Fire in your Eyes

The Ball (01)

I stared around at all the beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen waltzing around. I felt out of place. Small, insignificant... I told them I didn't want to come. But I didn't resist much when they told me to dress up, we'd be going soon. Every girl in the world wanted to be at the ball. It was the greatest honor for the families, like ours, who weren't really high on the social status.
When I was at home, I felt beautiful. I was dressed in a simple, but I thought, elegant, lacy white dress. My raven hair was hanging in waves down my back, with fake gold flowers tangled up stylishly in it. I had some thin gold charm bracelets on my wrists. But compared to the long velvet dresses , richly coloured with silver and gold embroidery, my dress was nothing. I was getting strange looks from the other guests. I played with my food with the fork. I wasn't hungry.

After a while I stood up from the white armchair and made my way around the edges of the vast dancefloor.
"Where are you going, ma'am?" a guard asked.
"Oh. Toilet." I answered, hoping he wouldn't notice the slight tremble in my voice.
Luckily, he didn't ask any more questions.
He was still watching me, so I made my way to the castle's guest bathroom. The bathroom was as magnificent as the rest of the castle. It had a marble floor, gold toilet roll holder and taps, and the mirror had a gold frame. Obviously, the king and queen didn't economise.
I placed the toilet lid down and sat. For a few minutes I just thought. Why didn't I stay at home. I stand out like a cactus in the middle of a valley of roses. I have no partner. WHY did I come? Then I stood up, shaking my head, and washed my hands. As I walked out of the bathroom I saw a boy, a few years older than me. He had soft brown hair, and shockingly blue eyes. He glanced at me when I walked out.
"Hello," I said doubtfully.
He narrowed his eyes. Then he smiled. He had a wonderful smile. "Hello."
"What's your name?" He said after a moment.
"My name? Uh, Lillith. Lily."
"Lily." he said with a smirk. I glared at him.
"What's so funny?"
He smirked again. "Nothing."
"Lily , would you like to go somewhere with me?" he said after a second of silence.
I felt it odd he would have the permission to go all over the palace. Seeing my doubtfulness, he said "Im a guard."
"Not a very good one, are you?" I said with a smirk of my own.
His eyes darkened. "I thought you might like some fun. You seem bored. So would you like to come or not?"
I didn't have anything to lose.
"Fine."
He smiled again and took my hand. We made our way down a staircase and into a room.
I frowned.
"What's so special about this?" I asked.
"Wait a bit, Love."
I looked away.
"Look, we've been walking for a while now. How am I supposed to know if you're... a good person or not?"
He smirked. "Good person? Well, you've got to wait. Patience is a virtue."
I rolled my eyes.
"Not feeling very patient at the moment."
A sudden red glint appeared in his eyes. I looked at him, alarmed, but the glint was gone.
I decided not to bring this to his attention. Trying to keep my breathing even, we walked on.
"Are we nearly there yet?" I asked, rather nervously.
"Almost."

He suddenly gagged me, and smiled. I tried to scream beneath the gag, but it wasn't really working.
Then he tied me to a chair. After a few seconds of rummaging in his briefcase, he pulled out a portal gun, looking very triumphant.