The tinkling of a million pieces of glass on the flagstones caused the band to stop their waltz and peer over the sea of heads at Alex. The earth-shattering clang of the enormous tray was followed by a dead silence. He stared stunned at the disastrous mess, then slowly turned his face to the woman who had helped him up. Fiery purple eyes glittered in the candlelight.
"NOW what have you done?" The cellarmaster waddled as fast as his short stumps of legs could take him. "That's at least a hundred flutes gone!"
"Now, now, Frandle, don't get so out of sorts. He looks like a new recruit to me. It was just an accident." She tossed her glossy red locks over her shoulder with a flick of her delicate white hand.
"All right, all right, miss. But on'y 'cause you defended him. You better thank her, boy."
"Th-thank you," Alex stuttered, mesmerized.
Smiling gently, she turned away, the awed crowd parting for her. The five servants who had been discreetly sweeping the shards of glass took the tray and scurried away like frightened mice. The musicians began playing once again and the sea of dancers closed over Alanna's path.
#&&#
Her stunning blue silk dress made her almost ethereal, mermaid-like, as though she had stepped out of another world, another time. Her porcelain skin was flawless, smooth. The eyes, the endless, bottomless eyes—he could get lost in those eyes. Hair that was sea-blown, so wild and free, like her spirit.
He wanted to destroy it, destroy her. Tear her dress to rags, make her a rag, pull the floor from beneath her. Her spirit would be broken like a wooden doll run under the wheels of a cart, snapped in two. To watch her fall, to fail, to lose everything she held close to her, everything she had ever and would ever love.
Alex awoke with a start. A small smile lit his features.
#&&#