Chapter 281: The Admonition
Princess Ceres frowned when she noticed that it was Mira and Amelia performing for her. Why was Lara not with them?
The soft music started playing.
Mira and Amelia stepped gracefully onto the polished floor before the elevated platform. The crowd shifted, forming a wide semicircle around them.
At the side, Asael leaned forward slightly, his gaze on Mira.
He heard what Mira said earlier. On the surface, she was speaking for Lara, but he felt something was off. Then he remembered what Lara told him when they were in Carles. Based on Reya’s accounts, Mira’s servants knocked them down.
The eldest of the Norse brothers scrutinized Mira as she danced. She was a constant presence in the Norse manor as she was chosen to be Lara’s companion. During those times, she acted like a caring and doting sister. But was she really innocent? Was it Hook who masterminded Lara’s abduction? Did she not lend a hand? Asael made a resolve to watch her closely, moving forward.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a presence beside him. It was Lara. She stood beside him, silent, arms crossed loosely as she watched Mira and Amelia.
The opening notes of the dance drifted through the hall like wind through a curtain—elegant, measured. Mira’s heart beat in time with the rhythm, but it wasn’t nerves that made her palms damp. It was Lara’s eyes on her. Cool, curious, assessing.
Mira and Amelia moved as one, the steps precise and flowing—graceful turns, mirrored flourishes, sudden stillnesses that held tension like a bowstring. The choreography was Lara’s—she had woven it like a spell, threading together something nontraditional, newer, freer form. It was subtle but revolutionary. Even the older nobles noticed the difference.
As Mira danced, her gown swirling around her ankles, she became aware of the silence around her. There were no murmurs or laughter, only the music and the whisper of fabric against the marble. It was working. The audience was enchanted.
But Mira’s thoughts swirled like the hem of her gown. She had not been the first to learn the dance. She rehearsed and practiced hard. And yet— she could feel it slipping. It would be Lara who would be remembered because she was the first to dance like this. It was her dance, her legacy!