the first princess

Rosalind laughed again, the sound Sam found as aggravating as ever as he took a sip from his champagne glass, pretending to not listen in to the ladies' conversation like the rest of the other party goers.

"The Beasts are only people that pretend to be animals. If the King's Knights had really apprehended the Hunters, why had I not heard of these rumors? A dangerous wolf in the Kingdom, much less within the Royal Hunting Grounds would have graced my ears would it not?"

Rosalind sighed, "if you insist on this story then I'll make sure to talk with my Father. He'll send a squadron of the Knights to capture this infamous blue-eyed wolf. That is, if there really is a wolf in Solomon."

"It's not just me that says there's a wolf your Highness." The red faced Lady Hailey continues. "There are other people that heard the rumors."

"It's all been blown out of proportion. Surely what you have heard are the howls of the Beast people during one of their ceremonies. Heaven knows what kind of disgusting things they do while they play the part of animals."

She looks disgusted as she says this, her green eyes darkening at the mere thought of the strange Beasts.

"Despite their barbaric tendencies, we must show them our hospitality. They do not understand our civilized ways and therefore we must be patient with them. Soon enough they will adopt our ways as their own once they realize the error in their customs." He felt his own disgust as he listened to his older sister. She seemed to truly believe her own words.

"The poor people!" Another lady joined the princess. "Did you see the woman Beast General and her attire at the opening banquet? She wore men's pants under a skirt! The skirt was cut on one side and it bellowed open every time she walked. The sight was truly horrendous!"

Sam's hand clenched around the drink in his hand. He wanted to refute the older woman's harsh opinion of the Beast General, but stopped himself when he thought of how angry Kepler would be if he were to derail their plans just to come to the General's defense. Instead, he bit his tongue and kept listening to the older woman, remembering the woman's face for later.

"You're right my lady. That is why I am planning on extending an invitation to the Beast General for a private salon session. In doing so, I hope I can teach her the proper way to dress."

"Oh how marvelous Princess! Surely even the Beasts would appreciate such a noble thought!"

"I hope so. I picked out a dressmaker worthy of tailoring the Beast General's dress."

Sam would have thought them blind if the ladies didn't notice the malicious glint within the princess' eyes. Even though they were uneasy with the idea of provoking one of the Beasts, they still laughed along with the princess.

"If I might add, their beaded jewelry is very primitive." A faceless voice spoke up within the group of ladies. "You might also want to gift her some jewelry as well." The voice added with a snicker. "I would think she would be so happy to receive such a gift she might even kiss your feet out of gratitude!"

Rosalind easily agreed with the lady. She laughed with one of her white gloved hands over her lips. Her green eyes curved downward to further express her joy.

"When I invite her to one of my parties, please do make her feel welcomed ladies. Our reputation as Solomon's finest noblewomen is at stake."

Sam watched his sister as she excused herself from the gaggle of noblewomen and quickly latched onto another group. He knew what she was doing. It was very obvious to him the reason for why she chose to talk to certain people.

Sam strode to his older sister's side, plastering a giant smile on his face.

"Rosa!" He exclaimed like a happy puppy. When Rosalind saw him by her side, she rolled her eyes.

"Sam, it's good to see you. I didn't think you would be attending today's party." No matter how much she had trained to had her emotions, just seeing her younger brother's ridiculous smile was enough to sour her whole mood.

"I wasn't. But when I heard my older sister would be here, I just had to come." Sam said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

Rosalind tried to ignore him, going from group to group of partygoers. Sam noted how she fished out the nobles of prestige, people that weren't on the first or second prince's side and thus, were still considered neutral parties.

Every time his sister would move on to the next group of nobles, Sam would be right there next to her. It irritated her, he knew, but she kept her smile on her face. Sam couldn't help himself, and he decided to push his older sister completely off the edge.

He belted out a laugh, pretending to be beside himself with laughter at the Marquis' joke. His sister flashed him a look of utter annoyance from being next to him. She detested anyone being too loud.

Sam continued laughing, his upper body shaking. The Marquis looked happy, thinking his usual puns were finally getting the right kind of attention they deserved. Then his face changed into a look of horror when Sam tipped his drink over, spilling most of its contents onto the princess' dress.

There was a moment of silence then. Sam enjoyed the look on his sister's face for a second before he erupted into his series of apologies.

"I'm truly sorry Rosa. I ruined your beautiful dress!" He hurriedly took out his handkerchief and wiped at the quickly forming stain on the front of her dress.

He carefully watched with one green eye as his sister's face contorted, trying to rein in her anger. He knew from years of experience that she was one breath away from losing her temper and exploding into her regular bouts of rage. If they were younger, Sam would have expected her to roughly yank at his hair, but they were not young anymore and Sam was not the same little boy he was then.

"Enough." Rosalind tightly smiled at him while waving his handkerchief away. "Please excuse me, Marquis Klein," she curtsied to the Marquis, "I have to go clean up."

"But of course!" Wide eyed, the middle aged Marquis let her go. His eyes skittered between the princess and the prince, nervously examining their faces. Sam offered to go with his sister but she vehemently refused, stalking off and out of the ballroom.

He knew his task was completed, for once Rosalind had left the ballroom in her stained dress, she never returned.