I wheezed

OH, SON OF A MOTHERLESS PIG! Fred just complimented me!

"T-" I cleared my throat. "Thank you. You look good as well." I said.

"Really? Phew!" He sighed in relief. "For a second there, I thought you might call me ugly again. That's why I really spend some time fixing myself up. Good thing it paid off." He sighed, and now, I am fighting the urge to run towards a set of stairs and jump down in happiness.

Just as I was staring dreamily at Fred, Nate took that opportunity and pulled me towards him. He caught me off guard that I tripped and landed on his chest. I heard him chuckle. I pushed myself up and glared at him. "I'll hit you," I warned.

"Woah! The party hasn't started, and you now have a sour look on your face." He had an amused look on his face as he looked at me.

"Whose fault do you think it is?"

Nate must have found my outburst rather amusing because he just laughed. "Easy there, tiger." He said. "You know I could make you happy."

I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Are you leaving?"

The twins let out a whistle at my response while Nate just laughed harder. "Where have you been all my life?" He said.

"Hiding from you."

This time, Nate roared in laughter. "Can I just keep you for myself?"

"No. Don't be selfish."

He shrugged and fished something out of his coat. It was a huge red rose. "If I can't keep you, then keep this rose instead." He handed me the rose.

At that moment, the twins both took a step until they were at my side. "Don't take it, Rose. He has another one of those in his coat, which he gives to all the girls." Ren warned me. "You might think you're special, but it's just Nate. He may have at least 5 of them in there." Added Dan. "Or maybe more."

Nate glared at the twins. "Okay fine. You got me." Nate pulled his coat off and showed a bouquet of roses. "And for the record, I don't have 5. I have 30 of them." He said and looked at me and winked. Even though I didn’t really like what Nate was doing, I giggled at his playboy character. Nate broke the stem of the rose that he was holding and walked towards me, pulled out a ribbon, and tied it to my right wrist where I have no jewelry on.

"There. Perfect. A rose for our little Rose."

I looked at my wrist and tenderly touched the rose before my fingers traveled to the ribbon. I raised my gaze to Nate. "Let me guess, you have at least 50 ribbons with you to tie the roses to every girl you will ever see tonight."

Nate put his hands into his coat pocket and pursed his lips. "Nope. I only have one ribbon."


Only one ribbon?

Seeing the dubious look on my face, Nate looked pretty offended. "Hey! No judging! I'm a guy. I don't bring pretty ribbons with me. As for that ribbon, I just saw it on the floor on my way here." He said. I just looked at him and nodded my head slowly. "Yeah...right." I suddenly looked away because I'm pretty sure that Nate might have a sissy fit sooner or later. When I did, my eyes met a set of midnight blue ones. And since this was supposed to be a party, I offered him a small smile of peace.

In that instant, Ace frowned. "Why the heck are you smiling?"

"What?" I asked, suddenly confused about what I might have done to cause Ace to have another period.

"Just because everyone complimented you doesn't mean that I have to do the same. I don't tell lies." He said and looked away.

I frowned at the same time as the rest of the prince seemed to tense up, probably knowing what was about to come.

I straightened myself up and gave PRINCE Ace a dazzling fake smile. "Well, your highness, since we both are on the same page of not telling lies, can I just say that you look rather ravishing tonight." I studied him from head to toe. "Your coat completely matches your personality. You know, black. You might want to hide it. You're showing too much honesty here."

Ace only raised an eyebrow at me as if my words hadn't affected him. "You have good eyes for seeing through my honesty." He said. "And I'm afraid that what I had just said will be the only one closer to a compliment that you will ever get because behind that corset and layers of paint, you cannot hide the horror behind that mask. No offense."

I stared at him. My eyebrows twitch. No offense? I'll show him 'no offense!

I raised the dress until it was leveled with my knee, took off one of the heels, and attempted to throw it at him if the other princes stopped me. "I am afraid that a pretty face is the only thing that you have for the rest of your life because your sour and bitter personality would probably scare off even dragons. No offense."

"Dragons are dead."

"They existed!?" I gasped.

"Rose, please. Just let it go. PRINCE Ace was only joking." Fred said in a voice that I think is supposed to calm me down. He looked back at Ace. "Right, Prince Ace?"

Ace only stared at him. "Jokes are supposed to be funny, Prince Fred." He said. "Tell me, does it look like I'm laughing?"

"Ace!" All the princes said simultaneously while Ace only gave them all an annoyed look and corrected them by saying, "PRINCE."

At that moment, the door leading to the ball suddenly opened, and the queen gave us all a look. "What in the name of fairies is going on here? I can hear you from the other side! Is there a problem?" As if it was rehearsed, all of us quickly straightened up and fixed ourselves. Ren took the shoe from my hand and promptly helped me place it back on.

"Yeah. Him." I was being petty and pointed at Ace, who was now showing me his middle finger. To be fair, I also did the same. Ren slapped my hand away.

"Nothing to worry about, your majesty," Nate said and smiled. The queen studied us for a moment. She looked at us one by one as if expecting us to do something that might contradict Nate's words. When she saw nothing, she only nodded. "Fine. Are you all ready?" We nodded. "Good. Now, wait here until I introduce Rose. Places everyone. Ren, get back to your place. You're called an escort for nothing!' She said and finally closed the door behind her.

Once the door clicked close, Dan had a victorious look on his face. "That's exactly what I wanted to tell you right now!" Dan said to his brother. "The queen is awesome!" He beamed.

Ren rolled his eyes at his brother as he grabbed my hand and placed us into our positions like what the others were doing. The princes formed two lines in front of us—Dan and Fred on the left and Nate and Ace on the right. Ren and I were standing just behind the lines.

I know this seemed pretty stupid but, according to the queen, it would be an excellent way to give a little suspense to the guest when we come in, and the princes are hiding Ren and me.

"It's only a matter of time before the queen calls us," Ren said to me. "I can already hear her calling the attention of the guest in that room so wipe that frown off of your face."

I looked at him. "Perks of being a werewolf, huh? And you seriously can't blame me. I was in a good mood if the PRINCE of the underworld didn't open his mouth."

"Don't be so hard on him. He's just in a bad mood."

"And I'm not?"

He sighed. "Maybe I should tell you this first. PRINCE Ace hates parties."

"If he hates it so much, then why would he go?"

"You don't know?" He asked, surprise evident in his voice. "I thought that PRINCE Ace had taught you all about it."

"About what?"

Ren was about to open his mouth to respond when he suddenly tensed up and looked straight. "Alright! The queen gave the signal." Dan announced, and soon, they walked ahead of us and opened the door. Ren looked back at me. "And that's our cue." He started to lead me towards the huge double doors. But along the way, I couldn't help but wonder what he was about to say to me. What does he mean about Ace not teaching me about something?

We soon entered the doors and towards the ballroom. Huge golden and crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling and casting a bright golden glow to the room. Soft melodic music was playing in the background, giving it an image of something classy.

"My royal guests. Tonight, you will meet a special and newly added member of our family. Recently, I've visited a cousin of mine from a far-off land." The queen's voice faltered a little. "She's one of the princesses from that kingdom. She's kind and sweet. But due to some problems, my cousin and I decided that it would be best for her to stay with her. In Thalia." She said. Wow. I admire how the lies are flowing from the Queen's mouth.
I nudged Ren to the side when he chuckled at the ‘Kind and sweet’ part.

"Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce to you Princess Rosalie from the Kingdom of Thalia. Escorted by Prince Renevier Rutledge along with the other king candidates." I heard the queen say something to my side. But I wasn't really paying any attention to her because when the prince marched forward to the stairs, they paused at the step.

I got a full view of the room from where I was standing. It was huge as if Disney had puked all over the place. Aside from the gold and crystal chandeliers, the walls were full of floor-to-ceiling windows. Near the side of the stairs was where the orchestra was located and continuing to play some music. Red curtains draped over it and parted at the center, and clipped to the sides. Round tables were placed at the sides and cleared up the center where a massive crowd of men in suits and coats and women in dresses stood.

Ren gave me a small tug and whispered, "Let's go." But I didn't move. Instead, I was frozen to where I was. When Ren noticed that I wasn't moving, he gave me a worried look. "What's wrong?"

"I'm nervous," I said and took notice of the people looking up at us. Ren followed my gaze, and a look of understanding came into his eyes.

"Ignore them."

"Easier said than done. What if I fall? What if I slip on my dress and fall face first?" A thousand scenarios of me doing different ways of embarrassing myself slipped into my mind.

"Hey, relax. Breathe in, breath out." Said Ren in a calming tone. "You're not alone in this. I'm here. I won't let you fall. I'm your escort, remember?" I looked at Ren and studied his face. His gaze suddenly locked into mine. "Don't you trust me?" His eyes were pure, and my mind suddenly told me to trust him.

"I trust you." As soon as the words left my lips, Ren's lips curled into a small smile, and I let him lead me down the stairs. I was gripping his arm rather tightly. My right hand held the side of my skirt up elegantly as I struggled to keep my chin up to avoid slouching and look down to see where I was stepping. My heart pounded in my chest in anticipation as we neared the bottom. I could feel a hundred pairs of eyes on us as we walked. When we reached the last step, my foot missed a step, and I almost fell if Ren's firm grip hadn't steadied me, so my fall wasn't that obvious.