It wasn't uncommon to hold a ball to honor foreign dignitaries, but Root noted that while there was a respectable turnout, they were all residents of the palace, employees of the various ministries, etc. Many of the usual nobles were conspicuously absent and there was no one from the press. The King was trying to keep a lid on this as much as he could, but the rumor mill was already grinding, surely. He would have to act soon if he wanted to maintain control of the narrative.

Root wondered how much he was going to be involved in the efforts to maintain that control of the narrative. It went with his work in Public Affairs, but at present, it wasn't so much a military matter. Actually, it was a military matter, but there wasn't much the military could do about it and the Army admitting its helplessness wasn't going to do anything to put the people's minds at ease.

Of course, the Army wasn't going to admit it was helpless. Root saw how the Chiefs of Staff reacted to General Adeen. They thought they could fight, but they didn't realize they had no chance. Root didn't need a show of force from the Imperials to prove it to him. He could guess at the level of their technological superiority. He also knew an empty threat when he heard one and General Adeen wasn't making any empty threats.

Would there be a coup attempt? Surely there were people fool enough to let stupid pride take priority over their survival instinct. How do you inspire men to be party to surrender and humiliation? Even if enough people rallied to the King's banner, the Imperials might not have the patience to let the conflict play out and would instead just do away with the lot of them.

His worrying was interrupted by the approach of Princess Anne, the King's firstborn and the namesake of Root's daughter. Though her dress was voluminous enough to hide it, she was a rather robust young woman, an accomplished triathlete and bronze medalist in the Queen Marguerithe Games on the shortlist for Byrandia's women's team going to this year's Unity Games. She'd always had a fondness for Root and the feeling was mutual, but he had to tread lightly around her. She was the King's daughter, after all.

Flanked by her lady-in-waiting Elisavet Duveau and her bodyguard Sir Willem van der Borg, she curtseyed to Root and said, "Sir Root, might you join us? His Majesty the King would like you to join his delegation to invite our guests to the dance floor."

She was being on her best behavior today. When there wasn't anyone around to scold her for it, she tended to talk more like a sailor back in port after three months at sea. No doubt the King impressed on her how important this was.

Root bowed and offered her his arm. The two then walked arm-in-arm toward the King.

As they were walking, the Princess asked him in a low voice, "Root, are these people as dangerous as Daddy says?"

It was a testament to the Princess' superior breeding and training that she was able to say these things without disturbing her mask of genteel serenity. However, as they approached the King, she had to straighten up further as he could easily see through her act.

Root bowed and the Princess curtseyed to the King before she swapped escorts and took her place at her father's side. The King's mistress, Lady Catalina de Cobray, withdrew several paces behind the King. She only had a place at the King's side when the Princess was not around to act in the stead of her late mother.

Miss Duveau and Sir Willem were going around to take up their new positions while the King told Root, "Walk with me, Colonel Maartens."

As they were walking toward the Imperials, the King said to Root, "I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to reconnect with Miss Anju. I would be most interested to learn about her return from the dead. Find out what you can from her, but tread carefully. She's likely bugged and there is no telling what conditioning she has been subjected to."

The King then told the Princess, "Remember, dear, best behavior. Take after your mother and not after your old man."

When they reached the Imperials, the gentlemen bowed and the ladies curtseyed. The King then said, "General, allow me to introduce my daughter, the Princess Anne, and her companion Mademoiselle Elisavet Duveau."

The Princess curtseyed again, saying, "It is my pleasure to meet you, General. If you would permit my boldness, on behalf of my father and this kingdom, I would like to invite you and your companions to the first dance."

It definitely looked like General Adeen was trying to look down the Princess' dress as she held her curtsey. He tweaked at his moustache before saying, "Very well."

The General passed his drink to a servant and allowed the Princess to take his arm. The King was paired with the more senior female officer and the junior male officers were paired with Miss Duveau and Lady Catalina, leaving Root with Azuki. They didn't say anything to each other and only after observing the others did Azuki follow suit and take Root's arm.

They went to the center of the ballroom, the partners exchanged courtesies, the band's music swelled and the pairs came together to take their first step. After the first movement, more couples took to the floor, forming a second and third ring around them.

All the while Azuki had been stealing glances around her, studying the movements of the others to mimic them. It felt strange to hold her again. She was really there, the same woman he left for dead in the snow. He was sure the life went out of her when he granted her last request of giving her their first and last kiss. Of course, he thought he was dead too, but the Imperials were able to bring him back from the brink. They told him Azuki couldn't be saved. Either they lied to him or...

It was actually rather endearing that she was taking this dance so seriously. Her movements were rather stiff. She was too self-conscious of the unfamiliar motions. He remembered how she was when she fought the Palatinians, a white blur armed only with a shortsword who could take on seasoned Alpini and come out the winner.

He thought of the time she rescued him from a scouting mission gone wrong. She had taken a different form, skin and hair as white as the snow with blazing ice-blue eyes, like some sort of nightmare. Then, to reassure him once the Palatinians were either dead or fled, she reverted to her natural form, the cold be damned. Even as his consciousness was failing him, that image was burned into his mind and it would come back to him any time he saw the snow or felt the chill winter wind.

Root looked around and saw that he and Azuki were the only pair still holding on to each other. Root promptly separated from Azuki and bowed. If more of the usual chatterers had been in attendance, he would've been the subject of gossip for a month. It would be mortifying to the average socialite, but Root only cared about that sort of thing insofar as it reflected poorly on his superiors and led to him getting an earful later.

Root's next partner was the female officer the King was dancing with. She said nothing to him and he said nothing to her. She appeared to be Oriental like Azuki, but not of the same stock. Some sort of Tungese if she were from Miravel, maybe, not that he was good at telling one group of Orientals from another. He did notice that her eyes tended to stray back to King Charles. Maybe she was a little taken by him. He did tend to have that effect on the ladies, and even if the Imperials didn't recognize his rank, he was still a king. The scenario played right into the sort of fairytale dreams almost every girl seemed to have.

The dance ended and Root found himself paired with Princess Anne. Root could finally relax a little. If there was anyone he was comfortable dancing with, it was the Princess. They had been dancing together ever since Root first came to the Capital. The Princess was a late bloomer, so when they first started dancing together, she was so short that she had to stand on his feet like a girl half her age. As she grew, she became too much of a handful for a lot of the more delicate young gentlemen of the court, so Root often joined her for dance lessons whenever his official duties permitted. They learned together and had a pretty good harmony going. At least as far as dancing went, she was a better partner than his own wife, who had two left feet and was hopelessly tone-deaf.

Once again using her well-practiced art of communicating quietly without her face betraying a thing, she said, "Oh, thank God that's over with. Did you see that creep put his hand on my ass?"

Root was surprised she could feel it through all those layers. She probably had to have on at least five petticoats under her dress. Of course, his mind was elsewhere during her dance with General Adeen.

The Princess allowed a grin to slip into her facade as she said, "Oh, don't bother hiding it, Root. You don't have to put up a front with me. I'm not your wife."

Teasing again, the Princess asked, "Worked with you? Are you sure you don't mean to say she worked under you?"

Root flashed back to after Azuki rescued him, how she used her body heat to save him from hypothermia. He'd never forgotten that warmth, the softness of her body. No other woman left such an impression. There was certainly more he would've liked to have done with her and she seemed to feel the same way, but out in the field with hostiles about wasn't the time for that sort of thing and they never had the chance after that.

The Princess wasn't convinced.

For whatever reason, the Princess liked to call his wife 'Patrish' rather than settling on 'Patricia' or 'Trish'. Trish didn't mind it so much when the Princess was a kid—she thought it was cute—, but now that she was an adult, it seemed to annoy more than it endeared. Of course, there were probably other reasons why his wife got annoyed at the Princess.

In an effort to change the subject, Root said, "Weren't we talking about your ass?"

This was the part where their relationship became decidedly less comfortable. It was one thing for her to have developed a girlish crush on him as the first step of her growing out of her Electra complex, but she never moved on. It was one thing for them to joke around with each other, but every now and then she would try her hand at legitimate come-ons. It was becoming more and more like trying to navigate a minefield.

The music ended and the Princess gave Root a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping back to curtsey. The following dance with the awkward Miss Duveau was considerably less sexually charged and after her was Lady Cat, who was as pleasant to dance with as a python. She could be superficially charming when she wanted to be, but she had a particular distaste for Root, so he always dreaded interacting with her. If there was anything genuinely good about her, the King was the only one who got to see it.

Root was thankful the Lady Cat kept quiet during their dance. It was only a matter of time before he gave a little too honest of a response to one of her poison-dipped barbs. She was the mother of two little spare princes should, God forbid, anything happen to the Crown Prince. As much as the King liked Root, it'd be bad if he ran afoul of Lady Cat. You don't get between a man and his woman, after all, no matter how much of a rotten bitch she is.

Since Lady Cat was the last possible partner, Root thought that either he would get another chance to dance with Azuki or he would be done, at least for the time being. What he wasn't expecting was to find himself in the arms of King Charles. He'd like to say it had never happened before, but the King liked to mix things up to the amusement of his guests. It caused a bit of a scandal the first time it happened, but now most people were in on the joke. The Imperials weren't, however. It was amusing seeing the two junior male officers awkwardly paired with each other. The Princess was paired with Azuki and covertly gave Root a thumbs up like she won the big prize at the fair. Poor Miss Duveau was stuck with Lady Cat and General Adeen was the only one who wasn't in on the gag because the odd number left him with the one female officer. Her general lack of sex appeal made her as good as a man.

Once they started dancing, the King asked Root, "What did you learn from Miss Anju, Colonel Maartens?"

The King laughed.

The music ended. To get a laugh, Root curtseyed rather than bowed. It had the desired effect. The general audience laughed and even the Imperials couldn't keep a straight face. It was the first and probably only time Root would ever see General Adeen show something resembling a smile.

Servants came into the ballroom ringing bells to signal that it was time for dinner. Root was going to have to remember all the damn rules like which fork to use when and all that nonsense. What he would give to just slip away to a pub and eat a whole roasted chicken with his bare hands and wash it down with a pitcher of beer, damn the glass. No such luck, but such was the privilege of being one of the King's favorites.