The Last Dance

Chapter 1

In all the years that Delilah had known her, she had never seen Mirabelle smile so wide. It made sense though. As she walked down the grand staircase, all eyes were on her. Delilah knew all too well that the thing that made Mirabelle the happiest was the attention, and more importantly, the affection of everyone around her.

At that moment, she all but demanded it. The whole ball was to celebrate her upcoming wedding. That, combined with the fact that she and her fiance belonged to two different royal families, made it hard for anyone to keep their eyes off of her.

She reveled in the adoration that everyone showed as she descended into the ball room. Mirabelle only took her eyes off the crowd twice as she walked down those stairs. The first time was when her mother — who had been walking her down the stairs — kissed Mirabelle's cheek and passed her hand to her father. As soon as her hand was properly held inside of her father's, she locked her eyes on the crowd once again.

A few steps later was when she looked away a second time. Her father repeated the actions of her mother, this time passing her to her betrothed.

***

That staircase had been a staple part of their childhood, with the base being a place where Mirabelle and Delilah, as well as Delilah's siblings could easily be supervised while they played. Delilah's mother would sit off to the side with the queen and enjoy a cup of tea while they — and a couple of the other servants — watched the children play.

The group was often seen like that, with the mothers off to the side and the children playing together. They always stayed close to the same for their entire childhoods, the only difference being that the children's group had partially split, with Mirabelle and Delilah slowly becoming closer as they grew, and another child being born on Delilah's side when she was 4.

Eventually it was clear that Mirabelle and Delilah were a lot closer to each other than either was with the other children. They stayed with the group until Mirabelle and Delilah were nine and ten respectively, and then they slowly stopped joining the rest.