Tell Me Lies

Chapter Four

"Prince Issac, of course. It would be my pleasure." Taking my hand he leads me to the center of the floor to dance. He holds one of my hands as the other snakes around my waist. Even through the fabric of my dress and the corset I can still feel his hand gripping my waist. It is an uncomfortable feeling really, knowing that his grip on me is one that I cannot escape from, his hand clenching my dress. He looks at me and never looks away. His eyes constantly linger on my face, my dress. I feel as though he is prying into my soul, underneath my clothes. His presence unnerves me. As we dance the music stops once, twice, three times. Three songs we have danced through, three songs that feel like an eternity. Finally he bends down low and grasps my hand, kissing it slowly. "Princess Lara, thank you for the wonderful dance. I hope we may have another chance to speak again tonight." He smiles. A chilling smile. To anyone around us it would look like a normal smile, but to me I see something else. Something more sinister.

He walks away and disappears into the crowd. I make my way towards where Quinn is standing. I give him one look and he knows exactly what I'm going to say. "Yikes, that was rough."

"I know, I feel like I need a shower." I shiver thinking about it again and goose bumps prickle my skin. "It felt like I was trapped. I could have sworn I saw something behind his eyes. Something malicious. And that smile... I can't get it out of my head. It was terrible." He takes a glass of champagne from one of the waiters walking around.

"I can't get that vice-like grip out of my mind. That was disturbing, he was holding you like a child holds a toy. He's spoken all of thirty words to you, how can he already be possessive?" His face contorts with disgust and confusion.

"I don't know. I just hope the other two aren't like that, otherwise they're all leaving." He hands me the glass of champagne.

"Well we're about to find out. Drink up Princess, here comes another one." Nodding his head to somebody behind me, I sip my champagne and turn around. Walking towards me is Prince Nikolai. We make our way around the ballroom walking and conversing. Due to the loud chatter and music it is tolerable to listen to him speak, for I can barely hear him at all. However once we make our way to the balcony outside the ballroom can I hear his stories clearly. He continues on and on about himself. I was correct in my assumption earlier, he has unwavering confidence, however he also has undeniable arrogance. Not once has he asked me about myself or my childhood, all he can talk about is himself. And, should he stop, the uncomfortable silence between us would be so thick I could cut it with a knife.

"So you see Princess, that is when I discovered..." I tune him out. Gazing out into the night sky I look above at the millions of twinkling stars. How I wish I could be up there exploring instead, not down here listening to Nikolai talk about how when he was a child he thought he could make bread dough rise with mind. He finds it quite a comical story; I didn't listen to any of it.

I hear footsteps running, becoming closer to where I'm standing. I turn around and find Quinn bolting towards us. He looks panicked. "Quinn what's the matter? You're scaring me," I look at him and he grabs me.

"We have to go now. Your parents are already making their way to the safe room. Prince, you should come too." He still hasn't told me what is happening. When the safe room is involved though, I don't question it. Running back through the ballroom to the back towards the kitchen we see something fly from the windows above. It lodges itself in the floor of the ballroom. People begin to run and scream trying to escape, it is absolute pandemonium. I catch a quick glimpse of what it is before the lights shut off. "Princess we have to go now!" Quinn grabs my hand and we run letting our senses guide us towards the back. As we glide through the dark somebody else is having more unfortunate luck than we are navigating. A strong force runs into me knocking me to the floor, and them as well.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" The voice grunts. "Ugh, the same thing goes for you!" I shoot back. How dare they accuse me of running into them, I knew where I was going.

"Cirilla!" I hear Quinn calling for me.

"Quinn! Right here!" He finds me and helps me up. A familiar voice rings through the silence.

"Cirilla? Princess Cirilla? Fantastic." His lack of enthusiasm reveals who it is immediately.

"Lord Xavier, you should come with us, it is not safe here." I see his figure come into view, what little view I have.

"You think? The lights are out and people are screaming. I think it's pretty safe to me." I am taken aback by his crude choice of words.

"What is your problem? From the moment we met-," Quinn cuts me off.

"Your lordiness and Ciri, now is not the time to fight. We gotta go. Now!" Quinn once again grabs my hand and leads us to the kitchen where he opens the secret passage that leads to the labyrinth of secret hallway behind the castle walls. We run through the hallway that takes us to the safe room. Quinn opens it and ushers Xavier and me through the door. I quickly take note of who is in the room. A few officials of my father, other important delegates, my parents, Xavier and me. I don't see Quinn, but I hear the door closing. Whipping around I see Quinn, just not inside the safe room.

"Quinn! No! You can't go! You'll be hurt!" I try to lunge for him but somebody holds onto my arm stopping me.

"Your highness, I must. It's my job. I will be okay, don't worry." He gives me a small smile and a wink. Shutting the door with a bang I crumble to the floor, sobbing. I can't lose Quinn. Not yet. It's not fair my parents can be here with me and he can't. He is family too.

I move to an empty corner of the safe room and collapse into myself. I wrap my arms around my head and sob. My father is on the other side comforting my mother. He explains to the others that there are other safe rooms and that the other princes and their families, as well as other guests, are safe, but I can't hear him over the sound of my sobbing. A presence comes and sits down next to me. I look up and through teary eyelashes his face manifests.

Xavier looks at me. I choke on my words as they come out. "What do you want?"