"Here," Roberto took out a black laced mask from the inside of his suits coat jacket. He also took out a red and yellow mask after mine.
"Thank you," I took the mask. I was wondering when I was going to get my mask. Since the maids didn't have one for me, and Roberto and I were going to a Masquerade Ball after all.
"You're welcome," He put his mask on and I did the same.
It felt weird to be wearing a mask.
This is a bad idea, I thought as I touched the mask. My violet eyes are going to be a sore thumb. I mean they always have been for the past five years, but even more so with this mask on.
However, I couldn't back out now. We were almost to Liberty.
~~~
The Masquerade Ball was in full swing when we entered the Ballroom.
Roberto immediately led us to the rest of the Princes. To my dismay, my brother was there. However, Keith was no where to be found.
Huh, I thought as I searched the Ballroom for him. I guess he's either busy or late.
Edward raised an eyebrow once he saw me, it was probably because I was Roberto's date and nothing more.
"Who do we have here?" He looked next to me, at Roberto.
Roberto laughed. "This here," He gestured toward me, "is Kate. She's my date for tonight."
I smiled at the Princes. "It is so nice to meet you all, Your Royal Highnesses." Gracefully, I curtsied.
Yeah, it is nice to see you all again. Not really, but then again. I would be lying to myself if I meant that.
Somehow, I had missed the Princes, at least their company.
Their eyes widened with surprise.
"At least this one has proper etiquette." Glenn said approvingly as he gave me a once over.
"You make it sound like all of my past dates didn't have any proper etiquette." Roberto said in a light, teasing tone.
"That's because they didn't." My brother said as he kept his eyes on me.
My brother was wearing a deep green mask, the same shade as my dress. Was that a coincidence? I could only hope so.
I averted my eyes from his and pasted a smile on my face when I caught Wilfred silently studying me.
Will I survive until the end of the Ball? I thought as we all waited for Keith. So that we could greet him. Oh, I sure hope so.
Out of the corner of my eye, Joshua was about to ask me something-- I could see it in his eyes-- but Keith had already arrived. Thankfully.
"Sorry that I'm late," Keith said as he took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.
"You don't have to apologize to us." Glenn muttered as he downed his second glass of champagne. He grabbed another one.
Roberto grabbed us some champagne as well, and I silently took it. As I was drinking underaged, but I mean that was old news of course.
Keith raised an eyebrow when he finally noticed me.
"This is Kate," Roberto introduced me to him.
"It's nice to meet you, Your Royal Highness." I curtsied.
"Yes, it is." Out of character, Keith bowed in acknowledgement.
When all of the formalities were done for tonight, Roberto and I went to dance.
Roberto smiled when I didn't have any difficulty following his lead.
"You're full of surprises." He murmured against my ear.
"I-I am?" I blinked. "How am I full of surprises, Prince Roberto?"
"This," He gestured at us dancing. "I wouldn't have expected you to know how to Waltz. Let alone knowing how to curtsy like that when you greeted the other Princes."
"Is that a bad thing?" I said as I looked into his brown eyes. "That I know how to Waltz and curtsy?"
My heart was pounding in my chest as I waited for Roberto's response.
"No," He finally said when the song ended. "It isn't a bad thing. However, it is weird."
"For a person like me?" I questioned.
That's right, I thought as we stared into each other's eyes, not moving from where we were. He assumed that I was a commoner, someone of a low social class.
"I'm sorry," His expression became serious then. "I've offended you."
"You didn't offend me, Prince Roberto." I put my hand in the crook of his arm, and led us back to the other Princes. "That's the truth after all, but that doesn't mean that my social class defines who I am as a person though."
Now I wish people would put that into consideration. All people ever saw me-- five years ago-- was the Crown Prince of Dres Van's little sister, the Princess of Dres Van, and nothing more.
Roberto smiled. "You're abosutely right."
I did my best to keep my distance from my brother. I didn't want him to ask me questions that I could not and would not answer.
Edward found me on the balcony.
"You've been alone for quite some time." He commented and looked up at the night sky with me.
"Have I?" I looked into his lavender eyes. He nodded. "I guess I hadn't noticed."
"Well, then let's change that." He held out a hand for me to take. "Would you like to dance with me?"
"Sure," I took his hand in mine and let him lead me to the dance floor. The song changed and we wove easily into the rest of the people that were dancing.
After that, I danced with Keith.
"You look very familiar." He said as we danced.
"I get that a lot." I sighed.
He tried to raise an eyebrow behind his navy blue mask.
"My eye and hair color," I said warily. "They're exactly like Prince Joshua's. Hence I get the whole 'you look very familiar' thing a lot, due to that."
"Huh," He looked down at me thoughtfully, "yes, that must be it. I'm sorry for saying that."
"No, Prince Keith, it's my fault." I said when the song ended. "I get that so much to the point where it gets kind of old in the end."
Keith laughed and led us back to the other Princes, back to Roberto.
"I'm sure I can imagine it does."
He's not being himself, I thought once I was with Roberto again. Usually Keith is foul and somewhat annoying. Does he know who I am? Does all of the Princes know who I am?
I must have stared at Keith for too long because when he looked my way, I didn't try and look away. He tilted his head to the side, giving me a confused look.
Reluctantly, I looked away and turned my gaze on all of the other Princes. They all smiled politely at me when they caught me staring at them.
They were all acting very suspicious. However, my brother was not. He stared into my eyes when I finally looked at him.
His expression was unreadable, and that was odd. I was always able to know what my brother was thinking. Had I lost that connection with him during the five years of my disappearance? It was possible. When I had ran away, I made sure that I wasn't the same Katerina as I was now.
I tried not to think too much of how the Princes were acting.
Heck, it's probably just my imagination.
When most of the Princes were whisked away into dances, I took that time to exit the Ballroom. It was beginning to feel stuffy in there, meaning that was my time to wander the gardens.
I stopped at a stone bench when I noticed that someone was following me.
Before I even turned around, I knew it was my brother.
"Katerina."
My eyes widened as I kept my back turned to him.
It was no use in lying to him, but I had to. I just had to if I valued my freedom.
"Katerina?" I turned around and gave him a questioning look. "I believe you have mistaken me for someone else. My name is K--"
"Cut the crap, Katerina." My brother cut me off angrily. "I know it's you. So does the other Princes."
I didn't answer him.
"So does Roberto." He said when I didn't say anything.
What could I say? I was rendered speechless. Everyone made it seem like they hadn't known anything tonight, not really. That was to be expected I guess. All of the Princes were very close, close enough to protect each other. Like it should be amongst Princes, especially Crowned Princes.
I looked at my brother as my breathing came out unevenly. What was I going to do? What was I going to say?
Author's Note:
Whoa, did the Princes know about her real identity all along? Lol xP
Anywho, hope that you liked this chapter!
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