For the first time in a long time, I finally felt what it was like to be normal.
None of the ladies surrounded me. Drizelda’s grubby hands weren’t all over me and best of all, it was hard to suppress my laughter watching Gabe take my place.
Delilah was really spot on with her observatory.
He really looked like me.
The event was extravagant. Mother and father looked surprisingly relaxed.
I watched them as they sat on their thrones and greeted each and every one with a nod. It was a pity that they never really mingled with a lot of people.
I vowed to be a different king one day.
My eyes shifted to Drizelda again who looked like a peacock with a dark blue dress and a mask that fitted perfectly with her theme. I really didn’t want her to be queen one day.
Everything about her irritated the living hell out of me.
I stood against the wall, wearing something a prince would never be found dead in, but still resembling nobility.
“Oh, Al,” Drizelda said with her arm hooked into Gabe’s.
I chuckled as Gabe mimicked my voice perfectly.
She would die a thousand deaths if she knew that she was flirting with one of the stable boys.
“Look, there he is, he’s so handsome,” a nearby girl said.
She was wearing a lilac dress. It wasn’t your typical gown, pretty plain if you compared it to the other gowns.
The lottery mother had held came to mind. She must be the winner.
A girl hiding next to her sighed. I shifted to get a better look and I gasped softly as her dress, plain too, came into view.
For some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She looked like a fairy princess ready to fly away at any moment.
“I don’t know how you can drool over him.”
I frowned. Something told me that she didn’t like me much.
“Oh come on, lighten up. We are here?”
“Urgh!” the girl said. “You know how much food is here, it could feed all of Eikenborough for months.”
She was one of those. Always worrying about where her next meal came from. If only they were smarter, they wouldn’t starve so much.
“Seriously, enjoy tonight and stop worrying about Eikenborough and its people.”
I smiled again. I really liked her friend.
“Someone has to, because our prince and his family doesn’t.”
I squinted. What on earth had she meant by that?
I couldn’t help but watch the feisty little one standing just paces away from me.
The waiter passed and handed them each a glass of champagne. The girl in the lilac dress was giddy about it but the one next to her didn’t say a word as she took the flute.
I grabbed a flute too and stood there sipping it slowly, listening to them quarrelling further.
The girl in the lilac dress really wanted to be here, but I couldn’t say the same for the girl next to her.
She was fitting in, but there was something about her that indicated she didn’t want to be. She stood out and I couldn’t help but stare, while sipping my champagne, hiding behind my mask.
“You know what,” the girl said and down the contents of the flute, handed the empty glass to her friend. “I’m going to march up to him now and tell him exactly what I think about all of this.” She waved at the entire ballroom.
Oh crap!
I followed the girl as she made it past the people without any hassle.
I, on the other hand with all my poise, struggled.
I kept pushing and shoving people in fancy ball gowns and masks.
“Excuse me your highness,” the girl curtseyed in front of Gabe. “I really need…”
I made my voice thick, there was no way she was going to spoil my fun tonight. “Sorry, your highness, my sister is quite drunk. Please forgive her.”
Gabe knew it was me. The corners of his lips tugged softly, and he nodded.
“No, I’m not. Leave me alone.” She protested as I pulled her to one of the side doors.
She punched my arm, really hard. How can someone this small have so much strength.
“Would you calm down?”
“Let go of me,” She spat out the words. “He deserves everything I have to say to him.”
She was angry but for some reason it made me chuckle. I had never met a girl with this much anger inside her and the knowledge of that started to do things to my gut which had never happened before.
“Do you know what they would do to you if you scold the Prince of Paegeia in public.”
“Do you think I care?” She said and I smiled again. She really knew no fear.
She pulled her dress straight, taking huge breathes through angry nostrils.
Was she a dragon? She sure reminded me a lot of Connie when she was angry.
“Walk with me, maybe it will clear your head and you might think like a normal person again.”
The girl rolled her beautiful grey eyes and pouted her lips.
“Please,” I begged again not wanting her to turn around and walk back into the ballroom.
To my surprise she took one last breath and nodded. We walked down the stairs that led to the garden.
“So what did poor Prince Albert do to you?”
“Poor Prince,” she snided. “He’s anything but poor.”
“Okay, so you hate him because he is rich, and you are not?”
“No, I don’t hate him for that reason.”
She sure was angry.
“I told that silly girl this was going to be a waste of time.”
I laughed again. “You don’t like balls, you certainly look the part. I saw you enter the ballroom and so did a couple of other people.” I lied. “You certainly pulled it off gracefully.”
She didn’t say anything but I could tell the girl was really starting to get annoyed with me.
“So let’s try this again, what did Prince Albert do to deserve this lashing.” There was laughter in my tone.
“It’s not funny, so you can wipe that smirk off your face.”
“Okay, you’re not a very friendly little person are you.”
“Oh, I can be very friendly to the right people,” she said.
“And I’m not one of them.”
“I’m sure you are a lord or a general or someone important, so no, you are not one of them.”
“So it’s not just the prince, it’s lords and generals too. What about governors?” I teased.
“Don’t mock me, okay? I really have a bone to pick with all these so called important people.”
“You don’t see them as important.”
“They only care about themselves. You know that the taxes are being raised on a monthly basis now, and for what. Dragon attacks. Your so called important people are killing the people of Paegeia with their fancy balls and stupid masks. Not the dragons.”
I really didn’t know about the taxes being raised or why. “Well, I have to agree with that completely.”
“What!?” The girl was taken by surprise. “Then what are you doing here?”
“Same as you, I was forced to come.” I looked back at the palace. “So they really raise the taxes every month?”
“Yes, they do.” She looked at me again. “Why don’t you know about it, don’t you pay taxes too?”
I lifted up my hands in defense. “Of course, but I just don’t know about taxes because my father pays our taxes.” I lied.
“Must be nice to have a rich and healthy father.”
The way she said it made me feel sad for her all of a sudden. “Your father is sick?”
She sighed and lowered her head. “That’s not the point. No doctor can save him. He’s on his last leg and we have made peace with that.”
“Why not take him to a Swallow Annex.”
“Because we don’t have the kind of money it takes to pay for Swallow Annexes either.”
I nodded and my mind was starting to wonder about many
things. I usually didn’t give a rat’s ass about the poor, and assumed a lot. I felt like an idiot. Why were they paying for everything, or even being charged? Helmut, Caleb, and I don’t get charged whenever we are sick.
I stared at her. I was finally beginning to understand why this girl hated my family so much. It was extortion what we did to them.
“I have a friend that is a Swallow Annex,” I whispered.
“What!”
“If you promise to stop attacking us poor rich people I will ask her to visit your father.”
She just stared at me.
What nobody ever gave her a break?
She cleared her throat and our gaze broke. A soft sweet smile curved her lips.
It lighten my mood.
Who was this creature?
“And what about the other sick people, will she help them too?”
I frowned. “Are you always like this?
“Like what”
“Thinking about everyone around you.”
“That’s what commoners do, we tend to take on the king’s duty, and the prince you so love.”
I laughed again. “They are not that bad you know. They are humans just like you, spoiled, I have to admit and now I’ve met you, ignorant too.”
The girl laughed. “Are you a mind reader too?”
“I wish I had that ability right now.” I flirted and she sucked in her lips as she looked away.
“So, what is it that we all have to do to prove that we are not the monsters you feel obligated to slay to save your people, your highness.”
She laughed. Music to my ears.
“Take care of your people, stop with this extortion and feed the hungry, shelter the homeless. There is nothing in this system of the king’s that helps the people.”
“I don’t get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
“How is this the prince’s fault?”
“The prince will rule exactly like his father does. He didn’t grow up with kindness and he will rule taking everything the poor have and giving it to the rich for their parties and gowns.”
“So you hate the prince because of how you think he will rule? Isn’t that a bit naive?”
“It’s a fact, I will wager that he will rule Paegeia exactly like his father does.”
“I’ll take that wager.”
“Oh and what, you know the prince and you are going to tell him about everything I have said?”
I roared this time. If only she knew. “I know plenty of people, I’m sure it will reach the prince’s ears soon.”
“Well if that happens, I won’t hate governors quite so much.”
I laughed again. She was really funny and I had never laughed like this before tonight, or enjoyed this much messing around with anyone.
A part of me just wanted to yank off my mask and show her who I truly was, but the night would end.
I knew it would. So I kept the mask on and talked to her some more.
“So tell me a bit about yourself. If I am to tell the person who will tell the prince how to rule his country, I would like to be able to explain to him what type of a person told me that.”
She laughed. “Just tell him that it’s from someone that wants to have a future with a family too and doesn’t want to die of starvation.”
“Ahhh, she’s sarcastic too.” We almost reached mother’s rose bushes.
“No, I’m not. That’s exactly how I feel.”
“How many brothers and sisters do you have.”
“What you are going to give me the famous royals’ speech?”
“And what speech is that”
“Believe you me things reach us commoners. We know what the rich think of us -- ‘they don’t have money and yet they have so many mouths to feed, no wonder they are poor’.” She said in a snobbish British accent.
I laughed again. She sounded so much like Connie, not that she was snobbish at all.
“That’s not the reason why they have so many kids. My mother and father love all of us. And yes if things were given to us like they are given to the rich, then maybe we wouldn’t have so many kids. The poor don’t have the remedy of safe intercourse -- and for some reason, commoners just have to look at our husbands and we have a bun in the oven, that is what you call it, right?”
I chuckled. “You have a lovely, twisted, but lovely, sense of humor. I don’t recall ever laughing so much in a woman’s presence.”
“Oh believe me, I’m hardly a woman.”
“You’re a man?”
She slapped me playfully while gasping. “No, I’m not a man. These are real.” She touched her breasts and for a short second images of wanting to grab those bosoms to make sure they were real flashed through my mind.
I pushed the thought out of my head and took in a huge, soft breath.
“I have all the parts a woman should have, I’m just not the type of woman you think I am.”
I smiled. “You haven’t been with a man yet.” She blushed and sucked on her lips driving me insane.
I ran my hand through my hair.
Who was she? The wanting to know was burning the edges of my mind.
“No, I haven’t been with a man and I won’t be with one either for a couple of years to come.”
“Good golly, you are one of those? You love women?”
“No!” She laughed. “I don’t love women, not like that, but for some reason I can only talk to women. I’ve never spoken like this to any man, other than my brother and father before.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She laughed again.
“Never been kissed?”
“No, I’m not one of those either that goes around and kisses all the boys in her village.”
The corners of my lips curved slightly as more images of this delicate flower filled my mind. I wanted to know what she looked like under those layers. Her shoulders were certainly something that drove me insane.
“So if I grabbed you now and kissed you fiercely, that would be your first.”
The girl chuckled. “Try it and you’ll find out just what type of woman I am. You will walk around with the evidence for a week.”
I roared and lifted up my hands in defense. “Now it’s clear. You are the type of girl that only exists in one’s dreams.”
Silence lingered. I hated it.
“So that is why Marco always wanted to set me up with his son.” She finally said, breaking the silence. “I was really wondering about that. Thank you so much for clearing it up.” She sounded so serious and we both started laughing.
I disliked this Marco and his son already.
She talked about her family, about her father and about her little brother that she loved so much.
She hunted too. Then sold the meat and skin to help her mother pay their taxes.
I felt really bad about the fact that taxes were raised so often.
But why? What was my father doing with all this tax revenue?
One thing for sure that I did learn was that this girl was far from a commoner. I wanted to find out as much about her as possible.
I’d learned a lot, like compassion was one of her many traits. Delilah would be proud of me. She hated the fact that I was still so cold to the people and now I was starting to hate that fact too.
I was such an idiot.
Soon she was done telling me her story, not once mentioning any names. Which was good because I really didn’t want to lie to her about mine. We reached the maze.
“Can we?” She asked.
I hated this maze, got lost in it so many times as a nervous chuckle escaped my lips.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been in a maze?” She wanted to know.
“No,” I said. “This one, has some tricks, especially in the moonlight.”
“I’m not scared, come on.” She reached out her hand to me. I looked at it for a short second. “I promise you’ll get safely out.”
I took her hand and a current so s
trong moved up my arm.
I knew this was it. I realized mother’s stupid beliefs weren’t so stupid after all.
She had always said that one would know the minute you find your soulmate. It was like fireworks going off somewhere.
It was love at first sight and I had no idea what she even looked like.
She started to run through the maze as if she knew exactly where she was going.
I ran after her.
Her soft brown curls bounced off her back softly.
Then the maze started with its funny shit and I pulled her back. Scared that we were going to be apart or blocked off from each other.
She laughed again as we watched the maze change its path.
“This is why you don’t like it.”
“I hate it.” I spoke softly.
“I can hear your heart. It really terrifies you.”
I wanted to tell her about the time I was lost in it for an entire evening. But she would put two and two together and end up hating me.
Fear of that was worse than my fear of the maze. It filled my core.
She had to know how wrong she was about me.
I realized then and there that the maze held no fear greater than her finding out who I truly was.
She looked up and our eyes met.
She was so beautiful in the moonlight and the way she smelled.
I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but it was divine.
I couldn’t stop looking into her eyes and my head moved slowly down toward hers.
Please don’t punch me. I should actually have asked but I was so scared that she would say no.
Our lips touched.
Everything that was unclear before, was crystal clear now. She was made for me.
Her lips tasted perfect, as her warm breath caressed my face softly.
I pulled her closer to me.
Our kiss deepened and there were fireworks again.
The kiss wasn’t filled with lust and want as I imagined it would be. It was gentle, and one I would never forget.
For the first time in my life, my eyes finally closed when I kissed.
Chapter 5
ALBERT
The maze stopped with its rumbling a long time ago.
Our lips finally parted.
I couldn’t speak. But she gave me a dashing smile, grabbed my hand again and ran into the path that opened on our right.
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