When Marina turned around with the intentions of looking to see if her father was finished with his conversation yet… she froze up, she forgot for a moment to breathe… there he was, he was dressed in a fine suit of off white with gold and sky blue accents, he was tall and he cut quite the fine well built figure… yet slender and elegant all at the same time…<br/>His long dark chocolate hair was tied back neatly in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck… and that mask… a pearly off white with gold lace accents… and peering through the eyeholes were orbs of bright blue…<br/><br/>He was mesmerizing… there was an air of mystery around him that Marina honestly found intriguing, alluring… and yet… the rumors surrounding this enigma of a prince still danced about in her head… she did not know what to do…<br/><br/>She heard Lady Clarissa snicker nearby, she saw her out the corner of her eye staring at her, whispering to Lady Rebecca from behind her fan… their eyes were narrowed in amusement… she knew what they were talking about even without hearing them…<br/><br/>Horrid gossiping harpies…<br/><br/><strong>"Lady Marina, you look stunning, would you honor me with a dance?"<br/></strong><br/>She swallowed hard and stared at his offered hand for a moment before she took a discreet deep breath and exhaled slowly through her nose before she reached out with one hand to gently place hers in the masculine outstretched hand “I… I would be honored, Prince Emeric…”<br/><br/>The prince gently pulled her in closer, his other hand wrapping loosely around her waist as Marina placed her free hand upon his shoulder… just in time for the first notes of a romantic waltz to begin…<br/>The prince moved them across the floor with an almost otherworldly grace and elegance, Marina gazed up at that masked face… eyes of jade green locked onto sky blue… his eyes were beautiful… so bright and filled with such profound intelligence… and… sadness?<br/><br/>Her heart ached in her chest… yes… she imagined with all the rumors and stories being spread about like wildfire, he must be incredibly lonely…<br/>What was it underneath that mask that was so awful that he was made to feel like he had to cover it up? Why did humanity have to be so cruel as to create these obnoxiously fictitious stories about a curse? What was so amusing about causing another living breathing human being pain like that?<br/><br/>She spotted Lady Clarissa nearby as Emeric whirled her around… the stone hearted wench was grinning like a Chesire cat, whispering something to Lady Rebecca… what horrible girls… had their parents honestly failed so terribly in teaching them how to at least try and be a decent person?<br/><br/>Damn the both of them to hell…<br/><br/>Marina looked back once again to Emeric’s masked face and smiled gently as they moved to the music the orchestra played “I almost forgot… Happy birthday, Prince Emeric”