Nadine Book 3

22. Ball

The day of the ball comes quickly.

I have a white ball gown that has gold embellishments everywhere. The gloves are the same design. It's all paired with a gold tiara and jewelry. Even my shoes are gold. I really do love them. They have clear gemstones on them. The veil is white and see through with gold all around the edges. The gown is strapless again, and the gloves come all the way up my arms, so the veil covers all my shoulders.

I get all ready and Dipak is nowhere to be found. "He's meeting us there, little miss. Something about something. I don't really remember."

She rides with me, and we watch out the windows. Kane drives our carriage.

"I had to finalize the stuff here, so I flew over early." Dipak helps me out of the carriage.

I go down the hallway and Dipak stops to talk to King Yanin. I glance at Tye. "Door knob?"

He nods. He seems bored as hell.

Dipak puts me in our sitting room then runs off. That makes me feel bad. He talks to everyone but me. Why did he even want to come with me? He didn't even tell me I'm pretty. Maybe he didn't want to come at all.

We go in 2nd. We are going in right behind the Yanin castle. Tye ends up ahead of us.

We get lined up and Dipak finally joins me. I poke my shoe out. "Do you like my shoes?"

"I do not have time for that."

I have had enough. I don't even want to go with him. He is such an ass. I grab the door knob from Tye. He watches me walk away with her. I take her to Dipak and stand her by him. "This is the commander of the northern fleet. He's being an asshole. Good luck." She puts an eyebrow up.

Dipak tries to say something to me, but I put my hand up and go to Tye. Everyone from my table is trying to figure out what is going on, so they are getting kind of loud.

"He wants to be an asshole, I will give him a door knob." Tye and his parents, who are standing right behind us, bust out laughing.

Dracul and Thora come up to us. There is only 1 couple left in front of me and Tye, we are going in fast. "Stop changing the lineup." He grabs me and pulls me away from Tye.

The king asks, "What is going on back there?"

Then I hear Thora. "Something about a door knob and a shoe." They all laugh again.

Frode walks by me to get Thora. All I hear is, "BACK OFF! I'M ON A DATE WITH A PRINCE. I WILL STAB YOU WITH MY SHOE FRODE!" She drags Tye in the ballroom.

King and Queen Yanin go in next. Followed by Gunner and his date. Then Omar and Ylle. Then Bud and Prinna. Then Tre and Elkie. Then Frode and the door knob. Then Dipak and Asa. Then me and Dracul. Then momma and daddy.

As soon as I clear the doorway with Dracul. Tye and Thora laugh. I can hear them all the way at the entrance. When we go by them, Thora smiles. "At least we all got in the door."

I sit down at a little table with Dracul. Asa comes up to me and I stand up and let her sit down.

I make Elkie get up. "You're with Dipak now."

I sit down with Tre. "Am I pretty?"

"You're beautiful baby. I always did love gold on you." He holds my hand on the table. "What happened?"

"He won't even talk to me. All day. I finally had to stand by him in line. I asked if he thought my shoes were pretty. He said he doesn't have time for that. I tried to give him the door knob. He ended up with Elkie. I don't get it. If he didn't want to come with me, then why come? He could have said he didn't have to come with me. He could have picked someone else even."

Tre stands up and kisses me on the head. Then he goes over to Frode and takes the door knob and puts her back with Dipak. Then he takes Elkie and puts her with Omar and moves Ylle to Frode. Then he sits back down with me.

"Why move Ylle?"

"Can you imagine Elkie with Frode?"

"Yes, you are very right sir."

He moves his chair and sits by me. "Now I'll spend the next 20 minutes telling you how pretty you are. From your shoes to your tiara baby." I lay my head on his shoulder.

Dracul yells, "NO THIS IS HOW WE ARE EATING. DEAL WITH IT. YOU SIT BACK DOWN."

Dipak sits right back down.

We watch the last castle get introduced, and then they bring the food out.

We all eat in peace. Everyone seems happy enough.

Momma comes up to me and Tre once we're done. "You are going to have to dance with a prince. I don't know which one. There is 4 here. Maybe you'll get lucky and get to dance with all 4. I don't think so though."

She goes towards the Yanin table and Tye's mom comes out. They stand there talking. Asa goes out after a few minutes.

I move my chair back to Tre's side. He puts his arm around me and I snuggle in. They start with the younger princes and princesses. They all dance and try to be formal. It is adorable. The other princess my age goes first, and she is so formal and boring. I am really getting bored now. Tre keeps feeding me grapes, trying to keep me awake.

Then a man I don't know comes up to me and Tre. I'm half laying on him. The man bows. "Oh wow this is formal." I stand up and curtsy. He leads me to the floor and I dance the most formal dance I have ever danced. I've never been so bored dancing. Then he takes me back to Tre.

I curtsy again. "Thank you for the dance sir."

"Thank you princess."

Tye comes up. "I thought you were going to fall asleep dancing."

"Me too. I didn't know I could get bored dancing until now."

We get to the dance floor and momma smiles. "You 2 have to do the best dance. I have a castle riding on this."

Asa and Tye's mom start laughing.

I smile at Tye. "No pressure sir."

They all stand by the dance floor watching us.

We go to the center of the dance floor and he takes my hand. He twirls me a couple of times right away. He spins me away from him by holding my hand at waist level. Then I spin back into him. It's so fun. I do it a couple more times and miss his hand. I end up with my back right against his chest. I move my hips a little bit and the moms and Asa all laugh again.

He shakes his head. Then twirls me. "There's a lot of people here, to be doing that."

The moms must have heard because they laugh.

He spins me again then twirls me. I can't stop smiling. I'm having so much fun. He uses dragon strength and throws me into the air about 10 feet, then catches me above his head as the song ends. "AGAIN."

The moms all crack up. He lowers me down, and I wrap my arms around his neck. I don't even let my feet hit the floor. I hang there hugging him.

Asa comes out. "I think we're going to have to separate them."

"You can't hold him here all night. Put your feet down, my child."

"Oh my word. That was probably going to be the best dance all night."

I put my feet down. "Sorry I was happy. That was fun."

"I could tell." He leads me back to my tables.

Dipak smirks. "He got that last throw from me. I did that at the last ball. They war one."

"Well you know sir, the moms say that will be the best dance all night."

Dipak looks at Tre and Tye. "I can do better."

Tre rolls his eyes. "Good luck throwing your door knob in the air."

"Think I could get Thora?"

"I wouldn't try. She's already threatening to stab people with her shoes. Thank you for the dance sir. That was great fun. Now you had better get back to your date, or she will throw things at you."

"She is glaring. I better go."

"Have fun." Tre takes me back to our table.

We all get switched to the little couches. Dipak's sitting beside the girl rubbing his eyes. I cuddle up with Tre, and he feeds me grapes.

The girls only dance comes on, and I go over to Thora. "Come on."

"No, I'm on a date with a real prince."

"Get up."

"I'm not moving."

"No one is going to take your spot. You need to get up and dance."

"FINE. But this is my spot."

I look at him. "You need to dance with that poor girl at least once. Dipak is not even trying to talk to her. She's probably bored to tears."

"She was boring me to tears earlier so ..." I glare at him. "Fine once."

"She was nice enough to get dressed up and go with you. And then she got stuck with us."

Thora nods. "She is really rolling with it. She keeps up with us well."

"Yea, she's been with nearly everyone now, and she hasn't tried to kill anyone or had an emotional breakdown. That's nice."

"Go dance you 2."

Thora stands up. "We should take the door knob with us." We get her and Elkie for the dance too.

"So what's your name?"

"Zeldra."

"How is Dipak treating you?"

"He is polite. Kind of boring though." We all giggle.

"I'm sorry I pulled you over like that. I needed someone to take my place, or I was going to punch him in the face. Then it snowballed. It seems like everyone is with a different person now."

"Yea, you really messed up the lineup on this one."

"I couldn't help it. He was being so rude. I am glad he's being polite to you. Maybe he finally realized he shouldn't treat girls like that."

"What was he doing?"

"He ignored me all day. He never said a word. Then, finally, we were standing beside each other for the lineup. I asked if he thought I looked pretty. He literally said, 'I don't have time to do that'."

Zeldra shakes her head. "They have no idea how much effort it takes to do all this. To be ignored and not even told you look nice. That is horrible."

"It really hurt my feelings. I could not stand there another minute."

After the song, I sit with Elkie and Zeldra on one of the little couches. Thora runs back to her seat by Tye.

Tye comes up to us. "I'm surprised Thora let your ass out of that seat."

"I had to fight her off a little bit. But I wanted to ask Zeldra for a dance. Since she is technically supposed to be my date, even though you stole her."

Me and Zeldra both smile. "Don't take her over there. Thora will attack if she feels threatened."

He smirks. "Alright, I will remember that."

I sit back on the couch and glance around after over an hour. My boys are both talking to a group of kings. Ylle is now talking to Mary and Kane. Frode and Thora are dancing together. Zeldra runs off with Elkie, and they are having fun. Everything seems perfect. Other than not, 1 person has asked me to dance. Besides the 2 princes at the beginning. I am bored. And I'm still hurt.

Mary sits down beside me. "You alright?"

"I want to go home."

She motions for Kane. "Do you want to fly home with her?" He nods. "I'll wait until anyone notices you left, and then I'll tell them it was an hour longer ago than what it really was."

"Thank you, Mary."