The Potion Diaries 2 by Amy Alward

Author:Amy Alward [Alward, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471143595
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Samantha

‘PRINCE STEFAN OF GERGON AND Miss Samantha Kemi.’

There’s a tittering of the crowd as our names are announced, but it could just be my imagination. Prince Stefan holds my arm steady as we descend the staircase.

When we reach the bottom, he takes a step back and gives me a small bow. There are already couples waltzing round and round on the ballroom floor, and I lose my nerve. A couple of high school dance lessons are not going to cut it. Suddenly everything feels wrong: my dress is too short, my feet too big, my hair too loose.

He stretches out his hand and I tentatively grab it. But there is nothing tentative about his movements. He pulls me into a hold, gripping me firmly around the waist. My nerves calm somewhat – I’m clearly in the arms of an expert. He sweeps me into the rhythm.

Luckily, there’s not much time for chat. Because we’re one of the last ones to be announced, the dance comes to an end quickly. I curtsey to his bow.

‘It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kemi. You are every bit as remarkable as I hoped you would be.’

I nod, smiling weakly, then I separate from him and move as quickly as I can to the edge of the room. I don’t look to see if those tiger eyes follow me. The crowd is soon distracted by the announcement of Princess Evelyn, who is being escorted by her father. The King looks puffed with pride at having the beautiful Evelyn on his arm. That makes me worried. If her father is happy, that means Evelyn must have said something to reassure him about her lack of an engagement ring. I don’t want her to do anything rash.

I scan the faces in the crowd for Zain. I spy him at the far side of the room and make a beeline, dodging party guests in their finery and waiters with teetering platters of sparkling wine and hors d’oeuvres.

‘Zain!’

He smiles, pulling me into a big hug and kissing me on the cheek. ‘Sam, finally! Holy crap, you look gorgeous. I didn’t recognise you at first.’

I throw a punch at his arm and he winces gamely. ‘What the dragon’s happened? I showed up to collect my escort card and it had some other girl’s name on it! Turns out Prince Stefan had requested you as soon as your name appeared on the guest list!’

‘Trust me, you weren’t as shocked as I was when he turned up at my door!’

‘Hmm, I suppose so. What do you think of this fancy shindig then?’ he says, gesturing over the crowd. Now that everyone’s been introduced, there’s a lot of mingling going on. It’s the first thing I notice about this kind of party. Even though people are talking to each other, they’re always looking over each other’s shoulders, waiting to see if someone more important and powerful passes by so they can try to talk to them. No one is just pleased to see each other.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.