[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YGxzxVR.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/wA3P0IB.gif[/img][/center]
[color=D0B4EC]Time:[/color] Evening 
[color=D0B4EC]Location:[/color]  Ballroom
[color=D0B4EC]Attire:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/XgrtOQU.png]Outfit[/url] 
[color=D0B4EC]Interaction:[/color]  [@Potter] [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color] [@Oso] [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] [@FunnyGuy] [color=salmon]Lorenzo[/color] 
[/color] [@samreaper] Kazumin
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Charlotte’s arms had initially remained wrapped around Lorenzo, but her grip tightened as Edin asked those nearby to confirm what had been heard.

[i]North star. Lingering eyes. [/i]

For one moment, she had been forced to consider the question:[i] Had he truly pointed the king’s attention toward her? [/i]

She could not bear the thought long enough to answer it.

Not after the way he had defended her. Not after he had placed his title, his power, and perhaps even his life on the line rather than allow Edin to believe she was his to take. A man offering her away would not have looked upon the king with such disgust. He would not have called himself her father the way he had.

Edin was lying. He had to be.

Then Lorenzo went still beneath her arms.

The change was so sudden that Charlotte felt it before she understood it. His shoulders lowered, and for a moment, she thought that he had decided to let the matter end. Before Charlotte could truly understand the change, her hands slipped from him as his weight shifted forward. She watched the tightening of his fist and then the movement of his arm surging toward the king.

Her breath caught. If Lorenzo struck Edin, they would execute him.

The certainty of it tore through her mind so violently that she was completely overtaken by solutions.

She could throw herself between them. 
She could tackle Edin out of the way. 
She could claim she had hexed Lorenzo, that none of it had been his choice, and offer herself in his place before anyone had time to question the lie.

[i]She had to do something.[/i]

But she had no time to do anything at all.

Then, Lorenzo’s fist met a palm instead. 

Calbert's face finally came into focus in her vision. Relief struck her so hard that she felt her knees wobble, though her lungs still refused to release the breath trapped inside them.

Edin never spoke as Calbert conducted his usual damage control, his gaze locked on Lorenzo as if he could not physically look at anything else. Those eyes were fixed upon Lorenzo with a hatred so naked that Charlotte understood Calbert was the only thing standing between her father and the full weight of the Edin's retaliation.

Charlotte glared right at Edin fearlessly, venomous words gathering behind her teeth. She wanted to tell him precisely what sort of man invoked a dead woman to humiliate her daughter. [i]She wanted to tell the entire ballroom what her mother had endured because of him.[/i]

But fearlessness was not the same thing as stupidity. Another outburst would only give Edin the excuse he wanted. 

When Calbert began guiding Lorenzo away, Charlotte immediately followed, her bare feet striking quickly against the marble. She needed to know where he was taking him. She needed to know Lorenzo would be safe.

Calbert caught sight of her and spoke without turning in her direction. [color=4C93C2]“I will not hurt him, Charlotte. I am protecting him.”[/color] His eyes narrowed, and he whispered, [color=4C93C2]“Had you done so before he reached the king, you might have stood between him and the throne long before I was forced to.”[/color]

[color=D0B4EC]“That’s not fair.”[/color] Charlotte immediately snapped.

Calbert did not slow his movement, still guiding Lorenzo.

[color=4C93C2]“Family rarely is. You will need to do better... You do not have much of it left.”[/color]

Charlotte planted her feet and watched him lead Lorenzo away to a table.

The accusation was cruel, but it was a burden she had already placed upon herself. She had promised herself she would keep Lorenzo alive. Somewhere between Cassius, Olivia, and her momentary focus on her own pleasure, she had failed to watch him closely enough. Olivia could have even gotten into danger with the magic temptations she suffered.

Whether she could truly have prevented any of it hardly mattered.

Charlotte reminded herself that she had not taken the spell merely so she could dance, laugh, and pretend for one evening that her life was ordinary. She had taken it so she could face whatever enemies awaited her, and perhaps uncover some piece of the many mysteries she had sworn to pursue before the season ended.

But she also wanted to protect the others, too, so she turned back toward them and finally noticed Kazumin was here, too. 

[color=D0B4EC][i]Kazu too? My selfishness dragged all three of them into this.[/i][/color]

Her jaw tightened, and she turned to them with sudden purpose. [color=D0B4EC]“Come. We need to move somewhere beyond the [i]King’s[/i] delicate line of sight.”[/color] The bitterness in her voice made the title sound like an insult. 

On the way back, Charlotte stooped to collect her abandoned shoes, carrying them by their straps rather than bothering to put them on.  Once seated, she forced her feet back into them with irritated movements, tugging each fastening tighter than necessary. Every few seconds, her gaze returned to Lorenzo.

Then, almost without thinking, she seized her glass and drained what remained in one swallow, hoping the burn might quiet the anger swelling in her chest.

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