Page 17 of Enchanted in Time
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Hannah’s heart was pounding as she stepped through the tall castle portal and passed the guards. They were looking straight ahead without moving a single millimeter, their lances positioned in their right hands. She followed the corridor, with its gleaming tiles and broad red carpet that her every step sank into. There was no one else on the carpet. Was it possible that she had come too late?
She could already hear the sound of loud voices. There must have been a lot of guests at this ball. Cheerful violin music drifted above the talking and laughter. Had the dancing already begun? Her palms began to sweat as she entered the high-ceilinged ballroom, which was illuminated by countless candles that bathed the hall in a wonderfully romantic glow. The scent of roses and lavender wafted in her direction. Brightly shimmering couples were already whirling about on the gleaming dance floor to the tune of the violins. A sea of color and rustling skirts was swirling throughout the hall. Overwhelmed, Hannah took a step back.
She could hardly believe her eyes as she watched the couples in their old-fashioned but fabulous ball gowns and uniforms.The ladies’ high, artfully draped hairstyles reminded her of her own. The guests were dancing and twirling around the hall in a formation that was entirely unknown to her. They skipped and changed partners as if they had practiced every step. Had there been rehearsals?
Her gaze wandered upward, and she marveled at the marble coffered ceiling and its frames fashioned in miniature bas relief. She could make out angels, horses, and knights, with ivy and laurel wreaths in between. A huge chandelier with flickering red candles was hanging from the ceiling on a long chain. She continued looking around the ballroom, and what she saw next took her breath away: multiple golden statuettes on half-columns. One was of a slender boy who was pouring something; another was of a dancing girl who was daintily holding her dress with her outstretched arm. Didn’t such things belong in a museum? Other half-columns held precious vases overflowing with lavish bouquets of roses containing a single lavender stalk to add a splash of purple.
Still incredulous, Hannah’s gaze swung back to the mirthful guests, not one of whom seemed familiar. Who had invited her? Surely not a real king! Who had made this event happen? Who had planned all this?
As she watched the couples, who were no longer following some old-time choreography but now dancing a waltz, her questions vanished, and she imagined how she, too, might be asked to dance and glide through the hall in such a magical, romantic way. But the mere fact that she was there all dressed up in this shimmering red gown gave Hannah a feeling of being alive that she hadn’t had in a long time.
She strolled through the rows of women and men who were standing on the side as they watched the dancers, chatted, and sipped their beverages. Then she passed antique upholstered furniture where the first dancers were taking a break, and shebravely helped herself when a server in fancy livery held a tray of hors d’oeuvres to her nose. They smelled delicious. So delicious, in fact, that she brazenly grabbed the largest hors d’oeuvre she could find on the gleaming silver tray. It seemed to be something with tomato and thyme in a puff pastry or something of the sort.
As she popped the morsel into her mouth, her gaze fell on a handsome man in the middle of the dance floor. Forgetting the canapé on her tongue, she looked him over. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with short blond hair and wearing shiny boots and a dress uniform with gold trim on the collar. The lady he was whirling around the dance floor was dressed in a dream gown of lilac silk. Hannah blinked several times, then choked on the morsel in her mouth and suddenly had a coughing fit. That caused the unknown man to shift his gaze, and then he was looking at her with wide eyes. He stopped dancing for a moment.
Oh, no, why did he have to notice her at just that moment?
The server could barely hide his disdain as Hannah reached for a tall crystal glass from his colleague’s tray and downed it in one gulp. But she didn’t care. The urge to cough had passed, and she searched for the stranger, spotted him among the throng of dancers, and followed the pair with her eyes. Unable to tear her eyes away, Hannah could feel how her heart was leaping excitedly in her breast. And whenever the stranger turned toward her as he danced, he would look at her.
Hannah felt her cheeks turn red. Who was he? She had never seen him in town. Was he from somewhere far away? Occasionally, he looked back at his dance partner and smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes. As though he had never done anything else his whole life long, he led her around the room, drawing many admiring looks as he did so. Blind to everything around her, Hannah could also no longer look away.
Why did he look so unhappy yet dance with such passion, as if it were the most beautiful thing in his life? And who was the woman he danced with and kept smiling at half-heartedly?
Again, he raised his head and looked in Hannah’s direction. Their eyes met, and again, for a moment he stopped dancing. This time, he didn’t avert his eyes but held her gaze, and Hannah couldn’t look anywhere else, as if something were drawing her to him. Goosebumps ran down her arms, and she froze as the stranger slowly continued to dance. By now, the dance had changed, and rather than leading his partner in a twirl, he moved calmly in place. As he gazed at Hannah, a look of wonder came over his face, and his eyes took on a liveliness that had not been there before.
When his partner said something to him, he looked at her briefly and answered but then immediately looked back at Hannah. After three more turns, the violin music stopped, and with a few large strides, the stranger came up to Hannah. He bowed gallantly and extended his hand as he looked straight at her. His eyes were shimmering green and blue, like a forest lake. “May I have this dance?” His deep voice had a determined sound, as if his request were not a question.
Hannah cleared her throat. She looked to the left and the right and then back at the stranger. He did indeed mean her. Unable to utter a word, she nodded and curtsied as though she had slipped into some ancient role. He led her onto the dance floor, and immediately the violin orchestra began to play again. He guided her with a firm hand so that she could easily follow his steps. The rest of the couples changed partners, but the stranger would not let go of her and danced with her alone.
“I have been waiting for you.”
“For me?” Hannah’s heart beat faster as the stranger glided through the hall with her, fixing his sea-green eyes on hers. Washe the one who had arranged all this and sent her the invitation? Her heart made a leap. This couldn’t be true!
He led her in a twirl and pulled her close again, as if he feared she might flee like Cinderella. Hannah positively sank into his eyes, and her knees went weak. Since when had she gotten so fragile?
“I absolutely must speak with you! You do know what this is about, of course. You’ve been waiting for me as well, have you not?”
What did he mean? Was he saying that he sent her the invitation? She nodded uncertainly as the violins fell silent and this wonderful dance came to an end. The stranger bowed to her. Immediately another woman stepped in front of Hannah and whispered in his ear. Annoyed, he looked at her, then bowed to Hannah and gave the next dance to the other woman.
Hannah stood in the middle of the dance floor like something that had been ordered and never picked up. It finally dawned on her how idiotic she must have looked just standing there, and she blinked several times. But before she could turn and walk away, the stranger fixed his sea-green eyes upon her yet again. He nodded first to her and then toward a large door as if to direct her there. Hannah followed his gaze. The door led out to a large balcony with a view of a brilliant sunset. She was spellbound by the scene. She turned back to the stranger, who nodded in encouragement. Without giving it any further thought, she left the dance floor, pushing her way past the stout gentlemen and the giggling ladies peeking out from behind their fans. She walked outside and leaned against the balustrade.
The light of the evening sun looked beautiful. It had something otherworldly about it as it cast a pink glow upon the forest that extended on all sides around the castle ruin—though it couldn’t very well be called a ruin anymore. So the glow that extended on all sides around Lichtenberg Castle, then. From thebalcony, the forest seemed endlessly wide, unbelievably deep, and unimaginably vast, although Hannah knew it was actually only a small, wooded area that stretched around the former ruin. It must have been the view that made the forest seem so large.
Hannah leaned against the balustrade for a long time, entirely lost in the contemplation of this magical idyll, when a deep voice from behind her pulled her out of her thoughts. “Isn’t it breathtaking?”
“It’s simply magical.” Hannah turned toward the person who had spoken—and saw the stranger standing beside her. He was more than a head taller than she was, and he bowed slightly in her direction.
His hands clasped behind his back, he looked out at the distant horizon. “I stand here every night and watch the sun go down, and I wonder how many times I’ve already seen it.” He turned to her and studied her with his blue-green eyes.
Like a mysterious forest lake.The thought flashed through Hannah’s mind, and she turned as red as a beet.
“And all those evenings, I wondered when you would finally come.”
Hannah’s cheeks were burning. He had been waiting for her? Where did he know her from? “This is my first time here. This is my first ball ever. I’ve never been to an event like this before. Tell me, do you know who arranged all this?”
The stranger furrowed his high forehead as looked at her. “But you must know that already. King Gustav von Lichtenberg, of course!”
