The Black Rose (7 page)

Wilhelmina had noticed Milly dancing with a mysterious man dressed in
white. Milly winked at her causing her to blush
. She was glad Milly was having fun and was glad that she
wasn’t as bad of a dancer as she
had
thought.
Maybe
being a
princess
made dancing come naturally
or maybe it was just because she
had a great teacher
.
She boldly glanced up into the gentleman’s face before quickly looking away embarrassed. She didn’t even know who he was and she was already infatuated with him.

Milly wasn’t the only one to n
otice Wilhelmina was dancing with a gentleman
. Her parents were keeping a close eye on her from distance. Both felt soon it would be time to tell her the truth, but would allow her to have this night of fun. Jerome also noticed that Wilhelmina was dancing with someone and it strangely upset him. He was enjoying his time with Edolie until he noticed that Wilhelmina was also having a good time with another man. Jerome forced himself to let go of his
anger. After all
he was not allowed to be with Wilhelmina and Wilhelmina would not be allowed to be with anyone else.

He turned his attention back to Edolie. She was beautiful and her face lit up whenever he looked at her. She was infatuated with him as he was with her. Jerome wondered why it was that whenever he caught a glimpse of Wilhelmina that his love for Edolie seemed to dissolve. Could it be the curse?
He recalled the voice he had heard earlier. It was hard to dismiss it and began to wonder if he had heard the voice in his head. Maybe it was his subconscious warning him to stay away from Wilhelmina.
Jerome wasn’t sure, but he
knew it was best for him to stay away from
Wilhelmina
for the time being
.

“Not so bad is it?”
t
he
gentleman
in black
commented. Wilhelmina was positively glowing and he felt
strongly
attracted to her
.
She didn’t r
eally know who he was and yet he
acted as if they had always known each other. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?”

“My name,”
h
e
smiled, “It’s said to be bad luck to share identities at a masquerade.”

“Yes, I suppose,” Wilhelmina agreed, but she couldn’t help but be curious.
After all, he was the first man to ever
catch
her attention. She wondered if maybe the mystery was what attracted her to him, rather than the man himself.

“However, I do know who you are.”

“What?” Wilhelmina said startled.

“Princess Wilhelmina Diamante of Aridale,”
h
e said confidently, “Everyone knows who you are. Not even a mask can disguise a princess. The blue one other there is Princess
Edolie Marcelle
, so the man she is with, must be Prince Jerome Alexander of Vanica.”

“Please just call me Mina,” Wilhelmina blushed.

“Mina it is then,”
h
e
smiled. Wilhelmina and the mysterious
gentle
man danced together for the rest of the night. They made small talk, but avoided the general taboos associated with a Masquerade Ball, such as names and where they are from.
However, since
he had guessed
Wilhelmina’s name, he allowed her to try to guess his
. They spent the majority of the dance with her listing off names, none of which were his, although he had every intention to lie if she did manage to guess correctly. It
eventually
got to the point where she began to repeat names.

“David?”

“No”

“Charles?”

“You said that one three times,” The man laug
hed as the song ended and they stopped dancing.

“Well you look like a Charles,” Wilhelmina retorted causing him to laugh more. He eventually calmed down as another song began.
The night would be ending soon and he wanted to spend some time alone with her.

“Care for some fresh air?”

“Yes, a break would be nice,” Wilhelmina said and the man escorted her outside of the palace. The palace grounds were empty, leaving the place to themselves. The
y
moved to the side of the palace door so no one could see them.

“I assume you’re done guessing for now?” The man
asked
since
Wilhelmina hadn’t said another name since they came outside.

“I gave up,” Wilhelmina sighed, “Could you give me a fake name so I can at least call you something?”

“A fake name,”
t
he
gentleman
smiled, “But then what you’ll remember of me will only be a lie.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Wilhelmina said pondering, “But it’s not fair that you know mine.”

“You’ll know who I am one day,”
h
e smiled
at her and she blushed.

“Does that mean I’ll see you again?”

“Yes,” He said taking hold of her hand, “I promise.” Wilhelmina smiled
and gripped his hand tightly. She didn’t want the warm feeling in her heart to go away. Was this love? She had no idea, but she knew that no other man had ever made her feel this way.

“I know we just met,”
t
he
gentleman broke the silence
and Wilhelmina turned to face him.
“But there is one thing I would like to do before I have to go.” He moved closer to her and placed a hand on her cheek. Wilhelmina felt her heart race, but didn’t resist as his lips met hers. She wrapped her arms arou
nd his neck as he wrapped his
around her waist.
Her heart pounded against her chest and she desperately didn’t want to let go, so when their lips parted, she felt mixed feelings of sorrow and desire.

“
I must go
now,
”
h
e
whispered
. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest and his whole body felt warm. Wilhelmina’s heart was also racing and she looked
at him
longingly.

“I won’t forget you,” She said in a barely audible voice and the gentleman gave her one last kiss.
It was a shorter kiss, but even so, Wilhelmina once again felt disappointment when their lips parted.

“Goodbye,” the gentlemen
whispered
before he walked off into the night.

Wilhelmina watched him
walk away for awhile
before hurrying inside. She didn’t want anyone to know about
her
mysterious man. Edolie wasn’t married yet, so it would be a scandal if she was
to
meet someone before the wedding. However, Wilhelmina desperately wanted to find Milly and tell her everything.

When
she
entered the castle, people were still dancing and it appeared
that
no one noticed she had gone out.
She sighed in relief.
However,
she had not gone unnoticed.
King Wilhelm, Queen Henrietta, and Prince Jerome
had been watching her throughout the night without her knowledge
.
All three of them had seen her leave the palace with the gentleman.

King Wilhelm and Queen Henrietta
feared the worse; their daughter had fallen in love. It was hard enough to keep her locked away.
Now they would end up breaking their daughter’s heart.
Queen Henrietta had left the ball in order to weep alone.
It pained Wilhelm to see his wife so upset
, but they had no choice. They had to protect their kingdom.
To him Wilhelmina was more of burden and he did not understand his wife’s love for the child. She was born from an unnatural birth, bu
t Wilhelm
would never do anything to hurt his wife.
Unlike Henrietta, h
is love for Wilhelmina had long gone when Edolie was born. She was his pride and joy now.

Prince Jerome felt a strange bitterness toward the
gentle
man whom Wilhelmina
had
gone
out with. Was it jealousy? He
wondered and after that it was hard for him to focus on Edolie as
he had before.

T
he night was ending and he couldn’t stop thinking about Wilhelmina.
Jerome desperately
wanted to free his mind from Wilhelmina
and focus on Edolie, his future wife.
A
t that moment he did the only
thin
g
he could think of
and
kissed Edolie. His heart pounded fast as he felt her sweet lips against his and he blushed as he pulled away. It was their first kiss and everyone saw. The clapping and cheering from the guests made his face turn red and Edolie was also blushing.
Edolie
looked cute
when she was embarrassed
and
Jerome
decided to listen to the crowd’s encore and kissed her again. It
was at that moment he knew that
he loved
Edolie and it was Wilhelmina’s curse that was getting to him
.
His
only
trouble
now
would be staying away from Wilhelmina
.
They would all be living together and he had no idea how he was going to restrain himself, but he would have to try.

“Two kisses in one night,” Wilhelmina mumbled to herself as she watched Jerome and Edolie lock lips.

“Two kisses?” Milly emphasized the two as she nudged Wilhelmina.

“Milly you startled me,” Wilhelmina said as she turned around to face her red headed friend.

“Spill!”
Milly exclaimed, but before Wilhelmina could tell her, Shirley came over to let them know that they were heading back to Aridale.

“I’ll tell
you on the way home
,” Wilhelmina said as they followed Shirley outside. This time there was an extra white carriage and it was just for Jerome and Edolie. Milly sighed in relief
. She and Wilhelmina
would have their own carriage so they could talk all the way home without anyone hearing them.

“Alright, dish the dirt,” Milly said once the carriages were moving, “You said two kisses, who did you kiss?”

“
You should know that
,” Wilhelmina blushed.

“Oh
my gosh
! You love him!” Milly exclaimed, covering her own mouth to
prevent
herself
from screaming. She was Wilhelmina’s best friend and d
idn’t want to blab her secrets, let alone get Wilhelmina in trouble for finding a man before Edolie was married.

“I think so,” Wilhelmina said playing with her hands, “I mean we just met, but no one has ever made my heart race so fast. Just thinking about him now is making my heart
race
.”

“Oh, Mina!”
Milly said grabbing her best friend’s hands, “Do
you know where he’s from?
His
name?
You have to see him again!”

Wilhelmina shook her head, “No, I
don’t
.
It’s
bad luck to
swap
n
ames at a masquerade, but he did promise we’d meet again.”

“Oh, how romantic,” Milly said leaning back against her seat and then she jumped up, “I know, I’ll look through the palace records of people and see if I can find him!”

“He might not even be from our kingdom,” Wilhelmina
said
startled
by Milly’s enthusiasm. Vanica had invited other kingdoms to come to the Masquerade Ball, not just Aridale. It was a great way to introduce everyone to the future queen and king of Aridale.

“Plus,
we don’t even know his name
”
Wilhelmina added.

“True,” Milly said, “But it’s worth
a try
.
R
ight
?”

“But he promised we’d meet again, so I’m sure we will,” Wilhelmina said as she remembered
the feel of his hand
, “He was really nice.”

“Oh Mina,” Milly smiled, but secretly she hoped th
at this guy was not just fooling around with
Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina was her dear
friend and if anyone hurt her
she’d make sure they would regret ever doing so. However, Milly was determined to discover who this
gentleman
was and would spend the next few days looking up records in the palace library.