Newest chapter! I don't have much to say this time, besides the fact that I once again apologize if there are any mistakes or incoherences. Hopefully, you'll find the chapter pleasing!
A few notes:
- I'll reply to all of your reviews (old and new) on Sunday, probably. I won't do it right now because I'm very sleepy and I won't reply tomorrow either because I'll be away from my computer.
- Hyrulean: someone from Hyrule
- Hylian: descendants of Hylia
I thought I should clear this up before someone gets confused or to help someone who can't tell the difference~
Have fun! And don't forget to tell me what you think!
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Chapter Four
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"Why a masquerade ball? Couldn't she have chosen a regular birthday party?" Shad glanced at his girlfriend and muffled his laughter when she started pulling at the fabric of her dark blue dress. Ashei was never one to enjoy outfits that weren't her usual armor and she absolutely despised wearing high heels.
The royal advisor cleared his throat and offered, "It's her twenty second birthday. Let her have some fun. Besides," he grinned, taking her hand in his, "you look lovely."
Her answer was to glare at him until his smile faltered and Shad coughed awkwardly. Ashei pulled her hand away and crossed her arms, and looking in the other direction she grunted out. "Go do what you're paid to do, yeah?"
"Right," he agreed and smoothed his hands on his attire, "she must be ready by now."
Outside the grand hall, Zelda smiled widely as she glanced at her reflection. Fingers brushing on the black lace of her mask, she found herself to be truly happy after a long time. The crisis was finally buried deep into the past, her people were happy with her rule and she was glad they would live normally again.
Her councilmen, the source of a lot of problems in the past, were replaced after long meetings that ended in at least one of them getting too exalted to continue. After the population met up in her throne room and demanded they were replaced by younger people, the council finally agreed and reluctantly let ten vacant chairs in the meeting room waiting for new users. It was better this way, they admitted; they would never drag Hyrule back to its old roots, not with Zelda in charge. Zelda remembered, though, that one of the commoners mentioned something about their leader, who did not attend to their "meeting" that day. The princess also noticed from the corner of her eyes that one of the councilmen visibly tensed and another one paled at the mention of the word "leader".
Shrugging, she approached the doors when she heard Shad announcing her name and she smiled even more when the guards opened them. Zelda strode in, red tainted lips pulled into a pleasant, truthful smile and her gaze jumped from face to face as she tried to recognize everyone. The princess met with Prince Komali, who would be dancing with her to replace her father, in the center of the room and they simultaneously bowed to each other. Komali took her hand and they readied themselves, and the music group in the far left wall began to play.
As they moved and whispered few words to each other, Zelda let her eyes wander around again. She recognized both Shad, with a purple mask, and Ashei, with a blue one, standing near their table. He obviously wanted to dance but there was no way Ashei would dance with him. She caught sight of Queen Rutela and her son, Prince Ralis, slowly joining her and Komali in their dance. Both Zoras wore mother of pearl colored masks and moved with grace, encouraging the other guests to start dancing too. Zelda liked it that way; she liked when people danced along with her instead of just standing and watching.
Among the people twirling around, the Hyrulian princess caught sight of a man wearing a forest green colored mask, and her eyes widened and lips parted slightly in shock. Just then, Komali dipped her and Zelda snapped out of her reverie just in time to raise her hand elegantly into the air, covering up her slight slip.
"Is something wrong?" The Rito asked quietly and they bowed in thanks when the people began to applaud.
She took the hand he offered her and quickly whispered as he led her to both Zoras standing nearby. "I thought I saw something."
"Zelda!" Queen Rutela wrapped her arms around the young princess as soon as she released the prince's hand. "How you have grown, twenty two already."
The princess smiled and returned the hug, "It has been some time, Queen Rutela."
With a nod, the queen replied, "We will have plenty of time to catch up. I will not keep you here any longer, go greet the other guests."
"I will. Prince Ralis," Zelda nodded once she caught his gaze, "you are my next partner in a dance." He simply nodded, a small smile on his lips, and she excused herself and left.
Zelda simultaneously greeted her guests and searched for the green masked man, but he was nowhere to be found. Did she imagine him? Was she going crazy? That twist in her stomach told her otherwise; he was in her castle, the Assassin was attending to her birthday party and someone was going to die. The princess gulped, smiled at whatever compliment the noble just said and walked away.
After wandering about the grand hall and talking to all guests at least twice, she made her way to her table and sat in the middle, with Shad comfortably seated beside her. Ashei was probably away in the washroom, cursing the goddesses and the party she wanted to attend to but clearly didn't want to dress up to.
Her advisor, now head of her new council, turned and smiled widely at her, but said nothing; and Zelda studied his face briefly before saying, "You are not wearing your glasses."
"Reading glasses, Your Highness, their absence does not bother me at all tonight."
Lips twisting in a smirk as she reached for her flute of champagne, Zelda was about to sip the drink when a hand was suddenly placed before her, palm turned upwards in a sign of invitation. "Your Majesty," she slowly looked up and had trouble to recognize the face under the exquisite mask, "would you honor me with a dance?"
She took a quick sip to wet her dry throat and took his hand with a polite smile. The noble held her hand as they walked towards the end of the table, each on one side, and he boldly pulled her closer when there weren't any obstacles between them. He led her to the center of the room and the guests backed away to give them space to walk, for respect or for fear of his strangely weird mask, Zelda couldn't tell.
"You look stunning tonight, Your Highness." He spun her around once, trying to insert them halfway through the dance, "That is a nice mask you have here."
Zelda smiled slightly, "Thank you," and eyed the mask he was wearing briefly. Was it heart shaped? And with... Were those spikes? Horns? It was purple and painted oddly, it made her remember of some tribal paintings in ancient caves found in Termina. And the mask seemed to have its own eyes, and Zelda fought back the urge to shudder at the fiery orange orbs with tints of yellow and green. "Yours is very nice too, My Lord. Very unique." She decided to say with a polite smile on her lips.
Since the mask covered his entire face, the princess had no idea if he was pleased by her comment or not. "Thank you. It was passed down from my great grandfather to his son, and so on."
Mentally sighing in relief, Zelda was spun around twice this time before she met his gaze again. "Mind telling me more, sir?"
He nodded and pulled her closer. "My great grandfather was a salesman. He sold masks of all kinds, except for this one. It is special; he used to say that whoever wears this will be possessed by a great evil force." The princess blinked her eyes rapidly to force them back into their original size; if it was dangerous, why was he using it? "He was mentally unstable, though, so no one in Termina believed in it."
So he truly was from Termina. The Duke from Termina, one of the most powerful men and the one that sought out for her hand in marriage the most.
Her lips parted to speak, but the song ended and a hand was placed on the duke's shoulder before he could drag her into another round. "My Lord, My Princess," at that title, her eyes snapped up to meet the gaze of the green masked man, "I am deeply sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if perhaps the lady would like to dance with me."
The Duke eyed the man warily, as if trying to decide if he should be there or not, but stepped back anyways and silently walked away. Zelda was frozen while the man approached her and placed both of his hands on her waist, and pressed her against his body. "Honor me with a dance, My Princess?"
His whisper made her shiver and he began moving before she could even answer his question. Words were not spoken for a few heartbeats, but soon Zelda looked at his face, only to find him already looking at her. "Who is going to die today?"
"I am afraid I do not understand what you are implying," was his answer as he guided her around. Zelda slowly breathed out, "The only person that I can imagine wearing forest green is the Assassin."
He chuckled, slowly tightening the grip of his fingers around her hand. "How can you be so sure that I am the assassin you seek?"
"I am not seeking anyone." She retorted and lightly narrowed her eyes. "It was just a guess."
His smirk was evident and it only meant one thing: she was right. Link in response tightened the grip of his other hand on her waist and slowly moved it to the small of her back. "Very observant, Your Highness."
She rolled her eyes and he thought that maybe she was getting a little too comfortable around his presence. "It is my birthday. You could wear anything that is not a different shade of your favorite color for a change."
"Maybe my favorite color is not green. But I think green and black match nicely, do you not think so, Your Highness?"
Zelda stared at him for a moment, "Were you spying on me?"
He gasped, seemingly feeling insulted. "I would never do such a thing. I think, however," Link looked at her to watch her expression, "that the purple dress was nice too."
Her cheeks heated up and she prayed that they were not in the same shade of her red lipstick. "Y-You did not answer my other question, Assassin."
Link spun her once, "Not so loud, they are going to hear you," and pulled her close enough so that he could whisper in her ear, "The Duke of Termina cannot breathe for much longer anymore. His time is coming."
That was enough to make her pale, the color draining from her face almost completely. "Today?" She inquired in a small voice as she focused her gaze on the floor, something she knew she shouldn't while dancing, or at any other time.
"No, not today." Zelda looked up and met his eyes, "I have already ruined a special day for you. I am not going to ruin another."
She smiled lightly and tentatively slid her hands that were resting on his palm and shoulder to his chest. His lips curled in a gentle smile before he encircled his arms completely around her form and held her close to him. Zelda let her forehead lie comfortably on his shoulder as they lazily swayed before she asked, "Do we have the same height or am I taller than you?" The Assassin coughed, "Perhaps you would like to have a drink right now, My Princess?" Zelda pulled back and Link hated how the corner of her lips tilted up in an amused smile; he wanted to wipe it off with kisses. "I am taller than you." "And older too." He informed as he circled his fingers around her hands, cradling them against his chest. "You are two years older, after all. You may have not noticed," Link noticed as she unconsciously leaned her head forward, bringing her face closer to his, "but I was shorter when we first met." "Is it even possible?" Her tone reflected her amused smile, it was playful even, and it only confirmed his suspicion that she was indeed getting too comfortable around him. "Could you really be shorter?"
He chuckled awkwardly, "Would you like some wine or champagne, Your Majesty?" She let him guide her to her table that was now empty; Shad and Ashei were nowhere to be found, the former probably left in search for the latter. "Perhaps goat milk from Ordon, hm?"
Link pulled her chair and waited until she was seated to claim the seat beside hers, the one in which Shad previously was seated. "We ran out of goat milk a long time ago. I wonder why nobody in the kitchen bothered to provide more to the castle."
A servant passed by their table and the Assassin was quick to snatch two flutes of wine from their tray; he offered one to the princess who took it with a grateful smile before taking a sip. "The milk tastes better when drank right after it is milked."
Zelda put her half empty flute on the tabletop and turned to meet his gaze. "I will keep that in mind." Letting her eyes wander about the grand hall while her companion enjoyed his drink silently, her eyes widened in the slightest when she saw both Queen Rutela and Prince Ralis talking to Shad and Ashei. "Oh, I just remembered I promised Prince Ralis that he would be my next dance partner." She also mused to herself how she was surprised that her knight hadn't retired to bed yet.
"He was going to dance with you before you danced with the Duke of Termina?" The princess nodded and leaned back on her chair as she lightly bit her bottom lip. "Well, I guess he would not mind it if you danced with me again before finally dancing with him."
She looked at him again with a wide smile plastered on her lips. Link took the hand she offered him and he helped her up before leading her to the center of the room again.