Dizzying bell sounds ring out as the night reaches it's end, the clock striking twelve o'clock like a cruel twist of fate. The rules hit you like a ton of bricks, time having slipped by your fingertips like grains of sand. The one eyed suitor you had been so close to kissing was still holding your hips snugly, head tilting at the obvious flicker of fear and shock that befell your face. You hate pushing him away, hate that your only excuse is that you have to go through laboured breaths, fleeing the castle with your hands pinching your dress and your hair falling out of its hold. You hear him shout after you, making you stumble and lose your shoe in the process, but you keep running back home.

Running until the remains of the dress that had been conjured returned back to the old, torn rags from earlier, nothing of the extravagance you'd worn to the ball you desperately wanted to attend. Days pass, and you can't stop thinking about him. It's difficult to forget a man when not many sport stark white hair and black eyepatch on their face. You daydream out of the window in between your chores, googly eyed and in a daze towards the castle you'd spent a mere few hours in, your life like a dream. When you finally decide to rest, you see a shadow pass over the window.

You refrain from blowing out the lantern, directing the orangey glow to find someone climbing in through your window. You slap a hand over your mouth to surpress your startled scream, until you realise who it is. The suitor, Slade, leans against the window with a lazy smirk on his face, having not even broken out into a sweat or even seemed bothered by the climb into your room. He's holding something in his hand. It's your shoe.

"You forgot something," he hums, planting his feet on the ground as he straightens up. He's standing in your room, you realise numbly, and you're too shocked to even fathom how he found you, and how he knew it had been you that night. "I thought it would only be polite to return it. You ran off in such a hurry."