The Price Of Freedom

Five

Katya and Wren walked back to their rooms, escorted by their maids who had met them by the front doors where they had come in from their class. Philomena hurriedly pushed Katya into the bathroom, and started running the hot water. When the tub was full, which only took a few minutes, Katya undressed, and got into the tub. It was filled with sweet smelling, pink bubbles, which Katya found out that she could pop them and it would release a poof of dust, which turned the water pink. Philomena washed Katya’s hair, which she preferred to do herself, and then scrubbed her back. Katya washed her dirty fingernails out, and cleaned between her toes. An awful while later, the tub water was still hot, and Philomena finally declared that Katya was ‘clean enough’ and allowed her to get out. Katya sat in a white fluffy towel, on a stool that had been placed on the bathroom tiles. Philomena combed and dried Katya’s hair, brushing it until it was silky smooth. A few curls still popped out from the outside of her hair. Katya watched in the mirror as Philomena plaited her hair, and weaved it up into an intricate bun. Then Philomena spun the stool around, and began working at her face. A while later, Philomena finally finished, but wouldn't let Katya look at herself in the mirror. She ushered Katya into the bedroom, and opened the closet. Philomena pulled out a beautiful navy blue silk dress, with beautiful embroidered gold floral designs on the shoulders and fading down the torso, coming up from the bottom. Philomena must have put it there when Katya was in her classes. Katya pulled on her underlayers, and then Philomena helped her into her corset. Katya took little gasps of breath, and then stepped into her dress. It fit her perfectly, the bottom hovering a centimeter off the ground, her curves fit perfectly into the chest. The gown poofed around her, and Katya stepped into her dainty gold high heels. Wren shuffled into the room, wearing a magnificent purple dress, with gold lining. Her hair was done up in a bun also.
“ Oh, Wren, you look stunning!” Katya complimented.
“ As do you!” Katya shuffled into the bathroom, and glanced at the mirror. Her face was free of any blemishes or spots, her violet eyes framed by her long dark eyelashes, her eyebrows smoothed and plucked, her lips gently red and soft, her white cheeks aglow with rose blush. Her breath caught, and not just because of the corset. In the distance, a bell clanged.
“ Oh, we have to hurry!” Philomena said. “ Here are the directions to the ballroom!” She said a blabber of words, some of which sounded like a foreign language. Wren and Katya hurried out of the room, hastily holding up their skirts.
“ What did she say? Go right and down the staircase, or left and down the staircase?” Wren sounded panicked.
“ U-uh, I do-don't know!” Katya stuttered. Another girl, dressed in blue silk skirts, reached them.
“ This way!” She hurried down the right staircase. The girls both followed her to the ballroom.

The doors to the massive room were open, and lively music played from within. Several girls sat in chairs by a long, fancy table covered in a white tablecloth. Wren and Katya hurried to their seats. Katya found her name on a little paper slip at the end of the table, thankful that Wren's was right next to hers. Celestine unfortunately was placed right across from them, and she came flouncing into the hall a moment later, looking stunning wearing a red dress, her blond hair done up. She sneered at them when she sat down in her seat.
“ I'm surprised they placed you two bitches next to the prince.” Wren gasped at her choice of language. Katya groaned silently. The chair at the end of the table was large and gold, covered in jewels and silk.
“ I'm surprised they even let you come.” Katya retorted. Celestine looked like she was going to murder Katya.
“ I'm surprised they even let peasants like you into the city, this is a place for elegant, royal ladies, like me.”
“ Where's the elegance and royalty?” Katya laughed coldly. “ I can only see an ugly witch in front of me.” Something triggered Celestine, and she seethed quietly. But deep down, Katya wondered if there was more to the prissy girl than just pure hatred. Something a bit more, evil.

Several minutes later, all the seats were taken, the girls chattering quietly. The doors at the front of the room burst open, and a few marchers blowing horns entered. The chattering was cut off. A second later, a tall old man with a large gray mustache entered. He couldn't be the prince, couldn't he? It turned out he wasn't. He opened a piece of paper, and read aloud.
“ Please welcome, your highness, Prince Gillian the third!” A younger man of maybe nineteen entered, he looked about two years older than Katya, he wore fancy clothes, a white jacket that buttoned down with large gold buttons, and white pants. He had curly dark brown hair, and green eyes. He had a straight nose, and a proportionate face, with a perfect chin. Many of the girls stared in awe at him. A young maid came and pulled out his chair for him, and he gave her a crooked smile. She blushed, and hurried away. The band was playing loud music, and Katya couldn't hear. Celestine immediately started conversing with the prince, her eyes dreamy, her head on her fists. Katya saw nothing in the prince. She liked guys, but he was definitely not her type. As for Wren, she was obviously not into Gillian, as she had eyes for no man. Dinner was delicious, better than any of the food she had had so far. Ballroom Dancing came right after that. Celestine flounced off with Gillian on her arm. She gave Katya a look that said,
“ Haha! Have fun dancing alone!” Katya didn't really care. She and Wren lurked off to the side, watching as Celestine flirted heavily with Prince Gillian. He didn't really seem into it.
“ There's something off about Celestine,” Katya said, turning towards Wren. “ I can't exactly pin it, but she's not right…”
“ I was thinking that too.” Wren said. A hand tapped Katya on the shoulder. She turned around, and found herself face to face with the prince.
“ May I have this dance?” He said.
“ Um, well, I was doing just fin—” He cut her off and spun her towards the middle of the dance floor. Katya caught a look of Celestine’s face. She looked murderous. Gillian spun Katya around the dance floor, Katya trying to keep her feet from tripping. The song ended, and Gillian spun Katya towards the ground, catching her a foot above the floor. He stared into her eyes. Katya was panting, and she shifted her eyes away from his, and scrambled up.

Another longish chapter! Ooh, some spice goin' on! Please like and comment!
— chaoselephant