Five minutes had passed, and the dance continued.
The ballroom of Skargardian Keep remained under a silence no ceremony had ever commanded before.
Everyone watched the floor.
Prince Albert danced with Princess Camellia on one side of the wide marble space. They had regained some of their composure after the shock of Antonias's removal, and Kaliantha's decision to dance with Ulrich.
But neither of them held the ballroom's attention.
That belonged to Queen Kaliantha and Count Ulrich van Rubenhart.
They moved as though they had danced together for years.
With every movement Ulrich made, Kaliantha answered him without hesitation. When he shifted his weight, she was already following the next step. When he turned, her skirts swept around her in perfect time with the movement of his arm. When she altered the rhythm by the smallest degree, Ulrich caught it at once and adjusted to her without breaking the shape of the dance.
There were no pauses between them.
No missteps.
