Chapter Three

The time of the ball arrived and instantly my room was thrown into chaos as maids pushed me about trying to make me presentable. They explained to me that my Uncle had bought me a dress and that I had to wear it tonight. It was black dress with a low v-cut that showed way too much cleavage to be modest. The top of it clung to my curves, while the bottom flowed out like dark midnight waves. It was a very beautiful dress, but I felt like I was suffocating in it. They left my hair down and curled it to give it body. When they were finally done I looked at myself in the mirror. My reddish brown hair stood out against the black dress, but it was my eyes that shocked me the most. They looked like plucked gold from the earth, and they stood out against the black markings on the side of my face. I had noticed earlier that my Uncles were starting to fade, but he still held too much power for that to stop him. I asked the maids if they could find a mask for me to wear, but they returned empty handed saying that the King forbid it. He wanted everyone to see my face. The face of the useless princess with the eyes of gold.

Soon Verra entered my room looking beautiful as ever. She had on a blue dress that brought out her eyes wonderfully. I wondered if she knew how blue her eyes were and that's why she chose the dress, or had my Uncle just forced us to both wear dresses in hopes to make us uncomfortable. Not that Verra minded she had always been elegant and poised. I had always teased her that it was because her shift was a fox, but she claimed that she just adapts faster than others. She acknowledged my dress and I gave her a spin. "That's better" she teased. "Not too bad yourself" I said back. "Are you ready?" She asked. I could tell that she was nervous too. "As ready as I'll ever be" I said and took a deep breath.

We arrived at the door of the ballroom when an announcer walked up to us. "Names?" He asked. "Princess Jasmine and Lady Verra" I said in a flat tone. He announced our arrival as we walked down the steps towards the ballroom. Everyone turned to look at us, and I instantly took Verra's hand in the hopes that I could draw strength from her. She squeezed my hand and smiled at me. I smiled nervously back and kept descending the stairs. I kept my chin high and tried to look as confident as I could as I looked around the ballroom. Finally I saw my Uncle sitting on the throne talking to someone. I made my way over to him and tried not to bump into anyone. Although everyone had gone back to dancing or chatting I could still feel eyes watching my every move.

We reached my Uncle and he waved away the person he was talking to. "Glad you could finally join us niece. I was growing worried that you wouldn't show" he gave me a wicked grin and nodded to someone behind us. "I'm pleased to know that you can finally meet the princes. They have been all too eager to get a glimpse of you" he said smiling wider as he saw a flash of anger on my face. He gestured behind me and I turned to see three men standing behind me. Each wore their kingdoms colors. A blue prince, a red prince, and a black prince. "Go dance and have fun. Although, one at a time" my Uncle said laughing. He gestured to the blue prince "you first!" and smiled wickedly at me before the blue prince walked up to me and offered his hand. Verra gave me an encouraging smile and walked off towards the tables covered in food.

To his credit the blue prince was a great dancer, although I often wondered if I was just horrible at it. He spun me around and when we came back together I finally decided that I should at least try to be courteous. He didn't look half bad either. He had blonde hair and was fairly muscular. His eyes were a steel blue compared to Verras. "What is your name?" I asked quizzically. I knew that I should ask such a direct question like that, but I knew nothing about any of them. "Prince William, my lady." he said with a flat tone. "Do you want to be here?" I asked. He finally looked me in the eyes at that question. He seemed to think it over before he answered. "No. I would rather be at home with my little sister". I felt bad for him. He was just as forced as I was. I decided to try to make the mood a bit lighter "how old is she?" I asked. "She's seven" he said smiling like he was remembering her. We continued to dance a bit more before I asked "you dance very well Prince William. Did your sister teach you?" I smiled at the thought of a prince asking a little girl how to dance. It reminded me of my father and how I would dance around the ballroom with him. Prince William also smiled "in some ways she did I guess" he replied with a certain fondness in his voice. "What is the name of this wonderful little girl?" I asked. "Her name is Samantha, but I always tease her and call her Sammy" he smiled at that, but then his face grew sad as if remembering that she wasn't here. "I bet she'd be the best dancer here" I said with a comforting smile. We continued to dance through the next songs in content silence.

Then my Uncle sent over a new prince for me to dance with. The red prince was stiff with his movements and didn't talk much. "May I ask what your name is?" I asked trying to sound more formal. "Prince Phillip" he said curtly. We continued for the next couple of songs in a stiff dance around the ballroom. He looked about as boring as he was rude. He had brown hair and brown eyes that were devoid of life and emotion. His whole body and lifestyle seemed ridged and forced.

Finally I had only the dark prince to dance with. My Uncle shooed him towards her, and I suddenly became nervous. He was walking towards me like he had finally cornered and caught his prey. I suddenly took a small step back and he smirked at me. His dark eyes became pitch black as if they were a hole I could dive in. His dark hair was a perfect mess atop his head, and as he pushed it away from his face I could tell that he held toned muscle on his tan arms. Every bit of him scared everything in me. Suddenly he was in front of me smirking "enjoying the view princess?". I instantly shook my mind into consciousness and picked my jaw off the floor. "Thankfully, no." I retorted. He seemed offended, or maybe hurt? I couldn't tell because instantly it was replaced by steady arrogance. He took my hand and led me to the middle of the ballroom. My nerves were on high alert, and I couldn't help but look at the food table for Verra. I couldn't find her anywhere and started to panic. "Calm down princess, I'm not going to hurt you" the dark prince chuckled. I didn't believe him or his suave confidence. "You do know I have a name right?" I said trying to sound confident to distract my nerves. "I do know, Jasmine" he smiled and I finally decided to look the snake in the eyes. Gods his eyes seemed to gobble up all the light in the world. "Yet I don't know yours" I retorted. "That's easy, I am Prince Elijah" he said with a small bow of his head.

He spun me around gracefully and when I finally came back to him we were closer than before. I started to look at his face more closely now. He had markings stretching across the left side of his face like all men do, but his markings seemed more intricate and alluring. I had to blink the thoughts out of my head, and when I looked up at him I noticed that he was examining my markings. "Your markings are quite beautiful. I wonder how they'd look if they were completed" he said this with a slight tilt of his head. He even brought his hand up to my cheek as if he was going to trace them, but stopped himself as if realizing where he was. He instantly snapped back on his arrogant smile. He knew that the only way my markings would be completed was if I mated with someone. His smile only grew larger as I started to blush at the thought. "Well, Elijah" he smiled as I said his name "that would be none of your damn business" his smile faltered and I smiled triumphantly. His strong arms continued to guide me gracefully around the ballroom, and he never faltered a step as if we were dancing to his favorite song.

The song changed and it became slow and quiet in the ballroom. Everyone had found a dance partner and was swaying slowly to the music. I had lost track of time as I danced in death's arms. Prince Elijah looked down at me as I looked up at him. We both knew what this song was for. It was a mating song. Played only to encourage people to find a partner that they would then lead back to their rooms in secret. I started to blush at the thought of anyone seeing all my markings. The dark prince just gave me a wicked smirk and pulled me closer. I could feel his lips next to my ear as he whispered "if only I could whisk you away princess. Then nothing would stop me from seeing your beautiful markings" as he said this I noticed the black markings peeking up from his neck. I thought about seeing his markings and instantly regretted the questions that popped up. What if his markings aligned with mine? What if we're mates? "If only Prince" I said instead with a smile on my face. My Uncle would never let me be alone with this man especially when he has options to torture me with. So I smiled at the prince and he smirked back.