[Princess Emeline has a little go at being an antagonist before realising she doesn't want to and going back to Christoph... Also, Sybyl with 'Cecilia' and Jonathan]
Upon his cold turning away, Emeline nodded silently to herself - this was how it had to be. Despite this assurance, she still felt remarkably guilty. Perhaps, when her duty was done at the end of the night, she would be lucky enough to run into him again... She grit her teeth. Luck wasn't something that came to her. She didn't hear his forgiveness, she had already walked inside. It was probably a good thing, for the sound might have broken her heart and changed her mind instantly.
The ballroom seemed to have calmed down a bit after the king's interruption. She glanced around, narrowing her eyes and hardening her resolve. A quiet corner, perhaps her brother's assistance... The heirs would be hers soon enough. She stalked confidently through the crowd and located her empty space - the far left corner of the room, with a good view of the throne and the dancefloor.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. A skilled passed on by her father, to detect other magic users. It came easily to her brothers, but it was something Emeline had to work at to be able to do. There were quite a few in the crowd. Unfortunately, there was no way of telling who exactly they were - heirs, or Faisen agents? Or perhaps something else altogether? She was struggling to care. Thoughts of the bridge she had burned with a gentleman who had made her laugh interrupted her attempts to get to work.
Sybyl tapped her shoulder, suddenly there from out of nowhere.
"I see you've come to your senses," she uttered with a cold smile. "And left the foolish man to his own devices."
Emeline snapped her eyes open as she turned on Sybyl angrily, "Do not speak of him like that."
"I beg your pardon, mistress..." Sybyl apologised, casting a look over at the crowd. "Is there a target yet?"
"It would be easier if I could ask my brother's help but..." She sighed, and then the resentment she had felt earlier rose up again. She wondered if she should pass on the unfairness, ruin his evening as well...? The brief look on Christoph's face came before her again. Emeline was not as cold-hearted as she wished she could be. "Let's just get this over with so I can go home."
She moved away from her vantage point and back down into the dancing couples. She would have to eliminate the possibilities down, and the only way to do that was in person.
"Leave me for this, Sybyl," Emeline instructed. "You can check out another, since I have wasted so much time already." Sybyl nodded and disappeared from her side almost instantly, knowing through Emeline's telepathic urging exactly where to go.
In truth, Emeline just didn't want an audience, or Sybyl breathing down her neck to stay focused. She didn't want to focus. She barely wanted to do this at all.
What she wanted was to see Christoph again, to dance with him again, but - she noted as she saw him conversing with a lady - he had already moved on from her. Emeline found herself seething. Her step faltered, and a jealousy and disappointment she wasn't familiar with began to form. Her duty seemed to matter less and less in respect to what she was feeling.
It wasn't until the woman laughed that Emeline finally decided to hell with duty. Always dutiful, always respectful, always obedient - to hell with it all!
Though she had no idea what she was going to do or say to this poor man she had just renounced ties with, in a rare bout of impulsiveness she strode straight up to them both. With her heart beating loudly in her chest, she spoke without thought - a totally new territory.
"I have changed my mind, such is a my purogative," she announced, ignoring the woman purposefully. Insulted by this, the woman backed off slightly. "I..." The momentum failed Emeline but she plowed on. She was being foolish and knew she was being foolish and yet... The need to rebel drove her onward. "I have been blinded by my father's will. Tonight, I will be your Emeline if you still have need for such a fickle, foolish woman." It was as close to an apology as she could muster, but she put all the genuine expression she could into the words. "What say you, my prince?" Even if the offer was rejected, as she was prepared for, she would not stay there that night. She would not kill any heirs.
*
Sybyl did not see Emeline's sudden change of pace. She was homing in on the one she was to confront - the crown of Faisen backed her actions and she had been given a semblance of free reign for a moment. Her targets were easy to locate - the blond woman and her dance partner. Emeline's hunch about them might have been right.
They appeared giddy, having a remarkably good time. Sybyl approached.
"Pardon me, madam, sir," she said, standing at a respectable distance from them, but close enough to show it was indeed their attention she needed. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt your fine dance... but I must ask for you both to follow me - it is a matter of urgency indeed."