The royal coming-of-age celebration for Camellia van Skargardia had reached its highest point.
Yet Camellia was no longer the center of it.
The attention that should have belonged to the princess had been stolen entirely by her mother and Count Ulrich van Rubenhart.
No one looked away from them.
Prince Albert and Princess Camellia had tried to continue dancing beside the Queen and Count. They had followed the changes in rhythm as best they could, adjusting their steps each time the music rose beneath Ulrich and Kaliantha's feet. Once. Then again.
But the pace had climbed beyond them.
Albert was a capable dancer, and Camellia had been trained since childhood in every formal dance expected of a Skargardian princess. Still, neither of them could match what unfolded beside them. When Ulrich changed the measure once more, faster than the last, Albert and Camellia reached the same decision without needing to speak.
They withdrew.
