When we all met again, I got my first glimpse of what everyone would be wearing: exclusively deep colours. It adds to the gothic masquerade theme, Leandra had said. Leyton and Jayden were in almost identical suits, with the same almost fitted pants, except Jayden's was wine-coloured and Leyton's was oxford blue; Leandra was wearing a purple crushed velvet, mid lengthen bodycon dress, as opposed to Charlotte who was in an onyx coloured satin dress that just ghosted above the floor.

Finally, it was time and the guests began arriving in the horse-drawn carriages the maid said they'd be coming in. It was quite a sight: seeing so many people dressed up in long ball gowns and masks. I mostly wouldn't have recognised any of the people anyway, and the only people who knew which guests would be coming were Leandra and Charlotte. It wasn't a serious masquerade or anything, but it was fun to act like it was. Obviously, guests would know who the hosts were, but they didn't know who was who among themselves.

In the exquisitely decorated room with deep red drapes and a large, elongated table with finger foods at the back, covered with a table cloth the same shade as the drapes, small clusters of people began to form and quiet conversations began to develop as the quartet played in the front left of the room. It really was like a masquerade.

Leandra flashed me a smile, hooked arms with me and led me over to a man and woman who were talking and began making small talk with them. They were mostly talking about changes that had been occurring in different places and boring things I didn't care for. I placed a hand on her arm to grab her attention and let her know I was going to go somewhere else.

It wasn't long into the ball, maybe ten minutes and I was being pulled into the room at the side of the ballroom which had a door at the back that led on to the side of the stage. It was time for the introductory speech and suddenly, my bladder was full. The timing could not have been any worse! I begged with Charlotte and even Leyton to let me use the bathroom quickly but they were both insistent we got the ball officially started as soon as possible, none of the guests had drinks yet and the music wasn't loud. They said when I was done I could go, although it was probably just nerves.

I felt nervous and my sweaty palms and slightly chattering mouth suggested that. I was afraid I'd make a mistake or trip and fall on my way up to the stage. I wouldn't even be surprised. I'll be fine, I said to myself in a mantra; I knew what I had to say, where I had to go. I'll be fine. I was safe, no one could hurt me on the stage.

Leyton went on first to quieten down the room, and to introduce me on to the stage. He squeezed my hand as I passed him, instilling a small sense of confidence in me. It wouldn't be as bad as I worried it would be.

Those thoughts disappeared as soon as I found my way behind the microphone and in front of the audience of masked guests. It felt like something from a nightmare, one where you'd look down and find yourself naked and the audience laughs at you.

My card of prompts was neatly obscured by the golden lectern that had the shape of a book cover engraved on the other side of it. I read it out with as much confidence as I could muster; persuade the audience that you're confident, even if you're not, I remember both Selena and Alexander had said that to me at one point or another. Gazing out into the sea of eyes wasn't as bad by the time I was halfway through what I had to say and I felt myself physically and mentally loosen up and ease into the task.

When I was finished, the audience clapped and the music began to play again. That was when I remembered I had to pee and I had to quickly because I had no idea how I was going to do it in this dress!

"You did great!" Charlotte called after me.

I decided I'd go to one of the toilets guests weren't permitted to use, and I knew one of them towards the back of the country house was considerably bigger than the other ground floor ones and I needed that space to manoeuvre around in my dress. The guards didn't try to stop me, knowing already that was one of the hosts, instead, at each post they separated like the Red Sea.

When I finished, I felt much more relieved and like I could comfortably join everyone again.

Just as I entered the ballroom and my ears were filled with the low hum of chatter and the calming melodies of the quartet, I was softly pulled to the side by a guy. His entire face was hidden by his mask, intricately designed with beautiful turquoises contrasting against silver and soft reds.

He bowed towards me silently and I nodded my head slightly out of respect. When he stood back up, he held out his hand for me to put mine in and he gently kissed my ring. Again, I nodded, more sheepishly this time. This man must've been from far away, I'd never had someone behave so formally towards me before.

"Your Highness, would you like to dance?" He offered with a strong French accent.

I accepted his offer. Even though I wasn't the most comfortable with ballroom dances, I thought it might be a little disrespectful to turn him down. He took my hand and lead me to the dance floor. I was glad a waltz song began playing because that seemed the only type of music I was decent at dancing to at these kinds of events.

"A shame what happened to the Prince. You have my condolences," he said after a few beats of silence between us.

That's all I'd been hearing tonight: "sorry about the Prince", "it's a shame", "how are you feeling?", "I wish something could be done." No one was giving me answers though, no one was offering their help or knowledge or anything. I knew it was a charity event, and I was interested in the wellbeing of the country, but to me, Alexander was far more important, it was selfish to say. I knew that.

We stepped in time to music and the man told me he was enjoying the event, which I didn't have much part in arranging, I was just told to take credit for it. It made me feel guilty after Charlotte and Leandra put in so much work for this. It was strange, here, you forgot about what was going on back in Nox Aterrima. All the destruction and all the death, the disaster. I tried to do all I can to help raise money in different local areas but I couldn't go more than half an hour away from the castle; the further away from the castle, the more dangerous it was. The coast was now completely off-limits to any humans because that's where the Drecottians mostly arrive, and we simply didn't have the numbers to hold them back.

"That Prince Austin has some guts kidnapping the next in line to the throne," he began, not getting the hint I didn't want to talk about that, "conversely, one might say the fault is in the royal family and Alexander himself for being captured so easily."

I tugged away softly, startled by the man's brash words that he said so nonchalantly. How dare he!

The man pulled me closer again, seeing the horror on my face, he apologised, "just looking at it from both sides. The poor Prince locked away in darkness and everything he needs and everything he holds dear stripped away from him, tortured for however long the Prince of Drecott wishes, all for one little document. Who could imagine it?" He took my hand and held our arms up, proceeding to swirl me in a circle before returning to our previous position, "would you give up everything to get him back, Your Highness?"

I tried to keep my expression as stoic as possible, but this man was so... straightforward. Who was he? How did he know Alexander's condition? I'd heard a lot of rumours about his treatment, but nothing, as detailed as this man, was explaining. Maybe the King sent him to test how I easy I was to get to, but I wasn't easily tricked like this. Even so, it was a bit much for a test, too personal.

"I'd do everything I possibly could for him. I miss him," I responded slowly.

"Of course you would, Your Highness," I don't think he meant to sound cynical, but he still did.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Merely a guest. We've met a couple of times in the past, you'd know me if you saw my face," he reached under his mask and I thought he was going to take it off but he moved a lock of brown hair that had gotten trapped underneath, "but this is a masquerade, it should be a secret."

Before I could even utter another word, the man pulled away and bowed almost 90°, I copied, but keeping my eyes on him. The song was over.

"If you would like to remember me, remember me as Sutain, your Highness," he said as he escorted me from the dance floor.

I repeated the name to remember it and bring him up later. Maybe someone else knew who he was because the name wasn't at all familiar to me and I didn't recall meeting any French people.

He took my hand and kissed my ring as gently as he did last time, "your Highness," and then he was gone.

I stood there almost astounded that man was so creepy! It was every creepier since I couldn't see his face at all, even the eye holes were covered in a black fabric that I couldn't see through to even make out his eye colour. I scanned to the room to see where he got to, but I saw him nowhere.