“Ugh! I can’t believe her!” groaned Kat as she threw her down onto the bed. “Another dratted house party! No matter how many times I tell her that I don’t need a prince, she won’t listen!”

“But Kat, it’s the most famous party of the year. Only a dozen princesses and princes even get invites,” Vivi replied softly.

“Smiverriverdeevvv urrggg,” her sister muttered, placing the mud dirtied boots directly on the divan as she plopped herself down upon it. “How did that conniving woman even get an invitation in the first place, let alone one for you.”

Vivi scratched the base of her neck. “I heard that the Nightingale twins came down with a case of hives during a party.”

The sisters met each other's gazes.

“You don’t think?” Vivi whispered.

“I wouldn’t put it past her.” Kat groaned and roughly removed her corset, throwing it on the ground.

Vivi winced at the sound of fabric ripping. “You must be more careful,” she said, picking up the discarded attire and setting it gently on the damask chair. “Madam Du Fromage only ever makes half a dozen of these corsets a year. You’re lucky mother has been able to even procure an appointment for you.”

Vivi briefly looked at the corset longingly before gracefully setting herself down on the seat beside the divan.

Her sister looked up at her from her supine position and rolled her eyes. “Hey,” she said, suddenly, “Why do you let them treat you that way?”

Vivi turned her head away, looking out past the open window to the gorgeous view of nature outside. She sighed. She didn’t have to ask her sister to clarify, she knew exactly what she referred to.

They were currently in the Nirvana Kingdom, attending the most fabulous, exclusive house party of the year. Only the creme de la creme of society were invited or those individuals of high society that were somehow steeped in rumors and scandals.

And in this case they, or rather her sister was the latter. She having lost her prince in the arms of his father’s lover was the talk amongst all the royal families. They were all curious to know how Princess Kat fared in the light of the tragic news.

Vivi was invited only because they had needed a sixth princess at the very last minute, which was fine for her, she supposed. But she couldn’t help but briefly wonder if they knew that her prince was in love with another man, if she herself would have received an invite personally. 

She shook her head, immediately willing away the thought.

No, no, that would be horrible, she never wanted to be the center of attention anyways. That spotlight belonged to her much more beautiful, much more interesting twin.

And apparently, society thought that way too. For as soon as they had entered the extravagant country home, every single attendant had greeted her sister and her mother, the queen but barely anyone had even spared her a glance.

Instead, she had again been briefly mistaken for help by one of the other attending princesses before her prince whispered loudly to her that she was in fact Princess Kat’s twin.

The princess had stared at her in surprise before giggling an apology and walking away to join the others.

Vivi had sighed and wondered if perhaps her mother had put even just a little thought into providing her access to a royal modiste, instead of giving her a small pittance then maybe–

She shook her head, again willing away her negative thoughts. It was simply unbecoming of a princess to complain.

“Maybe if mother would just buy you one of these ugly dresses she keeps forcing me to wear then maybe they’d stop thinking you were part of the staff.”

Vivi looked up and her eyes suddenly softened. Despite the fact that she and her sister rarely saw eye to eye on most instances, she appreciated her blunt honesty. A few times… it had even saved her.

She smiled then turned to look at the events sheet. Each room had been provided one and on the delicate, almost transparent paper was a list of events that were to be hosted on the four days that they were there.

“What’s tonight's event?” asked her sister, her smallest finger digging into her ear. She pulled it out and blew the wax away.

“Dinner tonight, the menu was created by Chef Tarte au Pot.”

“Who?”

“You must have heard of him,” said Vivi, though not at all surprised at her sister’s indifference. “He’s from the Jus d'Ananas region, famous for the chefs they produce.” She sighed as she remembered her modiste Madam Pompfy explaining in exquisite detail her attendance of Chef Tarte au Pot’s restaurant on opening night, all the extravagant, luxurious foods she ate, puffs de creme, duck with cherry sherry, noodles smothered in mushroom creme and stinky cheese. She had even given Vivi a pamphlet where a famous artist had painted watercolors of each of the dishes for all the guests in attendance.

Her mouth began to water.

Kat made a face. “Ah crud,” she said. “There’s going to be cream and cheese, isn’t there? I’m going to have to take mother’s mixture for wind or I’ll be up all night, stomach rolling.”

~

When Vivi and her sister and mother made their way into the dinning hall that night, she realized that she had not actually seen all the other attendees. There were still two princesses and three princes, not to mention the mother queens who were also given an invite, who had not already arrived by the time Vivi’s carriage had rolled into the gorgeous country estate.

She looked around at the long, beautifully decorated table at the center of the dining room. Soft light illuminated from the candles and the large, stained glass windows sat behind every seat.

She gasped when she noticed that on each window was an image of each of the guests, exquisitely painted on with meticulous precision.

What beauty and extravagance! Just like in a novel. But just how much could it have cost the host to do such a thing and to redo it every year for the next party?

She sighed as she looked around for her own painting but could not find it.

There was the one of her mother in her lilac dress that she was so fond of and there was her sister in the blue dress that she absolutely detested but next to them was simply a plain, figureless stained glass window. 

Vivi and her family had been last minute additions but somehow they had found the time and money to pay for her mother and sister’s stain glasses to be made but obviously not hers.

She turned away briefly and blinked rapidly before closing her eyes tightly and taking a deep breath.

No matter, she told herself. She was just here for the food anyways.

She then sat down on the seat beside her sister and taking a deep, slightly shaky breath looked up at the entrance as the other guests began to arrive.

Most of the princesses or princes she either knew through stories or had met just earlier that afternoon. And as expected, they were all beautiful and extravagant.

The table began to slowly fill up until only four seats remained.

One of the seats belonged to a prince, his stained glass looked suspiciously familiar but at the same time, he looked like many another princes Vivi had seen before so she shrugged it aside. The other princely seat belonged to a man who presumably had blonde hair. Again, a common trait so she shrugged the thought away.

The final two remaining seats she knew belonged to the Nirvana Kingdom’s princess and queen. She had never met nor seen either of these women but she could tell via their stained glass portraits and the rumors that they were possibly the most beautiful women Vivi would ever likely see. The queen in particular looked interesting and mysterious. Little was known about her except that she was the Nirvana king’s second wife. With her black hair, she looked nothing like her blonde haired daughter, the princess.

“Prince Aurinor of Alderroad,” the master of ceremonies called out and Vividoyne froze. With tense shoulders she turned to the entrance.

Why is he here? His kingdom wasn’t particularly big and though he was handsome, many other princes were just as equally if not more handsome–

“And finally,” the master of ceremonies' strong voice called out again. All heads stopped what they were doing and turned to look. “The princess and queen of Nirvana.”

Chairs screeched as everyone in attendance stood from their seats.

The princesses nearest to her, on the far end of the table, strained their necks to see but thankfully, due to Vivi’s height she had no such problem and could clearly see as the princess walked into the room.

Vivi sighed in admirance. The princess of Nirvana, Princess Liora truly was the definition of pure beauty with her rosy cheeks, bright complexion, aquamarine blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and wide, pearly smile. Suddenly, she couldn’t believe that she was attending the same event as such an unparalleled beauty.

“The queen is still quite beautiful,” her mother said in a slightly haughty voice and Vivi turned. She had been so preoccupied by the princess that she had completely forgotten to gaze at the queen who had only been a few steps behind her daughter.

And when Vivi’s eyes finally landed on the mysterious woman, she felt her breath lodge itself in her throat as her heart basically stopped in her chest.