Broken and shattered

Maquerade

It was outrageous, I was supposed to make out with the prince every day until he chooses his best play toy. It was supposed to be the "highlight of my day" I grimaced at the thought. Every day I was in danger of having him undress me and of carrying the prince's child. As if any of the royals would care, the only only that mattered to them was if he chose me or some other girl to be his bride. And I myself would just prefer to not be wed to him. Not only because that our families practically hate each other. How long will this torture have to go on? It was the day of the big ball. I opened the closet that the royals prepared for me. I was greeted by a enormous collection of gowns, shirts, and any other piece of clothing that was ever invented. They were all in the same color scheme of blues, greens and purples. And the occasional black and white. I picked out one of the raven (the bird) themed gowns and a mask to match. It was a purple and black lace gown with a flowing purple skirt. The mask complemented the dress perfectly with its matching lace patterns. I let down my hair and it tumble down to my chest. The number of cosmetics prepared were shocking. All I really needed was some eye makeup and some lipstick and I was all done. I walked over to the entrance of the ballroom. The queen was lining up all the competitors in name order. I went so where in the middle next to a brown haired girl in a blue gown. Much to my surprised the queen went up to her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Queen's favorite are you?" I couldn't help but say. She swiveled around and looked at me, blushing. "Don't worry." I reassured her. "I'm not jealous." She laughed at my words.
"It's not like I'm going to win." I was surprised, I never knew there was a modest one in the competitors.
"Why?"
"I'm Jordan." She introduced herself."Nathaniel's sister." That explained all too much. I couldn't help but say, "I'm raven. the 30 minutes of heaven must've been awkward."
Jordan burst into laughter."you think? Kissing my brother?"  After a few minutes of laughing she said. "I like you raven, your not like the rest. They're diehard fangirls."
"It's nice to see a competitor that isn't a fangirl." I agreed.
A voice yelled at us from ahead. "It's time ladies!" There was squealing throughout the line as we went through the entrance. The ballroom was filled with nobles. The queen said that they were there because if they liked one of the girls that weren't picked, they'd marry them. I rolled my eyes at a few nobles that stared at me, what were they looking at? That probably couldn't see my expression since they smiled, perhaps they thought I was just staring right back at them. It annoyed me greatly, I had no interest to marry any of them rich or not. I'd never met a man I wanted to marry anyway so I wouldn't know. Nathaniel came up to me after a few dances. Great, I'd planned to just linger around the refreshment table and steer away any noble I could.
"Would you honor me with this dance malady?" I rolled my eyes and took his hand.
"So." He began. "How was the 30 minutes of heaven?"
I scoffed, what answer was he expecting? "Horrific." It was the first word that came to mind anyway. He grinned at my quick reply.
"What so funny?"
Nathaniel shook his head in amusement. "I've had sexy, luxurious, can't wait till tomorrow, but never horrific."
I scoffed again really? He found that funny?, "Well suck it up Nathaniel, not everyone will kiss your royal butt."
He bit his lip. " and not everybody will accept your snarky commentary." I raised my eyebrow, what was he getting at?
" I punish you with 40 minutes of heaven tomorrow." He twirled me around one last time and the dance was over. I glared at him as I leaned in until his face was an inch away from mine. "You mean 40 minutes of hell." And with that I walked away.
I met Jordan at the refreshment tables. "What are you angry at my brother about?" She asked as I took a teacup of blood and sipped it stressfully. I put it down to reply. "You brother punished me with 40 minutes of hell tomorrow."
Jordan chuckled. "First off, its called 40 minutes of heaven, and shouldn't you be happy?"
I shook my head and scoffed. "If I were a fangirl I'd be."
Jordan shook her head. " you do know that that's my brother you're talking about."
" and do you care?"
" not a bit."
We spent the whole night turning down dances and drinking blood wine. It was some alcohol infused blood, it tasted good. But like alcohol made humans do some crazy stuff, we kind of had the same effect. I bumped into a bunch of people until one of them picked me up.
"What happened to her?" A nearby man asked.
"Drank too much blood wine." Wait! I recognized that voice! Even though I could really see his face clearly, I was sure it was Nathaniel. As soon as I realized the man's identity, I started smacking him.
"Put me down you royal bitch!" I heard gasps coming from the left and right. I heard a couple of fangirls swoon and whine. He shook his head. " no can do. Your not thinking clearly."
" I'm perfectly fine!" I protested.
" right."
I tried to pry his hands away from me but he had me under his firm grip. I started cursing, and smacking him again and again. Anything to make him let go. But he clung on like titanium much to my annoyance. He kicked open the door to my chambers and lay me on the bed. " don't think about doing anything to me right now. You already crossed the line with. The 40 minutes of hell." I warned. He laughed at the warning.
" why are you doing this?" I asked. " I don't mean anything to you, let me get more drink and eventually die." He smiled and kissed me on the forehead as he slid the bed sheet over me.
"You do mean a lot to me Raven I'd be the one dying if you drank too much and poisoned yourself." I was surprised at his reaction, almost touched. I shifted.
"thank you." I said meekly as he went and closed the door. He smiled before going. I could swear I could hear some words as he exited, they were too quiet for me to understand in this state. I looked up at. The ceiling and smiled, a warm feeling inside of me as I drifted off to sleep.