Chapter 1: Selene

Claire comes into my room and opens my curtains, I groan and hide under my blankets, “Good morning, Princess.” She told me; I raised up and smiled at her, 

“Morning.” She smiled and started picking up my room, “You don’t have to clean my room, I’m almost twenty, I can handle it.” Claire gave me a small look,

“It’s my job.” She told me simply, “Your parents are downstairs in the dining hall; I believe they wanted to discuss the ball for your birthday on Saturday.” I nodded and got up and began getting dressed, “Oh, and you have a dress fitting at midnight.” I mentally screamed, 

“I have plenty of dresses, I can just wear something I already have.” I told her but she went to make my bed and completely ignored me as she worked. I smiled and slipped on a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. After brushing my teeth and putting on a bit of makeup, I headed downstairs to meet with my parents.

It was dark out. My parents decided that it might be better for everyone if our ‘mornings’ were actually at night, that way more people could come and not be killed by the sun. I entered the dining hall and smiled at my parents, they were talking amongst themselves; they looked so in love. “Good morning, sweetheart.” My father said, Mom turned and smiled at me,

“Morning.” I kissed Dad’s cheek before sitting across from my Mom, “Claire said that you wanted to talk to me about the ball?” I asked, they nodded, 

“We wanted to know who you wanted to invite?” Mom asked, “I know you said that you wanted to invite everyone but we were wondering if you had a more specific reason?” I shook my head,

“No, I just thought it would be fun to have everyone here. It’s a ball, not a council meeting.” I told them, though, not everything I told them was the truth, but they believed me anyways,

“Okay, well, good.” Dad said, “I’ll have the invitations sent out immediately.” Mom smiled at me and took my hand, 

“What color is your dress?” She asked, I thought of the dress that I was going to be wearing and smiled, 

“It’s dark red with black as an accent color.” I told her, “You’ll see it at the ball.” She huffed playfully before turning to my Father, 

“Don’t forget, my brothers and their families will be arriving tomorrow night.” Dad nodded and looked at his phone,

“Sorry, darling, I need to get to work.” He told her, “Douglas is wanting to go over a contract to form an alliance.” I raised an eyebrow,

“An alliance? We’re not even at war with anyone.” I stated,

“That may be, Selene,” Father said, “but it’s better to have allies for when trouble does come, rather than be staring at the barrel of a gun.” He had a point. Dad kissed Mom and rubbed my head before heading to his office. I scarfed down my breakfast and got up, 

“I’ve got to go too; I promised Amber that I’d show her a few dance moves.” I told my Mother while walking over to kiss her cheek, she grabbed my hand,

“If you want to talk, you know you can tell me anything.” She said, I smiled and nodded, 

“I know, Mom.” I started for the door, “Love you!” I shouted as I headed to see my cousin. 

Amber was in the dance hall, but we called it the room of mirrors, “Hey there Am’s, you ready?” I shouted, she hugged me, 

“You know it! I’ve already stretched and everything!” I smiled, 

“Great!” I stood beside her as we watched ourselves in the mirror. We had been working on a routine for months and wanted it to be perfect. Amber was having trouble with the middle into the end of the dance so we agreed to work on all of it today. Before I knew it, we had it down and was about out of breath when Amy came in, 

“Hi, Mom!” Amber shouted as the song came to an end; Amy clapped for us. We took a minute while I got some water, “What’s up?” Amber asked her,

“You two do know that it’s nearly midnight?” Amy asked, I groaned, “You two need to get to the dress fitting and then you should both go take showers.” Amber and I giggled at the last part. I turned to Amber,

“You think you got the routine down?” She nodded, “Okay, let’s go.” We turned everything off in the room and headed to see our dresses. 

Amber went first; she went with a semi ball gown with a gorgeous purple tone. It had the kind of sleeves that hang loosely on her arms with a sweetheart neckline. The dress was absolutely stunning on her, “You look incredible.” I told her, she just smiled, 

“Thanks, but it’s just a dress. It’s not like I’m the daughter of Aphrodite or something.” I chuckled at her comment, 

“Even better, you have two moms who both look like they are the daughters of Aphrodite.” This made her face turn fifty shades of red in a matter of seconds, 

“It’s your turn. Go put your dress on, I want to see it!” Amber demanded; I knew better than to argue with her so I did. I stepped into my dress, the seamstress came behind me to lace the back. I then stepped onto the stage and looked at myself in the mirror; the bodice of the dress showed off every single curve I had, all the good ones at least. The corset back made it a little snug, but it helped bring my breasts up just a bit which helped insinuate the sweetheart neckline. The black belt made my waist look smaller than it was and the ballgown style of the dress flowed with every move I made. I turned to show Amber, whose jaw was to the floor.

“What?” I asked, she just stared at the dress, not even answering me, “Amber?” Nothing. I clapped my hands in front of her face which got her out of her trance, “Is something wrong?” I asked her, she shook her head,

“You look absolutely gorgeous, Selene.” She had me twirl slowly, “Why strapless?” I looked in the mirror,

“It’s a corset back, so I didn’t see the need for straps.” I said simply. The seamstress looked my dress over, 

“It looks like the only thing I need to fix is the hem, it’s a bit long.” I nodded; she pinned it where it needed to be fixed and had me stand there for a bit. It felt like forever but it was only twenty minutes until I was able to leave. I hung the dress up then left with Amber.

“What do you want to do?” Amber asked me, I shrugged my shoulders, “Wanna go to my room?” She asked, 

“Sure.” I replied. 

When we got to her room, we immediately sat down on the couch, “So, is there a special someone in your life?” Amber asked me, I gave her a small look, and shook my head,

“No, there’s no one.” I sat up and smirked at her, “Do you?” She blushed lightly, then turned away,

“Not really; I’ve been talking to someone but I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere.” I nodded, 

“Well, you’ll have time to meet the love of your life at the ball this weekend.” We giggled. Amber turned on the TV as we laid on the couch. I pulled my long, dark curls into a ponytail, looking over, I saw my cousin asleep. I decided to walk around her room a bit. I saw the pictures of her and her moms, then the pictures of the two of us and smiled at the thought of those days. I sighed, why does time have to fly by so fast? I thought about when we were children and smiled. I went back over to the couch after finding a book to read and sat there in the silence, until Amber started to snore.

After reading half of the book, I feel my phone vibrate, and answer it, “Hello?” I whispered,

“Hey, can you come to the garden?” I raised an eyebrow, 

“Phoenix? Is that you?” He chuckled lightly, 

“Yeah, it’s me. Can you come?” I looked over to Amber who was still asleep, “Please, Selene, I’ve already talked to your parents and they said it was fine.” I smiled and shook my head, 

“Okay, I’ll be there.” I told him, as I stood up. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” 

“See you soon.” He said before hanging up the phone. I sat there for a moment, thinking; I hadn’t seen Phoenix since we were children, I was curious to who he had become. I slipped the phone in my pocket and left a note for Amber before heading to the garden to meet up with Phoenix.