When the Masks Fall
*Cover TBD*Submission for the Open Novella Contest 2021!Prompt #87: With the Kingdom Heir coming-of-age celebration fast approaching, the search for a match begins. It is decreed a dance will be held; an anonymous masked ball."𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔," 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒕𝒇𝒍𝒚, 𝒖𝒏𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒛 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒚𝒍𝒚- 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕- 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒛 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒑, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖…