Masquerade

The Masquerade Part 2

Disclaimer: The song is Masquerade from the phantom of the opera. I do not own it, I do not make a profit from it.

Cassandra heard a knock on the door just as she was pulling on the high heels that the maids had brought her. She opened the door to find Eugene stood there in a black suit which had red heart details on the chest and painted onto the leather of the tops of his black boots. The costume was finished with a gold crown and a read clock. He took a step back, looking at her in surprise.

"You look good Cass."

"And that's a surprise to you?"

"Honestly, yes, considering you looked like you'd ridden through several hedges when I saw you earlier."

"Can I help you?" She asked pointedly.

Eugene smiled and raised the mask he was holding up to his face, it was a black and white check mask with a red and gold heart painted around the left eye.

"I'm here to escort you to the party, as apparently proper ladies about to go to parties forget the ability to walk down corridors on their own."

"Why aren't you escorting Rapunzel?"

"She's being escorted by her Dad, and Arianna is being escorted by a visiting cousin. Where's your mask?"

"Oh." Cassandra said turning and fetching it from where it lay on her bed. She turned to Eugene who whistled when he saw it in her hands.

"That's real gold."

"It's not, it's probably just a really good paint job." She said as she tried to tie the ribbons behind her head. She jumped slightly as she heard steps behind her and felt a hand push hers out the way.

"Oh, trust a retired thief on this one, that's the real deal. It's from Varian right? He does have the money for that kind of extravagance, but it's rare for him to spend it. He must be trying to impress you."

Cassandra's felt her cheeks grow warm as her fingers touched the cool metal.

"I think that will hold. "Eugene said stepping away and holding his arm out to her. She took it and they walked together down the hallways.

"Are the Princesses' asleep?"

"Pretending to be. Their nurse will get them up to creep down the hall and look through the doors in half an hour or so. She's been told to get them back to bed before it gets to raucous."

"Do you think it will? Get raucous, I mean?"

"They don't usually, but tonight is a bit different."

"How?"

They had reached the doors to the great hall and the two footmen on either side reached forwards and opened the doors. Cassandra gasped.

"That's how."

Cassandra had been in the great hall of Corona castle more times than she could count, but she'd never seen it look like this, and it wasn't the rebuild or the painted ceiling that made her gasp. It was the grandeur. Since when had Corona been so grand? It had never been a poor city, but in celebrations they'd always gone with quantity rather than quality, but here, this was grandeur to a scale she had rarely seen anywhere in all her travels. Eugene gave her a light tug and she continued walking into the hall, looking up as she did so.

Garlands of foliage were hanging down from the ceiling covered in white roses that looked as if the edges of their petals had been dipped in gold paint. There were statues of ladies in thin dresses lining the walls, they too looked like they were made of gold.