Suddenly, unprompted, Spencer stepped forward, moving closer to Carina.
Carina held her breath, confused and a little apprehensive, waiting for him to make a move.
She didn't feel any malicious intent, so she wasn't too worried, but still, she didn't know him, so it would be hard to predict what he would do next.
"How old are you, Miss Rayburn?" Spencer asked, looking down at Carina with an intent in his gaze that made Carina a bit uncomfortable.
"Eighteen, Your Highness." She replied, her voice a little small, thinking that whatever he was asking this for probably wouldn't be any good.
Spencer nodded, as if satisfied, and then stepped back to give her some space again.
"Could I ask you something, Miss Rayburn?"
Carina blinked, getting more and more surprised the more Spencer spoke.
"Yes, of course, Your Highness. What do you wish to ask?"
At that moment, a flurry of different things happened all at once. Someone had opened the terrace doors, having spotted Spencer from inside the ballroom earlier when he stepped forward to ask Carina her age. At the same time, the band in the ballroom had just finished playing a set, causing a brief pause of silence in the room. And Jane, who had been in the middle of badmouthing Carina to all her friends, had her finger pointed at the terrace where she saw Carina had retreated to earlier in the night.
As all of these things happened, in that same moment, Spencer said, loud and clear, "Carina Rayburn, would you allow me the honour of courting you officially?"
All those coincidences lined up just perfectly so that everyone in the ballroom could hear what Spencer said, with the image of both Carina and Spencer gracefully lit by the moonlight behind them presented clearly for their eyes.
Carina wondered if maybe she was cursed.