The moment that I got into our carriage, Giselle was talking about every little detail of her day. She had sat with the prince all day and had such a wonderful time. She talked about how charming and handsome he was and how he was so passionate about the tournament. It seemed that she had memorized every single word they had spoken to each other and now felt the need to relay every syllable to Victoria and me. She was taking every opportunity to gloat about how she was with the prince and I was not. With all her bragging, I did not know where I would have rather been. With Kol I got to see the rest of the tournament grounds and now knew some of his past, but I had missed out on spending a day with Christian. The first two days of the tournament had been fun and it was only Giselle's underhanded scheming that had ruined the third for me. Hearing her talk about how amazing Christian was today, I almost wished that I had not gone with Kol.

Even when we returned to the inn, Giselle did not stop talking about her day with Christian. She shouted from one side of the suite to the other to make sure that Victoria and I heard her. Victoria was happy that her sister had such a good day and responded with how her day had gone with Hector. I was surprised when Victoria addressed me instead of her sister, "Ebony, how was your day? I did not see you in the royal box."

The question was simply that. She had not asked it in a snide tone or with any hint of menace. It was as if she truly wanted to know. Victoria never asked about me unless it was to offer some unwanted and unkind comment. "I spent my time wandering the tournament grounds. I met one of the knights and saw some performers." I answered Victoria more than a bit confused.

Giselle did not care about my day and continued on talking as if I had not said anything at all. "That horrid Dewey did not even bother me as much today. He was talking to that one man. I think it was the twins' brother. Whoever he was, he is completely occupying Dewey's time and I do not have to avoid him to talk to Christian. It was splendid to not have that annoying pest hanging on my arm all day. Maybe he is finally coming to what little senses he has and will start leaving me alone now. I think I will go looking for a new dress tomorrow. Christian mentioned that he was going to be wearing a magenta and gold suit. I think that means that he wants to ask me to the ball himself. I want to be prepared if he does and not look a total mess, like other people."

I knew the last comment was directed at me. I hoped that Christian would not invite her to the ball. I would never hear the end of it if he did. I looked at the dress I had chosen to wear to the ball. It was hung on a hook on the wall. It was light yellow with a blue sash and a flared skirt. It wasn't as elaborate as my other dresses, but I liked it. While I was looking at my dress, Giselle was going on about how she would attend the next ball on Christian's arm. I was tired of listening to her talk and talk and talk.

"I am going to be going out tomorrow," I said suddenly. It had the desired effect and Giselle stopped her endless talking about Christian.

She emerged from her room and looked at me curiously. "Where do you have to go, Ebony?"

I lounged back where I sat. "I am meeting someone tomorrow. He wants to spend the day with me."

"Who is this 'he'?" Giselle snipped. She assumed it was Christian as I expected she would. Neither of them knew about Kol so to them the only man I knew in the city was Christian. Thinking he wanted to spend the day with me and not her might make her be quiet for once.

I shrugged. "I just thought I would tell you so you didn't worry. I will probably be gone most of the day."

"You can say his name, you know," Giselle snapped. "You have somehow tricked Christian into wanting to spend time with you and now you think you are all important. Well, let me tell you something, you are not special and it doesn't matter that you are spending the day with him."

"If it doesn't matter then you shouldn't mind." I jibed.

A sudden change came over Giselle's face. She became blank and said stiffly, "I am going to go write a letter."

She went back into her room, but did not close the door. I sat up and tried to look in after her. She was up to something and I wanted to know what it was. In a few seconds she came back out with a quill and a pot of ink. She walked across the room and I wondered where she was going. I realized too late what she was doing. I jumped up as she stood before my pretty yellow dress and threw the pot of ink at it.

"No!" I screamed.

Giselle turned away from the ruined dress. "Oops," was all she said.

I wanted to jump up and throttle her with my ruined dress. I was sure I would have if Victoria had not come in to see what the noise was. She took one look at my dress and her sister's ink stained fingers and frowned. "Giselle, what have you done?"

"It was an accident," she innocently replied.

I made to attack her but Victoria got to her first. She grabbed her sister's ear and tugged her into the bedroom. The door slammed behind them and I could hear Giselle getting scolded for what was probably the first time in her life. Victoria really had changed. I went over to my dress and touched the wet black fabric. My finger came away covered in ink and I felt like crying. Now what would I wear to the ball? I did not own many fancy dresses for I had no need of them in Lyscos. I had promised Kol that I would go and meet Argie tomorrow and I did not want to cancel our plans again. I looked at the ruined dress. Maybe if I explained it to him he would understand. I thought about what I could say. Everything that came to mind seemed so petty and frivolous. I touched a part of the dress that did not get ink on it and hoped for a miracle. I had gotten lucky before when things seemed hopeless. Maybe at the end of the day tomorrow I would have time to look for a new dress at the shops. If not there would still be one more day until the ball, but what could I find on such short notice?

Carefully, I took my dress from where it hung and disposed of it in the trash chute. I was sad to see it go but there was nothing that could be done. Somehow, Giselle had managed to only get ink on the dress and once it was gone there was no evidence of what she had done.

The next morning, I tried to be optimistic about the day. Maybe spending time in the lower city would make me forget that I might not be able to attend the ball. I decided I would wear the leather pants today and a dark green bodice that laced up the front. I did not expect to be chased or caught in the rain today, but with Kol I felt I could not be too careful. Even if something were to happen, I did not think things could get much worse.

"That is a nice outfit you are wearing today, Ebony," Giselle addressed me in an all-too-sweet voice. "It would be a shame if you spilled ink on it."

"If you don't watch it, you are going to wake up with ink in your hair." I muttered.

She didn't pay any attention to me after her snide remark and went about what she was doing. She was even humming happily. I guess Victoria wasn't too severe on her sister because Giselle almost skipped into the other room. She sang out Victoria's name as she went. She was proud that she had ruined my dress for the ball in one fell swoop. She most likely thought that I couldn't go to the ball now. Her happiness was abhorrent to me and I left as soon as I put on my comfortable walking boots.

To my surprise, when I exited the inn I saw Kol standing on the street holding the reins of a beautiful silver gray horse. I had thought we were to meet in the square even though he had never really said as much. The horse was leaning into his touch as he stroked its face and neck. He wore tight black pants under tall riding boots and a dark blue brocade vest over a white shirt and looked every inch the nobleman that he was. He had not noticed that I was near yet, but the horse did.

The horse reared slightly when I approached and Kol had to step back to avoid being hit in the face. He ran his hand soothingly along the horse's head to calm it.

"I'm sorry," I stopped a step away from the horse. "I did not mean to startle her."

Now Kol turned to smile at me. "Not to worry, Ebb, my Lady here is dreadfully shy around new people. Come, you had best introduce yourself or she might not let you ride her."

I slowly raised my hand to Lady's velvety soft face. "I am to ride her? Then what shall you ride?"

Kol didn't answer and only whispered the horse how silly I was. I looked around. There was no other horse near and he could not mean to walk all the way to the lower city. Then it dawned on me – we would both be riding the same horse.

I don't know how fast the chapters will be posted because the world is getting in my way majorly. I am trying to move out of my parents house into my own house with a roommate or two. It's all very sudden and stressful. I know how much I can post because there's a turning point where you won't want slow updates after that point.