Ninnevah
Vanisa fidgeted as she was hushered by the maid towards the ball room. Her knuckles ached as she walked, she wasn't used to wearing heels, or any fancy clothes for that matter.
Immediately the double door leading to the ball room was flung open by two guards standing at the entrance of the ballroom, a loud trumpet was sounded. Vanisa fluttered her lashes as she gulped, just then her stepsister Iris was suddenly standing at the others entrance of the ballroom.
The ballroom had two entrance, Vanisa was standing in front of the first one, while Ivy stood in front of the other. Simultaneously they both glided down the spiral staircase. The Palace was indeed colossal, it had two staircase sperated by some railings. Each staircase leading to their respective entrances.
Immediately the trumpet was sounded, a man with a gruff voice introduced Vanisa, everyone became confused. Since both Ivy and Vanisa stepped out simultaneously, they diverted their attention to Ivy, she wore the most beautiful dress.
"Oh wow your dress is lovely." A noble lady commended on Iris dress and she politely replied. "Thank you." Her soft voice feigning innocence.
Your majesty your daughter is beautiful! A noble man in the crowd commended ogling Ivy, Ivy felt disgusted but still managed to plaster a fake smile on her face. Just then Vanisa arrived at the last step of the staircase.
"Silence! Hector's husky voiced shrilled. He gazed at Ivy and knew at once that was the dress he had ordered for Vanisa, but he did nothing to reprimand her instead he turned his attention towards Vanisa. "This is Vanisa my eldest daughter." He introduced taking Vanisa's hand in his.
Vanisa was astound by his action, she felt a cold shiver running down her spines. She lowered her eyelids, refusing to raise her gaze obviously overwhelmed by embarrassment. Everyone seemed to her have mistaken Ivy for her, what could be more worse than this?
A vicious smile tugged at the corner of Ivy's lip as the attention of the crowd was shifted to her stepsister Vanisa. She let out a soft, "hum." There was now inconspicuous murmuring from the throng of noble's present at the party.
They all had their eye's fixed on Vanisa's dress. It's not that there was anything wrong with what she was wearing, but something about her outfit was off. Shouldn't she be the one wearing the most sumptuous dress, it was her birthday party after all.
Hector lead Vanisa away from the staircase towards the dinning area. He gazed at her and gave her a reassuring smile, but Vanisa didn't return the gaze. "What is wrong with father? She thought to herself silently.
Everyone sat down around the majestic table, Hector immediately proposed a toast and there was clinging of glasses after that. Vanisa ate her food in silence, cautiously reminding herself to be composed and demur in front of the guest. At intervals her gaze would wander towards the direction of Ivy.
She had her eyes glued on the dress Ivy was wearing, that was when something hit her. That dress! That had to be the dress Rani her maid was blabbering about. At first she thought Rani was only fabricating lies just to make her feel better but she was wrong.
With this realization Vanisa lost her appetite, languishly dropping her cutlery beside the dish, she sighed. Her heart became heavy, it felt like she was eating poison, the food suddenly had no taste and she couldn't take another spoon of the dish.
She was wary of Ivy eny towards her, but how low would she stoop, she was like a barking dog who didn't know it's owner. Immediately everyone had finished dinning, the guest moved to the dance floor each with a partner. Even Ivy had a partner, she was clinging to a prince, smiling sheepishly.
Vanisa felt like wiping of that smile from her face, not even a single prince attempted to dance with her. Hector saw this and made a move to go and dance with his daughter, but Ivy was already a step ahead of him. With her partner in her hand, she moved to the rhythm of the song, but slowly danced her way to the direction Vanisa stood elegantly.
She waited for the right moment, immediately she saw a maid passing by with a tray of cocktail she purposely used her elbow to knock down the tray and the content spattered on Vanisa's dress. The Tarus made an eerie noise aas it fell on the floor and the champagne glass broke into pieces.
The music slowly waned down then abruptly stopped. All eyes were now fixed on Tara, Hector who was making his way to Tara suddenly halted, totally embarrassed by his daughter clumsiness. Ivy revelled triumphantly her eyes flickered to where her mother stood gracefully, chatting with a noble lady.
Tara tried all she could to contain her emotions. This wasn't bad, was it? It's just a stain it could easily be washed off, but then the stain would probably not go away. Then she will be stuck wearing such a horrible dress for the rest of the night. Oh wait, she could just take off the dress and miss her own party!
The tears tugging at the corner of her eyes, trickled down her cheeks. With all those thoughts running through her head, causing a whirlwind. Tara swiftly made for the door, her legs dragging along the tiled floor. Her flowing gown bellowded behind and her curly hair bouncing as she made a vile escape.
That was it, the party has come to a bleak end. The guest slowly trooped out of the imperial palace. Some of them were glad, they now had something they could use to stain the name of King Hector. Just wait till this news gets out, their reputation will be ruined!
............
As Tara gazed at the aligned stars in the dark sky, her eyes glistered with untold mystery. Her wet lashed flattered, as she relished in the pain of knowing her mother's could be one of those stars.
She was sitted in the horse stable, curled up behind one of the huge barren of horse food. Her eyes lingered in the night, as she lucidly remembered what transpired ten years ago.
The night was gloomy, so dark creating an ominous feeling. Just then a scream was heard and it came from her mother's room. Tara was awakened from her beauty sleep, only to be shocked by the news of her mother's death.
With her own very eyes she had seen the corpse of her mother, what caused her death? It was uncertain, but Tara never forgot the three stripes on her mother's back. The stripes were deep and were gushing out blood.
It was likely her mother was attacked by a beast, so many speculations! But even still today the mystery of her mother's death still lingered in her mind. She was traumatized, for months, for years! It took a while but she slowly recuperated.
Then as if to salt her wound, her father got married to her step mother Maria.
If only he knew he was signing her death warrant.