The ball was extravagant, and loud, and annoying.
Selene frowned into her champagne glass as some random girl spoke incessantly at her. She was saying this and that about the first prince, Cassius, probably assuming Selene would be interested given that they almost got engaged. At this point though, everyone had heard about how Selene had rejected the proposition for an engagement. Apparently she had embarrassed Cassius, but she genuinely did not care, and the king all thought it was fine anyway.
Selene was hoping Cassius would come and pick a fight, it would certainly make her night much more interesting.
Sophia had run off to cast her spell on Julius a while ago, and they'd yet to return. Selene was bored out of her mind, just waiting for something to happen.
"Lady Ellsworth?"
At the new voice, Selene blinked herself back to the moment, and turned to the newcomer.
It was a boy who looked to be around her age. He had a nice, kind looking face, and was looking at her with a blush on his cheeks.
"Yes?"
He smiled shyly. "Could I ask for a dance?"
Selene felt sorely tempted to jump out the window, but Sophia had returned and glanced knowingly at her. She faked a smile and said, "Yes." letting him lead her out to the middle of the room.
They danced for a while, Selene feeling her face grow stiffer the more she had to stay smiling. The boy looked to be enjoying it at least, not noticing that Selene was struggling to keep her smile in place.
Luckily, just as Selene was thinking that she should just kick him and run and be done with it, the doors burst open.
There was silence. Everyone stopped talking and dancing to look to the doors, where Cassius had just walked in, with an unknown girl.
Selene looked at Sophia, Sophia nodded slightly. So it was Anastasia, the female lead of the book. She certainly was breathtakingly pretty, even Selene's dance partner seemed lost in her beauty.
The king and queen quickly jumped up from their seats and rushed to Cassius, hugging him happily. Oh, right, he was missing for a while after he was ambushed by the assassins. She'd forgotten.
The people began cheering then, after they got over the surprise appearance of Cassius. She looked over to where Sophia and Julius were standing, and it was clear that Julius was not so happy to see his brother alive and well.
The party resumed.
Selene excused herself from dancing any more with the boy, and he had barely noticed, too busy ogling Anastasia to pay her any mind. She snorted to herself as she moved to the drinks table, picking up another champagne flute and sipping silently.
After another few minutes, another boy started walking in her direction, and she panicked at the thought of being forced to dance again so she placed her glass back down on the table and swiftly moved to step onto the terrace.
She expected to be alone, but when she opened the door she saw Cassius and Anastasia locked in a passionate embrace instead.
They looked to her, startled by her appearance. Anastasia started blushing immediately and Cassius for some reason tensed, as if he was waiting for an attack from Selene.
She supposed the Selene he used to know would've thrown a fit, but right now she couldn't help but find the situation beyond amusing.
Cassius glared. "Selene, don't-"
Selene laughed. Cassius' expression faltered, her behaviour confusing him.
"Since we're going to be family soon, we should probably let the past remain in the past, shouldn't we? Congratulations on the new bride, Cass."
Cassius bristled at the use of his nickname. Only Anastasia had ever called him that. "What do you mean we're going to family soon?"
Selene grinned and gestured behind her towards Sophia and Julius. They were both speaking to the king and queen, probably requesting a formal engagement or something, however this fancy marriage business worked.
Selene watched Cassius pale slightly. Anastasia just looked between them, utterly confused.
"What are you planning? First you break off our engagement even though you've been begging for it for years, and then all of a sudden my brother's being engaged to your sister?"
Anastasia seemed surprised at what he just laid out, then she turned and looked at Selene with a slight frown.
Selene laughed again. "Our plans are beyond that princely little head of yours, so don't worry about it. Enjoy being with your... pet. I'll see you later, brother-in-law."
She left the both of them gaping on that terrace, smiling to herself as she made her way back to the alcohol. Hopefully Sophia wouldn't be too mad if she got a bit tipsy.
Sophia, meanwhile, was charming the king and the queen by being her poised and proper self. Part of Anastasia's troubles when she finally married Cassius was that the king and queen didn't think she made an appropriate princess. She was a commoner so she didn't have a lot of the same manners and behaviours that most noblewomen had, and they pointed it out to her constantly. Sophia, on the other hand, was perfect where it mattered. She was polite and formal and utterly appropriate. They were quite pleased with Julius' choice for an engagement.
At first Sophia was unsure of how the enchantment would take on Julius, but its effects were immediate. He looked at her as if she was his entire world, smiling every time she was near, and sought to touch her whenever he could. Sophia thought it was all a bit creepy, but pretended to lap it all up.
Acting like a lovestruck maiden was a serious pain in the ass.
At the end of the ball, the king and queen quickly announced that Sophia and Julius were engaged. Henry and Lillian would probably be surprised, but if Sophia said that she genuinely loved him she was sure they wouldn't get in the way. The crowd clapped politely, and though they all seemed surprised as they'd never seen Sophia and Julius interact with each other until now, they seemed mostly pleased.
Cassius looked at each of them suspiciously, and Selene raised a celebratory glass at him, which only made him sneer and turn his head away.
Selene supposed she could now understand a little what Sophia meant when toying with somebody's feelings was just as satisfying as fighting them physically.