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The approach to the castle is always an impressive one and as the carriage joins the line, it gives us enough time to watch with interest the impressive sight. Flaming torches burn as they guide our way along immaculate paths ablaze with flowers that appear almost too perfect. The pale stone of the castle looks jet-washed, and the impressive turrets make it feel like a fairy tale.
It always feels a like a fairy tale in Andromeda and it took living away from here to realize it’s not real life. It counts for nothing, in my eyes anyway, because who wants to live in the pages of a story book when the real world is way more exciting?
“Now, Cassie, you must be on your best behavior, at your most demure and not entertain any of the childish ways you have developed a habit for. This is the moment you will have to work your hardest to secure the golden prize. Don’t let me down because the whole family is counting on you. Your sister’s own path will be determined by you because if you marry well, they will be guaranteed that same future.”
I tune out as she drones on and think about what I left behind. Freedom. I was happy in England, and America made me fall in love for a very different reason. It was exciting in Boston. So vibrant and full of life and where I loved the history and traditions of England, I adored the freedom of America. I made up my mind that is where I want to practice medicine and just thinking of the new life waiting for me fills me with excitement.
I have a plan, an escape one and tonight is my leaving ball because I have a ticket out of here and they will never be able to persuade me to give up on my dream.
We join the line of excited girls who proceed toward the ballroom on the arms of our parents. The high-spirited men are already safely inside, waiting and watching the sacrificial lambs to be presented to society. Taking their pick as we walk through the door and marking their cards, intent on plucking the best prize for themselves.
My mother is almost shaking with excitement as we make our way to the large double doors that appear centuries old and I see the liveried master of ceremonies announcing the names of every one who passes through them.
As we inch ever closer, the nerves join me and I wonder if I can really pull this off. Can I escape because it doesn’t feel as if I can, so I plaster a blank look on my face as we take our turn?
The number fastened to my wrist tells the master what he needs to know and I hear him say in a booming voice, “Mr. and Mrs. Brookes-Stanley, present Cassiopeia, Annalise, Brookes-Stanley.”
As we step through the door into the great hall, the sea of faces watching us below makes me falter a little as the huge chandeliers hanging above almost blind me. I try anything possible to tune out and concentrate on not falling down the immense staircase that was obviously designed to crush a woman’s dreams by way of a tripping hazard and I’m grateful for the strong arm of my father propping me up as I glide down the stairs.
My mother is enjoying every second of this as she smiles and looks pompously around the room, knowing that she has the one many expect the king to choose. I almost daren’t look in his direction because I want nothing to draw his attention to me and so I stare blankly ahead and try desperately to fade into the tapestries that line the room because I’m hating every second of this.
Finally, we make our way to the edge of the crowd and I can breathe again as everyone’s attention is diverted to the next girl in line and as I look around, I am desperate to find a friendly face because somewhere in this crowd are my three best friends enduring a similar journey.
Everywhere I look are beautiful gowns and elaborate masks because the men don’t follow the same rules as the women in Andromeda. Disguised by golden masks, their features are kept hidden as they feast their own eyes on the available women. Only when the last girl has paraded into the room, do we get to wear our own masks, signifying that we are single and ready to play an important game. The number on our wrist reveals our identity, but under the rules of the evening, the only man who can lower our mask is the one who chooses us as his bride.
Get me out of here fast because this shit is so ancient it’s almost funny and as the door closes with a resounding thud, I am so happy to place my mask firmly around my eyes.
“Now, Cassie, the hard work begins. I have located the king and will guide you over to where he is standing. It will be up to you to make a good impression if he looks your way, which I am certain of because he hasn’t taken his eyes off you for a second since you stepped foot inside the room.”
“Mother, please, of course he hasn’t, you’re just…”
“Enough, Cassie, mother knows best. Now, hurry up, there is already an interested crowd around him and I will not let this moment pass.”
“It’s best to do as she says, princess, it always works for me.” My father squeezes my hand gently and whispers, “She means well, don’t ever doubt that.”
I hang my head because I know she does. My mother only wants the best for us, and yet she can’t understand that the best thing for me is to get the hell out of Andromeda.
Sucking it up, I do as I’m expected and allow her to parade me around the room, knowing that in just a few minutes I will be cast out on my own to bait a large fish when all I want is to meet my friends and spend a good night gossiping together about how archaic this ball is.
Like me, my friends are so done with this place and have their own plans to leave. Lauren wants to be a director and is always making short movies, usually involving the rest of us, and she’s good. Some of them have won major prizes and I know she will be successful. Natalia wants to own her own company. She’s a fashion designer and has made endless amazing dresses for us over the past few years when we had no money. Then there’s Eloise who has fallen in love with her professor, but nobody needs to know that because the girls at this ball are expected to be virgins and most of them are, me included. But Eloise is a scandal waiting to happen and if I’m worried about anyone, it’s her.
After parading the room for what feels like forever, mom does the decent thing and allows my father to guide her to the chaperone room, set a short distance away. Before they leave, she hisses, “Don’t let me down, Cassie, we are counting on you.”
My father pulls her away with a shake of his head, leaving me in glorious solitude so I can locate my friends.
Suddenly, a dark whisper comes from behind me as a deep voice says, “What’s a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?”
Resisting the urge to grin, I say icily, “Avoiding men like you.”
Turning around, I smile at the man who is watching me with amusement shining through his mask. “Cassie, my darling, you look like a princess.”
He mocks me and I roll my eyes. “You don’t scrub up so bad yourself, Victor.”
He bows with a twisted grin and takes my arm and guides me over to the side of the room and if I could endure this evening on anyone’s arm, it’s his. Victor Augustus, the boy I sort of grew up with. Childhood friends and the one boy I can stand talking to for more than ten minutes. His only fault is his family because Victor Augustus is second in line to the throne.
“So, my darling, what happens now for Cassiopeia Annalise Brookes- Stanley? Is this the moment we cement our union and put our parents out of their misery?”
“In your dreams, Victor.”
