The Mushroom Prince // DNF

18/Masquerade Ball

George managed to ignore the look, although it sent chilly spikes of nerves shooting through his body. He focused his attention instead on Rue, as he took her hand and placed a soft kiss to the top of it, smiling at her as he said, "Rue, nice to see you again."

She smiled back before bringing George over to her parents and introducing them. As soon as the introductions were over, everyone took their seats at the table; George in his normal seat beside Lilyana, with Rue and her parents across the way from him.

Food was brought out and placed down the length of the table, everything more decadent and even more delicious than what George was used to, a show for the guests who sat across from him. As they began eating, the group melted into causal conversation, discussing the ball and the wedding arrangements that were to follow.

At the mention of marriage, George's heart fluttered nervously in his chest, his hands shaking slightly as he clutched his fork in his hand. He kept his eyes focused down, listening to the conversation around him.

Rue's father's voice sounded as he took a bite of his food, chewing slowly as he listened, "I must say, I'm a bit worried about the state of the town. The area seems rather poor and neglected, and I worry that George here won't be able to fix the mistakes that have clearly been made."

George's eyes flickered over to his father, whose jaw was tight with anger at the implication behind the words. He took a long sip from his glass of wine, his eyes glassy and unfocused as he turned his attention towards the man.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Rue spoke up before he could make a sound.

"I'm confident that George will be an excellent king, father. And I'm sure that we can fix whatever problems there are, together."

George turned to look at her, meeting her gaze with an appreciative smile. His father only sighed, taking another sip from his glass as he mumbled, "I suppose we shall see."

As the conversation drifted into something more casual, George turned in his seat to face Lilyana, whose gaze was focused down on her plate. She seemed distant, even though she was close enough for George to reach out and touch.

He leaned closer towards her, his voice quiet as he asked, "are you okay, Lily?"

She didn't look up from her plate, only shrugged while pushing food around with the back of her fork.

"Lily, what's going on with you? You've been acting strange towards me," George continued, eyes still focused on his sister.

She sighed under her breath, finally turning to meet George's gaze as she answered, "I haven't been acting any stranger than you have, George."

George raised an eyebrow questioningly, although he knew exactly what she was eluding to. He remained silent, and she continued by quietly saying, "you're hiding something from me, George. Something serious, and I don't understand why. I'm not a child but you're treating me like one by refusing to tell me what's happening."

George inhaled slowly, dropping his eyes as he desperately tried to think up some excuse. When he lifted his eyes to meet hers again, she said, "you don't have to say anything, I don't want to hear anymore lies. In fact, until you're ready to actually talk to me about what's going on, you can just leave me alone."

And with that, she focused her attention back on the conversation, fitting herself in easily as George dropped his eyes down to his lap. His hands twisted together nervously as he drifted off into his own thoughts, wondering how he was going to manage to fix the ever growing mess that his life was becoming.

~

On the evening of the masquerade ball, George was feeling mostly indifferent. The castle was filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces; some of which he had seen in town, and some of which he had never seen before.

There were people from his kingdom as well as people from Rue's, and he found the bustling crowds and constant conversation to be exhausting.

His father announced the engagement early on, right after the start of the ball, and left Rue and him to field congratulations from countless individuals.

George found the whole thing to be tiring and boring, and when the crowds finally dissipated, he found himself alone, standing by a table looking out over the dance floor.

He reached his hand up, pulling his mask away from his face and dropping it down onto the table. His brown eyes searched the crowd, spotting Rue talking to yet another group of excited townspeople. He couldn't bear the idea of faking his way through another conversation.

He sighed, eyes still roaming until they landed on Lilyana. She was on the opposite side of the room, chatting with a group of her friends. But George knew he was the last person his sister wanted to see, so he kept his distance, as he had been doing ever since their short conversation at dinner the previous night.

George's eyes drifted over the dance floor, watching the townspeople laughing and enjoying themselves. A feeling of emptiness had settled in his chest, and he pulled his eyes away to look directly across the dance floor, where through the spaces between the masses of people, he spotted something familiar.

A glint of piercing green eyes, a flash of messy blonde waves, and a confident grin; all of it coming together to make up a familiar face he hadn't seen in days.

"Clay," he muttered the name quietly to himself, eyes narrowing as he desperately searched through the crowds for another look. But as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone.

If he had even been there to begin with.

George took one final look at the crowds that spread before him, taking a shaky breath as he silently convinced himself that his mind was only showing him what, or who, he wanted to see. Because he knew that Clay was smart enough to not show up to a crowded ball in the castle.

George made his way towards the door of the ballroom, pushing it open and spilling out into the empty hallway.

As soon as he emerged into the hall, the large wooden door of the ballroom fell closed behind him and he let out a sigh of relief. Silence washed over him, with only the muffled sounds of voices and music drifting out to fill the quiet spaces.

He ran a shaky hand over his face, taking slow breaths to calm himself before beginning a slow walk down the hallway. As he moved further down the length of the hallway, he heard something behind him.

Quiet footsteps, moving at almost the same pace that he was moving. He slipped his hand into his pocket, fingers tightening around the handle of a small silver dagger he had gotten used to carrying around with him.

He spared a glance over his shoulder, and noticed someone moving along in the shadows, tailing him at a distance.

He couldn't make out the face, it was covered by a white circular mask, eyes and a smile hand painted on it in black. And since he was keeping to the shadows, George could only make out that the man was taller than him, his strides longer and covering more distance as he drew nearer to George.

George tried to speed up, but it was no use, he felt a hand closing around his wrist, his heart hammering in his chest as he pulled the dagger out of his pocket and spun to face the stranger.

*hi! I'm going on a very long road trip with my ex bf but I'll be back in like a week! I prob won't update anything until I'm back 🙂