Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner Chapter 262: The Starlight Ball 1

Oh, the Starlight Ball was an absolute dream made reality.

Enchanted lights drifted across the ceiling like slow-moving constellations, casting the grand hall in shifting shades of blue and silver. The marble floor had been polished to a mirror shine, reflecting the gowns and suits of Rosevale’s elite as they mingled, laughed, and drank wine from crystal glasses. An orchestra played something elegant in the far corner, strings and woodwinds weaving together.

Aegis moved through the crowd in a black dress that Serilla had picked out for her, fitted enough to show off her body and formal enough to not start a scandal. Her hair was up, her daggers were concealed at her thighs beneath the fabric, and her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her teeth.

MP: 830/830

[Eight hundred and thirty. That’s everything I’ve got. It has to be enough.]

She smiled. She chatted. She complimented Duchess Valemont on her dress, exchanged pleasantries with two minor lords she couldn’t remember the names of, laughed at a joke Commander Korvo made that was genuinely not funny, and accepted a glass of wine that she held but didn’t drink.

All the while, her eyes tracked six people.

Fenn Arlo, near the appetizer table, making small talk with a group of second-years. Brynn Kessler, standing along the wall with a glass in her hand, watching the crowd. Daven Thull, by the orchestra, tapping his foot to the music. The other three spread across the hall in a loose perimeter, all of them dressed nicely, all of them blending in, all of them waiting.

And Sylceris, in a dark green dress that hugged her bronze skin, her white hair pinned up, standing near one of the pillars with her arms at her sides.

[Seven operatives. All present. All accounted for. Just like the twins said.]

Aegis could see Kai’Lin and Mei’Lin at opposite ends of the hall, dressed as serving staff, trays in hand, their cat ears hidden under headpieces.

They’d been in position since the doors opened. Scarlett was near the main entrance in formal attire, her black armor swapped for a suit that strained across her shoulders. Kanna was at the secondary exit, calm and still, a drink in her hand that she wasn’t touching. Aegis’s soldiers, the ex-bandits turned legitimate retainers, were stationed at every other doorway, dressed as hired security.

Nobody was leaving this room without Aegis knowing about it.

Talia found her near the middle of the hall, her black hair swept up, her yellow eyes sharp beneath a silver circlet. She was stunning, as always, in a deep blue gown that matched her ice magic’s color.

"How are you feeling?" Talia asked, her voice low enough that only Aegis could hear.

"Terrified," Aegis said, smiling for the crowd. "You?"

"Furious that you won’t tell me the full plan."

"I know. I’m sorry."

"You’re going to make it up to me."

"I always do."

Talia squeezed her hand once, then drifted back into the crowd.

[Okay. Everyone’s in position. The shadow mages are here. The exits are covered. All I need now is the signal.]

An hour passed.

Then another.

Aegis kept circulating, kept smiling, kept her eyes on the six operatives scattered throughout the hall. Her pulse never slowed down. The wine in her glass got warm.

Then Sylceris appeared at her elbow.

"It’s almost time," Sylceris said, her voice barely above a whisper. She was standing close enough that anyone watching would think they were just two women sharing a quiet word at a party. "Fifteen minutes. After that, we need to be gone."

[There it is.]

Aegis nodded.

"Understood."

Sylceris slipped back into the crowd.

[Now.]

Aegis set her wine glass down on a passing tray, caught Talia’s eye across the room, and gave her a single nod.

Talia moved to the raised platform where the orchestra sat. She stepped up, and the musicians trailed off. The hall quieted as five hundred pairs of eyes turned to the Princess of Valdria.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Talia said, her voice carrying across the marble without effort, "I’d like to thank you all for attending this evening. Before we continue, I have a small request."

At the main entrance, Scarlett stepped in front of the doors. Her suit jacket was open now, and the sword at her hip was visible. Two of Aegis’s retainers flanked her, moving into position.

At the secondary exit, Kanna set her drink down and moved to block the doorway, her hand resting on the hilt of her legendary black sword. More retainers sealed the side passages, the servant corridors, every way in or out.

Every exit in the grand hall closed simultaneously.

Fenn Arlo noticed first. His head snapped toward the main entrance, then the secondary exit, then the side doors. Aegis watched his face change, watched him turn to find Brynn, watched Brynn’s eyes go wide.

"In celebration of this wonderful evening," Talia continued, smiling warmly at the crowd, "I’d like to invite everyone to join us for a dance. Orchestra, if you would."

The music started up again, a waltz, bright and sweeping, and the crowd stirred as couples began moving toward the floor.

Aegis walked straight through the shifting bodies to Sylceris, who was standing near her pillar with a look on her face that had gone from composed to alert. She’d seen the doors close. She was scanning for exits, calculating, her hand drifting toward whatever weapon she had hidden under her dress.

Aegis held out her hand.

"Dance with me," Aegis said.

Sylceris stared at her.

"What’s happening?"

"Dance with me and I’ll tell you."

Sylceris looked at the blocked exits. Looked at Aegis’s outstretched hand. Looked back at the exits.

Then she took Aegis’s hand.

They stepped onto the dance floor together, falling into the waltz amid dozens of other couples. Aegis’s hand went to Sylceris’s waist and Sylceris’s hand went to Aegis’s shoulder, and they moved together the way they’d learned to move together over months of sparring, reading each other’s weight and rhythm without thinking.

"The doors are sealed," Sylceris said through her teeth, her smile fixed for the crowd. "Your people are at every exit. What the fuck is going on?"

Aegis pulled her closer, her mouth near Sylceris’s ear.

"I need to tell you something," Aegis said. "And I need you to keep dancing while I say it."

"Tell me what?"

Aegis closed her eyes for a moment.

She thought about three months of sparring, of meals together, of late-night conversations in Sylceris’s dorm room, of sex and laughter and a kiss that had tasted like lukewarm tea. She thought about a woman who’d grown up watching her people get erased and decided to burn the world down to fix it.

And she thought about the bomb that was going to go off in thirteen minutes.

"I’m sorry, Sylceris," Aegis said. "I tricked you."