I wrote this fic ages ago (about two years almost!), but I never got round to finishing it!! I found most the start of this chapter on the computer the other day, so I altered some and figured I ought to update it, lol! So here's the next chapter and I made sure that it was much longer than the first, lol! à

* * *

Kel sighed and wiped a hand over her forehead. She had struggled slowly and painfully through her history assignment, but her mind kept wandering. It had taken all of the effort Kel could muster to actually concentrate on her lessons that afternoon. She stared blankly out of the window. None of her friends had come to ask her to study in the library yet, but she knew that if they had she wouldn't have gone. Her mind kept dumbly replaying what had happened that afternoon. Why had Roald come to see her? * He probably felt sorry for me, because I was upset *, she thought, and was surprised to find that she even felt disappointed. * But what about Neal? * She paused briefly before realising that since lunch she had barely even thought about him.

Sighing one last time, Kel stood up, picked up the arithmetic she was working on, and wandered slowly down the hall. She knew where Roald's rooms were – she had often fetched him with Owen on the way to the library, but today she walked right past before realising what she had done. Hesitating, Kel knocked gently. She stood shocked for a moment when Roald opened the door. Deep down, she hadn't expected him to actually be in his room. He was usually in the library with the others. She recovered herself and glanced up. His hair was ruffled and he looked tired as if he hadn't been able to concentrate much either. Kel also noted that Roald looked just as surprised to see her, as she was him.

"Kel!?"

"hi…um, I was just wandering if you could help me with my work…" she trailed off.

"…Sure," He mumbled stepping aside to let Kel in. She took a spare chair and pulled it up to a table.

"Are you ok Kel?" Roald asked gently.

She nodded dumbly.

He paused and took the sheets Kel was holding,

"What work are you stuck on?"

"Arithmetic,"

Roald looked up slowly and frowned.

"I thought you were good at that…You usually end up helping me out."

Kel glanced at him, embarrassed.

"Oh, I can do the sums, I'm just not so good at equations…"

Roald hesitated, picked up his ink pen and started to explain where she was going wrong. They were silly mistakes – Kel knew that. Normally she would have had no trouble, but she found it hard to keep her mind on the work. Roald went through three of the questions before looking up again.

"Are you ok with the rest?"

Again Kel nodded. Roald picked up the parchments, brushing Kel's hands. She took the work quickly trying not to look up at him, but she could feel his gaze resting on her as she left.

* * *

"Hey, guess what," Neal began excitedly, through a mouth full of food.

"I have absolutely no idea," Merric answered dryly, knowing what Neal was about to say.

"I've just heard that there's some new ladies in court – they arrived this morning. I think one of them is your sister Kel," he added thoughtfully.

Kel shrugged and forced herself to focus on her meal.

"Anyway," he continued quickly, "I've introduced myself already. I was thinking of asking one of them to the ball this evening,"

"What about…" Merric creased his forehead, trying to think of her name, and failing.

"Oh, the other one – what about your poems?"

Neal looked at Merric for a moment, before shrugging, as if he couldn't quite remember either. Instead, he carried on eating his meal.

"Who are you taking Roald?" Cleon asked curiously.

Kel glanced up at Roald now. It was the first time since she had sat down to eat. Roald looked up too from the table awkwardly, flicking the coal black hair from his eyes.

"I was asked to escort Lady Eleanor," he said slowly, trying not to catch Kel's eye. He didn't need to; she already had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she forced herself to take another mouthful of food anyway.

* * *

Kel hurried back to her room quickly after lunchtime that day. The others were getting ready for the ball that evening and she figured that if she hurried now, she might be able to get out of going at all. She had no such luck though. As she reached her door, she looked up to see Neal standing there awkwardly. He smiled at her as she walked up to him.

"Hi Kel," he said lightly. She looked at him oddly.

"I thought you were getting ready for the ball," she said forcing herself to grin at him, but he was staring at the floor.

"Um, yeah, well that's kind of the problem," he mumbled. "I don't really have any…" he looked up at Kel hopefully.

"I was wondering if you were free at all?" he asked. Kel looked up at him, and frowned. If he'd asked her a few days ago, she realised, she'd have gladly accepted, but now – she didn't really feel anything for Neal in the way that she thought that she had – she looked down quickly, realising that she was staring.

"Well?" he said. He sounded only slightly impatient. Kel furrowed her brow.

"Um…Ok Neal, you're right I don't have anyone to go with," she answered somewhat reluctantly. She opened her mouth; about to ask what had happened to the new ladies in court he was talking about that morning, but decided against it.

"Really? I mean thanks Kel, I'll see you in a bit," he said.

"Ok, tell the others I may be too late for an inspection though," she warned, as Neal hurried off.

Kel watched him and sighed, trying to work out why she had just agreed. Instead, she figured that Roald obviously wasn't all that bothered if he was going with Eleanor, anyway.

Kel entered her room and leant against the closed door.

"Lady Kel, is that you," Lalasa's timid voice broke out from behind the partition. She emerged with a deep forest green dress over her arm.

"Lalasa!" Kel said exasperated, but grinned at her friend in spite of herself.

"I told you this morning I wasn't going!" Lalasa actually blushed, making herself busy with holding the dress up to see if it fit Kel properly.

"Sorry, I thought you might change your mind…" She drifted off, but Kel smiled at her.

"Well anyway, you were right," she said, "I guess I did change my mind."

At this Lalasa hurriedly handed her the dress and some shoes and shooed her behind the partition to change. As ever, the dress Lalasa had made for her fitted perfectly, and although it was a little too long, she didn't have time to take the hem up.

The dress itself looked pretty impressive. It was made of a darker green material, with gold thread around the low, square cut neckline. Kel sighed as Lalasa began to immediately fuss around with her hair – pins sticking out from her mouth.

"Hold still!" Kel stopped wriggling and did as she was told. Eventually Lalasa finished, dabbing a deep red lip rouge on Kel as she walked through the door.

"Don't wipe it on your sleeve, you'll ruin the dress," Lalasa's worried voice followed her out. As promised, Neal was waiting for her outside, looking much smarted than usual. He fidgeted, and kept trying to redo the buttons on his cuff as they popped open.

"Sorry, about the short notice," he said distractedly. Kel grinned at him.

"It's ok, don't worry about it!" They both walked down the hall quickly, towards the ballroom.

"Kel?" He said, concentrating on his sleeve buttons.

"Yes,"

"Um, do you think you'd mind terribly if I asked your sister to dance later," he mumbled. Kel cuffed him lightly on the arm.

"Neal, you don't have to ask me to dance with her. You have to ask her." She said trying not to laugh.

* * *

The hall was really warm after they'd been dancing for a while and Kel's dress was making her feel hot and sticky. She had seen Roald come in earlier with Eleanor. He was wearing the royal blue of the house of Conté. He'd said hello to her, but the whole time, he had tried to avoid eye contact. She watched the floor as Neal finished dancing with a lady that she didn't recognise.

"Hey Kel," he said cheerily, walking towards her.

"You don't feel like another dance do you?" She shook her head.

"I'm way too tired already,"

"You know, your sister is actually really nice," he said, changing the subject. "I think she actually likes me!"

Kel smiled inwardly. She knew that the chances were her sister was only being friendly. She was pretty good at not showing exactly how she was feeling. Which was probably moderate pain, Kel thought to herself. She had been observing Neal's amusing dance routine's from afar.

"Well, I'm really hot. I think I'm going to go outside for some fresh air."

Neal looked at her guiltily.

"Are you ok? Would you like me to escort you?" he said slowly. Kel tried not to smile.

"No, I'm ok thanks Neal. Look my sister's over there, if you want to ask her to dance again," she said, pointing her out. She watched him go, before walking through the side door, which led outdoors.

The fresh air was cool on her face, as soon as she stepped out of the castle. She was glad, that Lalasa had pulled her hair up, off from her neck, because she could feel the night-time breeze on the back of her neck. She wandered slowly round the gardens, aimlessly, taking her shoes off and carrying them in one hand. The faint sound of music from the ballroom followed her out on the breeze. She was glad that Neal had at last found someone else to dance with. It meant that she was now able to have a rest from being spun around the room until she was dizzy. It had made the blood run to her head, and the hot air had made her feel faint.

Kel lifted her face skywards. The sky was clear tonight, which meant that she could see the stars better. She looked across searchingly, trying to remember what she'd been told about astronomy. There was one pattern of stars, which she recognised immediately, and as she scrunched her eyes up trying to remember the name she felt a cool hand on her shoulder. It took her a few moments for her eyes to get used to the dark again.

"Neal?" she said, spinning around; but it was Roald.

"What are you doing outside?" she asked slowly. He shrugged and looked up at her.

"Probably the same reason as you," he answered before adding, "I danced with so many different ladies – I started to forget their names after a while," he said lightly. "My father makes me introduce myself to everyone!"

Kel nodded slowly. She would hate to have to dance with so many people she knew nothing about. She realised that it must be worse for Roald as he was shy meeting new people. He was looking at her now, running a hand through his raven black hair. Kel suddenly realised that she was shivering, even though her skin still felt warm. Roald noticed too.

"Are you cold?" he asked gently. Kel shook her head, pulling the sleeves of her dress over her hands. Roald reached up and placed a hand on her cheek. It felt freezing against her skin.

"No wonder you wanted to come outside," he said lightly. "Did Neal dance you to death?"

Kel looked up quickly at the mention of Neal's name.

"No, he was more interested in getting my sister to dance with him," she replied coolly, smiling at him. She realised that Roald was looking at her oddly. Eventually he glanced up at the trees behind her. In the silence, Kel could still hear the soft music being carried along the breeze. Roald must have noticed it too. He looked at her again; his eyes seemed intense. Slowly he stretched forwards his hand.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked quietly. Kel smiled, glad that that it was dark and he couldn't see her blush. Without replying, she took his hand, feeling the shiver run through her again as he held her close.

The hands on the back of her neck were cool. He felt cold next to Kel's warm skin. She turned her head and rested it on his shoulder.

"You're cold," she whispered. Roald though for a second.

"A bit," he agreed slowly, turning his face against the back of Kel's neck.

"And you can't have been bored of dancing, or you wouldn't have asked me to," she said carefully, as if trying to make a point. He tilted his head lightly, and Kel felt him shrug.

"So, how come you were outside?" He paused for a second kissing the back of her neck lightly.

"I saw you come outside," he said. "I wasn't sure if you were upset or something…and I wanted to see you alone," he admitted.

"And why was that?" Kel asked putting on an interested voice. She was sure, that if she could feel Roald smiling, then he would know that she was blushing. Roald didn't answer. She could feel his head lift from her shoulder and for a moment, she was staring into the sky above behind him, and then just as soon, she could feel his lips pressed against hers. Eventually he pulled away and stood up straight, amusement dancing in his eyes. She let him wrap his hands around both of hers.

"I should have done that before," he said quietly. Kel didn't reply. She looked up towards the ballroom, noticing that Neal was standing on the doorway, surrounded by light.

"Oh, I think Neal's looking for me already," she whispered.

"I told him I was going outside," she explained. Roald put a finger on her lips.

"Don't worry, he can't see us over here," he said, wrapping his arms around her gently.

"As long as we don't move." Kel stood still, until she saw that Neal had got bored and gone back into the hall. He fiddled with the shoulder of Kel's dress absently.

"I guess we'd better go back inside, before we're missed," Roald murmured reluctantly. Kel sighed gently and slipped her feet back into her shoes, where she'd dropped them earlier. He took her hand and kissed it lightly, as he would a lady in the court. Kel smiled and cuffed him gently as he pulled her towards him by the same hand and then pressed his lips lightly to hers.

She turned and left before him, making her way back to the ballroom. The faint music, that had reached her before, now becoming louder in volume the nearer she got to the castle. She could taste the mull wine on the air and was aware of Roald's gaze on her back as she walked through the door and back into the ballroom, where Neal greeted in exasperation.

* * *

Hehe!!! Hope you liked it; I'm not sure whether I should continue or not, but if you have any suggestions on where the story line should head next, that would be cool!! Anyway, thanks for reading this far down! R&R?! Thanks, Kim x