Music Recommendation: Alex Who - Smoke
There he was, his greatest nightmare, standing right behind him. Dressed in a crisp, black tailored suit, his dark red eyes stared straight past him. A full golden mask covered his face, fitting perfectly over his unnervingly gorgeous features. The air around him was regal and dangerous.
Evelyn's eyes locked onto Ivan's, just as his were locked onto hers. Neither of them spoke for a moment, the noise of the ballroom fading into the background. Ivan tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over her entire form, slowly and deliberately. When his intense gaze traveled back up to her face, he noticed a faint crimson blooming on her cheeks.
Of course , he wasn't the only one checking out. Evelyn, too, found herself unable to look away from the devastatingly gorgeous man standing before her, looking every bit like a sex god dropped into a masquerade.
Her heart skipped a beat when his eyes met hers again. As the tension simmered between them like a thread being pulled taut from both ends, Gabe decided it was time to scurry away, if he wanted to live to see another day.
He cleared his throat and said in a meek voice, "Ahem, I-I see you have…co-company, Your Highness, so I'll just le-lea-leave you to it." His earlier sleazy over confidence had completely flown out of the window the moment Ivan appeared. Ivan's mere presence rattled him so thoroughly, he couldn't even form a full sentence without stammering.
Evelyn slowly turned her big, beautiful blue eyes from Ivan to look at the man who had offered her a weird drink a few minutes ago. He looked positively pale and she wondered why. Especially when he had been so chatty a couple of minutes back.
She opened her mouth to speak when a cold, deep voice spoke before her, "Oh, but weren't you asking the lady for a dance earlier?" His molten red eyes turned even colder as he finally looked at Gabe and added, "Or are you not even going to wait for Princess Evelyn to respond?"
Gabe, who was now sweating bullets and blurted out in panic, "I-I ac-actually thought I needed to vi-visit somewhere."
Ivan's cold eyes scrutinized Gabe and something about him pricked his senses. Malice? Maybe, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.
So he narrowed his eyes further and asked, "Hm, would that be a temple to cleanse your unholy thoughts?"
"Or hell?" he added and as he said the word, his eyes held the kind of promise that suggested he'd personally take great pleasure in sending him there.
Gabe visibly buckled under the crushing weight of Ivan's gaze, in the moment of panic blurted out before he could stop himself, "Ba-bathroom..I-I need to relieve myself before I…"
"....."
The words hung in the air like a tragic echo, followed by a deafening silence.
Eve's eyes widened in disbelief. She turned her head to the side, one gloved hand flying to her mouth as she desperately tried to contain the laughter threatening to spill out. Her shoulders trembled with the effort to control it.
While she tried to be polite, others around them were far less restrained. Stifled giggles and full blown laughters rippled like an unexpected breeze through the ballroom.
Ivan, stunned for half a second by the sheer absurdity of the statement, glared at Gabe. In a tone colder than a snowstorm, he said, "Then by all means, save us from that tragedy. We wouldn't want the ballroom to be remembered for your…public catastrophe."
Gabe turned red with embarrassment and gave a bow with a grace of a dying cockroach to both Ivan and Eve before vanishing from the sight.
Ivan stared at the man's retrieving back then turned his glare at everyone else who had witnessed the show and they immediately averted their gaze and went back to minding their own business.
Evelyn, who was still shaking from trying to control her laughter, finally calmed down after a few seconds. She removed her hand from her mouth and brought it close to her eyes to wipe the tears that had threatened to spill. She took a deep breath and finally turned to look at Ivan again. All the while, he had stood there, watching her every little movement.
She cleared her throat, gave him a slight bow and said, "Your Highness, you finally decided to show up. I was beginning to think I'd be getting my very first zero at this academy tonight."
When he tilted his head slightly, as if to ask what she was talking about, she elaborated, "Professor Dante had asked about you earlier and made it pretty clear that whoever doesn't show up tonight would be getting a zero in Inter-Species Relations."
"Hm, I see" he paused and when he saw that she was waiting for him to say more, he added, "I got caught up with something…unexpected."
"Well you're here now…" Eve's eyes once again took in his appearance and she felt a little heady. She wasn't sure if it was the wine that was making her feel drunk or Ivan's intoxicating presence.
Ivan's sharp eyes didn't miss her subtle wandering gaze on his form and amusement danced in his eyes. To think this innocent and shy princess didn't really shy away from certain things. He noticed the flush deepening on her cheeks and it made him wonder whether it was him or… his eyes zeroed on the full glass of wine in her hand.
So he asked, "Do you like to drink, Princess?"
Eve's eyes snapped back to meet his as she replied, "No, not really, I can usually handle two glasses."
Ivan stared at her, his lazy gaze trailing over her face before he asked, "And what glass are you on currently?"
"Oh.. this is my second glass. The man who was here before you insisted on a toast, he said it was a custom."
His eyes narrowed at her words as he replied, "So you go around accepting drinks from every stranger who claims it's a custom?"
Eve's eyebrows furrowed at his comment and said, "No, but this is a public setting. I didn't want to make a scene, so I accepted it out of politeness and for your information, I only let it touch my lips briefly. I didn't even take a proper sip."
"Hm, word of advice, try not to consume anything offered by a stranger, you'll live longer." He said coolly.
Ivan then picked up a wine glass from one of the passing servers and smoothly took the glass from Eve's hand and placed it back on the tray. He took a sip from his own glass before turning to look at her, only to find her frowning. His actions were so effortlessly graceful, even in the simplest of tasks, that they captivated not only Eve but every woman eyeing him in the ballroom.
"You know, Your Highness, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she said in a low voice, folding her arms across her chest.
Ivan heard her as he swirled the wine in his glass and suddenly asked in a cello-like voice, "So, have you had a chance to step onto the dance floor yet?"
Surprised by his sudden question, Eve paused and replied softly "No." Her gaze dropped to the floor, a hint of sadness lingered in her voice as she said, "I'm really more of a watch other people dance from the sidelines, kind of a person." She remembered how she was never allowed to attend the ball after her mother passed away and how she used to watch others from the small gap of the window above the ballroom, hidden from everyone's eyes.
Ivan saw a flicker of sorrow in her eyes which refused to meet his gaze again and he didn't like it one bit. He swiftly gulped his entire drink in one go. He then took a step close to her and extended his hand and asked in a low voice, "Will you do me the honour of this dance, princess?"
Eve was stunned for a brief moment as she gazed at his extended hand, then looked up to meet his eyes.
"I..I told you that I usually don't dance-" she began.
"Yes, I heard," he interrupted her smoothly, "but tonight you will. I think one should experience everything in life." He continued to stare straight into her eyes and asked, "Don't you think so, princess?" His last question came out almost as a whisper.