Altair’s opinion of the nobility of the city was mixed at the best of times and downright unflattering at the worst; but one of the few perks of being a noble that he enjoyed unequivocally was the regular ballroom dances. Tonight’s was even better than usual, since the duke had ordered the entire guild to find a way in. Altair’s guildmates were always good for livening up an engagement of this sort.
The more varied attendance of this particular ball meant that Altair spent even less time than usual alone. There were so many women to partner with throughout the night, either out of obligation or genuine regard for their company (and sometimes both). It was during one of these rare down times, while Altair stood alone off to the side with a glass of water, that he spotted Lady Divina Marcos headed toward him. That was odd; she was one of Gale’s friends. Altair knew that Gale held quite a bit of contempt for his friends, but he made no secret of the fact that he wasn’t particularly fond of hers, either.
Hastiness betrayed Divina’s growing impatience. Her legs peeked out of her dress’s slit with each stride, the dark tulle fluttering like ink through the cloistered ballroom air. So cloistered, in fact, that it was proving difficult to locate anyone. Fortunately, even amid the mass of glittering masks, the red of Laurent’s hair was so distinctive as to serve a beacon. Moving smoothly through the crowd, fell reached orator.
Her disappointment leaked past the subdued gold of her demi-mask. “You have already parted ways, then,” said Divina, foregoing context.
“Yes,” Altair answered in the affirmative, his own dismay at the encounter clear behind his eye mask. “We arrived together and danced the first waltz as a couple.” He gestured with his water glass to the entire ballroom before them, filled with people milling about and dancing. “I don’t even know where she is now.” If he were being completely honest, he didn’t particularly care, either. Gale had people she was obliged to mingle and dance with as well, same as he had.
Divina nodded, turning to survey the room. To persist in seeking out her best friend would be a tedious venture—one she had no desire to subject herself to for the meantime. Her dark gaze returned to the orator. The problem had not been in Laurent but in the lack of his fiancée, so she asked, “Have you settled upon a date?”
It was an abrupt turn of conversation, but some time had passed since Divina and Gale had last discussed the engagement. In the absence of the latter, the knight would settle for the next best option. And she had to admit to some curiosity about Laurent’s side of the story. After all, to most, the arrival and dance likely implied improvement. Divina knew better.
“Certainly not,” Altair answered. “I believe I speak for us both when I say that we desire a long engagement.” A longer engagement should allow them more time to think of an alternative to actually marrying each other—preferably in some way that allowed them both to save face and preserve their status in society. Altair had always assumed he would have to marry someone eventually, but the further he progressed in his betrothal with Gale, the more he realized how little he desired to marry at all. He enjoyed his freedom, he was rather ill-suited to emotional entanglements, and he was quite unlikely to inherit anything from his family that he would need to pass on to future generations.
As Gale’s best friend, Divina was likelier than most to understand the complexities of the arrangement. Altair was surprised when his own friends made insinuations that perhaps this was not a love match. Love matches among nobles were rare, and any claim to the contrary was nothing more than theater. All that separated the engagement between Gale and Altair from that of anyone else was the rebellious streak they shared, and their mutual lack of resignation to their fate.
“Are you co-conspirators now?” Divina said. The tone was jocular, almost friendly. She always approached the engagement with facetiousness, as if to play in glib counterpoint to Gale’s grave determination.