When the king had spoken of a grand celebration, she had not expected to see what was in front of her eyes. There was nothing from the stairs to the scabbards on the guards' waists that wasn't decked with gold. Strings of petunias snaked through the balusters and to the walls, creeping up its height and ending abruptly where the warm light of the many chandeliers faded.
The ballroom was filled with a crowd of the highest ranks of nobility, the rich and their huge families, blending into the ornate surroundings with their luxurious clothes and bejeweled masks.
