Page 60 of I Ran Away to Evil #3

A Very Handsome Wallflower

Gerda

One of the things I enjoyed as Madame Potts was a degree of separation between myself and the story.

I could change things; I could make a difference … but always from the comfort of my kitchen table.

Even when I was interacting with the main characters, Gerda the Bridge Troll wasn’t a character that showed up in the storyline, and she wasn’t accounted for in the scenarios.

The times I’d come close to a scenario before this could be counted on one hand: the time I’d helped rescue the Dark Lord in distress, and recently, when I’d rescued Julia.

The bridge battle didn’t count because it, again, had been in response to an oracle.

Fate had seen fit to show me the assassination battle in the eastern woods, so I’d decided to hold off the army.

I’d acted entirely on my own accord to stop the army in their tracks on my bridge, without Fate to guide me.

And I’d rocked it, if I did say so myself.

Which was why it took me a second to really think about Julian’s question.

“Because I don’t show up in prophecies … It’s just never happened?” I said delicately.

He leaned toward me, and the way he was looking at me made my toes curl. Intense and curious. “Never?”

I shook my head, resisting the urge to seek the comfort of distance, but the nervousness I had wasn’t fear but excitement. I held my ground. “Never.”

His gaze fell to my lips at my answer, and I instinctively licked them.

Why did he have to be so pretty? It was a personal triumph that I’d gotten to dance with the half elf, but anything else would just be wild imagination. Granted, I had a pretty unhinged imagination.

I didn’t know what to make of that, and reminded myself that I shouldn’t be outright flirting with the duke of the North …

“I brought you here because you said you can’t use your abilities in the ballroom, but can you use them here? Or would you like to join the search for Lady Amy yourself?” he asked.

“If John raises the alarm, then I’m gone,” I told him. “But I don’t want to burst in on her debutante adventure. Besides”—I lowered my voice conspiratorially—“she’s found someone she likes. What if they’re off having some romantic picnic in the garden and I jump on top of them? I’ll wait.”

“Why does it feel like you’re not telling me something?”

“Well, there is one thing … I think Lady Amy might be having an affair with your assassin.” I casually dropped my suspicion.

Julian stared at me.

“What?” I asked innocently. “I mean, I could tell you that the Herald of Void is currently leaving the Dark Enchanted Forest after narrowly escaping a stoneskin wombat? Or that Julia is going to run off with Chloe tonight and travel to the Empire of Sands on a secret honeymoon trip where no one can find and disturb them. Or maybe you’re referring to the meteor—”

He stood. “Julia is what ?”

I pulled him back down. He didn’t resist. “Oh, let your sister have some fun. She deserves it.”

He put a hand over mine, trapping it.

“That’s everything, so you can stop with the smolder!” I told him, pulling my hand free. “You want to know more, then close your eyes.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t want you staring at me while I work,” I told him, and he raised both hands in surrender before closing his eyes.

He had an annoyingly satisfied smile plastered on his face. I wanted to squeeze his cheeks. Where did my grumpy duke of the North go?

Instead, I opened my map.

[You have activated the Perk: Map . A mini map revealing the areas you have explored is available …]

[Sooth Area] showed me where scenarios were going to happen, and it highlighted the ballroom only. I wished that Lady Amy was a chosen, as it would be so much easier to track her.

Sadly, she was the saintess of a dungeon, not a god.

[Oracle] was useless, since the only scenario I’d not watched was the pirate battle—and Pirate Abra was currently looting the south coast of Sumbria, so it wouldn’t help to check on it now.

Still, I decided to try rewatching what happened at the ball, in case I missed something last time.

I stored my fan, clenched my fist in my lap, and leaned back to get comfortable.

“This will take five minutes.” I told Julian, “Don’t look at me until it’s done.”

Bracing myself, I activated Julia’s scenario a second time.

It was four and a half minutes of Julia and Chloe greeting guests, dodging a [Fireball] and broken glass, and then Chloe’s reminder that they would be gone by midnight for their honeymoon.

I came out of it with a bit less struggle than this morning. Watching the same oracle was like waking from a recurring nightmare. You still had the nightmare, but the familiarity of it made it easier to distance oneself from the grip.

“Gerda?” Julian still had his eyes closed, but his voice was laced with concern.

I took deep, ragged breaths until the shaking stopped. “We’ll have to check back at midnight and see if any new scenarios are ready. Though I did see you—”

“Is it always like this?” he asked, opening his silver eyes and blinking twice before looking on me with worry.

“What can I say? Seeing the future is hard.” I played it off with a light shrug, but he didn’t look convinced.

“If you could see me,” he asked slowly, “then what about yourself?”

“I barely caught a glimpse of the top of your head over the crowd,” I explained. “So no.”

“Can you only see the future once a day?”

He was prying.

“One ability is like that.” Since we were going to be traveling together soon, I corrected. “I have a perk which let me know you were going to be shot, remember?”

“And now, we’re back to that. Shall I go and get it over with?” Julian stood and offered me a hand. “We should at least be there for the unmasking.”

I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. “Before we go, is John’s shadow with us?”

Julian frowned. “No … Why?”

Damn his low voice and striking eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was trying to seduce me.

“I just want to know what kind of poison is in my drink.” I held up my hand and summoned my glass from storage. “[Appraise] isn’t working, so it must be hidden with a powerful perk.”

He started in surprise, then his mood darkened. “Since when?”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t poisoned from the start. It happened right before the toast.”

He cursed and said, “Let’s go back.”

I decided to keep holding the glass, for show. We returned with some time to spare before the unmasking, and Julian brought us to check in with Calisto first. John was standing with the grand duchess.

“There you are!” Calisto tsked. “Henrietta wanted you to know we found Lady Amy.”

Relief washed over me.

“Already?” Julian squeezed my hand and shot John a questioning look.

“Just now,” he explained.

“The saintess is over there.” Calisto pointed toward a couple. I wouldn’t have been able to tell, since the elf had changed her skin color to gold and her hair to black. The person she was dancing with was also a mystery in green satin.

“Thank the gods.” That was one less thing to worry about.

“Yes. A guard found her with a young man in a hidden alcove in the east wing.” The duchess snorted. “Ah, to be young again.”

“Her father is going to be furious,” I said. I’d promised I wouldn’t reveal her tryst … but Henrietta had made no such vow.

“He’ll get over it.” Duchess Calisto smiled. “After this dance, we’re going to do the unmasking.” Calisto herself was wearing an elegant dark-blue feathered mask.

“In the meantime, John, could you come tell me what this is?” Julian plucked my drink out of my hand and waved it.

The man glanced at it. “Belladonna powder.”

Grand Duchess Calisto frowned. “That’s a legal poison.”

“The joy of being Madame Potts: my first official assassination attempt.” I shrugged. “Speaking of, Julian was supposed to get shot soon, so we were thinking of moving to a harder-to-reach spot.”

“Son, why haven’t you put up a shield?” the grand duchess inquired.

“Because it is rude to push people aside with a magical [Barrier] they can’t see?” Julian summoned a shield around both of us, and the dome stuck out at an awkward arc, pushing against Calisto’s dress. “And with a personal shield, I wouldn’t be able to hold Miss Gerda’s hand.”

He drew me closer, and I let him. I did tease him with a quick, “I could go and dance with Erik or Sir Tully and leave you to stand in the corner with your barrier up. You’d make a very handsome wallflower, Your Grace.”

His mother choked.

“You flatter me, but I think I’ll just enjoy a walk around the hall and another dance. Without the [Barrier].” His shield faded away. “It’s meant for the battlefield, not the ballroom.”

“Have fun, you two,” Calisto told us. “Rowen has almost finished speaking with their son, and I’m going to claim a dance before the reveal.”

We found a quiet spot in a corner, tucked out of the way so we could watch the unmasking without being in the thick of things. Lady Amy’s date was still my number one suspect, so I positioned myself between him and the duke.

And then, the music stopped. Couples left the dance floor, the clock tower chimed the hour, and a hum of excitement arose.

“Maybe you should shield up for the unmasking?” I recommended. “You know, just in case.”

“If that is your wish.” He activated a shield around each of us as Grand Duchess Calisto announced we should take off our disguises. I simply unequipped my mask and put it in my storage ring.

Julian did the same.

Nothing happened.

Exhilarated from escaping another near fate, I asked, “Wanna go grab a bite to eat?”

The waiters walked around with drinks, but there was a table of finger foods in the corner that I’d been hesitating to visit, in case of poison. Luckily, John was nearby, and I felt comfortable eating things if he could verify them.

“After you, Miss Gerda.” Julian dropped the shield and waved me forward.

“Maybe you should keep your shield up, and I’ll grab our plates?” I told him. He hesitated only a second before accepting.

He stood beside the wall while I grabbed each of us cured meats, three different cheeses, and a roasted rosemary-and-garlic phyllo pastry square that smelled heavenly , adding a flower-cut strawberry as well.

When I turned around to show Duke Julian my selection, I felt it: the feeling of magic in the air; the subtle electricity of power.

My [Sense Danger] activated, warning me too late as a bolt of cold iron shot directly into my heart from a human standing right beside me. He had an adorably small crossbow in hand that had let loose the offending arrow which pierced my chest …

Or that should have.