"What?" Caspian exclaimed, "What happened?"

"I'm going to be late for the gala with the prince," I told him running towards the door.

I turned to say bye to Caspian but the look on his face made me want to not distribute his thoughts. He looked like he wanted to kill someone.

I ran out and started running towards my room.

'Shit' I thought to myself 'Silas is really going to kill me now.'

When I finally got to my room, 3 maids were standing inside waiting for me. A girl who was definitely younger than me with bright red hair in two braids, a hearty woman who looked in her 40s and seemed to give off a warm and welcoming aura, and finally a skinner lady in her 30s with black hair.

"Sorry for the delay", I said with a quick curtsy.

"We have no time to waste dear, please step into the bathtub", said the main maid gesturing to the giant tub behind the partition.

I wasted no time getting undressed and getting in the tub. The water was freezing cold and I shuttered.

"Sorry madam, but it would be warmer if you were here on time", said the youngest maid looking down at the floor.

"It's no problem, it's my fault I was late not yours", I said with a smile "What are your names?"

"I'm Annie", beamed the youngest girl. "And that's Marie", she said pointing to the oldest woman, "And that's Elain", she said pointing to the woman with black hair.

"It's nice to meet you all", I said "And thank you for taking the time out of your day to help me. I am a bit lost in this" I paused trying to think of a word to fit my problem "situation".

"Well, I never thought I would see the day a royal thanked a servant", said the oldest woman. "It's all right dear, we will make sure you look splendid tonight. The prince won't know what hit him".

"Thank you", I told her, and I meant it.

In the next two hours, I was scrubbed down and rubbed with oils so hard I thought the smell would stay on me permanently. My hair looked full of volume and a lion's mane, although I admit it framed my face well. My makeup was not as light as it had been before at the masquerade. I had a bold dark red lipstick on with a dark-winged eyeliner. I refused to let them put any more makeup on me and they obliged but not after separating my eyelashes.

I had gotten close with the youngest maid, Annie, through the time we spent. She was a cheerful child who was forced to work because of her family's poverty. Her mother and father were sick and couldn't work and she had a younger brother who was too young to work. She was pulled out of school at a young age and she isn't able to read and write, so I promised her that I would teach her how to do so. It broke my heart to hear her story, but I would do everything I could to help her.

"All right miss, it's time for the dress", said the oldest lady. She pulled out a gorgeous red gown and gave me her hand to step into it.

'Of course, he would pick a this dress for me' I said pissed at the prince. I hated big poofy dresses and he knew it. 'Two could play at that game' I thought with a smirk.

"Annie, could you hand me the scissors on the table", I asked in a polite voice.

"Of course!", she said, handing me them.

I leaned down and cut a slit in the dress on my left side up to my thigh.

"There we go, much better," I said, handing the scissors back to Annie.

I looked back and all three maids were looking at me with their jaws wide open.

"Miss!" exclaimed Marie. "The dress is too scandalous like that!"

"Exactly", I said pulling on my black high heels, courtesy of the prince "Now where is the gala?"

Marie told me the direction to the gala which was the same room where the masquerade ball was. I was about to step inside when a hand pulled me back.

"Get off of me!" I screamed, but it was covered with his hand.

"What the hell are you wearing, Princess?" Silas growled in my ear.

I smirked into his hand, "The dress you pick out for me, what's the problem?" I said innocently.

"The problem", he said as he put a hand through the cut I made and, on my thigh, "is that when I gave you this dress it did not have a slit going up to your thigh."

"I wonder how it got there. Well, we have a gala to get to, wouldn't want the people waiting" I said as I pushed away from him and walked to the doors.

He put his arm through mine as the doors opened and walked with me down the stairs.

'Where the hell was she?' I thought to myself pacing at the bottom of the stairs at the gala.

Suddenly the doors opened and there she was. My jaw almost dropped when I saw her dress, or rather her in it. There was a slit going up to her thigh and you could see her elegant legs as she walked down the steps. Her makeup was beautifully done, and her red lipstick could bring any man down on their knees, including me.

I needed to get her alone tonight, but there was the problem of the prince. Jealousy raged through me as I saw her arm around hers as he whispered something in her ear that made Aloia blush and turned her face away from him.

As soon as they got to the bottom steps, I went towards them.

"Aloia, would you like to dance?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"I believe I get the first dance", said the prince stepping in "being that she is my mate of course, not yours"

I was getting ready to kill the very person I was supposed to protect but Aloia interrupted my actions.

"I would be glad to dance with both of you, although if you try to make a move on me," she said with a pause glaring "I will shove my dagger so far-

"All right we understand", said the prince as he led her to the dance floor.

As the waltz started, the prince pulled Aloia into his arms a little too close for my liking.

I gritted my teeth realizing I would need alcohol to survive their dance.

I made my way to the waiter with champagne glasses promising myself that later when we were alone, I would mark every place the prince touched her.

As soon as the waltz with the prince finished, Caspian walked in and basically told the prince to fuck off, but in a nice way.

"Can we go for a walk in the garden?" Caspian asked. He looked nervous and scared.

'What happened to him when I was dancing?' I thought to myself.

"Sure" I replied and took his arms.

We walked out into the courtyard and took a left away from the castle.

"Where are we going?" I asked Caspian.

"Is that her?" a voice behind me asked.

"What?" I said confused. "Caspian, where are we?"

"I'm so sorry" said Caspian.

"What? What's going on? This isn't a good joke, Caspian." I said confused turning around trying to find where the voice came from.

"I'll explain everything when you are awake," he said as I felt something hit my head.

My vision blurred and my legs gave away. Caspian quickly caught me and whispered, "I'm sorry" right before everything went black.