Falling for Royalty

Chapter 5

Bella

I was finally ready to walk downstairs into the large ballroom, but my inner procrastinator kicked in, forcing me to stay back in my bedroom for a little bit longer. I fidgeted with my dress and exhaled loudly. I knew that I shouldn't care, that I should feel confident despite all else, but I kept wondering what Edward would think of my attire.

I was wearing a black, boat neck Elie Saab dress, with the sleeves reaching my wrists, but appearing to arrive at my elbows because of the see-through detailing. It was embellished with tiny, floral designs, cinching in at the waist, and flowing elegantly to the floor. My shoes were velvet black, peeping through the parts of the dress that remained blank of embellishment – see-through like the arms.

I wasn't fond of heels that much, but I was forced to wear them for formal occasions like these. Heidi, the fashion expert here, had made sure that I dressed appropriately for different occasions, so I had gotten the hang of properly dressing myself for each event.

For jewellery, I kept things minimal, leaving my neck bare while my ears were adorned with teardrop diamonds. My dark hair was parted down the middle, straighter than usual, and tucked to the back so as to not draw any attention away from the dress.

Makeup was simple enough: I dabbed on some silver eye shadow, smoked out with a hint of black, along with mascara. Even though I didn't need the coverage, I applied a thin layer of the sheerest foundation I had, before applying a coat of tinted lip balm onto my lips – I would've gone with a bold color, but again, the dress was the main attraction, and I didn't want to deviate from that.

I had remained pleasantly surprised with the outcome in the mirror, having never dressed up this much. It had been a bit intimidating looking at that cleaned-up version of myself.

I blinked, shaking my head out of daydreaming, deciding that I had put the walk off long enough. I paused at the large oak doors, hearing the sound of music lightly playing in the background, making sure that my hair was manageable before opening the doors as soundlessly as I could, before walking in.

Several heads turned in my direction, keeping their eyes trained on my attire, before beaming and turning back to their conversation. Some of the males continued staring, particularly at my bare neck and shoulders. Rather than focus on the unwanted attention, I began shifting my eyes around the room, looking for a familiar mop of bronze hair, but in my search I caught sight of Jace who was talking to the Denalis. He waved me over, grinning in his tailored black tux, allowing me to take his place as he moved onto the other covens.

"Hi," I greeted Kate and her family. They all looked beautiful - which was nothing new – smiling back and greeting me with enthusiasm.

Despite the fact that Tanya seemed to be obsessed with Edward, she still appeared to be a really nice person and we got along relatively well. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied up in a bun, while her burgundy, two-strapped satin dress hugged her body. Her sisters, after a few minutes of chatting and complimenting, went off to mingle with some of the guests, leaving Tanya and I alone.

"So Bella, has anyone here caught your attention? From what I can see, you have a lot of admirers," Tanya grinned, as I giggled nervously.

"Um, I guess?" it came out as more of a question, considering the fact that this was a topic I definitely did not want to discuss with her, of all people.