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Chapter 3

As the guests began to assemble through the front gates, carriage by carriage, I became even more nervous. The Queen herself made the guest list, she said it would be a "splendid" surprise.

I walked down the grand staircase to meet up with the Royal family and my family who were greeting the first guests. Admiral Worthington and his daughter were amongst the first to arrive. Thankfully, I thought with a small sigh of relief, I will not be the only one here of my age. I curtsied and smiled politely. The Admiral returned my smile with a handsome bow and a tip of the hat; however, his daughter only smiled an insincere one in fact, and began to look around at the other guests. Her grey eyes spotted the Cross family, and she excused herself and went to their daughter.

As the party continued, I kept seeing the Admiral and the Cross family's daughters glance at me then whisper in a low voice. As a refuge from their glances, I headed towards the library. In the library, I said to myself, "Its okay, it is only for a few more hours; the night will soon be over." I am not sure why I was so worried about their glances. It was something deeper than that, I could feel it lying deep inside. I just had a bad feeling about tonight. I opened a window for fresh air, although it did not help. I settled myself back into a seat. In the hallways, there were two voices, only one of which I did not recognize.

"Let's give her, her birthday surprise," the muffled voice said, finishing off with a dry humorless giggle.

"Indeed, Happy Birthday Renee," the Queen's voice said, when once again, everything went dark.

The bright light appeared again except this time instead of showing the sad girl it showed me George. He was just out of reach when suddenly a man stabbed him in the back. His eyes grew wide and he breathed his last breath of air in a single phrase, "I'm sorry Renee." Then he fell to the ground. I awoke crying, only to find myself back in the library. Thoughts started to whiz around in my head. Why George? He was my best friend; he always protected me from anything that happened. The two people in the hall had not come in yet. I quickly wiped the tears off my face and got ready for their entrance.

"Happy birthday!" a voice cried out into the silence of the library.

"Thank you, your Majesty! You gave me quite a startle!" I said in return trying to hide my teary face.

"May I present to you, Miss Worthington, the Admiral's daughter," the Queen spoke in a friendly voice. Thank goodness, the Queen favors me as if I were her daughter, although I am her niece, or this meeting maybe would have involved an apology for sneaking away from the ball. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted with one another, enjoy your evening!" the Queen said as she left us alone in the library.

A good five minutes passed before a word was spoken.

"Are you enjoying yourself Miss Worthington?" I asked in the friendliest voice I could muster, before wiping my face of a single tear falling down my cheek.

"Felicity, please." She said as if she owned the place.

"Very well then, are you enjoying yourself, Felicity?" I said.

"It is a splendid ball, thank you for inviting me." I was not sure if she was being polite or honest.

"Thank you, I hardly planned it, it was the Queen's idea." I babbled on like a nervous fool.

"How lovely," Felicity gave another of her insincere smiles.

"Well, we better be off to the party if we want to make it for dinner," I said in a attempt to end this awkward conversation.

The walk back to the hustle and bustle of the ball was another silent five minutes. When we reached the tables, I sat next to the Queen and Felicity next to her father. I looked around for George, but he was nowhere to be found.

Later that night, the Queen's messenger gave her a secret telegram. She read it without a flinch and tucked it into her sleeve.

After the party was over, I walked to the Queen's bedroom chamber to express my gratitude for the ball. When I arrived, the room grew silent. My parents and the Queen just stared at me when I walked in. My Mother was in my Father's warm embrace with tears in her eyes.

"Renee, please come here," the Queen ordered in her motherly tone. "I am very sorry to tell you this," I was beginning to feel my stomach start to jump, "but your friends George, "my stomach was doing somersaults by now, and I felt like I was going to throw up, "is no longer with us." I broke down and fell to the cold marble floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

"If only I…" my voice trailed off, I did not know how to finish my sentence.

"It is not your fault, he was stabbed, there was nothing you could do," Mother's calming voice tried to make me feel better.

I quickly left her room and went to my bedroom. I knew from now on, that nothing would ever be the same again. In my room, I cried myself to sleep; it was my only escape from what had just happened, until the next morning at least.

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