"Aurora." My mother whispered. "Where almost there."

My eyes fluttered open and I was surprised that the sun was just starting to set. The sky was filtered with reds, yellows and oranges. How long had I been sleeping? By the fact that my neck was cramped and there was sleep in my eyes showed that it had been a few hours. I sat up, realizing that I had been laying against the window.

"Darling, you have a bit of drool." My father said, touching a spot on his cheek.

I quickly whipped the drool away and focused on preparing for the ball. The nerves that I had tried so hard to get rid of, had snuck their way back in as I saw that we were nearing the castle.

The palace was placed in the centre of Lightwood hundreds of years ago. I thought they put it there to show that the palace and the royal family were the centre of our land. I hated it. The castle had been built on the blood of innocents, it sickened me.

"Aurora whip that frown off your face." My mother said as we passed through the gates.

The iron gates were grand and had many difficult designs, I wanted to congratulate the maker, though it had been years since the structure had been built. Meaning they were probably dead.

"Big smiles, big smiles." My mother said as we pulled in front of the palace steps. There were already people in front of us, walking up the steps into the large entrance of the castle.

My mother and father were the first to step out. I didn't look up until I was far away from the carriage. My mind still acknowledged that Cas was our driver and I could feel his gaze on me as I walked up the steps behind my parents

"Aurora." My mother said, seeing that my head was turned down. "Chin up."

I looked at her and gave a slight nod, I turned my gaze to the palace and was speechless. It was terrifying, but beautiful at the same time. The stone still looked as if it was just placed today and not three hundred years ago. It was lit by a thousand torches and a large staircase stretched up to the front entrance, not to mention a guard was placed on every step. I felt small compared to this castle's size. I couldn't begin to imagine what the inside looked like.

I gulped, suddenly scared to go in. The memory of reading how this palace was built by slaves slipped into my mind. But I carried on, holding my head high. The stairs took a bit to get up, but I made it and made my way beside my parents, into the large foyer. I couldn't help but stare at elegance of it. A large chandelier lit up the room, columns held the high roof up. Painting's decorated the ceiling adding to the angelic feel of the foyer.

For some odd reason, I felt under dressed to be in a room like this and I suddenly wondered what the ball room would look like.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs..." A palace staff member said as we neared the doors to the ballroom.

Other guests were standing around the edge of the foyer, some taking in the beauty and some looking for secret passageways. I didn't blame them, this would most likely be the last time they see the inside of the castle. If I wasn't so disgusted by the way this castle was built, I might have joined them.

"Whitmore, and this is our daughter, Aurora Whitmore." My father told the gentleman. I saw him take a look at me.

"Alright then, I will introduce you first, then your daughter." The gentleman said as he opened the door. My father looked at the gentleman, confused why I wasn't being introduced with them. "The king recommended that all young women be introduced separately, to give the Prince a chance to see them."

My father nodded slightly and continued with my mother closer to the doors. I took a quick look behind me to see a few more guests show up, all of the girls looked the same. Painted faces and horrendous dresses. A few of them seemed to look at me curiously as if they were wondering why I was wearing this dress.

"Introducing Mr and Mrs Jacob Whitmore." The man announced as my parents entered the ballroom. I could see a large staircase and hundreds of onlookers as I stepped to where my parents were. "And their daughter Miss Aurora Whitmore."

I felt nerves flood through me as I walked into the ballroom. I sucked in a breath at the size of it. Trays of food lined the edges where doors stood open for people to step out onto a balcony. And just like the foyer, the ceiling was decorated with beautiful art, at the end of the large room were three thrones, two of the chairs were filled by the king and queen, both looking equally bored. I tried not to look around as I made my way down the stairs, my head held high. It seemed everyone's gaze had turned to me. Though as I struggled not to look around, I found myself trying to catch the prince. But I saw no crowds of girls circling one man. Great, the man didn't even show up to his own party. I felt a bit better at this thought, maybe he wasn't actually coming and this was just a party?

The nerves continued as the stairs ended and my hand slipped into my fathers. Whispers flew around me as I passed people, none of them paying attention to the new guests who were being announced. As I looked around I saw that I was the only one wearing a gown like this. Everyone else's were the same. Orange or yellow with layers of fabric that seemed extremely heavy to hold on their slim bodies.

"I'm going to go and get us some drinks." My father said to my mother and me as we stood beside one of the decorated walls.

Once he left my mother turned to me, her face lighting up.

"Did you see that entrance? If you could catch the eye of a crowd the size of this, you will surely catch the prince's." My mother whispered, trying not to draw anymore attention to us. Though that was probably impossible. I could already see a line of men beginning to form who no doubt wanted to dance.

"But mother, if I happen to catch the prince's eye, then I will reject him." I whispered back.

"Oh alright, but maybe you could just have one dance with him? Just to see if he is this wicked, ruthless royal you've been blabbering about since you learned to read." Mother said.

"I already know he is." I murmured as I turned towards the dance floor. Though I hadn't met the prince, my gut was telling me to hate him. And I always trusted my gut.

The music had begun and I could see a few couples waltzing.

"May I have this dance? My lady." A handsome young gentleman said, bowing to me.

"Umm..." I couldn't come up with an answer quick enough, so my mother pushed me gently into him, and we began our dance.

He seemed to stumble over his own feet as we continued our silent dance. As the night went on I was spun into countless gentlemans arms. Some as young as twelve, who seemed to only be there because their mothers had dragged them there, much like me. And some as old as my father, who were there because their wives had promised a night of excitement or to find a wife too young for them.

Daphne's words continued to play in a loop in my head. Have fun. So I did. Not caring about looks or age, I danced. Danced until my feet felt as if they were to fall off.

"Care for a dance?" I heard my father say when I had finished a dance with a boy around fifteen.

"It would be my honour." I smiled and took his hand as the next song began to play "Wait father, are you sure you should be leaving mother alone? What if she starts to... mingle."

When my mother mingled with people, she would tend to give too much information. Mostly about me.

"She's fine. I just wanted a dance with my beautiful daughter." He complimented, though I knew that I had gotten my looks from him. I smiled as we moved across the dance floor. And I decided to not worry about my mother and spend this time with my father.

We danced for what felt like hours and magically my feet stopped hurting. Though suddenly into the third song I heard someone clearing their throat behind me

"Excuse me. But may I cut in?" A deep voice asked, my father looked up from my eyes and fear enveloped his expression. He immediately mumbled a small apology before turning around and walking away towards my mother who stared longingly towards me.

I didn't turn around to face this man, I just stared back at my father. Wondering what could have caused him to leave so abruptly and my mother to have such and expression on her face.

"Turn to me love." The man said, taking my waist in his hands and turning me without a warning, causing me to accidentally fall onto his rock hard chest. Though he easily caught me, as if I weighed as light as a feather to him.

"I'm sorry." I said a bit flustered and felt my cheeks begin to heat up at my clumsiness.

Turning my head up to face this mysterious man, I began to stare into the darkest of green eyes.