A Rose Has Its Thorns

Carina had to take a moment to marvel at the view before her, at the ballroom filled with people and lights and grandeur. Never in her life had she imagined she would ever actually be attending a ball. For a moment she completely forgot about everything else, and simply let herself get lost in admiring the atmosphere around her.

Unbeknownst to her, the people around her were beginning to whisper, each of them remarking on who the gorgeous stranger standing next to Jane Rayburn was. Jane's face was getting redder and redder the more she heard these whispers, and the more she felt she was becoming invisible standing next to Carina.

Eventually Jane just huffed and stomped away, causing the people around her to finally shut their mouths and turn their eyes away.

When Jane left, Carina finally snapped out of her daze and walked further into the room, picking up a champagne glass a server had brought to her as her eyes scanned her surroundings.

It seemed like every person of significance was here, every person in the room looking the part of a rich upper class snob. Herself included, she thought.

Now that she was properly thinking and observing, she noticed that there were a lot of gazes lingering on her, from men and women alike. From the men she could feel their heavy lust filled stares, making her frown into her champagne flute. From the women she could feel some admiring gazes, but some unfriendly envious ones too, the strongest one coming from her own stepsister.

Carina had never been used to being the centre of attention, so all the eyes on her were quickly becoming quite stifling.

Just as she was thinking about escaping to the terrace, a familiar face showed itself in front of her, walking up to her with a bright smile.

"Carina!" Rosalie walked up to her, smiling widely.

Carina smiled, letting a bit of the tension that gathered in her shoulders ease a bit. "Rosalie, hello."

"Oh, I'm ever so glad to see you here, I was worried I would have to stand in a corner all by myself tonight." Rosalie sighed, seemingly genuinely relieved to see Carina.

Carina nodded. "I was thinking the same myself. I'm surprised you were invited, though, last I saw, it didn't seem as if the Mullins daughter liked you very much."

Rosalie went a bit stiff, and then dropped her shoulders completely, as if her body was mirroring her dejected mood. "Yes, she doesn't like me at all. In fact, none of the other noble ladies do. Well, except you of course. I was just invited because I'm friends with Prince Gabriel, and they know that if they didn't invite me he'd figure out that they were picking on me."

Carina's eyebrows shot up at that revelation. She hadn't expected that Rosalie would have a connection to one of the princes like that. No wonder none of the other noble ladies seemed to like her. They saw her as a thorn in their path, and anyone who was interested in becoming royalty (which, let's face it, was almost everybody) or interested in Prince Gabriel himself, would naturally come to see Rosalie as a threat.

"Ah, I see. I think I understand now."

"Um... it's not a problem, is it? That I'm friends with Gabriel? Because you're the only girl I've met so far that doesn't hate me and I'd really like for us to be friends."

Carina smiled, feeling sympathy for Rosalie who has never been able to make friends outside of Prince Gabriel because of her association with him, and at the same time a bit sorry that her only friend was a prince that people (girls exempt) mostly thought of as a joke.

"Don't worry, I do not care whatsoever about Prince Gabriel, so our friendship won't be affected at all."

Hearing Carina's response, Rosalie smiled so bright Carina thought she might get blinded by the sight.