Lover Of The Last

7. Royal Wake

"Walking out into the dark

Cutting out a different path

Lead by your beating heart

All the people of the town

Cast their eyes right to the ground"

Arabelle's POV

"You look ravishing, Arabelle, a true beauty." Iris smiled. Her green eyes admiring her work as she pinned the last of my intricately braided hair up.

"So do you." I smiled back instantly. We had gotten ready for the Royal Wake and now we were waiting on our escorts, William and Jayce.

Iris had fancied the grey-eyed Hallow twin ever since he began working at the barn with us, and Jayce felt the same; proudly asking her to be his date tonight.

I straightened out my beautiful silk, black gown; enjoying the feeling of the expensive fabric, but slightly uncomfortable in the tight corset and longer than normal train.

My masquerade mask for tonight sat perfectly on my face, it concealed my identity slightly, and stood out quite nicely seeing as it was blood-red in color.

Iris was in a black lace gown, the neck line coming up to her throat and looking abouslutly stunning on her caramel skin. Her green eyes behind her also lace masquerade mask, were always a mystery to me, no one else in the kingdom had any like her's-

A knock on the door cut off my thoughts and my I prepped my self for a night of many dances and many fake smiles.

Iris hitched up her dress and started towards the door, opening it to revel Will and Jayce. They were both outfitted in black as well.

A grin crept onto my face at Will in a masquerade mask, the black piece making him look more serious and somewhat desirable.

"Ladies" William said as he and Jayce held out their arms for us to take.

I wrapped my hand around the crook of his arm and walked beside him, right behind Iris and Jayce.

"I haven't been to a wake in years, I'm sure this one will be different though." I spoke softly to William as we walked to our destination.

He looked down at me, and even though his face was concealed partially by the mask, I could tell his features were that of sympathy.

I smiled back to reassure him, not wanting to focus on my grief; there were more important things.

Like the nagging feeling deep in my chest as we grew nearer and nearer to the Grand Ballroom. My shaky hands tightened on Will's arm and he covered it in comfort with his free hand, a gesture that calmed me slightly.

He was going to be here tonight, I knew it, with every ounce of my being. I double, then triple checked myself in the mirror tonight to make sure I looked flawless; something I never did.

If I was right that Riley was here, even hidden behind a mask and dressed up just like all the others, I was sure I could pick him out from the crowd.

"I hear the music." Iris stated with a small smile, looking back at me and William.

Well enough, the soft melody was growing louder as the hallway opened up into a high-ceiling ballroom; The Grand Ballroom.

Cathedral-like design and the tall windows and torchlight-covered walls made the gothic, open room perfect for the Royal Wake. My eyes took in beautiful ballroom, never really appreciating the detail of our grand castle we built all those years ago.

Everyone was in black, and I felt sort of idiotic for wearing a dark red mask; but I couldn't take it off now. The masquerade aspect of the Wake made it so I could barely recognized anyone, many beautiful masks concealed various identities.