Everyone looked in horror at the sight.
The woman's eyes widened with sudden fear. She had not expected to have had even the chance to get near him, let alone have a piece of him.
Yet, here she was with a scrap of his tie in her hand and nowhere to hide.
With a growl, Dante snarled and bared his slowly lengthening fangs, his green eyes glittering with rage.
His blood boiled as it raced through his body. It was pounding into his temples and shouting at him to strike his prey and devour her blood.
He began to advance on her, sparks snapping and sizzling from his fingertips.
Suddenly, six Royal Attendants sprang to his side.
Everyone froze. Then, a melee ensued as the guests scrambled to put a distance between themselves and the Royal Attendants. Everyone knew what the appearance of Royal Attendants meant.
They did not hesitate to strike down anyone who looked as if they could be a threat to the Royal Family.
As two of the Royal Attendants held him back, the remaining four advanced towards the hapless blonde still holding onto the tattered rag that was once Dante's pride possession.
"Arrest that woman for attempted theft of the Royal Family Diamond, the Taralei." One of the Royal Attendants pointed to the hapless woman.
"No, No! I wasn't trying to steal the diamond. No!" She began yelling as the Royal Attendants converged on her.
As she was pulled from the ballroom, kicking and screaming, all the other women backed away.
Stealing from the Royal Family automatically landed a person in the royal dungeons for at least a couple of decades. The woman had also torn the Second Prince's tie off, which would be considered assault on a Royal person, most likely earning her another twenty years.
She would be an old woman by the time she was allowed to see the light of day, but at least she was lucky enough that the Royal Attendants had arrived when they did or she would have been a bloody stump on the ground.
The guests murmured among themselves as they looked at Prince Dante, still standing there. The Second Prince was not someone to get close to if one valued his or her life.
Dante stood alone in the middle of the ballroom, quivering with barely suppressed rage. This was his Empress Mother's Royal Ball. He had to try to control the rage and the urge to devolve into that bloodthirsty animal that sought blood in any form.
The perfectly dressed Prince was disheveled. His shirt was ruffled at the point where the tie had torn. The sparkling Taralei Diamond was several feet away, looking abandoned and forsaken on the hardwood dance floor.
"Hmmmphh!" Candi jumped up onto her feet, bristling with indignation.
How dare that woman attack Dante like that and destroy the outfit he had so carefully worn for this Royal Ball!
She could not leave him alone on the ballroom floor like that.
As Candi rose from her seat and crossed the floor, the guests quickly noticed her pink and orange ombre dress with the glistening gossamer dragonfly wings of iridescent pinkish orange spread out behind her. In her blonde hair was a tiara of gold, and on her neck was a choker with a pink stone that looked suspiciously like the Avgo gem.
She was a vision of beauty, something that could not possibly exist on the plane of the ordinary. Those amazing wings perfectly matched with the damaged tie on his neck. This woman was obviously Prince Dante's escort for the night!
Not only that, the woman looked familiar!
Could it be???
Oh my! The crowd gasped.
It truly was her! The ballet dancer that was currently holding first position at the Avgo Events!
But wait! Everyone knew that the winner would be the Crown Prince's bride. Why was she the Second Prince's escort?
This was an anomalous situation that needed to be endlessly debated over teas and coffees and parlor halls. Was she just going after the extreme wealth of the Second Prince?
Would she purposely lose so that she could be the Second Prince's bride? But if she were to purposely lose the event, who would be their new Crown Princess? This was important, as that woman would eventually be the Empress!
The initial silence of the shocked guests slowly turned into a dull roar as they began to speculate and ponder over the new turn of events.
Throughout all of this, Candi was completely unaware.
On swift ballet toes, she pranced over to where Dante stood, alone and quivering with rage.
As she reached the Taralei Diamond, she reached down and picked it up.
Two steps later, she was standing in front of him.
"Goodness gracious. This thing doesn't look too good, now does it." She eyed his bared fangs and his bloodshot green eyes. "Whatever shall we do?"
He stood there, staring at her, trying to say something to reassure her that he was not upset at her, but nothing was coming out. His blood was still boiling in his brains and he could not turn off the physical transformation that quickly.
Sensing his difficulty, Candi smiled.
"Let's get rid of this thing, shall we?" She quickly pulled the torn scrap of tie off his neck and dropped it to the floor. Then she began straightening his shirt.
"You are so tall, Dante. You are making my neck ache from constantly looking up at you. Even on my ballet tippy toes, you're still way taller than I am." She gave a gentle laugh.
Her tender voice and soft touch was calming the beast within him. As the rage receded from his face, Dante's green eyes began to fill with sorrow.
He had not only embarrassed his beautiful escort by almost devolving into a beast, he had also inadvertently allowed her colors to be damaged.
Candi took note of the sadness enveloping him and took a deep breath.
"Since you're my escort for the evening, you need to wear my colors so everyone knows I'm your date tonight." She smiled as she whipped the matching scarf off her neck.
Reaching up on ballet pointe toes, she tied the scarf around his collar in the form of an ascot tie. Then she gently tugged his shirt back into its pristine condition.
"See, you look perfect again." She looked up at him. "No harm done."
Dante began to smile. With just a simple action, she had changed what was wrong, to right again. His anger and sadness dissipated into thin air, to be replaced with joy.
He lowered his head and gave her a soft gentle kiss on her lips.
"Thank you." He inhaled deeply. "This scarf has your perfume on it. Now I will smell like you for the rest of the night."
"Are you complaining?" She raised an eyebrow and handed him his diamond pin.
"No no! I love your scent, woman. It will feel as if you're hugging me all night." He again inhaled deeply, her scent and then held up the diamond.
"Thank you for coming to my rescue. In return, I offer the Taralei Diamond to you in hopes you will accept it."
She smiled, nodding.
It was a grand gesture, and accepting such an expensive piece of jewelry was something Candi normally did not do. But Dante seemed to have recovered his composure and she could not ruin his mood since he'd been so enraged only minutes earlier.
He pinned the diamond onto the front of her dress and then took her hand and led her back to the Royal Banquet Table.
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