Three women come into my room shortly after Ilya leaves. Their eyes practically glowing. They all give me a shy smile before asking me how to do my hair. I let them decide what would be best and they decide to curl my hair before putting it in a half up half down messy ponytail. One of the handmaids brings in a gorgeous white dress with a golden belt and embroidered circles that have lace on the top. It's only when I put it on I realize that there is a side slit cut all the way to my upper thigh. I do a little spin in front of my mirror before I sit back down ready for makeup. Admiring all the work that has been put into this. It's probably the most pampering that I have ever gotten in my entire life.

"What are your names?" I ask the three girls. I realize they can't be much older than me. But then again they are vampires. And maybe we can be friends, surely they can be much kinder than Ilya.

"My name is Serena, your highness." The one with the short brown bob says. She looks away quickly before picking up a brush and continues doing my makeup. I look up at the other two waiting for them to say their names.

"Kitty, m'lady." The one with the long curly blonde hair says. She sounds sweet her voice like honey. I can tell she's afraid of my presence when she shouldn't be.

"You guys can just call me... Eleonora." I spit the name out, it's definitely not an ugly name. Almost identical to mine. But saying this means that I have accepted all of this. When in reality I don't want any of it. I want to finish university and become a writer. But of course not. With my luck that will never happen. I want to live. "And you?" I ask the girl with the ebony hair.

"Lily." She says shortly before spraying hairspray all over my hair. "We must now wait for Ilya." She says as she claps her hands together excitedly.

"Why must we wait for him?" I ask my blood beginning to boil. That man has been nothing but rude to me. But maybe he's meant to be a father figure and escort me to the ball. Is that a thing here? Maybe he's going to suck out all my blood. Only time will tell. Serena hands me a pair of white stilettos with diamonds covering the heel.

"You'll see. It's a surprise from the queen mother." Serena squeals. Surprises, I think to myself- they're good. Sometimes bad. Just as I go deep in thought into the inevitable death that I may suffer there is a knock on the door followed by Ilya coming in with a royal blue satin box. He opens it to reveal a beautiful diamond crown with all sorts of jewels. The brightness of it burns my eyes. The gold and the diamonds complement each other beautifully. Lily takes it out from the box and places it on my head.

"Now your outfit is complete," Kitty says sweetly.

"We must go, you can only be fashionably late," Ilya says before he pulls my arm and drags me through the maze of hallways. We go up and down stairs and at this point, I think he's only trying to confuse me but eventually, we are in front of gigantic golden doors, I can hear the music even from out here. The two guards on both sides of the door open the doors and I realize that I am on top of a double staircase again. I begin admiring the gigantic golden chandelier with diamonds hanging from every side, it looks very similar to my crown.

"Eleonora Martinov, the princess of the Martinov bloodline." I hear the man say as he taps a long golden stick to the ground. All the talking and the laughter stops, I can feel everyone's eyes on me. My stomach does a couple turns before I begin walking down the stairs realizing that Ilya left my side. I can hear some people wowing and others clapping. I can see the queen sitting on her golden throne clearly proud. But for what? I haven't done anything. She looks weak and frail and almost as if she's propped up. I walk down the stairs through the dance floor and sit cautiously on the golden throne just as Ilya instructed me to. Three men appear in front of me the same as their photos, absolutely beautiful.

"Your Highness." They say in unison. A short man appears next to them and begins introducing them.

"Lord Ashton of the Malerick bloodline." The man says and a gorgeous man with very carefully placed hair steps forward. His black tux only outlines that he works out.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess Eleonora." He says as he bows again. I smile at him unsure of what to say. He looks at the floor refusing to make eye contact with me.

"Lord Lucas of the Karnington bloodline." I look at him as he steps forward, furrowing my eyebrows. This was the man who abducted me, the shotgun man. His golden-brown hair is neat now, his perfectly chiseled cheekbones are what catches my attention the most, and what makes him look more attractive than the other two men. His burning blue eyes finally look at me. They're different from the others.

"We've already met," I say shortly and glare at him. He looks amused, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly but he doesn't say a word. I bite my tongue trying not to make a fool of myself, I want to yell at him and slap him, but I'm too nervous to do either. Instead, I turn my attention to the last man with the messy chestnut brown hair. He clearly isn't ready for this, he steps forward I can see his legs shaking, and his hands digging into his pocket. He looks how I feel and I realize we're the same. He doesn't want to be here either.

"Lord Christopher of the Nauri bloodline." I hear the short man say hesitantly. The crowd gasps in surprise, I think maybe in horror.

"You want him to be a possible future ruler?" A man spits. I look around me to people's disgusted faces.

"His father is a coward." Another woman yells. The music comes to a stop. I look around the room, unsure of how to stop the mess and the yelling.

"Everyone! Order!" I say getting up from my throne without knowing what to say next. To my surprise, everyone quiets down. "I am unsure of what this man's father has done, but let us not judge him for someone else's mistakes." I continue trying to sound confident. Christopher looks at me before nervously bowing and the three men leave.

"You handled that beautifully Eleonora," Ilya says appearing behind me. "I knew you had it in you to be a leader." He continues. I roll my eyes and look around. There is a gigantic buffet table with more food than I have ever seen in my life. And I haven't eaten anything all day, my stomach growls in agreement. "You must get to know the lord's now. Be wary who you choose to eliminate after today. There's no going back after that." He says. I nod and walk over to the buffet table. I can feel everyone's eyes on me. The nerves click in again and all I want to do is hide under the table. I pick up a beautifully decorated plate and begin placing all the possible desserts, cakes, and ice cream I can find.

"You really going to eat all that?" Lord Ashton asks me. I look at his plate which is a replica of mine.

"You really going to eat all that?" I repeat looking at his plate.

"Touché." He says coldly. "I usually prefer my wives to be slimmer and properly taken care of." He continues.

"How lucky for me. I'm not your wife." I say whilst rolling my eyes and taking a bite of the cake. "Aren't you a vampire?" I asked still trying to carry the conversation, despite me wanting to throw all of my cakes on his face for his crude comment. But I still try to be polite.

"Yes, and?" He asks.

"So aren't you supposed to suck blood, and kill people?" I ask trying to make my tone match his.

"Well, of course, the blood is what sustains us. But we also get hungry. We do need energy and glucose after all." He says laughing wryly. "I want a wife that can be tamed, she mustn't push me around. Do you understand that?" He says. His tone lacks any emotion whatsoever. I look at him dazed. I'm meant to be the princess of this wretched civilization. Isn't he meant to be talking to me differently? 

"What makes you think I'm going to choose you?" I ask holding my plate close to me.

"My incredibly charming personality." He grins. "By the end of the night, you're going to begging me to be the one for you." He smiles. I want to slap him. I open and close my mouth like a fish. His confidence and disrespect baffles me. He gives me a smile before walking away. 

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