"We all ready?" Ella asked, looking around in her chambers.
Practically every female person in the palace were dressing up in her room - they all chatted about as tens of maids helped them with their dresses and hair and makeup.
It felt like a unicorn had threw up glitter and dresses everywhere.
Corsets, bras and lacy underwear were strewn all around her once impeccable chambers, and Ella had seen a lot more of the women than she wanted too.
"Wait just a minute. I need to curl my hair like Lo's," her Aunt called out.
Ella stared at herself on the mirror, enjoying the few minutes she would get before she was pushed out of the way - she was in her green dress, the locket Eric gifted on her neck, and her multiple rings glistening on her fingers. Her right hand was in a sling, and her wound was still bandaged. Her make up had been done in such a way that she looked older, more feminine.
"You look good," Adelaide said, coming to stand beside her.
"You're one to talk," Ella said, smiling at her drop dead gorgeous friend.
"Oh Ella?" she heard Queen Vienna call from the inside.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I'm borrowing one of your dresses," Vienna said. "We're about the same size, and I don't like my current one. Makes me look pasty".
"Yeah. Sure," Ella said listlessly.
"Seriously, who did these people stand each other during their Selection," Adelaide asked her.
"We can hear you," Elizabeth said.
Ella and Adelaide looked at each other quickly, before walking to her table and seeing the masks scattered on it. Each and every one of it was gold in color - they had all decided that it would be easier for them to recognize each other in the crowd, if ever they needed something.
"Did you invite Kate after the..." Adelaide trailed off, looking at Ella nervously.
"No," she replied shortly.
"Don't you think-".
"No," Ella said, her voice ringing in the suddenly quiet room. "It takes a long time to hurt me, to make me truly angry, but after that, I neither forget, nor do I forgive".
"Ella-".
"No. She is not my friend, and never was," she said. "And I see no point in discussing this matter further".
There was a short pause.
"You remind me of your grandmothers," Mei said, breaking the silence.
Ella nodded at her through the mirror.
Adelaide sighed, and took one of the masks on the table and tied it around her eyes - it was beautiful with a bit of green feathers fluttering on the side. Ella gave her a thumbs up, and Adelaide walked away to join the others.
Ella picked one of them up - the least gaudy looking one with delicate filigree work.
"Looks nice?" she asked herself, testing it by keeping it over her face.
"Looks gorgeous," Johanna said, coming beside her and tying it for her.
"I won't be surprised if one visiting Princes propose on the spot," Laura said, coming near her too, and winking at her through the mirror.
Ella sighed.
"It's like having nine extra mothers with you all here," she said. "Four to five of which are those who try to set me up with random people".
"Edward would have killed us if he heard us trying to persuade you to date someone," Elizabeth said, hearing a bit of their conversation.
"Oh, I am going to get a boyfriend. Once I finish my education. It's going to be a guy you all absolutely hate," Ella said, grinning. "Ideally with a few piercings and a whole lot of tattoos".
"What's that now?" Mei asked, clasping an elegant diamond choker on her necklace.
"Nothing Ma'am," Ella said meekly.
"Get used to it, Ella. You're going to be stuck with us for a long time," Laura said, choosing a gold mask of her own, smiling wryly at her.
"Okay people. I need your attention," Elora said, and everyone turned to look at her.
The maids had all been dismissed, and Ella knew that no one except her mother could've pulled that dress off.
"Right. Thank you. You all know the drill - see something or someone dangerous, inform one of us, that is, Elena, Ella or myself. We'll give a toast, and if we incorporate the words 'code red', that means we meet in the private Lady's room immediately," she said.
"And Amber Alert if any of the children are taken," Dhiya added.
Everyone nodded.
"We all ready?" Annika asked, surveying the crowd.
"Yeah, just need to choose our slippers," Elena said, pointing to the rows and rows and rows of heels.
Ella eyed the stands with dislike.
She noticed her mother stare at them the same way.
They looked at each other and sighed.
"Ella, darling, I have a feeling this'll be amazing on you," Vienna said, holding a pair of ginormous heels, looking beautiful in one of Ella's sparkly pink dresses.
"She doesn't do heels, Vi," Elena said. "She's exactly like Elora in that matter".
"Well, I tried," Vienna said, sighing and perusing through the slippers for herself.
"These?" her mother asked, showing her a pair of simple leather slippers.
"Yes please," Ella said, struggling to bend down and put the slippers on.
She gnashed her teeth in annoyance - she couldn't do the easiest of things without help, and she was practically high on painkillers at this point.
"Here. Let me," Queen Stella said, kneeling near her feet.
Ella jumped. "No! I mean no, I'll manage, Queen Stella".
Stella looked at her, her red hair going well with the pale yellow dress.
"I do these for my girls all the time," she said. "So stand still".
Ella stood perfectly still - she realized that she now had an even larger family than she thought.
Not the kind of family who're always together.
But the kind of family that'll rush to your aid whenever you need it.
Fifteen minutes later, they all stood outside the large wooden double doors, waiting to be announced.
"I feel like the Kardashians," Adelaide announced.
All of them stared at her.
"They're the modelling family? You know, from the twenty first century?" she said, trying to educate them.
They all stared at her blankly.
"Never mind," she muttered.
"Oh yeah, them. The Jenners and stuff, right?" Vienna asked suddenly.
"Yes!" Adelaide said, ready to hug her.
"Alright, shush!" Elora said. "We'll be going in any moment now!".
***
"Wishing you were dancing too?" an unfamiliar voice asked her, as she gazed at the dance floor at the twirling couples.
Practically every Queen, except for Elora, were whizzing on the dance floor.
Ella snorted.
"Hardly," she said. "Every time I dance, I get so nervous whether I would trip or not. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of surprised I haven't had a heart attack yet".
She looked at the man sitting next to her - dirty blonde long hair, sky blue eyes, a silver mask that covered most of his face, and a dark blue formal suit.
"The Illean waltz is worse than everything," he said.
"Agreed," Ella said. "My entire family, except my mother seems to like it".
"I honestly don't understand the point of such balls," he said.
"It's a celebration," Ella said. "A celebration of the love between two people. An event to make relatives and friends know about it".
"And the media," he added.
"And the media," she said, laughing. "'Perks' of being royalty, I guess".
"I'm surprised the Crown Princess of Illea isn't fond of the press," the man said.
"Have you seen the articles written on me?" she asked, before questioning him curiously, "How did you know I was the Crown Princess?".
"Well," he said. "Looking at the signet ring on your finger, people would think you're part of the German royal family, especially with your gold mask. But you're in green - and I know that the Illean royal family is wearing green in honor of Lady Adelaide Summers".
"True. You're quite observative," she said. "And who may you be?".
"You don't know?" he asked in disbelief.
"I know you're a Prince," she said, jerking her head towards his silver mask. "But I don't know of which Kingdom - I'm kind of new to this whole princess thing".
"That's why you seem like a breath of fresh air," he said, laughing bitterly.
Ella stared at him.
"You seem like a very sad person," she said at last.
"You go through all the things I've gone through, and you'll be sad too," he said.
"I'm an abuse victim," she said, and he stared at her. "My adoptive father beat me up everyday, and I barely got any food or water".
He continued staring at her.
"But I know for a fact, that, our sorrows don't determine our happiness. We do. We can choose to be stuck on the past forever, or we can move on to live our life," she said.
"That's interesting," was all he said, and they stared at the dance floor for a while.
Ella swore that she saw Kate knit her way through the crowd, but knew she was probably imagining it.
"Why do women wear so much jewelry?" the man asked wonderingly, almost to himself.
"Because it's a physical reminder of a particular memory," Ella said.
"You shouldn't need a piece of gold to remember someone or something," he said.
"You're right. You shouldn't. But wearing the jewelry with those memories associated with it calms you down. It makes you feel grounded whenever you're angry or sad and feel like you're losing your way," she said. "Every piece of jewelry on me is a reminder of the love my family has for me. It's a reminder that even when I'm alone, I never need to feel lonely because they're with me".
The man nodded.
A count down had started - there were five more minutes for midnight, for the new year to begin.
"I honestly don't understand this tradition," the man grumbled.
"Me too!" she said, and noticed the man stare at her skeptically.
"You? Not believe in this culture which people think is super romantic?" he asked.
"Okay, so I may be a hopeless romantic, but that does not mean I encourage such disgusting stuff," Ella said, raising her non injured hand. "They're practically swapping saliva!".
"And diseases," he said.
"And diseases," she agreed.
"Yet there's something sweet about it, isn't it?" he asked.
"Awww! I knew you were a big softie!" Ella said, jokingly.
Behind the man, she could see Kate with Ella's younger sisters.
Yeah she was definitely not imagining her.
There were ten more seconds left for the clock to chime midnight - and somehow, Ella wasn't able to tear her gaze from the stranger.
The two of them stared into each other's eyes, and when the crowd cried out 'One', the two of them moved forward in unison, and pressed their lips against each other.
They broke apart as swiftly as they surged together.
It was chaste - a simple peck on the lips.
Yet Ella couldn't help but flush.
"You just stole my first kiss," she said.
"And you just stole mine," he countered back.
And then Ella was in shock.
She had just given her first kiss to a person she didn't even know.
Before she could say anything more, she heard a small 'beep' and a holographic screen opened up in front of her - it was a message from Luke, saying that the Illuminati assassin had been caught.
He had also sent a picture of the man's tattoo on his ankle.
"Oh my god," she said.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked.
Ella knew where she'd seen the tattoo.
"I need to go," she said, hurrying away.
She bumped into Kate and looked around for the twins.
"Where are Elanor and Elodie?" she asked.
"What?".
"My sisters. The twins," she said, losing patience as fear overtook her.
"A maid took them, something about the Queen asking her too," Kate replied.
"Which maid, Kate?" she asked.
"What?".
"The name, Katherine. Who took them?" Ella asked.
"Her name... her name?" Kate asked, slowly.
"Yes, her name. What did her nametag say?" she asked.
"Millie".