The Sisters Of The Court

Chapter 3:Scarlett

I looked around at the bustling room around me. Alicky was at the center of it all as she should be she was the most radiant bride I have ever seen in my life. Katherine was talking to several men at the same time who seemed to be all fawning around her as if they've never seen a pretty woman before. I thought this was complete idiocy what would you do with all of those men? You can only marry one after all. I glanced to the corner of the grand room and saw Alice looking up affectionately at the grand duke George. I almost smiled at least she is happy. I think to myself. But I hope her trustingness of people does not get herself taken advantage of. I walked over to Alix to talk to her but before I got back to her Katherine was already there trying to speak with her. I turned and slowly walked away hoping Alix would notice and call me back to speak to her. She didn't notice and I continued walking until I found a spot on the wall for me to sit. I sat there quietly until the first dance began but still not a soul asked me to dance. It was not due to a lack of beauty because my mother was quite beautiful and I had inherited most of her dark looks. I had dark chocolate eyes and almost black hair. I had a petite frame even though I was taller then almost all of the girls in the room and my face was very pretty. Except for my long thin sharp nose which I hated m. But I knew that no one was asking me to dance because I was a bastard. And no man with good etiquette would be caught dead dancing with a bastard. This was true in Germany and England as well as Russia. I had been to dozens of balls in my life so far but not at one had I ever been asked to dance. One night afterwards a ball I was changing into my gown in the closet when I heard the other girls start to talk about me. They had said horrible things about me and my family and how I didn't deserve to be there. And yes my cousins were there they were sat right there listening but not once did I ever hear them stand up for me. All of a sudden a fanfare jerked me out of those horrible memories and I sprung to my feet already dipping into a curtsy. "Announcing the king and queen of England" The herald yelled. I looked over at Alix and saw her wince I knew she hated all the fanfare of the Russian court but there was nothing she could do about it. Not even as Tsarina. I saw the flow of the queens dress go by me as bent low near the floor. After Alix and Nicholas had greeted them the festivities got back underway and I back to my thoughts. I just wanted love and stability for once in my life I have had very little of either. I got up from place on the wall and slowly walked towards the punch bowl looking at surroundings. Katherine had gone somewhere maybe with a man. And Alice was still talking to the grand duke with a look of distress but delight on her face. Very puzzling indeed. "Why do you look so glum cousin?" I heard Alix say from behind me. I put on my best smile and turned around to her. "Nonsense cousin. How could I be glum on such a glorious day?" I say putting false Sunniness into my voice. "I have not seen you dance with anyone all night." I longed to say they wouldn't because I'm a bastard. But I bit my tongue. "You must dance with Nikki." She said almost sunnily. I'm sure she had good intentions in her heart but I knew as soon as she said this that it was a bad idea. "I don't want to steal your thunder." I say to her nervously. "Nonsense." She says and basically drags me over to him. She says something too him that I cannot understand nor do I know what language it is in. But as the next song plays he offers me his hand and I have no choice but to take it. The motions go very fluidly between us but we do not talk to one another even if we wanted to we could not. So we just sort of smiled at each other during the whole thing. When the dance was finally over I was so relieved but then I realized how many people were watching me with judgemental eyes. I quickly went out of the grand hall and into a hallway to catch my breath. I heard Alix call out to me but I pretended I didn't. I heard footsteps coming from behind me but instead of stopping I ran. I ran like I used when I was a child. Finally when I thought I had lost whoever was following me my cousins appeared in front of me. Internally I rolled my eyes. Couldn't they just leave me alone for a while? I left because of the people and right now I just wanted to be alone. "Scarlett what's wrong?" Katherine chirped at me. " I don't want to talk about it." I muttered while looking down at my shoes. While I was looking down I realized Katherine's shoes were unbuckled as if she had put them on in a hurry. "Come on Scarlett you can tell us." Alice said soothingly." We'll understand" This made my temper start to boil up inside me. "No you won't understand because your lives are perfect!" I snapped at them while looking down my nose at them. Then I pushed pas them and ran off into the night.