Arielle Immortal Journey (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 5) (31 page)

“Is there something wrong?”

She took a deep breath and tried to steady her voice as she forced a
smile.

“I think I’m getting a cold,” she said with a trembling voice.

“It does get quite cold in these large rooms.” He pulled her even
closer, and leaning in, he whispered, “I will try to keep you warm.”

Arielle was lost for words unable to understand what was
happening to her.

“What’s your name?”

“Arielle,” she stammered, “Arielle Young.”

“I don’t believe that we have ever met.”

“No, we have not,” she replied firmly.

“Where are you from Arielle Young?” he asked in a seductive voice.

“Hampshire,” she replied as her thoughts ran wild. He had to belong to the secret society of immortals that Sebastian had talked
about. He and Annabel had to belong to the same society. She remembered Sebastian telling her that the government was trying to
seek out immortals and destroy them.
How wild is this? How incredibly wild is this?
She couldn’t wait to tell Eva and Gabrielle.

“Are you here on a holiday?” His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“We are here on a short holiday. My sister, Eva, received an
invitation
for the dance through a friend, and here we are,” she said, and
laughed nervously, thinking that her story sounded fairly believable.

“How long are you staying?”

“Not long at all. We have been here for almost two weeks, and we are going home the day after tomorrow,” she said, trying to make her story sound convincing.

“I’d love to get to know you a little better. Can I see you tomorrow?”

“Perhaps,” she said in an unconvincing tone. She heard him
chuckle as he fixed his eyes on her face.

Leaning in again, he whispered in her ear, “I’m very sure that
we’ll see each other again.”

She was convinced that he was an immortal. It frightened her. Sebastian had mentioned that there were many immortals in the
sixteenth century, she just didn’t expect to meet one in the flesh. She was hopeful that he didn’t have the same ability as Sebastian to read people’s minds. That alone would put her life in immediate danger. In the 1500s, immortals were sought and killed in a horrible way, so they didn’t want to be exposed. Gaston didn’t show any signs that
he could read her thoughts. When the dance ended, they walked
back
toward the balcony door where Eva was talking to a couple of men. Gaston held her hand firmly, gazing deeply in her eyes, his lips curving up.

“Make sure you hold a couple more dances for me. You are a wonderful dancer.” His voice sent a shiver down her spine as it came across strong and unwilling to accept rejection. She forced a weak smile. His statement gave her a weird sensation. His eyes never left her face. He was refusing to let go of her hand until she agreed. She
pressed her lips together and struggled to appear relaxed. She
smiled, trying to hide her true feelings, and watched him stride away across
the room in that familiar seamless walk. She stood there in
bewilderment, and finally turning away she stared at Eva anxiously. Eva excused herself and walked up to Arielle. Gabrielle came up at the same time and stood by Arielle’s side. She looked between her two friends, not knowing what was going on.

“What’s wrong?” Eva whispered, watching Arielle with
speculation.

“Oh, my God,” Arielle said over and over again.

“Arielle, you look sick. What happened?” Gabrielle asked,
clearly concerned. Arielle pulled her friends closer, and dropping her voice to a mere whisper, she said, “You would absolutely not believe this,
but the guy that just walked away is an immortal.” They let out a
faint gasp and exchanged looks. Eva took her hand and pulled her away from the crowd. Gabrielle followed closely behind.

“How do you know that? Did he say something?” Gabrielle asked.

“No, he didn’t have to say a thing,” Arielle said quietly. “I
breathed
that unmistakable immortal scent you possess,” she said, directing her comment to Eva. “I stared at his flawless beauty, his seamless
walk, and
then I heard that unique musical voice. There is no mistake about
this, he’s an immortal,” Arielle said breathlessly.

Eva smiled with amusement. “So, why is that an issue for you?”

“Eva! Are you serious!” Arielle cried out.

“Arielle, calm down. It should make no difference to us who is here, why they are here, and what they are. We’re here for one
purpose, and one purpose alone, and that is Sebastian. Everything else in this century is for us to enjoy, learn, and absorb while we are here, do you understand?” she said, watching Arielle carefully. Arielle knew that Eva was right.

Eva put her index finger under Arielle’s chin and lifted her face
to meet her gaze. “Arielle, look at me.” She held her with that immortal gaze for a short moment, and Arielle felt a peculiar
sensation spreading across her body. She immediately succumbed to Eva’s powers of persuasion. She felt calm and confident. She ran her hand over her hair lightly and blinked several times, gaping at Eva.

“Absolutely extraordinary!” she said. “How, how did you do that?”

“Well, how are you feeling?” Eva asked.

Arielle blinked. “Surprisingly fine,” she replied hesitantly,
running her fingers through her hair.

“Excellent!” Eva remarked.

They stood at the edge of a dance floor crammed with satin, silk,
muslin, and ivory lace. They gazed out into the moving wave of
colors, and heard the laughter and the loud chattering that nearly surpassed the soft music. Their gaze lingered around the room transfixed by
the sight of the well-born aristocrats clustering around the dance floor wearing their social smiles and carrying on casual conversations.

“It’s like I’m watching a movie on the telly,” Gabby observed.

“I was thinking the exact same thing,” Eva said.

Arielle found herself comparing fantasy and reality, mesmerized by the sights in front of her. Silence fell between the three friends.

The muffled laughter that broke the silence brought Eva's and Gabby’s gaze to Arielle. She was trying hard to stop giggling, but soon her body was vibrating with quiet laughter. Eva’s eyes widened and Gabby looked puzzled.

“What’s with you?” Gabby asked.

Arielle bit her lip and tried to repress her laughter, failing miserably. Clearing her throat she fought to compose her voice.
Leaning forward
she took her friend’s hands and pulled them toward her, saying
conspiratorially, “I was just wondering what these well-born folks would think of a little Tinie Tempah?”

Eva’s brows shot up and Gabby clapped a hand over her mouth stifling a loud snort.

“Well?” Arielle insisted, nearly immobilized by quiet laughter.

“They would bloody die,” Eva said.

They stared at each other mischievously and, as if an invisible conductor had waved his baton in front of them, they lowered their voices to a mere whisper and rapped in perfect rhythm the lyrics, “And we can do this until we pass out,” imitating the English rapper. A minuscule span of time passed, as they looked at each other with amusement. All at once they erupted into hysterical laughter.

They stopped laughing just as quickly, reason telling them that this was not the place for this type of outburst. A long, tense moment
followed while they took a look around. They were thankful to
discover that no one had paid attention to their outburst.

Arielle cleared her throat and her gaze drifted back to Eva and Gabby. “Yes, I think a few lyrics from 'Pass Out' will rejuvenate the atmosphere,” she said wryly.

The air in the room felt extremely warm. They walked around to admire the art when a servant appeared with a tray of champagne in crystal glasses. All three of them reached for a glass at once, and took a welcome drink. Soon, they fell into a pleasant conversation.

“Arielle, the guy you danced with was amazing looking,” Gabrielle noted.

“Um, well, Gabby, he’s an immortal. He couldn’t be anything less than amazing. You should know firsthand about their astonishing looks.”

There was a long silence again and Arielle turned to face Eva one more time.

“Holy crap! I just thought of something else,” she said worriedly.

“What?” Eva and Gabby said simultaneously.

Arielle groaned quietly. “What if I don’t want to dance with Gaston again, and he decides to compel me? I’ll be completely
helpless!” she said swallowing hard. She stared at Eva.

“Arielle,” Eva said with a reassuring voice, “we aren’t going to be here but a day or two, not long enough for Gaston to do anything at all. He seems handsome and nice, and he’s attracted to you. Avoid looking directly into his eyes and just enjoy yourself.”

“You are right.” Arielle decided to relax and enjoy the gala. She looked at Gabrielle who appeared captivated by her surroundings.

“What’s going on with you?” Arielle asked her.

“I couldn’t possible describe how absolutely amazing this night has been, and we’ve been here only a short time.”

“How so?”

“Some of the guys that I’ve danced with introduced me to their friends who are aspired artists, sculptors, and poets,” she said. “But the amazing thing is that I recognize some of those names. They are very famous artists, sculptors, and poets in our day. Their work is worth millions of pounds each.” Gabrielle’s voice was exuberant and her eyes sparkled gleefully. She took a deep breath and continued. “Eva, this is the most amazing adventure. Do you realize that some of these people may be in our history books?”

Eva nodded and smiled. “Yes, I’m sure that they are. Did you expect something different?” she asked blankly.

“No, I guess not,” Gabby conceded.

They moved slowly around the huge ballroom. Eva was able to
clearly hear every conversation, and some of the women were out for blood. Eva pulled her friends closer and let them on the wicked gossip that was going around the room. She had them laughing in total amusement.

It was not long before another guy came up to ask Eva to dance. It was not a big surprise as Eva’s immortality made her the most desirable girl in the room. Eva was an elegant dancer too, moving in that faultless way only immortals possessed.

Gabrielle leaned over and whispered, “I still can’t get out of my
mind the picture of Eva diving for her bathing suit bottom.” That’s when they both lost it again, nearly howling with laughter. Tears
trickled down their faces.

When Eva came back, they decided to take a closer look at the beautiful art on the walls and maybe talk to a few people on their
own.

Chapter 23

THEY STOPPED TO ADMIRE
a wall painting and found
themselves next to a couple of groups of young gentlemen and behind a group of six ladies. The ladies were ripping apart some of the women on
the dance floor. The woman standing directly in front of Eva
sounded to be the most venomous one. She looked as if she had been poured
into her silk blue dress. Tiny buttons starting at her nape and going all the way down to her lower back adorned the dress. Arielle chuckled inwardly.
I wonder if there is any room left for breathing air,
she thought.

She shook her head in disbelief and glanced around, letting her
smile fade. She noticed that several groups of men were holding flutes of champagne in their hands and seemed to be enjoying
themselves
with the same malicious conversations. She translated the lethal
words that were spoken by the bitter, jealous women.

“The dress looks like it’s going to explode at any moment,” Eva said, dropping her voice to a whisper so that it only reached her friends’ ears.

Gabby giggled and Arielle snorted. “If she breathes in, it’s a sure thing she will
bust
,” Gabby said between giggles.

Arielle tried but couldn’t hear everything that was said.
Suddenly, the whole group in front of them exploded into robust laughter.

Eva and Gabrielle glanced at Arielle quizzically, but she
shrugged
her shoulders. She couldn't translate for them because she hadn't
heard what was said. They watched in dismay as the woman in the tight
blue dress started to quiver violently, her body bouncing up and
down with fierce hilarity.

Suddenly, a loud pop brought everyone’s focus to the lady in
blue. They stared in amazement as a hail of small buttons flew up in the air, over their heads, and scattered across the floor making cracking sounds. Their jaws fell open at the sight of the woman’s gown wide open in the back and exposing her undergarments.