Beastly

Grand ball

During the noon time their carriage came to a stop and they looked out the window to see what was holding them up. A man arrived on horseback and went to the carriage that was occupied by their parents, with orders from their father he was let through to see him, bowing he offered him a letter then bowed again before he rode away in the direction he had come from.

"What do you think that was?" Tina asked as they resumed their normal sitting position.

"Maybe something about work."Trice replied straightening the folds her gown had acquired from their earlier position.

Fredrick opened the envelope ,their was an invitation card in it and a written note of which he read.

"What does it say."laurel asked

"We have been invited to a ball by the lord in coundour."he replied folding the note and putting it back into the envelope alone with the invitation.

The rest of the journey was quiet, they spent two more days on the road stopping twice in between to see to their personal needs , having something to eat , reheating the bricks as the weather was much worse than they could imagine, Gatrish was one of the sunnier parts of the land and being away from so much warmth wasn't quite easy, and they also changed horses to make the journey much easier and faster, arriving at coundour by early noon they checked into an inn for the afternoon where they could rest before they would prepared for the ball.

They were asked to wait in the inn's drawing room for the preparation of their room, the king and his wife shared a seat next to the fire place while the princesses sat not too far from them, he had told them that they would be attending a ball in coundour but he hadn't told them what would be happening in the ball.

"The lord wishes to make the journey little lesser for us so he has invited us to the ball and there he would choose his bride."he said as his gaze landed on Trice who looked away from him she would not marry him and even if she did she would never forgive her father , now she wished she had run away with Darion instead,but for now she wouldn't say a word to her father.

" After your rest you get prepared for the ball."he said .

Later on they were lead to the dinning hall for their meal after which they went to their respective rooms.

After about two hours of power nap they woke up and got ready for the ball with the help of their ladies-in-waiting,they left the inn and went into their respective carriages, getting to the castle,it was a beautiful sight to behold it was a gigantic building made of stone walls, surrounded by a large mass of water they had to go through a bridge that was let down for the night,it was definitely much bigger than theirs, the girls peeked out the window and caught sight of the majestic foundation in the middle of well patterned garden flowers, it was Fair dark and everywhere was already brightly lit with beautiful lanterns,it was a beautiful sight to behold.

Lord Fredrick was the first to step out in royal blue shirt and similar coloured breeches and waist coat and a white coloured cravat with a ruby stub in it's middle.

He stepped out of the carriage and held out his hand for laurel who took it stepping out in matching blue, it's sleeves were puffed at the shoulder stopping a few inches over her elbow with beautiful sapphire stones hung around her neck, her blonde hair was piled up to the top of her head and held with pins.

In the next carriage Tina stepped out taking hold of the footman's out stretched hand, she was dressed in a long sleeved lilac coloured gown, her curly hair was fixed with silver pins and two bold locks ran down to her shoulder in both sides of her face, Trice stepping out second in a puffed short sleeved pastel green gown with beautiful thread work on the hems of her gown, her hair was tied up neatly in matching ribbons. Lastly was Thrianna, she stepped out clad in a black off the shoulder gown with lacy short sleeves and silver stones at the hem of her gown,her slender fingers were covered with black gloves all the way to her elbow,her straight black hair was tied up in a neat bun.

"If you don't want to go in I could stay here with you for a while." Trice said walking over to her as she pinched her pale cheeks to add some colour to it.

"I am fine."Thrianna said which was obviously not the truth, she had been feeling a sort of unease since they had been on this journey and it only got worse on their arrival to Coundour .

"Besides,It's too late for that."she said as they walked in through the entrance and into the ballroom.

"Stay close." Fredrick said nodding to them as he and laurel strolled away to greet acquaintances, laurel had been awfully quiet,he wondered what she had been thinking.

"I wonder what he looks like."Thrianna said as they went deeper into the room, music filled the room,it was a beautiful sound but it did nothing to ease their discomfort.

"Surely he would have claws and one huge horn on his forehead and so much hair you wouldn't see his eyes-"

"And over sized ears, he would be able to hear us from any distance, and a cute tail."Tina said cutting through her words.

"Tail...yes,cute... nooo."Trice said as they giggled then they trailed off as their expression saddened.

They wouldn't be able to talk like this again and it made their hearts feel heavy.they looked like they were mourning and Thrianna was having none of that ,if this was to be their last time together then they would not spend it looking like a bunch of little puppy left out in the rain.