Beneath The Mask Is His Queen

Chapter Two

Lights shined maliciously throughout the large, open-spaced ballroom; with the sound of loud, boisterous orchestra music blaring within the ballroom balls. The room was filled with many bright-spirited guests, all eager to meet King Lucas. All of the male guests (all who are either friends with the royal family or have connections somewhere in the castle to have the opportunity to come to the ball) were excited too, considering how there was quite a lot of girls to choose from and King Lucas having to pick the one.

Joshua stood by Farkle, helping him count the number of girls that have arrived. Meanwhile, King Lucas currently stood in another room outside of the ballroom,, feeling anxious to get the night over with.

It was going to be a hard decision, he knew that, but he also knew it was his duty as King.

As more and more guests piled in, some people started dancing along to the music while others remained out of the way of the dance floor, waiting for King Lucas's appearance and their opportunity to speak with him.

When Joshua and Farkle felt satisfied enough with the huge amount of girls so far, Joshua happily left the ballroom, and entered the room his best friend was waiting in.

"Are the girls here yet?" Lucas questioned, and Joshua shook his head.

"Not quite. Most of them are here, but there's still quite a lot having to come."

Lucas nodded, then took in a deep breath. "Well, we might as well start now." And Joshua agreed.

- the masked girl -

Riley hesitantly walked up the steps that lead into the castle. She slowly handed one of the guards her invitation, and when the guard nodded at her in approval, she dashed into the castle, glad that the guard didn't ask her to take off her mask.

Riley gripped her handkerchief in her sleeve, and breathed in slowly. When she felt herself relax, she began walking down the huge staircase that lead to the ballroom.

When she reached the bottom, she found herself moving towards the food table, feeling hungry from her stress. She stared at the variety of small foods sitting on the table, arranged in a delicate organization that she could never pull off. Shrugging to herself, Riley took a small handful amount full of grapes, and started eating them one-by-one.

As she snacked on the grapes to help calm herself, she turned her attention towards the the front of the ballroom, where a boy, not too much older than her, stood.

The music quieted down and everyone else turned their attention to the boy.

"Good evening everyone. King Lucas would like to personally thank you all for coming to this ball tonight," he said. "Now may we present, King Lucas of Quincy kingdom."

Trumpets blasted loudly as the whole crowd went into a large fit of applause. King Lucas appeared, standing tall and proud. He had dirty blonde hair and light coloured skin, and wore a suit that fitted him well.

"Oh my gosh, he is so handsome!" A girl said to another, and they both giggled.

Although Riley rolled her eyes at their unnecessary excitement, she also found herself being attracted to the boy. But she didn't know why.

Shrugging off her strange attraction, Riley continued to eat some more grapes.

- the king -

Joshua brought one of the many girls up to Lucas. She had dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. Lucas admired her beauty, but it was her personality that mattered the most.

"King Lucas," she said and curtsied. "I'm Missy Bradford."

Like a gentleman he is, Lucas took her hand, and kissed it. "Pleasure to meet you."