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  His human form was devilishly handsome, and something that father refused to believe possible because of Chromatics’ sadistic nature.

  My dragon’s name was Robert. He was feisty at first, but he had a gentle side to him after the punches flew between us. It was as if those punches beat the good back into him. I’d grown to hate that, since it was now happening once a month.

  They were clever as hell too, much more so than humans. They picked up languages really fast.

  English was a walk in the park for Robert and easily teachable as I was fluent in Latin.

  Latin was a must as all the Metallics and Chromatics only conversed in Latin. The only thing I had to fear was the acid he breathed. My shield was made of special armor, one that no fire or acid could penetrate. It had saved my life a couple of times when Robert’s dragon form got too feisty and wanted to incinerate my ass. And he was ride-able too.

  The entire court had found a way to ride on the Metallics. Father himself had a Copper-Horn. He loved his theories, which made me crazy, but I had to admit, the man was always onto something.

  I went to the quarters of the woman who had raised me. She was a Fire-Tail and she’d even once showed me her fire. It was something I’d wished so many times I could’ve had myself and she laughed on many occasions when I tried to light a fire the way she did. Goran could and so could his twin Helmut. They were the spitting image of one another, so much so that you couldn’t tell the difference, except the abilities they wielded.

  Helmut was born first, and he was the Crown Prince of Tith, but Goran, he was a troublemaker. The one that had the most fun.

  He couldn’t just speak Latin, but Wyvic too. His father believed that it was a sign that he was rotten, with a dark soul, and had him beaten many times as a lad. Helmut had taken a couple of his brother’s punches, pretending to be him, but Goran was nothing like that. He would help you dig a grave while Helmut would watch for cover.

  Goran could tap into the snow element. He could freeze a flower in the heat of spring. It was amazing to watch, and he even had resistance to cold weather. The change had come over him after we all thought that he was going to die from a lung disease. One that the Silver Annex’s touch couldn’t even heal.

  He was so sick. But he pulled through that winter and since then, no cold ever harmed him again. In fact, it became a part of him.

  Helmut had more or less the same kind of fire that my nanny had. But his flame was blue. It was strange that he’d gotten ill just a couple of months after Goran. It was a different kind of sickness, with a fever so high that the Swallow Annex’s had no answer for it.

  King Magnus thought for sure that the crown prince, his beloved son, was going to die. He’d blamed Goran for spreading whatever disease he’d had to his brother. Not that the sicknesses were remotely the same.

  Helmut’s fever was so high that it was a miracle he was still breathing today.

  My nanny was old now, but father still provided her a place in the palace.

  I decided that she would be there for my children as well. She’d told me once how old she was, almost twelve thousand years old, so it was possible.

  I knocked on the door and opened it. She smiled just like any mother would watching her favorite son enter the room. She put her knitting down and her arms opened wide from her position in the rocking chair by the window.

  I crouched down by her chair and just lay my head on her lap. She stroked my hair softly.

  “The queen would slay me for this if she knew you favored me above her.”

  “My mother will never know,” I looked up at her. “Besides, she never had a problem with you when I was younger, when I soiled my pants or scraped an elbow, or even when I was running a fever.”

  “You hold your tongue, Albert.”

  I laughed. “She is my mother only by blood, but you are my real mother.”

  She smiled down at me again and I kindly repaid it. “So let me guess, you didn’t find a way out of the ball?”

  “No, after all these years, I still try to please her.”

  “She loves you, Albert, more than you know.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I sighed. “Just promise me you will outlive her, please. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  She smiled again. “I’ve still got a lot of spark in me, young prince.”

  I laughed.

  “Do you have a mask?” she asked.

  “No, but I’m sure she will have someone bring me one. I will stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “Then let me make you one that nobody will recognize. And you can hide from everyone all night.”

  I laughed. I loved this old woman so much. She always had a trick or two up her sleeve and always found a way to help me not play mother’s silly little games.

  “Something tells me that this ball is going to be a lot of fun.”

  KATIE

  * * *

  The huge cowbell over the door chimed. Mom had recently added it and it would chime every time a customer came in. Now it was causing me headaches. It was so irritating.

  I looked up into Maggy’s face. She was over the moon, crazy joyful. I couldn’t ever seeing her this excited before.

  “Calm down, Marguerite,” my mother said. She was bouncing up and down on one spot, talking so fast that none of us could make out what she was saying.

  My mother grabbed her by the shoulders and held her down so that her bouncing stopped.

  “Deep breaths,” mom guided her and she finally started to listen. She took deep breaths, one after the other until she was herself.

  “I won,” she said. That was all she said shaking the two pieces of scroll in her hand.

  Mom took one, opened it and started reading it out loud.

  “We hereby congratulate you on being the winner of the lottery to the queen’s ball.”

  Maggy shrieked and I covered my ears slightly as mama's lips kept moving, reading the invitation.

  Maggy pulled both my hands from my ears. “Stop being such a party pooper.” She laughed.

  “You are going to the royal ball?” Mom’s excitement was just as great as Maggy’s.

  “Katie, you are going to go with me.”

  “Wait, excuse me.” Did I hear her correctly. Was I going with her, to the ball?

  “It will be so romantic, Katie. Masks and gowns.” She twirled, already daydreaming.

  “I can’t. Where am I going to even get a gown, not to mention a mask. I told you this would happen, Maggy.”

  “We’ll make a plan.” Maggy smiled.

  “No, it’s way too busy in the store and my father isn’t feeling too well. So, no.”

  “Urgh,” she grunted at me and then left.

  Mother just gave me a raised eyebrow. “Katie.”

  “Mom, no.” I said and thanked my lucky stars as a customer walked in.

  She went behind the cash register as I put away the last few bottles of cough medicine mother had bottled today.

  I went back to the storeroom while mother was still assisting the customer with his order.

  I remember when I was little, how full the storeroom was. Now it was the opposite.

  I couldn’t go to the ball. Even if it was the only time I would ever see the prince. I would just like to give him a piece of my mind. That would be the only reason why I would go to the ball.

  Maggy, now she was a real girl, one that all the boys wanted to court. She had been courting Frederick for a few months, she was even spoken for by him, but she had broken it off.

  Frederick was the son of the mayor of Eikenborough and she had told me that Helmut was jealous. That was her reason. Sometimes I wondered if she was crazy. But Maggy always dealt with problems in a completely different way than other people.

  I knew Frederick must have done something that she didn’t approve of, but she would rather give me some silly excuse, like her imaginary prince in her head, was jealous of him than just telling me the truth.

  She was si
lly though, as it was the closest to nobility she would ever get.

  While I had to settle for someone like Seth. A butcher’s son.

  There was nothing wrong with a butcher’s son. But plenty wrong with Seth.

  He was more of a woman than me.

  He was also the only man that was interested in courting me, well sort off. The others only saw my ability to throw a punch or shoot an arrow. They saw a messy girl and not someone like Maggy who looked decent after a bath and clean clothes.

  I didn’t even care about any of that.

  I was waiting for what my mother and father had. Someone who would knock me off my feet, not literally, but that would be nice. Someone who would listen to what I had to say, and really consider my value.

  Someone that would be my best friend and so much more.

  I guess only the lucky ones truly found that someone and the rest had to settle for what was available.

  Still, a girl could dream.

  The door of the storeroom opened and mother stood in the frame.

  “I’m coming,” I said with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

  “Why don’t you go with Marguerite to the ball?”

  My entire body tensed at the question. “Mom, we don’t have the money to get a dress, or even material to make one. Not to mention a mask. How are we going to get there? These are always the questions Maggy doesn’t have the answers to. That's why I said ‘no’ to her.”

  She walked up to me and put a stray hair, that had fallen in my face, behind my ear. She bit her lower lip. I knew what that meant. She was contemplating all the how-to’s in order for me to go. She was weighing it all up.

  “Stop, Mom. It’s just not going to happen.”

  “I’m with Marguerite. You are a party pooper.”

  I huffed and my mother walked back to the cash register while I picked up the last box of supplies and carried it into the store.

  Chapter 3

  ALBERT

  * * *

  “I told Robert he could come tonight,” I said to Delilah as she helped me get into the costume my mother had given me for tonight.

  “Albert is that a good idea, you know the Chromatics can’t go in their human forms for too long?”

  “He’ll be fine, besides, he really sounded happy to go. He knows if it gets to be too much, he can leave.”

  “You and your crazy love for dangerous things. The girl who is going to steal your heart needs to be someone really special.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I sighed. “I’m the prince, remember. We don’t have the privilege of choosing who to love. Father learned that the hard way.”

  She flatten out my shoulders and the jacket hung beautifully. I did look like the prince I was. I smiled at Delilah in the mirror as she just stared at my buttons. No emotion on her face. Just staring. “What is going through that mind of yours?”

  “I’ve been thinking, you know how Gabe looks a lot like you. I mean your mother has mistaken him for you many times just by his hair.”

  “And your point is.” I squinted.

  “I want to give you a night of freedom, Albert. Let Gabe pretend to be you and just enjoy the evening in whatever way you want to. I’m sure we can throw something together for you to wear.”

  I smiled. “You are a genius.” I kissed her on her cheek. “I love it. Let’s mess with everyone at the ball.”

  She laughed. Her laughter always made my skin flush. She had such a good and pure heart.

  “Your mother won’t be pleased later tonight,” Delilah said.

  “Let me worry about dear old mom. She wants me at this stupid ball, I’ll be there in all my forms.”

  KATIE

  I looked at myself in mom’s mirror. My mother’s wedding dress didn’t even look like the dress I had held in my hands a couple of days ago. She had done so many alterations to it and tears glistened in my eyes. I looked like a real princess with a shoulder cut off dress that accentuated my middle and a puff of white fabric.

  Maggy’s mom, Rowena Trin, put some color on my lips.

  Beautiful glitter sparkled around my eyes. It felt like a waste as it would be hidden behind the mask that we had to wear the entire evening.

  “Oh, Katie,” mom said and cupped her mouth. Tears glistened in her eyes too. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

  “But there is something missing,” father’s tired voice came from the entrance of the room. He was leaning on the side of the door and on the cane in his hand.

  “Daddy,” I ran to his side. “You should go back to bed.”

  I put his weight under my shoulder. He protested.

  “You are going to ruin your beautiful gown. Please, I’m fine.”

  “No, Daddy, bed, now.” I tried to sound stern.

  “Wait, Katie, please.” He was so out of breath. I wanted my father’s health back so badly. “I have something to give you.”

  “In the room, Father. You’re weak and you have to get under the covers. It’s cold out here, please.”

  Father gave me a soft smile.

  With the help of mother we got him back to bed.

  Once he was nicely tucked in, he spoke softly to mother.

  She smiled, nodded, kissed him on his head and left the room.

  “Where is Mama going?”

  A smile lingered on my father’s tired face. I closed my eyes, just wanting to cry more as the image of him, the way he used to laugh, had made all of us join in with his laughter. It was so contagious. I missed all of it.

  Mother entered the room with the most beautiful cloak, and in her hands were a delicate piece of artwork.

  The candle’s light made it sparkle.

  It made me think of glass.

  Mother handed it to me, too scared to touch it.

  She just smiled.

  I looked at my father who could barely keep his eyes open, but he smiled too.

  I finally held the artwork in my hands and discovered they were wings.

  They weren’t glass, to be honest, I had no idea what they were made of.

  Father was really good at making things out of barely nothing and making them beautiful.

  They were not heavy.

  Mom took me to the mirror while she quickly sewed the wings to my dress.

  I couldn’t help but wonder where father got the time or the energy to make them.

  “How?”

  “Shhh, Katie,” my father whispered. “You deserve tonight.”

  Mother chuckled. “You can say that again.” She touched my shoulders. “We want you to enjoy every single bit of tonight.”

  I nodded. “Thank you Mom.”

  “You are welcome sweetheart.”

  They were the most beautiful creations I had ever seen. Two wings flared from the top with two smaller ones below.

  I looked like a fairy princess with my mother and father taking the place of the fairy godmother.

  “Go, show them us commoners can take more than just the scraps from their tables.”

  I laughed at her sense of humor as I knew she meant that I was going to take breaths away tonight. I sure felt beautiful, really beautiful.

  I found my father staring at me. And a feeling of pure joy mixed with sadness and gratitude flushed through my entire soul. I ran over to his bed and gave him a big hug. “I love you, Daddy. They are gorgeous.”

  The hooves of Ramon’s horses pulling the carriage filled the night.

  “It’s time, Katie. Enjoy it for all our sakes.”

  “I will Mama,” I said.

  My brother and sisters all stood sleepy in the doorway of mother’s room and I gave all of them a big hug.

  “You be good now, Samuel. Go back to bed and tomorrow I’ll tell you everything about the ball.”

  His eyes lit up. “You look like a fairy princess, Katie.”

  “But bed, now.” I tickled him softly and he rushed back to his bed in mother’s room.

  I smiled at Samuel and gave Susannah
a kiss. She was a few years older than him and shared our brown hair.

  “Go, Katie, you are wasting time, saying goodbye.” Mother placed her hand softly on my shoulder.

  “Thank you so much, Mom. This dress is absolutely gorgeous.”

  “You are gorgeous.” Mother put my cloak over my shoulders and pulled the hood on top of my head.

  She gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and waved at Maggy who was inside the carriage waiting for me. “Have fun tonight, girls.”

  “We will, Mrs Squire.” Maggy said and I smiled at mother and my brother and sisters one last time before closing the carriage door.

  The carriage pulled off and I smiled at Maggy who was beautiful in her lilac dress and matching mask.

  “You look stunning, Kate.”

  “I feel weird.” I said honestly. I had never had this many layers on my body.

  “It’s about time that you were wearing something as magical as this.” Maggy sat back. “Just imagine the time we are going to have.” She closed her eyes, daydreaming already. She was finally going to meet Helmut for real.

  I smiled and shook my head just staring out the window and watching the scenery we passed.

  “Just remember, Ramon has to leave at the stroke of midnight Kate. Otherwise he isn’t going to be back in time for Mr Fletcher.”

  “He does know that Ramon is taking us, right?”

  “Calm your beating heart. Where is your adventurous side? Of course he knows.” Maggy smiled.

  Okay, I thought and sat back and relax.

  Tonight was really going to turn out to be just like that fairytale, Cinderella.

  Everything would be just like that story.

  Chapter 4

  ALBERT

  * * *

  The ballroom was starting to fill up nicely. Delilah’s plan was working out perfectly.

  Everyone was introduced, well everyone that was important.