Flames of Auriel (A Caeles Adventure Book 1) (15 page)

“Calm down, Joe. You are going to be fine. Just do exactly as we practiced hundreds of times already.”

Rebekah adjusted the straps on Zoe’s corset to make sure the knives were secure. After hours of debate they had finally settled on a stage name for Zoe. Rebekah could not very well announce her to the villages as Zoella, that screamed Aurelian if anything did. So they had settled on a nice Aldabelan name, Josephine. This way they could still call her a nickname close to her own and she would not get confused.

Rebekah was starting to doubt her uncle’s decision to let the princess be in the first performance. She was not sure if Zoe was quite ready for the limelight yet and the princess’s apprehension was showing through as well. Thankfully, the people would be drawn more to Zoe’s foreign looks than the skill of her performance.

They were at the first festival of the season, in a little town outside of the Dark Forest called Lamire. It was a small farmers’ town that was known for their well-sown crops and for being generous when they had a good harvest. That year had been an abundant harvest for them and the gypsies hoped to bank on some of their generosity.

The princess clutched her sides and took deep breaths in as she tried to calm herself. Zoe had never been good at being the center of attention, though she was more often than not the one all eyes were on. In those cases, though, she was not trying to get anyone else’s attention, just Asher’s. She saddened a little at the thought of her prince who was probably flirting with the new princesses his mother had lined up for him as her replacement.

Zoe shook her head as she tried to dislodge his smug face from it and focus back on the task at hand. She was about to go on for the first time in front of a crowd of about fifty or so people. Relatively low by Rebekah’s count, but it felt like millions to Zoe. She was terrified of making a fool of herself, of being recognized and even more so of putting Rebekah in danger.

Rebekah’s usual act was juggling, anything from sand-filled cloth balls to flaming torches. The girl had no fear, but even Zoe could tell the young gypsy was nervous about their new act. Zoe would be throwing her knives at various objects at first and then switch to throwing them around Rebekah as the main feature of the show. The thought did not sit well with the princess. Not one bit.

Zoe tugged on her braided hair and glanced out the window of the small enclosed cart at the growing crowd. It was almost time. She turned her gaze to Rebekah. “What if I hurt you?”

Rebekah rounded Zoe’s form checking her own outfit similar to Zoe’s, but with a belt-like corset instead. “You won’t.”

Zoe grabbed Rebekah’s hands in hers. “But what if I do? Auriel help me, I don’t know what I’d do if I hurt you!”

Rebekah pulled her hand out of hers. She reached around Zoe to grab their prop case and threw a wink back at Zoe. “Then don’t miss.” She was out of the cart door before Zoe could protest any further.

Rebekah handed off the props to one of the other gypsies, who went about setting them up. Rebekah loved being the center of attention. She got a rush out of being on stage and today was no different. Now if she could only get the main attraction to cooperate.

“Ladies and gentlemen! It is my esteemed pleasure to present to you a new act to our already fabulous Mystical Fantasia!” Rebekah drew the audience to her like a moth to a flame, and she relished in it. They had set a small platform up off to the side of Lamire’s square, leaving the main area for the other gypsies’ stalls. “I have for you a new member of our gypsy community! She is a newly orphaned wanderer from our very own kingdom of Aldabel! Her hair is as fiery as her tongue and just as sharp as her knives! Please give a round of applause for the sensational and deadly, Josephine!” The crowd roared their appreciation, all eyes focused on the cart’s door.

Rebekah swelled at the crowd’s reaction, praying that Zoe would not mess it up. It was easy to sell Zoe’s beauty and skill, but it would be up to Zoe to live up to their expectations. Rebekah started to become uneasy when Zoe did not appear right away, but was able to exhale when she made an appearance in the doorway. Her appearance caused another roar from the audience.

Rebekah had to admit that if the crowd liked anything at all about this show it would be the way Zoe pulled off her costume. For a princess, she had phenomenal legs, which were only showcased more by the tight breeches, something Rebekah knew the men appreciated. If Rebekah had not been with their orphaned princess all this time she would not have been able to notice the telltale sign of panic hidden beneath Zoe’s sensual expression. They had gone for sexual and deadly to really draw the audience in. Any buffoon could be called deadly when given a set of knives, but it took real skill to pull off both and Zoe had been blessed by the angels to have one already down.

Zoe forced a seductive look on to her petrified face. She hoped that her movements slithered like she intended as she moved across the stage toward Rebekah. She could not hear anything over the beating of her own heart.

When she finally settled next to Rebekah, she took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. She let out the breath, placed a hand on her hip and scanned the audience with hooded eyes. She gestured to the crowd in a mock salute.

“Thank you for your delightful welcome!” She picked up a knife from the case and fingered it in her hands as if it were something else entirely. “Please do not be alarmed by anything that happens today as I am well experienced in handling
hard
situations.” Zoe smirked as her words caused several blushes from men and women in the crowd. She shrugged at them and turned. “But if I become too distracted, my lovely assistant here is not afraid of losing a finger or a toe!” She patted a hand on Rebekah’s back and the crowd erupted in laughter.

Rebekah faked a nervous laugh to the audience before she set about getting their first trick ready. Their first trick was a spinning circular board in which Zoe was to hit the target in a slow procession, each knife landing on a certain point on the board; the end result spelled out the A-shaped character with one base point pointed inward, which was the sigil of Aldabel’s patron, Metatron.

The audience clapped politely, impressed by Zoe’s workmanship. They had expected to see something more exciting already. The quiet clap of their hands drew the attention of the young gypsy girl on stage.

Rebekah scoffed at Zoe’s work and looked to the crowd, “My lady, I do not think they are impressed with your little stunt.”

Zoe let her eyes glide across the crowd, her lips quirked in amusement. She wiped one of the blades off along the edge of her breast, the movement caused the men of the crowd’s eyes to draw their attention there. “I do believe you are right, Rebekah. Perhaps they want something a little more exciting.” At the men’s catcalls, Zoe gestured to Rebekah to proceed on to the next stunt.

The next part of the show involved Zoe hitting random objects off or near Rebekah’s person. This was one of the parts Zoe was most nervous about. They had practiced this until Zoe’s fingers were raw, using a straw dummy until Zoe felt she was sure she could hit each item without hurting Rebekah. Now confident she could do it without hitting her friend, she prepared for the next round of tricks.

Rebekah reached her hand into their prop case and revealed a large apple to the audience, who oohed and awed at the appropriate times. Having removed the knives from the spinning board previously, Rebekah now stood in its place. She took the apple in her hand and placed it on her head. This trick did not only require Zoe to be a good aim, but for Rebekah to keep the apple balanced on her head long enough to get the deed done.

Zoe tapped her knife’s end on her hand and eyed her assistant. “Ready?”

Rebekah widened her eyes and held up a finger to signal that she needed a minute. Zoe threw up her hands and waited. When Rebekah clasped her hands together looking up in what looked like a plea to the Dark One the crowd laughed.

Zoe turned a sharp look back at her as Rebekah put her hands back down to her sides. “Are you ready now?”

Rebekah gave a thumbs up and squeezed her eyes shut as Zoe took aim. The crowd held their breath as Zoe lined up the throw and gasped as she let the knife sail through the air. Rebekah threw her hands up over her face just as the knife pierced the apple to the board. When the crowd screamed in delight, she ducked away from the board and swiped a hand over her forehead as she looked at where her head had been.

Rebekah grinned to herself. They had the crowd hooked. After the apple they went through a dozen different items for Zoe to hit off of Rebekah’s body – a feather in her hair, a cloth ball in her hand and even a small hat off of her head. Each trick caused the audience to love them more.

Zoe sashayed before the crowd as Rebekah set up their final stunt of the evening. She scanned her eyes for a willing participant for the stunt and almost gave away her persona when her eyes fell upon Asher. He sat regal upon his horse at the back of the crowd, his arrogance wafting off of him like a stench in the air. Zoe longed to run to him, but she could not give herself away just yet. Instead, she forced herself to saunter over to Rebekah to help her with the last ties.

Zoe tightened the tie around Rebekah’s wrist, securely strapping her to the board and hissed, “I thought you said I would never see him!”

Rebekah craned her neck to see around Zoe’s form, to catch a glimpse of the prince. Her mouth dropped open a little at the prince’s handsome figure and turned back to the princess. “Wow. No wonder you were so broken up over him.”

Zoe slammed a hand on the board, the force of which caused the wood to shake. “Focus! What is he doing here?” She made show of attaching the cloth balls to the board around Rebekah’s frame.

“I don’t know! He never comes out of the castle to this area if he can help it.” She hissed between her smiling teeth. “Why can’t he know where you are again?” Rebekah questioned, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two royals.

“I can’t take the chance that he will tell someone at the palace. Who knows how many spies my uncle has there?” Zoe heard the crowd getting restless, so to distract them she took out one of her knives and slid it along her right side of her buttocks. “What should I do? He’ll recognize me for sure!”

Rebekah looked at her panicked princess, her gaze stern. “You finish the show. He is too far back to see your face properly, let alone with the mask. Then we get you out of here faster than a prostitute on judgment day.”

Zoe threw her head back in a throaty laugh at her friend’s words. The crowd’s attention focused back onto Zoe in anticipation. She turned back to her audience and made sure to embellish her Aldabelan accent even more.

“I apologize my friends. It seems my assistant is getting a little squeamish about our last trick for you. But no worries I have calmed her fears.”

Zoe walked back to her position on the other side of the stage and pulled a black cloth from their case. She rolled her hips as she approached the edge of the stage and pointed a finger at an attractive lad in the front row. The lad pointed a finger at himself and looked around, not sure if she was really looking at him.

“You. Help a lady out? My friend is a little tied up at the moment.” She smirked at his enthusiastic nod and helped him up onto the stage.

The lad waved at his friends’ whistles of encouragement as his face filled with heat. Zoe placed his hand in hers and slid the black cloth into it. She turned her back to his and kept her hands on his as she guided him to place the cloth over her eyes. When he finished tying it, she grabbed his hands once again. This time she let them slide down her shoulders, his fingertips skimmed her breasts and then gripped her hips.

When the lad’s grip became confident, she pushed him back into his friends’ waiting hands, making sure her position never altered. She shook a finger at him and smirked. “Naughty, naughty, teasing a lady like that.” She grinned in her blindness when the lads around him laughed.

Zoe took a deep breath as she prepared for the most difficult of all their tricks. She would be throwing knives at the balls surrounding Rebekah while blindfolded. Zoe had never worried about hitting her target when her eyes are elsewhere during a battle, but for entertainment purposes, she was absolutely terrified. Her own fear and the added stress of being discovered was making her lose focus. She let her breath out through her nose, she forced all thoughts and emotions from her mind, only thinking of the target before her.

The princess listened to the thumping of her heart and let it guide her into a soothing rhythm. She threw the first knife aiming for one of the balls furthest away from Rebekah on the board. Zoe let out a sigh when her assistant did not yell out, she lined up the next knife. She felt the weight on her heart slowly release as she sank each knife into their respective places.

Finally, getting down to the last throw, Zoe tried to keep herself from seizing up. This was the most difficult of them all. The ball was placed right next to Rebekah’s left side and if Zoe was off by even one millimeter she could severely hurt her new friend.

Zoe let the crowd’s sudden quiet wash over her, allowing the image of Asher’s smiling face sneak into the forefront of her mind just as she threw the knife. The crowd’s roar of disbelief had her pulling the cloth from her eyes to see her friend’s beaming back at her. She had done it.

Zoe could not believe she had made it through the whole show without missing once! She could not keep her eyes from being drawn to where Asher now stood amongst the crowd. His face did not hold the same astonishment as those around him. The prince’s eyes were filled with one emotion – suspicion.