatures from my mother. I have been a creator. I have been a soldier. I am now a ringmaster. My name is Griffin and that is who you are speaking to."

Mai stared at him, stunned.

She hadn't expected to learn something of him.

To learn anything of him.

And yet...

She barely looked any older than her yet he had lived so much in such a short life?

"You... speak of your family in the past tense," she muttered.

"I lost them, a long time ago," he said, his voice hard to hide the underlying pain.

"And... you were a solider?"

"Not for very long."

"So... then a ringmaster?"

"Funny how these things happen," he said, a bitterness in his tone.