Beastly

The third one

"I sent her away."

"Why?!"he said as his voice turned serious, he didn't understand what she was being so worried about but now it was really starting to vex him.

"Out of every lady in the ballroom, he danced with her."

"Surely she couldn't have been the only one."he scoffed

"She wasn't, but you didn't see what I saw."

"That means nothing! Laurel ,he can dance with who ever he pleases."he said taking his eyes back to the scenery.

"You don't understand, she didn't want to dance with him but he -"

"Enough of this!, you shouldn't have sent her away ,I told you he wouldn't choose her."he cut in.

"Then it shouldn't matter if she isn't here anymore."she said curtly as she turned and left.

"I can't find Thrianna anywhere."Tina said to Trice in a panick.

"Have you told mother ?"She asked as she and Tina searched for their parents through the crowd.

"No,I saw her dancing with someone a minute ago but then she just disappeared, just like that. Tina muttered to herself.

Oh dear!,that girl wouldn't stay put ,why does she always have to get into trouble!,she shouldn't have agreed to the idea of splitting up.

"There's father and mother."Tina said interrupting her train if thoughts. , They were just at the entrance .

"We can't find Thrianna."Trice hurried to speak but to her bewilderment they didn't seem as worried as her at the news , they just shared a look.

"Lord winter."said a voice out of the circle and they all turned to face him,he was a man with a grim face , neatly combed brown hair with side parting, similar brown coloured eyes and quiet a height.

"Roman Sincalirs, nice to meet you."he said with a bow.

"Nice to meet you too."Fredrick said with a bow of his own while the ladies courtesied.

"His majesty the lord of Nightfalls his requested your presence in the drawing room,let me be your guide."he said as Fredrick nodded. Laurel stared at her husband for a whole three seconds before she finally nodded to her daughters who looked more than worried and uncomfortable as they followed him, this was the dreaded part of the night.

"Mother we couldn't find Thrianna."Tina whispered to laurel.

"Shh!,I know now keep quiet, she's safe."laurel whispered back.

"Safe?,how?"Trice said in a low but then Roman looked back at them as if trying to figure out what they were muttering about but then they didn't speak again. Not too far from all the chattering in the ballroom,they were lead into another really big room,it had cushions made with expensive looking leather and chairs of beautiful wood work but it wasn't a really bright room as the only source of light came from the the fireplace and a few lit up candles that didn't quite reach the ends of the room keeping some corners dark.

A masculine figure stood by the curtains, staring out the window with a wine glass in his hand and when he noticed the presence in the room, he turned around , taking languid steps towards the couch,he said and crossed his legs taking a sip from his wine before he looked up at the people in the room.

"Lord Winter, please take a seat."he said looking at them one after the other as if reciting their number in his head before a smile appeared on his face,he motioned with two fingers at Roman who stood by the door and while he came ,he whispered something to him and Roman bowed and left.

"I thought it would be nice to bring the party in here, better we got onto the most interesting part of the night eh?"he asked like he was actually giving them an option when he obviously wasn't.

"Thank you for the invitation Lord Valot, I didn't see you in the ballroom."Fredrick said to hear his wife mutter "I did."

"Oh,I didn't waste my time there ,it was a bore , until...."he said looking from father to mother and then the daughters and his smile deepened reviewing the dimple on his left cheek. "Enough of this chatter , you must have had a long journey, let's have dinner."he said

"No, it's okay."Frederick said as a chain of sweat beaded down his baby,that smile was so discomforting.

"Oh don't be modest,I insist ,lord Raphael has good service, you wouldn't have to join the ballroom,we can have it here."he said looking at the maid by the door who bowed immediately and left,and within a few minutes they were seated round a table set for four , with maids carrying dishes of different varieties into the room. They ate as the lord Valot sat in his position taking sips of his wine just staring at them and when they were done - not that they could have eaten well because of his undivided attention on them ,the maids packed up the dishes and left as an uncomfortable silence rested in the room.

"I think we should better get onto business, lord Valot."

"Well of course ,by all means we should."he said as his gaze turned serious and the smile that had been on his face vanished without a trace.

"It was a simple deal,I get to choose one of your daughters and you would be granted my allowance as well as security,but you decided to pull a stunt."he said as he rose from his seat and walked towards the girls and stood in front of them,they looked petrified.

"Where is the third One?"and immediately Laurel's voice came to the rescue.

"She wasn't feeling too well,so I sent her home."not going into details on what she meant by home but then that didn't go unnoticed.

"When you say home, you didn't mean Gatrish now did you?"he said tilting his head to the side to stare at the lady .

"We didn't think she would interest you, you see she is younger and with Beatrice my first daughter you would have-"

"I didn't know that there was an exception to the statement 'I get to choose one of your three daughters 'Frederick,"he said dropping the honorifics as he saw no use for it "-that you decided to choose for me,tsk ,that was so uncalled for."he said clicking his tongue in the end. They could sense his irritation from where they sat which made Fredrick begin to reconsider ,he didn't want problems with any other lord and especially not this one.

"I could ask my guards to go fetch her ,she couldn't have gone far."Fredrick said,his hands were turning cold despite the fireplace,how could a man have such intimidating aura about him ,it was clear as day that Fredrick was quiet older than the lord of Nightfalls but the authority the young man held was very creepy.

"Really,that isn't necessary."he said,a small smile appearing on his face and laurel took out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in since the lord of Nightfalls started speaking of her daughter.