Princess Hallie-Hazelle-Briar was fed up with her life. That was what she thought as she tried on the new dress her mother had gotten her. Although it had a rather revealing sleeveless bodice with bead detailing, the baby pink monstrosity had a massive hoop skirt with ruffled tulle. Where the bodice and the skirt met there was a frilly lace and organza layer. It was the embodiment of something Briar would never wear. Ever. Especially in pink. She loved tunics and pants, but, being a princess, she almost never got to wear them. She sometimes liked dresses, but with no frills and fancy features. Plain stuff was more practical.

"Don't you love it, Hazelle?" Her mother, Queen Arabella, exclaimed, "I got the same one for your sisters for the ball tonight!"

"Mother, I've told my name is Briar. I like it, but I'm sick of being a matching set. Just because they're identical I don't need to be lumped in. Gwen, Clem and Dulcie are not my identical sisters, I'm their younger sister" Briar sighed, lying through her teeth. She hated the dress, but she knew her sisters would love it. The identical triplets, Gertie-Gwendolyn-Petal, Clare-Clementine-Rose and Dulcie-Dahlia-Blossom, or as Briar's mother called them Gwendolyn, Clementine and Dulcie, were like cheese to Briar's chalk. They had their mother's tastes and style, the exact opposite of Briar's. They loved the finer things in life, which Briar did too, to an extent. She liked her heated baths and cooling boxes in the kitchen, she didn't like the fancy fills and corsets, the crowns and ornate thrones. The airs and elitism, the masks and layers that people put up in this scheming court, they just made everything harder. Her motherhad built the court this way, seemed to enjoy it.

The white powder she piled onto her face, her way of saying she was better. Her opinion was the lighter the skin, the better you were. Briar found that extremely ironic, seeing as she was married to a man with nowhere near light skin, a skin tone all her children hadinherited. Briar had nothing of her of her mother in her, she was her father's daughter, through and through. Which she was glad of. Her Mother may be the real ruler of Norton, her father a figurehead since the day of their wedding, she wanted nothing to do with the woman who stood before her.

"Don't be silly darling. Briar is a courtesan's name, not suitable for a princess. That's why it's last!" the Queen pooh-poohed, applying more of her white powder to her face. What her mother didn't know was that Briar would prefer to be a courtesan, anything, over a princess.

"I like my girls being a matching set. You look so cute when you're all the same! But the name Briar make you less cute. You sound so prickly and horrible, so just stick to Hazelle, darling. It makes you seem sweet and pretty, exactly like a princess should be." She said while powdering her nose.

Briar was fuming. Her mother always acted as if she wasn't pretty when she was at least decent looking. She had amber eyes and she had long black hair, sleek and shiny. Her eyes were up-tilted and she had a slight aquiline nose. Her brows were thick, black and arched, and she had sun-kissed olive skin. Briar was certainly not ugly. The sweet bit, she definitely wasn't. She was sarcastic and pessimistic, not a natural people person.

What infuriated Briar the most was her mother was not pretty at all. She applied that awful white powder to her face almost constantly, her eyes were rheumy and small, the blue so watery it looked like it was leaking. She painted her lips an unnatural red, her eyelids painted a vibrant blue. Her brows were thin and an odd shape and she added black 'beauty spots' to her face. Her thin blonde hair was tied up in a fancy up-do, but it was frizzy and snapped often. Arabella Carmine-Vamillard might have once been beautiful enough to win a King's heart, but now she was a sad excuse for woman of her status. Bitchy, rude, unwilling to listen to anyone else's opinions, a great skillset for the person commanding the throne.

"Yes mother" Briar sighed, "Please get out of the room so I can change". Her Mother obliged, giving her the look. The look she gave Briar when she was not being princessy enough. The look Briar despised because her older siblings never received it, because she was the only one who did not know how to play her part.

***

Briar walked down the wide marble staircase into the ballroom, her dress scratching at her thighs. She hated her hair, usually straight, pressed into perfect curls. She hated her dress, pretty and pink, selected to meet the expectations of the people at this ball. She hated her pretty petal pink lips and her subtle makeup, all applied strategically to portray Briar as a young, innocent Princess. To fit in with the multiple masks that the people here wore. The only thing she liked was her crown, a simple band of gold that raised up in a spike at the center of her forehead, lined with blue gems. It was simple and pretty. This ball was to find suitable spouse for her and her older siblings, All except for the heir to the throne, Prince West-William-Nate or Will, were nowhere near marrying. Will was betrothed to Lady Xiomara Lohcano of Solandro, one of Norton's biggest territories.

Will had dark brown curly hair and up-tilted eyes. His eyes were grass green and he had a straight, strong nose. He was quite handsome, and before he committed to Mara the court ladies were backstabbing and scheming because he was the heir to the throne and handsome, a rare combination. Most of them still wanted to try to claw their way to the throne, through Will, even with Mara there.

Will was smart, marrying her, as he ensured her father's support in councils when he became the king. As well as him being in love with her. Mara was beautiful, her extremely curly light brown hair was almost the same colour as her light brown, sun kissed complexion. Her hazel eyes light up when she looked at Will, her face creased with smile lines and dotted with freckles. She was absolutely smitten.

Briar looked down at her siblings. The perfect triplets were wearing the same dress as her, the only difference was Gwendolyn, Clementine and Dulcie actually liked it. Will only had eyes for Mara, his future queen. That left her 3 other brothers politely talking to ladies all looking to claw their way to the throne. Princes Harry-Hamish-Theo, Micah-Matthew-Rafael and Finn-Frederik-Liam were perfect under their mother's watchful eye, but Hamish, Rafael and Frederik well known for how wildly they partied when the Queen wasn't watching.

Her mother and father were sitting on the raised marble dais, on the golden thrones, both equal size. Her mother wore a red velvet gown, floor length, trimmed with fox and rabbit fur. It made Briar cringe, seeing it. She didn't like the meaningless deaths her mother so casually wore. On top, she wore the Queen's Crown. A diadem decorated with water blue gems, a reference to the Magic that ran through the royal family's blood. Delicate pieces of gold curved up to meet at a point, with a giant blue gem at the top. It was said if you had enough water power, you could channel it through the gem and increase it tenfold. Made for Temis, the one who had blessed the Vamillard line with such power.

Her father, however, did not reek of power, unimaginable wealth and meaningless masks and layers. In fact, her father seemed rather weak compared to her mother's commanding presence. King Wesley was as skinny as a stick with her skintone, her black hair, cut roughly at his shoulders. His hazel eyes were uptilted, his nose harsh and aquiline. It was clear that he wasn't in control top everyone in the vast ballroom.

To fit in with the multiple masks that the people here wore Briar stepped over to her sisters, daintily sipping on their drinks, the embodiment of grace. They were identical triplets, so they all looked the same. They all had fluffy black hair that curled naturally, without the hot poker her hair had to be twisted around. Their dark brown eyes glittered in the light, their brows plucked into a perfect, gently curving shape, unlike Briar's angular brows. They had aquiline noses as well, though more pronounced than Briar's. The only things they had in common with Briar was the up-tilted eyes and their skin tone.

"I love that we all match." Dulcie smiled, in a pastel yellow version of the dress.

"Yes, I love that too Dulcie ." said Gwendolyn, her dress a pale sky blue, pulling out her pretty party smile that their mother taught them all, even Briar. Briar had not mastered it after hours of demonstrations.

"I just wish they would come over and talk to us." Clementine, in a spring green version of the dress, gritted her teeth though her pretty party smile. Surprisingly, the perfect socialites weren't so popular with the young lords.

"Im probably killing your chances," Briar said, taking shot glass full of vodka, "You will get attention if the sour puss leaves." With that she downed the shot and took two more. She wanted to finally stop trying to be the perfect princess, she just wanted to have fun. For once in her life.