Landis had little time to talk to Marceau before the celebration began. Like his younger brother, Marceau had delayed himself as long as he could and had arrived at the castle only moments before Landis teleported himself by the king and queen's side. They had not seen each other in a year but whenever they met, it was as though they had always been together.
Now the brothers walked side by side down the staircase. Landis held his best smile for the guests, but Marceau did not bother to hide his annoyed expression. Landis scanned the crowd. Everyone was in high spirits—everyone except one face in the crowd. Landis felt his heart thump once when he spotted her but quickly shifted his attention elsewhere. He had to maintain a neutral presence in the crowd. Still, her face did not leave him. Who was she? He could not read her expression.
The king welcomed the nobles to the princes' birthday celebration. Then dance music began playing and the king and queen entered the floor first.
"Which noble lady will you grace with your presence today?" Landis whispered to his brother while the king and queen danced.
"These baby chicks here are yet to catch my attention," Marceau said glancing over the group of young noble girls. He turned to Baroness Leila with her sultry curves and sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, the baroness is married."
Landis laughed. He searched the crowd again for the girl he saw earlier. She was still standing in the same spot. She must not have had her coming of age ceremony yet or he would have known her name.
Men in the kingdom did not get a coming of age ceremony as girls did; instead, every male child celebrated their seventeenth birthday as an adulthood ceremony. After the adulthood ceremony, any male could be engaged to a girl who had already had her coming of age ceremony. This was why Omalia wanted to push her coming of age ceremony to a later date. In the original story, she would have been engaged to Marceau by the end of the year.
The song ended and the king and queen left the stage. Now it was time for the princes to dance. Out of politeness, the princes would have invited females of the duke's family for the first dance, but the duke's family had only a baby girl too young to dance. Next in line would be the marquess's daughters, Tierney and Aubrey. Omalia drew closer to the dance floor to catch the girls' expressions. Sure enough, they looked as though they were about to faint. When the music for their dance started though, their feet kept to the beat. Thanks to years of dance practice, their bodies moved on their own.
Landis discretely took note of the mysterious girl's location during his dance with Aubrey. He was determined to discover who she was. When the song was finally over, the king and queen invited the other nobles onto the stage. Landis slipped from Aubrey's side after giving her a respectful bow. He did not go directly to the girl though, as he knew that doing so would cause rumors to spread. Instead, he sat at the table with the king and queen to watch the other nobles and waited until it was appropriate for him to leave the table.
"Your Royal Highness."
It was the Marquess.
"Peace and prosperity to the royal family! I would like to bestow my good wishes to the princes and thank them for inviting my daughters…"
Landis knew where this was heading. He shut off his ears and scanned the room with his mind. His heart dropped. The girl was no longer there. And neither was his twin.