"So how about white roses as the centerpiece?" Noel asked, looking down at the parchment between them. He wrote down 'white roses' on the parchment with his quill and sat back in his chair.
"How about no. White roses are so cliche, especially for weddings." Alison said, shaking her head.
This had been going on for about an hour. They couldn't seem to decide on anything involving their wedding. Well, it was more like Noel was pitching ideas and Alison was shooting them down. The only thing that they had decided on was when they were having their wedding. Noel, who seemed to have changed his mind about getting married in three months, was trying to push September 30th. Alison on the other hand, did not want to get married that early, preferring the three month marriage date. In the end, Noel and Alison compromised that they would get married in late October instead, since neither of them wanted to do what the other wanted.
Noel sighed and crossed out 'white roses' on the parchment. "Alison, we have to decide on something." Noel said, leaning back in his chair.
"I know. It's not my fault that you have the worst ideas when it comes to weddings." Alison said. She appreciated that Noel kept a civil tongue with her the whole time that they argued on their wedding. She was surprised that he didn't blow up at her when she said that she did not royal purple to be the color scheme of the wedding. After all, royal purple was one of the main colors of Ravenswood.
"Fine. If you think I have the worst ideas, why don't you pitch some ideas and I can decide on them." Noel said, tossing the quill at the table for Alison to pick up.
"Fine." Alison said, simply as she picked it up and pulled a fresh sheet of parchment towards her. Ideas were forming in her head, as if she had been planning this all her life. "I say, blue hydrangeas for the bouquets and centerpieces."
"Hydrangeas?" Noel asked.
"Not cliche and very beautiful." Alison said, beginning to write down things on the parchment.
After about half an hour, Noel and Alison had gotten some progress. All royalty from all kingdoms was invited, Alison's friends were going to be staying in the nicer guest rooms of the castle, the same went for Noel's parents and his older and younger brother, Noel was going to be coronated as King of Rosewood following their vows, and Alison's white dress would be handmade by Ravenswood's finest dress maker. For some reason, Noel insisted that the dress came from Ravenswood.
"I think that's enough for now." Alison said, when she wrote down the thing on the list.
"Well we made progress." Noel said, yawning and stretching.
"I think my friend's should visit the kingdom soon." Alison said, even though Noel couldn't really prevent her from inviting them.
"Why?" Noel asked. "You'll see them at the wedding."
"I know...I just haven't seen them since my 18th birthday and I never had time for them because I became queen." Alison said.
"Since when have you wanted to 'rekindle the friendships' with them? You rarely saw them anyway since they live so far away." Noel said. "Besides, you never were exactly all that nice to them."
"I know, Noel." Alison said, rolling her eyes.
"Remember that one time when you told Spencer that-" Noel began to smirk.
"Her kingdom has the worst apples. I know Noel." Alison said, glaring at Noel.
Noel began laughing, even though he had been there to witness the event and always brought it up when he saw Alison.
"I'm going back to my room." Alison huffed, leaving a laughing Noel in the room.
When Alison arrived back at her room, she sat at her desk and pulled out three sheets of parchment and four letters. After dipping her quill in the black ink, she addressed each letter to three different people, but wrote the same message to them.
'I hope this letter finds you alright, and I apologize that I haven't seen you since my 18th birthday.
As you may or may not already know, I am to marry Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood at the end of October. A more formal invitation to our wedding will arrive soon for that, but this is an invitation for you to come to the castle, as sort of a reunion. You can stay at the castle for a week, we can host a royal ball at the castle.
Please come on September 7th, the ball will be on September 10th, I was thinking a masquerade ball and invite royalty from all over.
I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
From,
Ali'
Alison stared down at the three identical letters briefly as the ink dried. When the ink dried to the parchment, Alison folded the three letters and placed them in the envelopes. She sealed the letters with the Rosewood wax seal and on the letters she wrote;
'Princess Spencer Hastings.'
'Princess Hanna Marin.'
'Princess Aria Montgomery.'
She felt nervous, wondering if the girls would accept the invitation, ignore it, or do far worse things. She especially wondered how Aria would take the news of her and Noel getting married, since it was no secret that she had a thing for Noel.
After staring at the letters, Alison stood up and grabbed them. She exited her room and walked down to hand the letters to the messenger, hopefully the letters would arrive to them in a week. Now all Alison could do is prepare for their arrival, hopefully they would come.
It was getting late and Alison's eyes began to itch of tiredness. She would have someone write and send all the masquerade invitations tomorrow. She climbed the stairs and entered her room, greeted by Emily, who must've arrived while Alison was getting the letters sent. Alison smiled slightly at the presence of Emily as they started her nighttime routine. Alison was rid of her dress and crown, her hair was braided and she all ready for bed.
As Alison climbed into bed, Emily came up and began to pull the covers up over her. "I'm having a masquerade ball." Alison told Emily happily. "My friends Hanna, Spencer, and Aria are coming to the castle soon and we'll have the ball a few days later."
"Does Noel know?" Emily asked as she pulled the covers up to Alison's shoulders.
"Not yet. But everyone's going to wear masks so that nobody knows who is who and at midnight we'll all take them off to reveal who is who, that way you can go!" Alison said, watching Emily as she leaned over to blow out Alison's light.
"Me?" Emily asked, the room filling with darkness.
"Yes! We can say you're a princess and you can meet everyone." Alison said, excited about her plan.
"And where do we say I'm from when people ask?" Emily asked. Alison couldn't see Emily's face, but she could sense Emily had a frown on her face.
"We'll figure it out as we get closer to the party. I think my friends will like you." Alison said sleepily, closing her eyes.
Emily sighed at Alison's remark, "Goodnight Ali." Emily said quietly. Alison, who was already falling asleep, was almost surprised when she felt Emily's lips on her temple.
"I could get used to that." Alison mumbled. Emily just chuckled in response before leaving Alison's room for her own.
Alison awoke with a start, her body covered in a thin layer of sweat. It was pitch black in her room, and still the dead of night. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just sprinted for a long period of time. She propped herself up with her elbows and tried to control her breathing. There was a twist of guilt in her stomach and she knew it wouldn't go away until she carried out deed.
She got up from her bed and placed two of her pillows under the covers to make it look like she was sleeping in her bed still. When that was done, she walked into her closet and changed out of her pajamas.
Fifteen minutes later, Alison exited her bedroom silently, pulling the hood of her red coat over her to hide her face. Her dark brown wig hid all her blonde hair underneath it, but Alison was still on edge. She headed towards the secret exit of the castle that only she knew about, the same exit that she and Emily used to get into Rosewood's town square. She made her way to the end of the hall and looked around her, making sure no one was following. She reached out to the large painting in front of her and ran her finger behind it's frame. The painting opened like a door, revealing a dark tunnel that led to Rosewood's town.
Alison picked up the nearby lit lantern and held it in front of her as she entered the tunnel of the painting. There was a lot of cobwebs in the tunnel and at some points, Alison swore she heard the scurrying of rats. She navigated her way through the underground tunnel until she reached a ladder that lead to the surface. Before climbing up the ladder, she placed the lantern on the tunnel's floor so she had it for when she returned.
Alison pushed open the door at the top of the ladder and boosted herself up. She felt the cool air hit her face as she surfaced from the ground. She was in the crypt of the DiLaurentis family. Her grandparents and great grandparents and so forth were buried in the crypt, as creepy as that was. Alison didn't linger in the crypt for long, she made her way towards the exit and opened the door.
The graveyard was empty and the gravestones cast strange shadows everywhere from the moonlight. She ran towards the exit of the graveyard and onto the streets of Rosewood. The only occupants on the streets were the Rosewood guards patrolling with their torches lit. Alison, knowing that no resident of Rosewood was allowed on the streets this late, took to the shadows of the various houses and trees.
When Alison arrived at the destination she was looking for, she entered the house and closed the door silently behind her. She crept towards the familiar dining room table. On the empty dining room table, she placed a coin pouch, heavy with money, and a note. As quickly as she came, Alison left the house, hurrying back to the graveyard to return to the castle.
"You're here!" Alison said, delighted at the sight of her three friends in the main entrance of the castle. She descended the stairs quickly and rushed over to the three, hugging each of them individually.
"It's good to see you!" Spencer said when Alison wrapped her in a hug.
"I'm so happy you guys came!" Alison said, beaming.
"Wow Ali, what happened to you since you've been queen?" Hanna asked.
"Yeah, you're actually smiling." Aria said.
Luckily for Alison, Noel had left over a week ago back to Ravenswood. He was going to return for the masquerade ball, which turns out he was actually excited for. He had already told Alison that he was going to have a half face white mask.
"Do you want to go up to my room? We can catch up." Alison said, motioning for the girls to follow her up the stairs. "Besides I want you to meet someone."
When they arrived in Alison's room, Emily was sitting on Alison's bed just as Alison left her. The three girls followed behind Alison, looking confused at Emily.
"Who's this?" Hanna asked.
"This is my assistant Emily... And my friend." Alison said.
"You're friends with your assistant? That's a first." Spencer said.
"Yeah you were never friends with Mona. You treated her like-" Aria began, but Alison cut her off.
"Emily is a really nice person." Alison cut Aria off, not knowing what else to say. "She's going to be a fake princess at the masquerade ball."
"Well any friend of Alison is a friend of mine." Hanna said, smiling at Emily.
Emily smiled timidly at Hanna. Spencer and Aria nodded at Hanna's statement, also smiling at Emily.
"Uh, so, now that we know each other, why don't we catch up on each other's lives since June." Alison said, breaking the silence.
"What do you desire to know?" Hanna asked.
"How's things with Noel's friend Caleb? Ravenswood boys are your thing?" Alison asked.
"Caleb? Oh, Noel introduced us at your birthday... his dad isn't royalty, but they are very rich in Ravenswood." Hanna explained, her face going pink.
"Which is why I invited him to the ball! That way you can talk more." Alison said, winking.
"I thought only royalty could go." Hanna said, shocked by Alison's news.
"I made an exception. Besides, Noel requested that Caleb would come so I thought, why not?" Alison explained.
Hanna smiled and looked at her hands as Alison turned towards Spencer. "And what about you Spencer?" Alison asked.
"Uh, well you know-"
"Is Toby from Brookhaven still in the picture?" Alison asked, winking at Spencer.
Spencer's face went bright red and she nodded. Emily couldn't help but notice that Alison seemed to have dirt on everyone, and knew everything about their personal life.
"Well you should know he was invited as well." Alison said, smiling.
After they caught up with Aria's life, the girls sat in silence in Alison's room. Finally, Hanna was the one to break the silence between the five of them.
"So how about you Emily? What's your story?" Hanna asked, smiling cheerfully at Emily.
As Emily explained her story to the four of them, Alison watched on uncomfortably. All of them seemed interested in what Emily had to say, especially Hanna, which is the reason why she was so uncomfortable. Hanna seemed a bit too interested for Alison's liking, and she knew she shouldn't feel this about Emily and Hanna but she did anyway. Alison kept reminding herself that Hanna liked Caleb all throughout Emily's life story, but anger was rising in the pit of her stomach and she didn't know how much longer she could hold it in.