A few hours later, Dan and Nina emerge from balls and glitter with a gorgeous red dress with orange and yellow butterflies for Nina and a deep ochre suit for Dan. All the guests from darkheart where to wear bright, autumnal colours to the ball such as reds and oranges and yellows, the guests from silverstone where to wear greens and pastels, guests from mounteagle, bright clothes with added sparkle and sapphiresnow was to wear blues and cold tones. Dan and Nina where incredibly excited about this as they thought it would be incredibly aesthetic and gave them a chance to a accessorise which was really bringing out dans inner gay! After spending the day shopping for shoes, ties, bracelets and such things, Dan and Nina returned to the castle, thoroughly exhausted. They bid each other good night and Dan returns to his chambers. He lies upon his golden duveted, four poster bed and stares at the canopy above, daydreaming about the ball. He drifts asleep with thoughts of a certain raven haired, blue eyed boy on his mind.

The next day, Dan and Nina went about their duties as usual, trying to keep the excitement that was building up inside of them at the prospect of tomorrows ball to a minimal. After an agitated wait, Dan and Nina were finally staring at dans full length mirror, examining every part of their outfits. Both the prince and the maid were trying their utmost to prevent themselves from squealing but, eventually, they both gave in and spent a few minutes squeaking and jumping up and down like excited 5 year olds together. Out of breath from all the excitement, they collapsed on the bed. Dan suddenly yelped and jerked up, "what is it Dan?" Nina exclaims, surprised by his sudden outburst. "Look at the time Nina! Blooming heck, we need to leave!" They both leapt up and hurried to the door, stopping for a last minute check in the mirror. Together, they hurtled through the castle, receiving some curious looks from the staff, until they reached the front doors. They skidded to a halt and the guards hurried them into a gold encrusted carriage. They jumped in, receiving an annoyed look from dans mother. "Honestly you two! Were have you been? Were going to be late if were not careful!" The queen scolded before smiling at her son and his friend's flustered faces, "you wouldnt want to be late to dreamy prince Philip's ball, would you now? I mean, you need time to do a bit of... catching up." She teases, sending a wink in dans direction. "Wait a minute, how did you..?" Dan pauses, flabbergasted that his mother clearly knows about his little, okay, big, crush.
"I am your mother dear, I know these things! And anyway, you dont hide your journal very well and I might have, okay, I definatly peeked."
"Mum!" Dan groans, incredibly embarrassed by the whole situation.
"Yes dear?" His mother questions in a sickly tone, aggravating Dan further which was, of course, her plan.
"Thats private, journals are private!" He moans "Or, at least, theyre supposed to be!" he adds under his breath.
"Its not my fault that your so bad at hiding things, I only went in there to see wether you still had that old photo book, when, there it was, lying on the middle of your bed. It was basically asking to be read!"
"That doesnt mean you can read it!" Dan laughs as he looks at Nina who is looking very confused.
"Anyway, im relived you know! Just dont tell dad please? I want to tell him when I feel ready."
"Of course I wont tell him if you dont want me to." Dan smiles and hugs his mum, "thanks mum." He pulls away, grinning.
"Anyway," his mum begins, "I dont belive ive met your friend before, care to introduce me?"
"Of course, mum, this is Nina, Nina, this is my mum, who just so happens to be the queen of darkheart." Nina curtsies,
"Its a pleasure to meet you, your majesty." The queen smiles,
An: (I didn't know what dans mum was called so I just made it up, please dont kill me!)
"I never did like being called majesty, much too formal, please call me Lucy." Nina smiled, feeling much more comfortable knowing that the queen wasn't someone who insisted on keeping barriers between themselves and the public.
"Its a pleasure to meet you then, Lucy." the queen smiled too, pleased to know that Nina was begining to feel more comfortable around her, knowing how intimidating it was meeting someone with so much power over your life.
"Now then how about we get to this ball, I think were almost there!"
An: hello anyone reading this, I just thought I might do a "hello, im Isabella" sort of introduction to me sort of thing what do u think? (I know no one cares but I thought id ask anyway:))