AT THE PALACE...

Today the gates of the palace were open wide and the palace looked lively than usual. The guest from far and different places started to arrive, the palace was also heavily guarded tonight, many palace maids could be seen moving from one place to another. some had the duty to show the guests around and taking them to their respective seats, some served drinks and meals,, every one was assigned to a certain work. And all this was done to ensure that all the guests were comfortable.

In a certain room in the palace a man was seating in a large chair made of gold and had dragon patterns all over it, he was wearing a bathing robe and a glass in his left hand that was filled with a red drink. He sat on the chair lazily while taking sips of his drink. The room he was in was large and exquisite, the whole room was filled with shining gold and dragon patterns almost every where. Even though the room was large and had enough source of light, still it wasn't able to brighten the darkness that the man was emitting , his aura was filled with nothing but darkness. As if he was the king of Darkness itself.

Jamian; the man on the chair called another guy who seemed to be his personal attendant or guard.

Yes your majesty the guy named Jamian responded,

Go and call Tobias, tell him I have something important to discuss with him, he ordered

Jamian went outside and after a few minutes he came with another man beside him ,whose name was Tobias,

I'm here your highness said Tobias while showing respect by bowing his head.

Give me the report of what's going on out there?

The guest have already started to arrive, and every thing is under control. Explained Tobias to his Majesty

Good, make sure that the humans won`t go to any of the restricted areas, and also make sure to warn our people not to do anything suspicious tonight, they should not harm any human tonight. Inform them that if they fail to follow the orders i have given , then they will have to face my wrath.

Yes your majesty Tobias said while bowing his head.

You may go, king Xander ordered,

The two men left the room, leaving Xander behind in his throne; enjoying his drink.

The ball had started few minutes ago when Gerald's family reached at the palace after several hours of journey. Waoh papa!!, the palace is beautiful, Chutki said cheerfully. She used to see the palace from a distance due to the strict rules of the city of Makenia.

Of course it must be beautiful , because this is where our king lives, answered Priyanka admiringly

They were escorted to the where the ball was taking place. On the way they were admiring how beautiful the place was. on the way they could see people dressed extremely beautifully, women were wearing heavy jewelries that could even hurt peoples eyes.

They entered the hall were the ball was taking place, and ohh my God!!!!

The hall was extremely huge, and had a lot of people that incase you loose some one you came with , you will have to meet him home.

Okay guys your free now to enjoy the party, me your mom and aunt are going to talk and greet some of the people, Mr. Gerald told his kids, he wanted to give them a chance to enjoy themselves and meeting other people, especially Shaniya.

Okay papa answered Priyanka cheerfully, lets go guys and she led her siblings far away from their parents.

Not reaching far away Chutki saw her friends so she left to hang out with them, Nina so her best befriend Patrick the son of the duke, and he asked her for a dance and they went away,

Now only three of them were left, a maid came with drinks and distributed it to them. `The wine tastes nice' praised Priyanka and Laksh. of course it was nice and very expensive but nothing that they couldn't afford.

While they were standing there making stories and laughing, The duke of Markish saw Priyanka, he had seen her few times when he had gone to the general's house and had an eye for her. Priyanka was a very beautiful lady that could make any guy fall for her, and had a lot of suitors lining up for her.

so seeing her here today looking beautiful he had decided this was a good day and chance to approach her and ask her for a dance. He went near to , where she was standing and laughing with her siblings.

mhhm mhhm.., he cleared his throat loudly so that they could notice his presence . And they both turned to look at him.

Greetings duke Leonard.. they greeted while bowing slightly showing respect.

Good evening guys, long time no see.. Leonard greeted them back

And beside Priyanka , you look beautifully tonight like a princess, Leonard praised Priyanka

Thank you my lord, you look good too ,said Priyanka while blushing

Hahaha , there's no need to be polite miss Priyanka, so can I have a honor to dance with this beautiful lady?, Leonard offered his hand to Priyanka.

Of course my Lord ,its my pleasure, said Priyanka while taking Leonard's hand allowing him to lead the way.

Excuse me guys, Priyanka said to his siblings and left to the dancing floor.

Not a long time passed before Laksh`s friends came and wanted to take him so that they could hang out together, Laksh hesitated , he didnt want to leave her sister all alone. But Shaniya assured him that she would fine , she didnt want to be the reason for his young brother not to enjoy the ball. So Laksh left too.

Now left all alone , Shaniya started to feel nervous. she was an introversive person so she didnt have the so called bestfriends to hang out with. Staying there while watching other people`s dance she had even loss count of the wine glasses she had drank. Bored of staying in a single place, she then decided to take a little tour and look around, not every day a person could get a chance to visit the palace hence she decided to explore it a little bit.

Putting her glass down she felt a little light headed, being a young lady at a rich family she had learn how to tolerate alcohol but tonight she had drank a little bit much just to kill her boredom.

With heavy feet she left the ball hall and entered a certain long corridor. It had a lot of paintings hanged on the wall, of course they were beautiful but... they seemed a little bit more sensual. The paintings were of beautiful ladies , some of them naked while they posed with men in a sensual and different styles, she was concentrated in looking at the pieces of art that she hadn't realized she had gone too far and lost her directions, at the end of the corridor she then saw another painting that looked kind of weird to her, all the other paintings were weird but this one looked a little bit out off hand.

It was a painting of a lady half covered in a sheet and a man standing behind her with red eyes and with long canines which were placed at the woman's neck, a drop of blood could be seen dripping down to her chest , from the place where the man was biting. what surprised her most was that , the lady on the painting had closed her eyes but not a single sign of pain could be seen in her but pure pleasure as if , she was enjoying it.

Shaniya swallowed her saliva to clear her dry throat, shaking her head off her weird thoughts she then decided to go back to the hall and join the others before they notice that she was missing, and that's the time she realized, that she had lost her way. she had took a lot of corners that she couldn't remember at all.

ohh Shaniya look what you have got yourself into! she started to blame herself while looking left and right. trying to find someone or a guard, that could show her the way.

Then suddenly she had a sound of some one playing a flute, she tried to concentrate so she could know where that person was playing. May be she could ask for directions. She realizes it was playing at her back , so she turned. she saw a door behind her, she went and tried to open it, good thing it wasn't locked. she pushed the door open , and it opened to a balcony it was large and had beautiful flowers planted in the pot,

The music she heard before, now she could hear it well and even clearer, it seemed the person playing was a professional, the music was on a right tone , very beautiful but at the same time she could feel that the music was a little bit sorrowful as if the one playing it was lonely.

Shaniya started to follow the source of the music, that's until when she saw a man seating at the end wall of the balcony, he had turned so she could only see one side of him. And by only looking at the man she was shocked,

Subhan Allah!!! Shaniya said unconsciously. How can a man be made by God be this stunning?!!!!

He was wearing a perfect tailored suit, that hugged tight his broad shoulders, a well sculptured face straight nose, and when he was playing the flute, Shaniya couldn't help but look at his long fingers playing delicately, and his beautiful mouth.

I'm I dreaming ??!! Shaniya asked herself

To prove that she wasn't dreaming she moved closer to the man, she was always a shy lady, today it was Shaniya's first time taking initiative of getting this close to a man. But who wouldn't, to this kind of man? It was as if he had a natural magnet that was pulling Shaniya to him.

When Shaniya got close, suddenly the music stopped. The man removed the flute from his mouth and turned to Shaniya ….. TIME TO PAY FOR THE PERFORMANCE!!!!