Music Recommendation: Christmas Dinner At the Weston's- Isobel Waller
Eve watched Noah and Marceline dance together. The vampiress hid her face in his arms while laughing when Noah said something. The Duke of Woodlock was an agreeable and easy-going man, and Eve doubted there was any woman who would be uncomfortable in his company.
Eve wondered if Lady Marceline was Noah's type of woman—brunette and a vampiress. If Noah had offered to dance with Marceline, it might have been because he found the young vampiress to be enchanting.
"Do you want to go and dance too, Eve?" Rosetta asked her after noticing where she was looking with a longing expression. "I have been waiting for a good man to come ask me," saying this, the vampiress downed the second glass of wine in her hand, while Eve was yet to taste the wine in the glass that she held in her hand.
While they stood at the side as a few others, a man came and bowed at them. He looked at Rosetta and asked, "May I have a dance with you?"
Rosetta glared at him and asked, "Do you think I am someone who wants to dance with you? Find someone else," she huffed, and after the man left from there, she murmured, "Seems like I won't be dancing tonight, which is fine, considering how boring this ball has been."
Tearing her eyes away from the dance floor, Eve turned to look at Rosetta and smiled. They were talking about the previous balls the vampiress had been to when Rosetta quickly hid behind Eve.
"Don't move, Eve!" Rosetta whispered, holding Eve's hands so she wouldn't move.
Rosetta's action left Eve confused, wondering what the young vampiress was doing, and she asked, "What happened, Miss Rosetta?"
Rosetta took a peek from Eve's shoulder and continued to whisper, "Do you remember I told you that my father and my aunt made me meet this suitor they chose? He is from this very family and he's here! Turn very slowly," she said with a deep frown while hunching her back.
Eve carefully turned without making it too obvious, and her eyes fell on Vincent. He stood a few distance away from where they stood, with his father and another man, who wore his dark brown hair in a small ponytail.
"Vincent Moriarty," Eve murmured the name and Rosetta's eyes widened as if Eve mentioning his name would summon a demon next to them. "Miss Rosetta, I know him."
"You do? Of course, you do," Rosetta quickly took one step to the side so she was safely hidden behind Eve. She said, "You got the invitation to attend the ball, so you should know the people here."
Eve shook her head and said, "No. I work here as a governess."
Rosetta's eyes that were busily keeping an eye on Vincent moved to look at Eve, staring at the human before the look on her face turned into pity. The vampiress said, "Now I know how hard life is. I don't even know how yo—Oh, no! He's coming this way! Find me later, Eve!"
The vampiress quickly looked back and forth, trying to see which way to go before she picked her left and dashed towards the ballroom doors without turning back.
Eve wondered what Rosetta had heard that had her run at the sight of Vincent. She turned and watched her employer now talking to one of his guests. From a far distance, he looked like someone distant but charming at the same time. And it was that distant behaviour that left a mystery which was alluring to one's eye and senses.
The song the musicians were playing in the corner of the ballroom ended, and she saw Lady Marceline eagerly continue to talk to Noah about something while he replied. The two finally stepped away from the dance floor, giving other couples space to dance.
Noah and Lady Marceline offered a slight bow at each other before parting ways. And all this while, Eve stood there alone.
Allie was by her mother's side, where she didn't talk and only bowed at people who came to speak with her mother. Some of the folks attending the ball couldn't help but be curious about the little rumour they had heard a few months ago, but it was hard to fish information under Lady Annalise's sharp eyes.
Eve, who had been fortunate enough to be left alone, which included the women's eyes after they noticed she was only a pitiful human with no company, her peaceful time was short-lived. It was because Mr. Humphrey walked to where she was.
"Ms. Barlow," Mr. Humphrey greeted Eve, taking her hand like any other gentleman at the place, who greeted the women this evening. His full lips almost was ready to kiss the back of her hand when she tried to control her sneeze, and ended up pulling her hand away from him. Except that Mr. Humphrey ended up holding Eve's gloves as her hand had come off from her gloves.
Eve quickly pulled her hand as well as her white gloves, adjusting it on her fingers. She used both her hands to hold the glass of wine.
Mr. Humphrey hid his frustration of being unable to kiss Eve behind a smile, and he stood straight, blocking her sight from looking at the dance floor.
He looked at the gorgeous woman in front of him. He already knew Eve was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on, but she looked like a goddess right now. His eyes trailed from her eyes to her lips and then to her chest before going further down to admire her hourglass figure. He decided to drop her home, he internally nodded to himself. At the same time, he wanted to kiss her.
"You know I was upset with you, Ms. Barlow, at your refusal to come with me, but who knew that you wanted to surprise me," he spoke louder than necessary, gaining attention from the other guests around them, letting them know that Eve was his woman.
All this time, he had tried hard to keep the men in the Meadow from going near her, and he would do the same today. Once people would know that they were together, he had all the evening to woo and let Eve know that he was serious about taking her as his future wife.
He continued to say to her, "I should have known that we were going to meet each other this evening under these beautiful chandeliers. You must have been waiting for me to come and ask you for a dance. I will not disappoint you."
"I am waiting for a friend of mine to return," Eve turned down his words politely.
But the man was shameless to take a no and said, "You don't have to be shy about it. I know the way you have been looking at the dance floor." How long had he been looking at her? Eve asked herself. "At first, I was confused because I didn't know if it was really you, but alas!"
The more surprising question was, how did Mr. Humphrey get his hands on the invitation?
Mr. Humphrey was trying too hard to fit in, but the more he tried, the worse he stuck out as an odd one in the room.
Curious, Eve decided to be direct and said, "You must have good connections with the people of high society, Mr. Humphrey."
"I know most of the people who are here. I talk to them often," Mr. Humphrey pushed his greasy hair to one side and said, "I did tell you before, my day starts and ends with meeting with the wealthy people," he boasted. In truth, Mr. Humphrey had stolen the invitation from one of his clients when the client had mistakenly dropped the invitation scroll in his timber mill.
"That must be nice," responded Eve.
"Very," he offered a smile showing his teeth, while his eyes didn't leave Eve, that started to make her feel uncomfortable.
"Ms. Barlow, what a surprise." Came Lady Marceline's voice. "I had a hard time recognizing you." Eve turned, and her eyes met the vampiress, who made her way to where she was. She quickly offered a bow to the young vampiress.
On the other hand, Marceline couldn't wrap her head around how this mere human now looked. Though she smiled kindly, her feelings for this human were anything but kind.
"I see that none of my gowns fit you?" Her eyes took in the gown that Eve wore, which looked more expensive than the gown she wore.
It had turned the vampiress's throat slightly dry and left her speechless.
Marceline's evening had been going just as she had expected it to, at least that is what she had come to believe until a moment ago.Â
She had been the centre of people's attention, and there wasn't anyone in here who could beat her by her looks or her manners. She had been looking forward to being entertained by this human, by watching her being embarrassed in front of many guests so that she would eventually quit and never step foot in Skellington.
While Lady Annalise had been upfront in expressing her displeasure regarding this human governess, Marceline liked to act like she wasn't when in truth, people from the town of Meadow disgusted her. In the young vampiress's eyes, people of low-class were supposed to stay where they belonged and not dream as if they could live like the elite people of the society.
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