"Prince Christian, there you are," Giselle purred as she sidled up next to him. She wrapped her thin fingers around his arm possessively.

Christian smiled at her flirtatiously. The blonde was always fun to toy with. She was mad about him and paying attention to the dark haired one made her go wild. He had not missed the glances and the verbal sparring matches the two had over him. At first he may have been intrigued by the oddness of Ebony's actions, but he soon realized that pitting the two of them against each other was much more fun. Unfortunately, Ebony seemed to have lost her will to fight for him and was paling around with Giselle. Now the blonde was at his side at every opportunity – not that he minded. She was beautiful after all and seemed willing to do almost anything to please him. So many women felt the same way that he had a difficult time deciding which one was worth his time. He chose to put up with Giselle to see how far he could push her before she decided he wasn't worth it. He guessed she would put up with quite a lot. Already she had seen him kiss numerous other girls and heard about when he kissed Ebony. It was too bad that she had not witnessed that kiss; Christian would have liked to see the two women attack each other in the middle of the ball.

"You found me," he intoned seductively. "How are you enjoying the ball so far?"

Giselle pouted her lips. "It is terribly dull. There are no handsome princes to dance with."

Christian chucked and grabbed her firmly by the waist. He turned her so she was close in front of him. She was the type of girl who liked that sort of thing, Ebony on the other hand wanted to be treated like some sort of special thing – much too bothersome to consider for any extended period of time. Still, it was entertaining to see her blush. "Is that so?" Christian growled playfully.

He watched as Giselle's smile curled to match his own. She wrapped her hands around Christian's neck and carefully pressed her lips to the edge of his jaw. It was a more forward action than she had ever attempted before and Christian liked it. Something about her was different. Before he had a chance to fully explore the change that had come over Giselle, there was a scream. He was surprised to hear a fowl curse word leave her plump lips as she turned to where she had left Ebony.

Ebony's hands had changed into gruesome claws and she was slashing at the people who were rushing to escape her. For a brief moment Christian considered how lucky he was to have chosen the other sister. Then he was scooting towards the door with the rest of the crowd. Ebony had turned into a monster and he was not going to stay around long enough for her to come after him. Giselle was following him, though she did not look very afraid.

"Mockery!" Someone shouted. The cry only incited more panic and made everyone more frantic in their rush towards the doors.

So it was a mockery and not the real Ebony who was going crazy in the ballroom. Christian and Giselle had made it into the hallway where everyone seemed to be stopping in one huge crush of people in fancy dress. A few more people were still trying to get out of the ballroom, but it was hard with the already crowded hallway. At this rate, someone was sure to be trampled and it would not be Christian. He made sure to force his way out of the crowd and away from the scene altogether. It was only right that he should get away first, he was royalty after all. He was surprised when he turned around and saw that Giselle had somehow managed to follow him out.

She laughed nervously. "I think I would feel safer if I stuck with you out of the reach of that thing."

Christian shrugged. He did not care if she followed him. Guards from other parts of the palace were running past them to get to the ballroom. Christian hoped that they could stop the mockery before it caused too much damage or escaped. A creature like that running loose in the town would cause havoc.

"Where are we going?" Giselle asked. She had to almost run to keep up with Christian's long strides.

"I was going to return to my room and wait for it all to resolve itself. I would not want to be in the way down there. Hector will be able to get the people organized and out of danger. He is good at that sort of thing. It's a good thing mother and father had not arrived yet. That monster was probably trying to assassinate the royal family."

Christian opened the door to his massive white and gold bedroom to allow Giselle entrance. "Probably," She muttered as she stepped into the room. He followed her and closed the door behind him. How many times had he been in a similar situation of having a woman in his room alone? He grinned to himself, almost too many to count and now there was one more.

The next morning, Christian woke up in his bed alone. Giselle had left hours before in the dead of night. She was a fiery one; there was no doubt about that. He sat up and stretched. All seemed quiet outside. He leisurely climbed out of bed and put his feet on the plush carpet. He would see if he could find out what had gone on in the ballroom last night.

The palace was deathly silent as Christian walked the halls. Normally there was some noise from servants passing and talking, but not today. It was strange. He passed by Curtis's room and even there it was silent. If his little brother was around there was always some annoying noise that alerted everyone of his presence. Whatever had happened last night at the ball must have been gruesome. Christian had heard that mockeries could cause serious damage to a town and he wondered how it was finally stopped. He stopped the first knight he saw. The man was slowly walking down the hallway with his helmet held loosely in one hand. He looked exhausted.

"You there, knight!" Christian called to him.

The knight slowly turned to face the prince but his shoulders remained hunched over. He did not even give Christian the customary bow of respect. "What is your name, soldier?"

"Marc, sir," The knight said tiredly.

"Were you at the battle last night, Marc?"

The knight nodded. Christian noticed he also looked sad. There must have been many casualties. "And what happened?"

"There was a mockery attack, sir." Marc answered. Christian waited for the man to continue on in more detail. He seemed a bit slow in the head. It figured that Christian would find an unintelligent knight to tell him about what happened. "The beast went wild at the ball. It killed over fifty people - just slaughtered them without a second thought. I have never seen such a violent creature. I lost friends to that monster."

"How was it finally defeated?"

"There was a girl – a woman – who defeated the mockery." Marc looked reverent when he talked about the battle's hero. Christian was surprised that a woman would fight at all. "Her name is Ebony Valix and she singlehandedly killed the mockery. We were all just barely fending off the mockery and keeping it in the ballroom when she appeared. She was already wounded and barely able to stand, but that did not slow her down. She bravely drew her sword and attacked the beast. The mockery swiped at her with her terrible claws, but Ebony was faster and dodged the blow while landing one of her own. She smashed the glass slippers the mockery wore then stabbed the beast through the heart. That woman is a hero."

"Ebony Valix?" Christian mused. He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. He could feel the stubble that had grown there overnight. If it was true that Ebony had defeated the mockery then he had to reconsider his view of her. He dismissed the knight and wandered down the corridor. His father had mentioned in passing before the celebration that Christian should start looking for a wife. At the time he thought it was absurd that he would want to marry anyone. No one was good enough to be his wife - all those simpering girls and whiny princesses. He could not stand any of them for very long, but Ebony…

Father and mother would definitely approve. She was a hero now and he would make her even more popular by marrying her. It would not be hard to get her to fall for him again; it had been so easy the first time. She would be easy to control so she would not get too annoying all the time and she was so timid there would be hardly any arguments. He could just tell her what to do and she would do it. To Christian, it seemed like the perfect match. She was pretty enough and her flaws could easily be fixed with some fairy magic. Yes, Ebony would be his wife. He would ask her soon, but first he had to woo her again by playing the doting admirer.

Christian found her lying in the palace infirmary. The king had insisted that she be treated by the best physicians he could find and stay in the palace to recover. Christian did not bother to clean up his disheveled state. He found that he was more attractive with a little stubble and his hair in disarray. Besides, it would appear that he was so worried about Ebony that he rushed right to her side as soon as he could. She would like that.

"She is resting right now. She has taken a potion for the pain and might not be completely awake at all today," The nurse who was attending Ebony's room quietly said when Christian came in. "For her wounds to heal completely without scarring, she needs rest."

Ebony was lying on her back in a single bed covered in clean white linens. She had various white bandages wrapped around her; the biggest was covering her chest and shoulders. Her black hair stood out in stark contrast to the paleness of her skin and the whiteness of the bed. Her eyes were closed in sleep while Christian pulled a chair over to sit by her bedside. He waited for her to wake for a few minutes – then a few minutes more. Growing impatient he gently took one of her hands in his. This caused her to stir and her eyes opened part way. Christian put on his best loving smile and stroked the hand he held.

"You got into quite a scrape last night," He said softly.

Ebony's eyes closed slowly and then reopened. "I did, didn't I?" She sighed. Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Christian could tell that what the nurse had said was true. The medicine they had given her was making her mind numb and sluggish.

He would not ask her today. She was too out of it for such a question. He was confident that the answer would be yes no matter when he asked. He could wait a few more days. In the meantime he would stay by her bedside and charm her with his caring attentions. For the next week that was exactly what he did. He spent most of his days with Ebony in the infirmary. He would read her books and bring her flowers. Often, Victoria or Hector was also visiting with Ebony. Even Curtis and Clover stopped in from time to time. He couldn't understand why, but she still seemed distant long after the medicine had worn off. At the end of the week she was able to laboriously sit up in bed with some help from Christian. He had been doing most of the talking while she just sat there listening. When he read to her, he noticed that she would stare blankly out the window. Once he even saw a tear roll down her cheek. He was quick to comfort her and reassure her that the nightmare was over and the mockery was gone forever. He had heard about trauma that was sometimes suffered after soldiers were in battle, Ebony must be going through the same thing.

Christian gave it a few more days before finding a large sparkly ring and tying it to a rose he was bringing Ebony. He had prepared what he was going to say and even practiced it in the mirror so he sounded sincere and loving when he asked the question. He dressed in a fine suit that day and Ebony looked at him in confusion when he entered. He had actually gotten her to smile yesterday for the first time. She was recovering and now was the perfect time to make her his fiancée.

"Why are you so dressed up, Christian?" Ebony asked. "I thought Hector's wedding was the day after tomorrow."

Christian made sure to not break eye contact with her as he removed the ring from the rose. "This isn't for Hector's wedding."

Ebony's eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth in shock as Christian knelt down beside her bed. "I have been thinking a lot about marriage and engagements these last few weeks – especially since I have been spending time with you. Joslynn is married and soon Hector will be as well. I think it is my turn to marry the woman I love." He held out the ring. "Ebony, will you be my wife?"

My proofreading hasn't been very good lately because I don't want to read the end of this story either. I want it to keep going, but it has to end.

I was going to do a new story and had started it then I stopped writing for a few days and when I came back it was not good. So when this story is over that will be it for awhile.