Princess Evangeline stepped out into the grand dining hall. Lights, music, the works, it was all at once. She was dazzled by it all. She'd heard of the legendary service in King Adam and Queen Belle's castle, and it had more than lived up to expectation. Lumiere, the host of it all, was up front singing and dancing with the other servants, and he appeared to be delighted.

Evangeline scanned the table for the name card and reluctantly sat across from a young man named Jadon who looked to be from Agrabah and between Princess Talia of the Feyrelands and Princess Guinevere, Prince Benedict's younger sister.

Guinevere smiled warmly. "Is this your first time at the castle?"

"Clearly," Talia said haughtily, looking down at her polished pink fingernails.

"Yes," Evangeline said, holding her head up high. "I've heard of the service."

"Is is as good as you hoped it would be?" Guinevere asked.

"Better."

"Don't worry, the food will come soon, my brother's just running a bit behind, and then either my parents or he will make the welcoming speech," Guinevere whispered with a conspiratorial grin. Evangeline couldn't help but smile back.

"It's not that special," Talia muttered. "The good stuff is never served on the first night."

"Ah, Talia, you just can't be impressed anymore," Guinevere said good-naturedly.

"So you've been here before?" Evangeline asked, trying to start a friendly conversation.

"Of course I have!" Talia cried. "With how close our kingdoms are? It would be an international scandal not to!"

She leaned in closely. "I've just come this time to pay respects to my friend and to cement my place as his fiancée."

"You're engaged?"

Guinevere gave a very unladylike snort. "Not fiancée yet. But my brother probably will choose her. They've been friends since we were all in diapers. He's willing to marry for the kingdom, if not for love."

Talia smirked and sipped at the water in her pristine glass goblet.

Ben paced back and forth outside Mal's room. He planned on escorting her in as his "special guest" in hopes that it would alleviate the confusion and snuff out any rage that a non-noble would be there. Belle and Adam accommodated the request without much complaint.

"We'd better," Adam had said. "Everyone here knows the trouble with fairies."

That hadn't made Ben feel any better about this strange fairy whose life he saved. He felt a stranger attraction towards her. He'd seen that face in his dreams. Something was off about her. What it was, he didn't know.

He doubled back, only to stop abruptly as Mal's door opened.

She stepped out, prettier than Ben had ever expected. Beautiful, even. Her violet curls tumbled over her shoulders and she wore a pleasant pale blue-green gown that accented her eyes well. Her expression softened when she saw him.

"You look. . . Great," he said, and he offered her his arm. She reluctantly took it, and they walked down to the dining hall.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"There he is," Guinevere said. Talia sat up straight, her deep indigo eyes on the prince-and more specifically, the girl with him. She was no princess, but she was a fairy, as she could tell by that hair. Those long violet curls.

Why didn't you ask me to be your special guest? Talia wondered, forcing her regal mask to stay in place. I've never even seen this fairy before!

The fairy sat at Ben's side, just close enough for Talia and Evangeline to see and talk to. Ben remained standing and the Hall went silent.

"Friends and esteemed guests," Ben began. "I welcome you to the Dauphin Castle of Auradon. I appreciate the travel and troubles you went to to be here in time for my little party."

Excited whispers fluttered down the dining hall. Talia smirked. Ben's birthday gala. . . It would be a night to remember. Talia was sure of that much.

"Thank you to those who have arrived, and I hope we get to know each other well in the coming days. To friendship!" Ben raised his goblet in a toast. The others raised theirs, and the toast echoed around the hall. Ben sat, and servers rushed out, carrying trays of food. Talia was unimpressed. The castle was clearly saving all the best for Ben's birthday. Which was as it should have been-she did not know why the others around her were gaping like common idiots.

Especially Evangeline. The daughter of the Fairest was odd. Something was off about her. What it was, Talia did not know yet, but she had her ways. She definitely was as pretty as the rumors stated. Prettier, even. That made her a threat. Talia would keep one eye on the princess. The other would be on the mysterious fairy.

Mal had to admit, she was completely unprepared for dining at Auradon. She was dazzled by it all, but she couldn't shake the nervous feeling that she would be found out any second. After all, Ben still had that look about him, like he could read her mind. Never mind that it would be impossible.

Queen Belle was observant, she knew that from what was generally said when the peasants were spouting poetry practically about her. That made her brown eyes staying on Mal a sign of danger. If she suspected Mal's true nature, her true motives. . . Game over.

Yet there was something in Ben's smile, the same quality mirrored within his mother, that made her feel that same warm and fuzzy feeling deep within.

"Try the gray stuff," Belle suggested. "It's the best dish."

Mal nodded, doing so, taking care to mirror the mannerisms of Princess Talia. She remembered seeing that pink nightmare whenever the Feyrelands renewed the Concord between the Moors and the kingdom. Not that the princess recognized her, it seemed.

Good.

She had to admit, Queen Belle had good taste. It was the best food she'd had in weeks. She'd no idea that she was famished. Now that she'd thought about it, the last few months blurred together, into one hungry, painful, cold agony. Why hadn't she done anything about that?

Because it was the only way to achieve his-your goals, she reminded herself.

"So is this your first time?"

Mal looked to her left to see a young man with shiny long black hair and light brown skin who seemed uncomfortable in the stiff Agrabah military uniform.

"Yes," she admitted. "Yours too?"

"Naturally," he said. "It is such a long journey. I'm Jadon, the Grand Vizier and Magician in training."

"I see," Mal said. "Mal. Fairy. I guess."

"I guess you would be," the very pretty girl next to Princess Guinevere said. "What is it like? Can you fly?"

"I can't, not yet," Mal admitted, blushing furiously. "I don't have any wings."

"Pity," the pretty princess said. "I'd love to ask more about magic. Maybe you could visit my chambers? I'm Princess Evangeline, by the way."

"Not Snow White's daughter?"

Evangeline seemed to shrink, almost. "Yes."

"Interesting," Mal said, more to herself than anyone else.

It was afterward that Queen Belle sat in her study with the rest of her family. She was silent, not something completely unusual, for the queen often was when she was innovating the latest method to improve the lives of her subject. She was more troubled by her train of thought, and no doubt it showed.

The girl was a fairy, and those were always suspected around Dauphin Castle. Her timing was so close to the investigation into the Moors. This girl was a suspect.

Belle glanced back up at her son. He sat closer to the window and seemed to be drifting off. Something about him had changed, and she knew it to be no spell. Rather, it seemed to be infatuation.

She smiled, happy for her son. She had been wrong about so many people before. Maybe she would be wrong about this fairy. She hoped she was.