Revelation

About a week later Aidan had still sneaked from the palace ever so often to go visit Kat. But unfortunately his sneaking had attracted the attention of his ever so loyal captain and he had questioned his prince many times about his disappearances and Aidan had to come up with many, some even quite far-fetched, excuses to ease the mind of his mother hening captain.

Of course during all week Aidan tried to find the courage and words to confess his love to Kat, but always whenever he started he'd back out and would say something else. Of course Aidan knew that his time was also running out. The negotiations were almost finished and then he'd have no excuse to stay in the kingdom and he'd have to return to his own, never to see Kat ever again. He couldn't bear the thought.

He would have to find a way to tell Kat about his feeling and soon. The negotiations would only take a day, two at most, anymore and then they would sign the contract and he'd be on his way back home.

But even the ever closing deadline didn't bring Aidan the courage he so desperately needed. What if Kat didn't return those feelings and only saw him as a friend? How will she react when she finds out he's actually a prince and has been lying to her this whole time? Every scenario he thought in his head never ended well for him and every reaction he feared Kat would have when she'd found out the truth became more and more frightening every time he thought about them.

And soon the negotiation came to an end and Aidan still hadn't managed to build up the courage to confess his feelings to Kat. And now as he held the quill in his hand and signed the contract he couldn't feel the relief the contract was originally supposed to bring as he only felt the defeat of how cowardly he actually was. He could fight bandit's head on, ride a wild horse in a deadly speed, heck he could even face his father when he was angry, yet he couldn't confess his feelings to the girl he loved. His father would be so ashamed of his son right now if he knew.

Aidan was now walking the halls of the palace only feeling the defeat and anger towards himself bubbling inside of him until he heard a shout behind him.

''Prince Aidan, wait for minute,'' he heard King Kit say as he walked towards Aidan. The King was obviously in his mid-forties, but he still looked very healthy and in shape. His dark hair had gained some gray in them and some wrinkles had started to form around his eyes and mouth, but those only made him look like the wise and just king he has been for the last twenty years he's been the king. Aidan hoped that he could one day be as good king as his father and the king before him were.

''Your Majesty, how can I help you?'' Aidan said as he bowed to the king.

''Well I was wondering that my kingdom hasn't had a trading contract signed with Valora in over fifty years, so I thought about celebrating it with a ball. I haven't held one of those in many years and I was hoping that you and your escort would join us in celebration,'' King Kit said with a smiling face.

Aidan was of course ecstatic. Not about the ball itself, but the possibility to spent more time with Kat.

''Yes, of course Your Majesty. I would be honored to attend to such a feast,'' Aidan agreed as he bowed to the king once again to hide his overly smiling face. He could not blow this one. He finally got more time to confess his feelings to Kat and he was going to do it.

''Excellent, I am going to include the whole kingdom into this ball of course. My wife and I aren't the only ones who will benefit from this contract, so the whole kingdom will of course have a reason to celebrate,'' King Kit said.

The whole kingdom. That means Kat too. What could be more perfect place to confess his feelings than a magnificent ball, Aidan thought.

''What will be the date of this feast, Your Majesty?'' Aidan asked.

''With this kind of short notice I would say a week from now, but I will need your help with the planning. My wife Ella will of course help us; she loves these sorts of parties. Must remind her of the ball where we danced the first time together,'' Kit teased the young man in front of him, who immediately turned red on the face of thinking the King and his wife in their younger days.

''Of course Your Majesty,'' Aidan said while blushing.

Soon the Royal Announcers were sent to the kingdom to announce the important event that would hold place in one week at the Royal Palace and everyone in the kingdom was invited to come. The announcer of course didn't forget to mention about the young prince who was going to attend to the ball and that he helped the king to sign the trading contract that would ensure them more safety if they were to be attacked by hostile kingdoms.

Kat had been in the village to help Mr. Chase to restock some books he got from another bookstore, when the announcer came to the village. Mr. Chase had sent Kat to find out what the commotion was about as his knees weren't as good as they used to be. And when Kat heard the news she was ecstatic about the idea of the ball, but then her mood dropped when she thought about it realistically and she knew that she wouldn't be going as the Lady would never allow it and she had nothing to wear anyway.

Mr. Chase of course tried to cheer her up, but couldn't really do anything except ask Kat about the book he had given her to read. Kat told him how it would be a good book to sell, but that the hope about magic and happily ever after's only brought her mood down, especially now when she realized once again how much she has been denied to have in life. Mr. Chase tried to tell Kat that one day things would be different for her and that it was a promise. To that Kat could only hug the old man, who had become like a grandfather to her.

When Kat got back home she of course told the Lady and Beatrice about the ball, since if she didn't the Lady would punish her because she withheld this kind of important information.

Beatrice of course was jumping around the room in excitement, already planning her gown, hair and jewelry to the ball so that she would catch the eye of the prince and so that he would ask her to marry him and that the when that would happen she would become the princess of the rich kingdom. The Lady too was planning the event with more calculating mind and thinking how her daughter must have the best of everything to stand out from the obvious crowd of young women.

Kat was obviously forgotten from the plans as the Lady had no plans of even thinking about allowing Kat to attend as she would only ruin Beatrice's chance of getting the rich prince. Kat didn't even bother to ask for permission to go as it would only lead in more heartache than what she already had. So she just quietly, while the Lady and Beatrice were planning the ball outfits, walked out of the manor into the garden.

Kat walked next to the well and sat down to the ground. She felt like crying, but knew that tears wouldn't help her get anywhere and then the Lady would just scold her for being such a cry baby and order her to be thankful for what she had.

But just then she heard the familiar whistle from the gate. She turned to look and saw Aidan there.

''Aidan what are you doing here, the Lady's home,'' Kat hissed at him, feeling worried that the Lady would see him.

''Don't worry she won't see me. And I can't stay for long. Have you heard about the ball yet?'' Aidan then asked.

''The village talks nothing else but about it,'' Kat says, making Aidan nod his head.

''Kat you have to come to the ball,'' Aidan suddenly says.

''I can't. The Lady won't allow it and I don't have anything to wear,'' she says as she points at her ragged green dress.

''Just try, please. I won't be able to see you during this week as I will help the king to plan the event,'' Aidan says. Kat was just about the say how he's asking the impossible, when something Aidan said gets her attention.

''Aidan, why are you helping the King to plan it?'' Kat asks. Aidan looks at her in alarm as if she said something terrible, but then he just sighs.

''I knew the truth would come out eventually. Kat please try to understand what I'm about to say. I lied to you and I'm so sorry, but…I'm Prince Aidan of Valora and I came here to sign the trading contract with the king,'' Aidan finally admits.

To this confession Kat doesn't even have any words. Aidan the sweet charming man, who has been helping her to do her chores for two weeks, was actually a prince. The man who Kat fell deeply in love with is the prince.

''Kat please, I wanted to tell you, but I thought you'd treat me differently if you knew. I was so sick of everybody treating me like some high and mighty just so they would get something out of it. You didn't. You treated me just like any other guy and you got to know the real me. You got to know Aidan, not Prince Aidan,'' Aidan tried to explain while Kat tried to proses this information in her head. Some part of her understood what Aidan was saying, but the other part of her felt deeply hurt by the fact that he lied. And these two emotions were now at war with each other, trying to fight for the dominance of her feelings.

Just then they heard the Lady's loud shriek, ''Kat get in here! I need you to help Beatrice!''

Kat was just about to go inside, when Aidan grabbed her hand from the other side of the gate.

''Kat promise you try to come to the ball, please,'' Aidan begged. Kat took a look of Aidan's face and saw pure desperation.

''I'll try,'' Kat said quietly and released her hand from Aidan's and went inside, her feelings still fighting with each other.

XXX

During the next week Kat actually had very little time to think about Aidan and his revelation. The Lady made Kat help Beatrice in absolutely everything. Kat had to curl and straighten Beatrice's hair and do different hairstyles according to Beatrice's instructions as she wanted to look for different styles until she would decide what she wanted for her hair at the ball to be like.

Kat also helped Beatrice to wash herself as Beatrice didn't want to 'tire' herself so she would be rested and relaxed at the ball. Kat washed Beatrice's hair with rose scented shampoo and her skin with honey soap. After the bath Kat would moisturize Beatrice's skin with her favorite lotion that smelled like vanilla. All the different scents around her almost made Kat's head spin and she wondered how Beatrice could stand it.

During the week Kat also had to polish all of Beatrice's and the Lady's shoes and jewelry so that they'd be in precise condition when the day of the ball would arrive. Kat also had to mend, wash and iron all of Beatrice's gowns, laces and ribbons so that they'd be perfect, but then suddenly Beatrice decided that she wanted a brand new dress for the ball and the Lady and Beatrice hurried to the tailor and ordered the dress Beatrice wanted. It was supposed to be ready the day before the ball.

Then the big day finally arrived and Kat was once again forced to help Beatrice to get ready. She washed Beatrice, helped her dry her hair, put on a dozen different perfumes and finally helped her with her hairstyle. Beatrice had finally decided to have her hair straightened and made Kat put her hair into a big high sleek bun at the top of her head. She also wanted to add a big fuchsia decorative flower at the base of the bun. The flower was very vibrant in color and clashed violently with the light color of her hair and the size was clearly over the size of an adult male's hand.

The dress Beatrice had ordered was even more ridiculous and over the top than the last one she had gotten. The dress was sleeveless and it had tight bright sunflower yellow bodice with thin bright pink vertical stripes. Over her bust the dress had big ruffles in color of bright pink and yellow those were horizontally striped. The bottom of the dress had similar ruffles like on the bust, but much bigger and the pink and yellow stripes went vertically this time.

For shoes Beatrice had very simple pink heels and surprisingly she kept her jewelry very simple compared to the outrageous dress she had. She only wore one simple, yet slightly large, silver necklace that had big teardrop shaped diamond hanging from it and silver drop earrings to match the necklace.

To be frank Beatrice looked absolutely ridiculous. But she thought that she looked gorgeous as the bright colors would get a lot of attention and the Lady actually agreed with her and they were both sure that Beatrice would catch the Prince's attention. And Kat was sure that Aidan would notice Beatrice, just not in a good way.

The lady's gown was more subtle. She had deep dark purple colored sleeveless gown, that hugged her figure perfectly and over the sleeveless gown she had black see-through lace gown that had long sleeves and complimented the deep purple color. For shoes she had black heels like usually.

For jewelry she went very simply, just silver drop earrings. Her hair she wanted in a low intrigued bun and so that her bangs would be away from her face. To be honest the Lady looked thousand times more dignified than Beatrice and the Lady was in her fifties.

Soon the carriage pulled at the front of the manor and just then Kat managed to build up her courage to go to the Lady.

''My lady,'' Kat said making the Lady to turn and look at her. ''Would I be able to go to the ball too?'' Kat shyly asked.

The Lady looked at her for a moment, then she and her daughter started to laugh at her.

''My dear sweet gullible servant. Do you honestly think we'd take a trash like you with us?'' Lady asked in a venomous tone, making Kat hang her head in disappointment. ''Now listen to me and listen well:'' the Lady said while putting her finger under Kat's chin and lifting it so their eyes met, ''you are nothing more than a beggar and a waste of space. I took you in by the goodness of my heart and I gave you roof above your head, food you can eat and clothes you can wear and you have the nerve to ask me to go to this ball, where only eligible people are allowed. Mark my words: you're a ragged servant girl and that's what you will always be. You will not go to the ball,'' Lady declared as she left poor Kat standing at the front hall while she ushered Beatrice to go to the carriage.

Kat looked as the carriage, with the Lady and her daughter in it, pulled out of the front gate and looked as it rode along the road, away from the manor. She then ran to the backyard and sat on the step by the kitchen door.

She looked at the slowly darkening evening sky for a moment and then, she wept.