Grand Visor Jameston tapped his pencil against his chin thoughtfully "No matter how many princesses I bring in for him to see, he'll be too distracted with that Corinne girl to even notice them." He dropped his pencil on a large sheet of paper that was sitting on his desk "If only I could keep her busy enough so she wouldn't come around." Then an idea struck him "Perfect. And this time, Corinne isn't going to interfere."
Corinne happily skipped down the stairs in the great hall. Her friends were waiting for her outside to go do town patrol. She'd offered to put the cleaning supplies away, thus resulting in her being left behind.
When she reached the bottom step, she noticed King Louis coming out of his office. He looked worn out.
"Hi Louis." She said "Is everything alright?"
Louis nodded, his face brightening at the sight of her "Yep. Just a long day."
She nodded, then proceeded towards the door.
"Oh!" Louis said, stopping her progress "I received a letter from Princess Josephina of Trylvania."
Corinne smiled broadly, remembering her friend "And?"
"Her and the stable hand finally convinced her parents to allow them to get married." Louis watched as the smile reached all the way up to the blond girl's eyes "They're getting married in two months."
"That is amazing." Corinne laughed "I knew it would work out." Then she grabbed the doorknob "I have to run. My friends are waiting for me."
Louis nodded "Balloon ride tomorrow?"
"You can count on it."
The girls were completely unprepared for what met them in town. There was a whole bunch of little things that needed looked after.
When the end of the day came, the girls were more than happy to retire. But the next day was no different. Jameston had paid several people in town to keep the musketeers so busy they couldn't hardly think.
Corinne even had to forfeit the balloon ride with Louis, and the girls weren't able to help Helene with the chores, which the older maid sweetly dismissed them. Every day, they got up earlier and went to bed later.
At the end of the week, it was all any of them could do to even stand up.
Viveca had gone to talk to Helene, apologizing once again for leaving her with the chores.
Corinne yawned as she sat up on her bed, forcing her eyes to stay open "Since when has Paris been so busy?"
Renee shrugged "I don't know. But I'm about to tell Treville to send some of the guys out so I can sleep."
Aramina was snoring silently, snuggled up in her pillow.
Corinne chuckled as she reached for her boots "It might just be the three of us today. I don't think any of us will be able to wake up Aramina."
Viveca came back into the room, her face flushed with aggravation.
"Whoa, Vivi." Renee said "Who insulted the dress?"
Viveca crossed her arms and leaned against the wall "I just figured out why we've been getting run so ragged."
"Why?" Corinne and Renee asked in unison.
"Jameston."
"Jameston?" Corinne looked at her Viveca confused "What does he have to do with it?"
"Jameston's paid a bunch of people in town to keep us so busy that we wouldn't figure out about his 'Princess Parade' this afternoon."
Corinne was suddenly wide away "Princess Parade?"
Viveca nodded "Yes. Jameston's invited about one hundred Princesses to come to the castle this evening, hoping to force King Louis to pick one."
Corinne's mouth fell open "What!?" she felt the anger start to build up in her chest "He's…"
"Still trying to keep you and Louis apart!" Aramina finished, sitting up.
Viveca had an evil smirk on her face "Well, we'll just have to go watch this 'Princess Parade'."
Louis groaned as Jameston led him into the ballroom, packed with princesses.
"Jameston." Louis said in a warning growl.
"Your Highness." Jameston said "You know that you need a wife. The only way I could think to accomplish it is to get all the eligible princesses in one place."
Louis shook his head "When will you learn?"
Jameston shrugged "Enjoy your evening, Your Highness." Then he left.
"Sure." The king huffed, scanning the room.
Almost all the girls were looking at him. Some with scrutiny, some with toothy smiles. Others were too busy talking to other princesses to notice he was there.
Treville stepped into the room "Whoa." He cleared his throat several times "When he said several, I had no idea."
The musketeers had been demanded to attend the 'parade' to provide the princesses with dance partners, and nothing more.
Louis sighed "Well, maybe if I cooperate, this will get him off my back."
The two men looked at each other and shook their heads. It wouldn't, and they knew it.
But, just then, Louis' attention was drawn to the other side of the ballroom.
There stood a girl in a bright, sparkly blue dress with straight black hair and blue eyes. Her hair was pulled straight back from her face, and a silver chain was draped across her forehead with an sapphire in the middle, which only helped bring out her eyes. A dark veil covered the bottom half of her face.
She was standing alone glancing around almost nervously.
Louis' legs began to move on their own as he made his way towards the girl.
When he was about twenty feet away, she glanced at him, then turned around and ran out one of the side doors.
Back in a far corner, standing in the shadows, a blond haired girl watched as Louis followed her. Her blue eyes darkened he left the room, following the black haired beauty.
Louis stepped out the door and spotted the girl standing against a tree about fifty feet away.
Louis approached her slowly. But like before, when he was ten feet away from her, she spun around and ran. He chased her till he lost her at a corner. After looking for her for a while, he returned to the ballroom to find her standing near the buffet tables.
He walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
She spun around and looked up at him. Her blue eyes caught him speechless for a moment.
"Hi." He said.
"Hello." She answered in a thick English accent. A slight spark of mischief shot through her eyes "I see you found me."
Louis chuckled "Why did you run?"
She shrugged "I was just seeing if you'd follow." She plucked a grape from a tray nearby and tossed it into the air. She caught it in her mouth and munched on it happily, then she froze, her face turning red "Sorry."
Louis smiled "It's alright." He glanced to the center of the floor where several musketeers and princesses were dancing "Would you like to dance?"
The black haired girl nodded "I'd love to."
In the far corner, the blond watched them. A jealous feeling stirred inside her as she watched the King and the other girl start dancing.
An entranced smile spread across Louis' face as he stared into her bright blue eyes. She couldn't seem to look away either.
"It feels like I've known you a lifetime." Louis said quietly.
The girl smiled "I know." An involuntary blush crept up her cheeks as she posed her next question "Have… have you ever loved a girl?"
Louis was taken aback. He hadn't expected that question "Yes." He answered truthfully.
"Recently?"
"Yes."
"Who is she?"
Louis looked around to see if anyone was listening to this conversation "She's a musketeer. And her name's Corinne."
The girl's eyes grew till they were about the size of saucers "And she knows nothing of this?"
Louis shook his head "I'd tell her, but… Jameston doesn't approve and he'd just make it hard on her."
The girl nodded "There had only been one boy in my entire life that I have loved." She said, the heat continuing to creep up her face, but her eyes sincere.
Louis stared at her curiously "Who?"
"You."
Louis gasped and the couple stopped dancing. Their eyes locked and he lost all train of thought. Then, before he could stop himself, he lifted the small veil and kissed her. He could help it. There was just something about her… but he couldn't put his finger on it.
From the corner, the blond gasped. Hurt and anger filling her as she watched them.
From the top of the stairs, Jameston let out a triumphant whoop that startled most of the crowd "I did it!" he exclaimed, grabbing Treville's shoulder "I did it!"
Treville stared, shocked. How was he going to tell Corinne? The other girls would probably be out for revenge shortly after.
Louis kept expecting his conscience to start picking at him because of Corinne. But it never did. In fact, standing there so close to the girl felt… perfect.
"King Louis!" Jameston called down to him "Bring that girl up here!"
Louis sighed "Sorry."
The girl giggled slightly "I was expecting as much."
Louis took her hand and led her to the top of the stairs.
"So, you like this girl?" Jameston asked.
Louis looked over at the girl beside him and smiled "I guess I do."
Just then, the blond in the back corner came storming up to Louis "How could you!?" with that, she ran from the ballroom, tears streaming down her face.
Louis stared after her, then shook his head slowly, then Jameston got his attention "Who is this lovely young lady, Sire?"
Louis opened his mouth, then clamped it back shut "I… I don't know." He chuckled slightly, then turned to face the girl "What's your name?"
The girl laughed. Her hands moved up, one to her head, the other to the veil across her face, and in one move, the veil came off and the black hair dropped to her feet.
Louis' eyes widened as he watched long blond curls tumbled over the girl's shoulders.
"C… Corinne?" He said quietly. Then it struck him why he had instantly felt attracted to the girl. It had been his girl the whole time. His Corinne.
Corinne laughed "You don't do well with girls in disguise, do you?"
Jameston began to sputter angrily "But… why… how dare… Ooh!"
Corinne looked over at the grand visor and placed her hands on her hips "When will you learn, Jameston? You can't stop me."
Aramina, Viveca and Renee walked into the room.
"They were made for each other." Aramina said dreamily "Even when she was being as opposite as she could possibly be, he still found his way to her."
"By the way," Louis said, nodding towards the door that the blond had left through earlier "Who was that?"
"Princess Tatiana of Tuskany." Jameston growled "She thought she had a chance."
"Not while Corinne's around." Renee whispered to the visor.
Jameston threw his hands in the air "I give up!" then he ran down the hall "And I quit!"
Corinne laughed, then turned her attention back to the king. "I meant what I said earlier. About being the only one."
Louis smiled "So did I."
"You know," Viveca said leaning towards them "Jameston did make y'all miss a balloon ride a few days ago."
Louis took Corinne's hand "Would you like to take that balloon ride?"
Corinne nodded "I'd love it." Then she lifted the hem of her skirt and followed Louis out the door.
Treville, who still hadn't been able to process that Corinne was the princess that Louis had fallen for, and that he wasn't going to have to worry about unwarranted revenge, put a hand on his forehead and left the room, the male musketeers right behind him.
Renee leaned over to her two friends "Hey. We're here with a bunch of princesses… alone."
Viveca grinned wickedly "Oh yes." She rubbed her hands together in anticipation "This is going to be fun."