In the aftermath of the Autumn Festival, Cassie must face the wrath of her peers, but perhaps even more frightening, she must face Prince Coleman again. Fortunately, Cassie has a cute butler on her side...and a few new friends.
That night, I went to visit Luke's room, planning to tell him about my first day as a lady in waiting. However, once we settled down on his couch, he started off by saying, "So, something rather odd happened today."
"Odd?" I asked.
"Well, unexpected, I suppose."
"What happened?"
"Calista stopped by Coleman's room to give me an invitation. Apparently, I'm invited to her debutante ball. As a guest," he said.
"Really!" I cried, jumping up from the couch excitedly. "That's great!"
"It's great?" Luke rose his eyebrows.
"I'm going too!" I beamed. "And you and I can go together." I grabbed his hands and yanked him off the couch. "This is perfect!"
"Well, I don't know if I should go," he started. "I mean, what would the Queen think?"
"I'm sure she knows that you are invited," I assured him. "I can double check tomorrow if you're worried about it." I swung his hands around. "We can practice the waltz!"
"The waltz?"
"I'm learning it in a dance class," I said. "I can teach you what I'm learning and we can dance together!"
Luke smiled. "I actually took a ballroom dance class back in college."
"Really?" I asked.
"I did," he nodded. "But of course I don't remember anything."
I laughed. "Well then, allow me to be your teacher."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The next couple of weeks were quite busy preparing for the debutante ball and Christmas. The servants had decked out the palace in garland and trees and Christmas lights, but an extra layer of dazzling decorations were being added in order to prep for Calista's birthday. I was still her only official lady-in-waiting, but she told me that she was going to ask her friend Lucille Rylin to become another one in the New Year. Despite having no boys in their family except for their patriarch, the Rylin family would be invited to the ball due to Calista's friendship with Lucille. Luke and I practiced the waltz that I was learning together—fortunately he was a natural because I certainly was no genius, but I wasn't bad either. For my dress for the ball, I had ordered a dress from some prom dress website for a few hundred bucks, but I was rather pleased with my purchase. I decided to wear a black dress in order to non-ostentatiously match the tuxedo Luke would be renting. He would be my escort to the ball and I was very excited.
Calista had found out that we were dating, but didn't seem too upset about it. I mean, she certainly wasn't thrilled, but she ask that I allow her at least one dance with Lucas, and of course I agreed. I wasn't too concerned with Calista stealing Luke, especially when she was half-betrothed to Prince Nikolas. Ah, and Nikolas. I surprised at how excited I was to see him again at the ball, though he told me that he wouldn't be staying long, unfortunately. We didn't have the opportunity to talk much, either, due to my being quite busy with lessons and all the soirees that Queen Klara suggested I attend. Any scrap of free time I had went towards Luke.
