Foreign Love

The Royal Ball Gone Wrong

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was a quarter after six pm. I peeped out my room window and spotted many cars lining the broad, long driveway. I could even hear light chatter going on downstairs from the many guests that had already arrived.

I pulled the curtain back in place and moved over to my dresser. I was ready for twenty minutes now but Serefina insisted that I make an entrance with Riccardo; she said I would be able to leave at six pm but I guess she was running late since Riccardo didn't knock on my door to take me downstairs. A part of me had a feeling that he didn't really want to wear me on his arm as we walked down the long staircase so all of his kind could see his mate, but another part knew him better to not do that. I knew somewhere deep down he still very much loved and cared for me.

Dabbing a little powder over my nose I wondered what was the purpose of this ball and a fancy entrance if after tonight I was going to leave, Riccardo was letting me go and I had no choice but to adhere even though I no longer wanted to go. I wanted to ask Riccardo the purpose of my introduction but I thought better of it, he was already annoyed at me and I didn't want to add to that, besides it would probably give him the impression that I didn't want to be known as his mate and that would pull us even further apart.

I put aside the powder and examined myself in the mirror, my makeup was to the minimum with just a little blusher, mascara, light shadow and red lipstick, even though I didn't have lots of makeup on I looked like I actually made an effort to look good. I had to admit that looking good was much easier now that I was a vampire, I pretty much looked fine without any makeup on too.

I looked away from the mirror when I heard a knock on the door and turned around. "Come in." I said.

The door opened revealing Riccardo, looking very handsome in a black tux; his normally unruly hair was very neatly gelled to the side making him look more mature and very, very handsome, very much like a prince. Despite just being impressed with the way I looked a minute ago, I felt the total opposite now looking at the beautiful man in front of me, I felt unworthy of him.

He stood at the doorway, looking at me with a neutral expression for a long moment before he cleared his throat. "My mother wants to know if you're ready."

His voice broke my stare, if I was still human I wouldn't blushed at being caught staring at him. I nodded. "Yes."

Riccardo firmly nodded and held out his arm for me. "Shall we?"

I half grinned and nodded as I took slow steps towards him. "Yeah." I said under my breath and looped my arm through his.

We stepped over the threshold of the door and made our way down the long hallway in silence.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this." Riccardo broke the silence.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything." I replied, knowing that I in fact was glad to be here because it meant one more night with him.

"I have a lot to be sorry for." He murmured under his breath.

I knew if it wasn't for my new vampire hearing I wouldn't have heard him say that but I did and I momentarily stopped walking. Riccardo who was a step ahead of me stopped when I did and looked at me with a frown. "What is it?"

I looked at the small frown lines covering his forehead and the deep blue in his eyes. I hated that I'd caused a lot of those frown lines numerous of times and it was then that I realized just how much I probably put him through while I was drowning myself in self-pity and blaming him for everything. He probably spent every hour of every day worrying about me and instead of assuring him I was fine, I added to that worry by withdrawing myself from him and any type of emotion, I blamed him for everything wrong in my life and it was selfish and very unfair of me to do so.