The Courtship

Chapter 3 Pain

~Stranger~

"Ladies and gentlemen of the court, allow me to present the Prince of Rivingston, his lordship Joseph Edward Corin and the young Princess Amira Elizabeth Corin, son and daughter of his majesties King James Edward Corin and Queen Elizabeth Maria Corin of Rivingston."

He turned towards the double doors and watched the two of them enter. She was even more beautiful than the first time he saw her. Oh, how he would love to make her his wife. She would be perfect, but the master would put his head on a platter and feed him to his mutts. His boss was someone you didn't double cross not even once. The money was huge, and he could live with that. Now all he had to do was fulfill his part of the plan. As leader of the bandits, he would not fail this easy task. As the two of them walked down the stairs he walked towards the king and queens thrown and waited.

~Amira~

When she walked through the double doors, she held her breath. She looked around and saw that the entire ball room was filled.

"Wow! That's a lot of people!"

"What did you expect? It's a royal ball. Everybody wants to be here for it." Joseph said smiling

She shook her head and faked a smile. She didn't want to be here but with this big of a crowd she couldn't hide from the prince, let alone father. She picked up part of her dress and started down the stairs, with her brother beside her. They walked between two rows of people as they were greeted by them. They walked towards the chairs and sat down. Several hours into the night, her mother leans closer to her and smiles.

"Daughter, Prince Charles is running late tonight. Maybe you should take this chance and mingle with some of the people."

Amira smiled and stood up. She gave a little curtsy to her mother before walking into the crowd. She looked around at all the faces. There were so many people that even she didn't know. How did her father know all these people? There had to be thousands of unknown faces. She kept walking and looking around at all the strangers, when she notices someone hiding in the shadows. As she walked closer to where she saw the figure hiding, someone grabs her shoulder.

"May I have this dance?" Said the stranger

She turned to see a young handsome man, with a gentle smile upon his face. She looked back at where she saw the person but whoever was there was gone now. Letting out a sigh, she turned and takes the young man's hand. He trails behind her as they made their way on to the dance floor. Placing hands on each other, they started to dance with the music. After a while, the song ends and the young gentleman gave a little bow and walks away, leaving Amira standing in the middle of the floor. She turns and starts to walk back to her seat, when someone lets out a dead awful scream.

~Bandits~

"We need to attack now!" whispered a scrawny man

"Keep your mouth shut! Do you want to ruin the entire plan?" said the other

Both men were standing close to the table that held all the food, overlooking the entire hall. They kept their eyes open and waited for their leader to give the sign.

"What's taking so long?" said the scrawny man getting a little antsy

"Will you shut the fuck up or do you want me to cut out your tongue?" he said pulling out a dagger

"Hey look is that the sign?" said the scrawny man pointing to the ceiling

Smiling a crooked smile, the bandit pulled out his sword and stabbed someone straight through the stomach. As that person fell to the ground, they pulled off their capes and started to slash people around them. They were being paid to be the distraction. Not only that but it was revenge against the king and his family. As they kept moving around, they kept slashing people.