Madeline

Chapter 6

Surprisingly, getting ready had taken most of the time I was supposed to wait, which, thankfully, meant I wasn't able to obsess about anything too much. By the time Rebecca was finished with me, everything felt polished and perfect, and I was sure I looked nothing like myself. She must have told me a dozen times that I looked beautiful, but I couldn't help being skeptical. Was I beautiful enough to do this?

At the designated time, she led me to a large room where I was, unfortunately, reunited with my father. Oddly enough it was his satisfaction upon seeing me that made me think I might have a chance to succeed tonight. But there were so many other girls in this room. They were all beautiful and seemed much more confident than I felt. How could I ever compete with them?

A man named Franklin was supposed to introduce each of us to the prince separately in the ballroom. I still felt that it was incredibly inappropriate, considering the event, but I was also excited to see a royal ball. Particularly since I'd never been to any kind of a ball before.

We waited for a while and then, one by one, a servant began leading pairs of fathers and daughters to the ballroom. It was torture having to wait there - with my father - while the room slowly began to empty. I just knew that the prince would pick one of the other girls long before he had the chance to even meet me. And then what would happen to me? But when the servant approached Father and me and asked that we follow him, I found myself wishing he'd picked someone else.

We were directed to wait just outside the ballroom, and I was glad for the opportunity to examine things a bit before having to go inside. Everything was lovely - the people, the decorations. The music was cheerful and everything just seemed to sparkle. The people were all smiling and dancing, and I found myself smiling along with them. At least until my father brought me back to reality.

"You'd better do well," he warned in my ear.

I scowled at the floor and bit my cheek to keep from telling him that he wasn't helping and that if he wanted me to do well, he should keep his mouth shut and keep his distance from me.

Of course, I was still too frightened to say any of that. But I surprised myself by truly hoping I would succeed tonight. So that maybe one day I could really tell him everything I wanted to without fear.

Taking a deep breath, I focused into the ballroom again, trying to spy the prince. When I found him, I was confused. I thought we were waiting for him to finish speaking with the last girl and her father, but they weren't anywhere in sight. Instead, the prince was speaking with Franklin, and he looked angry. He looked furious, actually, and he seemed to be threatening the man. This was the prince who was "very kind"? I glanced at my father, wondering if the two of them were very different at all.

Curiosity compelled me to look into the ballroom again to try to figure out who the prince's fiance was. What did she think of all of this? And what did she think of the prince's treatment of Franklin?

I knew the moment I spotted her. She was incredibly beautiful. Much more so than I was. I could almost understand the prince's desire to find a mistress as insurance. He wouldn't want to risk not being able to marry her if she were compromised.

But it wasn't her beauty that told me who she was. It was the concerned way she watched the prince. She also seemed to be confused. So maybe she wasn't aware of what was really going on. I watched her for a few minutes and felt sorry for her. Penelope said that the prince had never had an official mistress before. Did his fiance believe that would continue?

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I have to ask you to return to your rooms." Franklin was suddenly beside Father.

"What do you mean?" I could tell how much effort Father was putting forth to avoid shouting at the other man the way he usually would. He wouldn't want to ruin whatever chance I had here by causing a scene.