"Your highness, with all due respect, the wedding must be scheduled as soon as possible," Balcos was arguing with Allura as he whirled her in another waltz. "We need your help in Falkor, and we need it badly. Zarkon has devised a cannon which can disintegrate a whole planet in a matter of seconds, and it is trained on Falkor even as we speak."
Allura suppressed the urge to rudely walk away from this man. How dare he try to browbeat her during her own birthday ball? "Prince Balcos, the Voltron Force would be willing to assist you with your problem with Zarkon whether or not we are married," she pointed out. "I don’t understand why we must wed – we don’t even know one another!"
The prince led her into another turn. "We were pledged when we were very young – or did you forget the time that I spent in this castle as your playmate? Your father meant for me to lead the Voltron Force, even then. Our fathers matched us with the purpose of uniting our kingdoms and becoming powerful enough to protect the galaxy from Zarkon’s evil-doings," Balcos said. He gave her a persuasive smile that might have charmed a less indignant woman. "Besides, would it be so hard to develop even a small affection for me? After all, we were friends."
"We were children," Allura replied, looking up at him with troubled eyes. "We don’t even know each other --- the people whom we’ve become." True, Balcos was handsome and charming – but he didn’t feel right. She tried to shut out the image of the kind of man who would feel right, knowing that she couldn’t afford to be distracted tonight, but she couldn’t help scanning the ballroom for just a glimpse of...
"Does it matter, Princess? We are obliged by honor to obey our fathers’ wishes, dead as they may be. Although I must confess that obeying will not be such a chore for me," replied Balcos, interrupting her musings. He touched Allura’s cheek, and she flinched instinctively. "You are a beautiful woman, Princess, and I’m sure very easy to love."
He was right. They were obliged to follow their parents’ wishes. But nothing he said could be true – could it? Her father couldn’t have promised what was not his to give. Alfor had always fostered independence in his daughter, and this was an act that was not in character with the father he was. "Father never told me anything of the sort," Allura said, eyes wide with denial.
"Your father died when you were much younger than I was when my father died," Balcos said. "It was on his deathbed that my own father told me of Alfor’s pledge. Face it, my beautiful princess, you have always been meant to be mine."
"No! That can’t be… my father would never… " Allura shook her head in distress, struggling to get herself out of Balcos’ grip. She needed time to be alone, away from this man who seemed meant to claim her, even if he didn’t know her well enough to love her. She didn’t want to be wanted because of the power she wielded – she wanted to be wanted for herself by someone who knew her and was still willing to stay… "Please, your Highness, let me go…"
"May I have this dance?" a familiar voice asked just behind her shoulder.
She whirled around and found Keith bowed before her, looking just as dashing as the prince in his white dress uniform, if not more so. Strong, familiar, wonderful Keith – her friend rescuing her again.
"Yes, thank you very much," she said, relief and anticipation dancing in her eyes as Balcos let her go while he glared at Keith. Keith returned his stare coolly, then looked at the princess curtsying before him before she went straight into his arms, as if they were her sanctuary.
In a snow-white ball gown that left her shoulders bare, Allura looked breathtaking. There were forget-me-nots the color of her eyes nestled in her hair, and she was so beautiful that Keith felt his throat tighten as he realized that this could be one of the last times he would be allowed to dance with her.
"You do have magnificent timing," Allura said, trying to laugh, as they danced away from a fuming Balcos. "So, tell me, are you ready to sacrifice your toes? You always manage to injure yourself when you rescue me out of scrapes like…" Her voice trailed off when she caught a glimpse of the expression on his face.
"Just dance with me, Princess," he said, his eyes unexpectedly dark and intense, staring into hers. He gave her a wistful smile. "Dance with me." Like this for the last time, she read in his eyes.
"Why, Captain Keith – I already am," she replied
as she smiled back up at him. Then she nestled closer in his arms, lay
her cheek against his chest, and wished with all of her heart that it wasn’t.
"Your highness," she said, her eyes anxiously searching his for any sign of recognition. There was none – nothing in those green eyes she loved so much. In the time she had known him, she had seen laughter, sadness, anger, love, and even pain in them, but never had she seen nothing at all. It chilled her. His eyes might as well have been glass.
"Do I know you?" he asked, his tone mildly curious but his eyes reflecting indifference. "You seem familiar."
Kayla tried to take hope in his last statement. "Balcos, it’s Kayla. Admiral Tagor’s daughter." Your betrothed, she added mentally. She knew her heart was in her eyes, pleading with him to acknowledge her meaning in his life.
"I’m sorry. Tagor never introduced his daughter to me – if you are his daughter, then I’m honored to meet you," he said politely. He took her hand in a polite handshake, but Kayla took the opportunity to touch his mind with hers and flood it with memories. She and Balcos had always had a mental connection; she prayed it would work now.
Tagor never introduced his daughter to you because we grew up together, Balcos. Remember the waterfall – how you saved me from drowning and we promised to be friends for life? Remember the night you came home from the Academy and took me stargazing – calling all of the stars in the sky by their right names for me for the first time? Remember the moment that we realized we loved each other? Balcos, please hear me. Please remember.
For a moment Balcos’ eyes flickered with something like recognition, then in an instant died. There was a wall between his mind and hers now. The hurt hit her with an almost physical force – she almost reeled with the pain.
"Excuse me," she said, tears clogging her throat.
With that she picked up the skirts of her borrowed gown and ran out of
the ballroom.
Kayla was sitting on the edge of the couch at the rec room, sobbing uncontrollably. She took the glass and sipped from it, hiccuping between sips.
"Tell me what happened," Lance asked, settling himself beside her.
"He promised to marry me as soon as the war was over," she sobbed. "We had a – a connection of some sort. He could see into my mind, and I could see into his. Then one day, just right before we left for Arus, he went into the forest and didn’t return for two days. Father and I were beside ourselves with worry because there seemed to be no trace of him anywhere – I couldn’t even sense his thoughts. Then when he came back – I didn’t even feel him come back – he asked father to outfit a ship for Planet Arus."
Lance frowned. The mystery deepened, and it irritated him that he couldn’t seem to put the pieces together. Maybe Pidge’s input would help make things clearer. "Maybe he simply didn’t want to let you into his mind anymore," he said doubtfully.
She shook her head. "He loved me, Lance. I know him too well to doubt it," Kayla said, staring into her empty glass. "But now he doesn’t even seem to know me." And then she told him what had happened in the Ballroom. "There’s something blocking me from seeing into his mind now. I can’t understand it."
Lance could not understand it either, but things were going to make more sense to him or he would die trying.
Allura's Wedding -- Suspicions