Flora had been permitted to attend the ball, but only for appearance's sake. Even her maid had remarked how strange it was dressing her for a ball when she wasn't—and wouldn't be until the next summer—formally out.
Yet Flora was determined to enjoy her evening, despite every warning to stay away from needless dances and prancing around. She was there to be visible, then would inevitably be shuffled off to bed before the first guest headed out. The goal was for it to be abundantly clear that Flora Mulciber, future Pendergast Rose and only daughter of Rufina Mulciber, was decidedly human. Flora mentally added "... and pretty, and desirable, and worth the most eligible bachelors in society waiting another year for", but it wasn't as though she could act on it. Thus, Flora knew her every move had to be strategic. Who she talked with, who she was seen with, and whom she was seen by.
Unfortunately, she'd underestimated just how crowded it would be, no matter what efforts were taken to make the room has large as magically possible. There were simply too many people for her to keep track of—and too many people to get lost in. She recognized very little faces, and caught the eyes of even fewer, so she'd done what felt natural: stuck to the edge of the room, keeping her eye out for her Mama or any of her cousins or aunts and uncles in attendance. Surely one would appear at some point!
Only they didn't. She found herself caught up in a wave of bodies, her smaller and much shorter frame herded like cattle. She weaved through them as best as she possibly could, and just when she thought she'd found an opening, she found herself somewhere standing somewhere else entirely. And alone. Well—almost alone. There was a man—taller and older and fortunately good-humored—who spoke to before she could process what happened.
"Oh," she replied on instinct, much to her dismay. So graceful of her indeed! She recovered quickly, her gaze flitting from the man to the empty room and then back again until she wrestled her face into something of a relaxed smile. "If it is, I ought to tell my Mama. There must be a prize she can claim," she joked. But just as quickly as her smile appeared, it dipped, as did her light tone.
"I—I don't think that was meant to happen, though." If there was one thing Flora was certain of, it was this: she was not supposed to be alone with any man.
