Chapter 0045
My whole heart shattered. “No, no, that’s not true. Prince Nicholas likes you a lot.”
Elva pulled away to look up at me with large, watery eyes. “But she said Nick–lass is mad at me. She said
I was naughty.”
“We can’t listen to her, okay?”
Her cupped her face with my hands and wiped away her tears. New ones just kept falling. My anger for Lena renewed, and I half wanted to chase her down the hall to give her a piece of my mind.
No one makes my little girl cry like this!
“She’s just a mean lady who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Nicholas likes you. He’s not mad. He waved at you, didn’t he?”
The words seemed to placate Elva somewhat. Her tears lessened, though her sniffling remained. Her brows furrowed like she was thinking it through.
“He did wave…
“Because he likes you.”
“…Okay.” Her voice was small. It didn’t seem like I had fully convinced her, but I doubted I could say anything that would.
She would have to hear it from Nicholas himself.
Maybe if I could talk to him alone, I could convince him to spend some time with Elva.
Lena would hate it, and so would the other girls. I’d have to make sure it happened at a time that didn’t conflict with any of his other obligations.
Surely he would meet with her though? If I told him she thought he didn’t like her?
Surely he hadn’t become totally heartless in the past three years?
No, I knew he hadn’t. I had seen the soft–hearted way he’d interacted with Elva before
He might hate me, but he liked her. He would be willing to do this, I was sure.
I just had to get him alone to ask.
The next morning at breakfast, Lilliana was the most popular girl in the room. Every other girl wanted to know every detail of her solo–date with Nicholas.
attention seemed to go straight to her head, and she calmly and smugly answered every question she
was asked, albeit with a haughty attitude.
I
“Prince Nicholas lifted me into the saddle like the princess I am soon to be,” she said. “The horse
chosen for me could have been tamer, however. Something I will rectify when I am Luna.”
Thinking on it now, maybe that poor horse had reason to be afraid of Lillianna when it had first met her.
It had been said that animals had a sixth sense about people sometimes.
“We rode along the edge of the property,” Lilliana said. “I felt as if the prince was showing off all that
would soon belong to me.”
As she spoke, I noticed she talked of the property and the palace and what she would fix as Luna. Not
once did she mention qualities of the prince himself, like his beautiful golden eyes or his kindness.
She framed all of Nicholas’s qualities in how much it could bring her.
The money. The power. The house and land.
A dark bit of fury collected inside of me. Nicholas deserved someone who would notice things about
him as a person.
Lilliana was all wrong for him. Hopefully he would realize that sooner rather than later.
Around me, the other girls were sharing sharp looks toward each other, and open glares at Lilliana. The
tension in the room thickened as she continued to talk.
The First Ball was quickly approaching.
Among the girls, it seemed as if Lilliana was enemy number one.
I didn’t want to harm her, but I too wanted to see her eliminated from the competition.
I wasn’t jealous. It was just pure objective fact.
She wasn’t worthy of Nicholas.
Chapter 0046
I looked in the mirror, barely recognizing myself. It was the night of the First Ball, and I was dressed in my beautiful, shimmering yellow gown it was sleeveless, with a tasteful V–neck bodice.
One of my maids had tied my brown hair into a tight up do, with a few loose tendrils tucked behind my
Beside me. Elva was a near mirror figure of me, though her dress came up to her neck. It shimmered the
same, and she couldn’t stop giggling as she spun in circles.
Bright and laughing, she looked like the physical embodiment of sunshine.
I pulled her into a quick hug. “You are a princess, Elva.”
As we went to the door, the strange maid stopped me. “Don’t forget your gloves.” She handed them to
me
1
“Thank you” I was relieved I knew there were traditions about gloves and their length. It would have been a faux pas to show up without any
I turned to thank the quiet maid as well, but she was further back in the room and not looking at us
resolved to thank her later instead.
Smiling at Elva, I took her hand. “Let’s go to the ball, Elva”
Elva gave a toothy grin. “The princess ball!”
We congregated with the other girls in the parlor room, where we waited for the results for the dress contest. The princes‘ preferences for our dresses would soon determine the order of our introductions.
Every single dress was beautiful in its own way. They were a rainbow of colors and materials, but each more spectacular than the last
Linda’s skirt was so putty, I wondered how she intended to dance. Though she moved with such ease, she must have been used to it. Others were similar, carefully sidestepping their trains or lifting their long detoad pping over themselves
Every get seemed confident the own gown and I genely wasn’t sure who would win
When Notham arrived, at the girls hushed themselves We waited with bated breath as Nathan read the erder of intrins
First, he said. “Divis
Smile was
back that reached down to the floor.
“Of course, she would pick the same color the queen always wears whiggest one gest
else would have the gall?”
It worked, didn’t it?” replied another girl, who seemed to between indignam and S
“Second is…” Nathan checked his notes. “Piper, and Elva”
“That’s us!” Elva cheered.
sens
Second place was a good showing. I knew my dress was beautiful, but to have a pries for t
a special kind of flattering.
I took Elva’s hand and we weaved through the crowd to stand behine Sla
She offered me a tight smile. “It’s so nice to see the princes be onan
The snide comment startled me, but I somehow kept a straight face Before could think of a sep
I
however, Nathan called the third girl, Then the fourth. And the fifth
Elva and I cheered when Susie’s name was called, though she was much further down the ine trouge she looked adorable in her pink ruffled gown.
When all of the girls were aligned, Nathan led us down the comdor toward the main calroom Beont the ballroom doors was a grand staircase that led down onto a large dancefior
The royal family was seated in massive thrones on the opposite end of the room Around the room were other dignitaries and nobles who seemed eager to meet the girls chosen for the selection
As we stood at the top of the stair, every eye in the room turned to look an e
Olivia preened under the attention.
Elva and I were much more subdued. I was very nervous but trying to put on a brave face for Bis, wh
was crushing my hand in her tiny grip.
Watch how it’s done,” Olivia said to me with a smirk, as varthan took point behind a manding
microphone
withna.practoed pree
Nathan introduced Olivia, and she descended the staircase with a practiced grace to the sound of
polite applause.
