Chapter Five:Masks and Music
498 Words
The chandeliers blazed with hundreds of candles, reflecting off cut crystal and polished marble.
Tasia stood at the top of the grand staircase, hand resting lightly on the bannister. Her mother whispered at her side, voice stiff with expectation.
“Smile.”
Tasia’s lips obeyed automatically. She let her gaze sweep over the guests below: nobles, merchants, foreign dignitaries. All come to witness her humiliation wrapped in gold leaf.
The Logan family’s wealth was on full display tonight. Tables groaned under silver platters. Musicians played waltzes without rest.
It was beautiful. It was suffocating.
When she finally spotted Chase, her heart gave a traitorous lurch.
He looked devastatingly handsome in formal black. Every movement precise, measured. But his eyes were distant, scanning the room as if hunting for an escape.
Their eyes met.
For a breath, something softened in him.
Then his father clapped him on the shoulder, steering him away toward a cluster of laughing guests.
He can’t even come greet me.
She swallowed hard, ignoring the sudden sting in her eyes.
She descended the stairs slowly, a bride walking to her execution.
When they finally met on the ballroom floor, they were surrounded by applause.
He bowed. She curtsied.
They danced.
He was careful not to hold her too close.
“You look beautiful,” he said stiffly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
They turned and turned in perfect time.
“Chase,” she said softly, “please. Don’t lie tonight.”
He inhaled sharply.
“Then you don’t want me to say anything at all.”
She bit her lip. “Is it really that hard? Pretending to like me?”
He didn’t answer.
Their steps carried them past the edge of the crowd. Tasia’s breath hitched when she saw her.
A woman in a crimson gown. Hair pinned like a crown, dark eyes watching with sharp, hungry interest.
Alexia.
Tasia didn’t know her name yet. Didn’t know her history.
But she felt it.
A spark of recognition flickered between Chase and the woman in red.
Tiny. Devastating.
Tasia’s stomach twisted.
“Who is that?” she asked quietly.
He looked away. “No one.”
The lie landed between them like a corpse.
They finished the dance in silence.
When the music stopped, Chase let go of her hand too quickly.
She watched him disappear into the crowd.
And on the far side of the room, the woman in red smiled at Tasia.
Not kindly. Not politely.
A slow, deliberate smile.
Mine, it seemed to say.
Tasia shivered.
She spent the rest of the evening pretending.
Pretending to laugh at hollow compliments. Pretending not to notice Chase’s absence. Pretending not to see the woman in red slip out onto the balcony... and Chase following minutes later.
Her mother beamed at her.
“The perfect couple,” the older woman whispered.
Tasia raised her glass in trembling fingers.
“To the happy couple,” the guests cheered.
She drank.
The wine tasted like ashes.
- Writer
