45. The Black And White Ball.

[Luke]
"She'll be here won't she?" Liam asked when he noticed my nervous actions.
It was the annual black and white masquerade ball hosted by the palace, the palace was bubbling with a lot of preparations going on and I was feeling a lot of tension like I usually felt anytime the palace hosted a big event.
My father tried to convince me to do a face reveal but like all the other times he'd asked, I refused and I was still going to attend the event with a large sun blocking hat but I wasn't going to put on some shades because it was a masquerade ball and I was wearing a golden mask, like all the other members of the royal family.
"It's just a lot of tension." I huffed straightening my tie in the mirror.
"I wish I could help." He sighed patting my back.
"Yeah, I wish you could too." I turned to face him before adding. "You can, by staying by my side all night though."
"If I'm not called for work, I will. Besides, I would like to take your place and dance with Megan when the time comes." He smiled.
"Claire will be there and she will see me, she would like to dance with me, I just don't know how I can keep this up."
"You can and you will because you already started this." He laughed and brushed the shoulders of my suit.
"Liam, it can't work, we can't both have dark hair and it will be almost impossible to switch so fast," I complained. I wondered why he was so calm about this.
"Well, that's why we have the hat, you need to relax Luke, it's a masquerade ball, everyone will have on masks and no one will crucify either one of us for having on white or black wigs."
"That makes so much sense." I exhaled in relief. "It could work but we'd have to be really careful."
"Of course, careful is my middle name." He grinned.
"Fine, if we're careful enough, we can pull it off, we can always use the same trick as last time." I smiled remembering the charity ball.
"The dark halls." We both said in unison and we started laughing.
This was my best friend, he could literally take a very tense situation and change the mood to a lighter and happier one in an instant.
"We do need to stay clear of Sir Thomas," I warned.
"Yeah, that man has been watching us both like a hawk stalks its prey."
"I know."
A knock on the door distracted us and I got up from the bed. Before I got there though, Liam was faster and he reached the door before me.
"Hi, I have a delivery for the Prince." The person spoke from the other side of the door and I froze.
Now I was lucky that Liam was not yet ready so he did not look very much like me yet.
"I thought the Prince's outfit was already delivered," Liam argued.
"Yes, but there's been a mistake, that outfit is for his companion, I think his name is Liam, I have his right here."
"If you'll just inform him that the stylists have arrived, we'd like to get him ready for the ball." The french accent that I couldn't forget rang outside.
Liam turned to me and he noticed that I was about to pass out from my panic, he shut the door immediately without responding and rushed to my side.
"What is wrong, you look unwell?" He asked hurriedly.
"Sophie and Michele, they are Claire's best friends." I croaked out.
"Oh my God, you're royally fucked, Luke." He groaned and rushed back to the door.
"I'm afraid the Prince will need another stylist." He switched up his accent a bit and he sounded really proper and snobbish.
"I mean, I don't, why, we've been hired by the—"
"Are there other stylists, can you get him others, you think I know what his highness is thinking but if you ask me, he's a bit of a xenophobe."
"Ah.. oh, what a dick." Sophie hissed and shoved the clothes into Liam's hand.
"We'll send him other stylists, preferably indigenes." Michele sounded hurt as he also left.
"That was close." Liam closed the door and fell to the floor.
"Xenophobe, really?" I shook my head at Liam.
"Yeah, it was either that or something much worse." He told me and I raised my brow at him, I did not think there was anything worse than that.
"You do not want to know what." He added when I kept staring at him.
My stomach growled a second later and I made a beeline for the toilet, all the tension had upset my stomach.
I knew that Sophie and Michele were stylists but I never expected them to be working at the black and white ball.
When I came out of the bathroom, I spied my phone on the bed and I gasped, I had a lot of missed calls from Claire.
.
.
[Claire]
I called Jean after I got dressed, by myself, I might add because Sophie and Michele were just too busy.
They sent me a beautiful gown though and a makeup and hair tutorial video on Whatsapp so I watched the video and followed the routine.
Jean was not picking my call and I really did not want to attend the ball alone so I had no choice but to call Mr. Anders.
He was more than happy to come and pick me up and that truly creeped me out.
I could've gone alone but I didn't want to because I did not know if Ivan was waiting around somewhere to catch me alone, especially at night and I was almost sure that he was going to be at the ball.
He was so popular and influential in Boston, I was sure he had brought some of his influence to Copenhagen and he probably also knew that I was going to attend the ball because of my work, so I did not want to be caught alone.
"I see you decided to call me after all." Mr. Anders smiled, taking in my appearance.
I felt kind of self conscious at his intense gaze and I wanted to cover up my body instantly.
"Um, yeah, my boyfriend got busy," I replied, locking my house door.
"You look amazing, I can not think of anything that could ever distract a man from you."
"Um, thank you, sir," I replied awkwardly.
Mr. Anders led the way to his parked car and he opened the car door. I thanked him and entered, all the while feeling like a thousand spiders crawling up my body.
***
"It gets beautiful every time." I gasped when we pulled up in front of the palace.
"Yeah, put on your mask, we don't want to risk being recognized." Mr. Anders hurried me.
"Um Sir, I thought we had an official pass, aren't we supposed to take pictures and ask for interviews?"
"Dressed like this." He laughed. "No, honey, we have other people for that, our job is to get the secret scoop, I'll mingle with the men and find out any gossip and I think you should do the same."
"Okay, sir."
"Yes, also hold this in your purse." He said, thrusting a tiny camera into my hand. "It will come in handy if you can flirt your way to the Prince."
Ah.. not the Prince again I sighed inwardly, Jean did not like that and he'd be really upset if he found out that I was trying to expose the Prince.
"I can't guarantee that I will get to the Prince, many have tried but he's just so hard to approach."
"Yeah, with a face like yours and that body in that dress." He said dragging a finger along my exposed cleavage. "You don't have to worry about that."
I recoiled from his touch, nearly jumping out of the car. I did not wait for him to open the car door for me before I got out and bolted.
"I'll text you when we're about to leave." He shouted over the noise but I just ignored him and walked away as fast as I could, I had no intentions of going back with him.
The guards at the front door asked for my invitation and I presented it to them, fortunately, there was not a long line outside and I did not have to wait for long.
The palace was even more beautiful and grand than it was the other time. The decor screamed luxury and everyone was dressed in beautiful outfits. I was dressed in a beautiful black gown and I had a silver mask on, my red hair was piled on top of my head and secured in a high bun with pins.
I looked around the grand hall gaping at the sheer luxury of it all, I did not know how Mr. Anders expected me to mingle and collect gossip from all of these people here.
They looked more classy than the group of people I was used to dealing with at business events and parties in America.