All day I tried to make him feel better. I did stupid things on purpose...tripped over my own feet in the garden, made ridiculous faces when he wasn't looking, and sang off-key in the kitchen while pretending it was a noble ballad. I wore the most ridiculous hat I could find and paraded through the halls like a court jester. If laughter were a weapon, I was going to use it.
For a while, it worked. He watched me with that impossible, unreadable face, and for once, just once, his lips twitched like he was trying not to smile or hold back a laugh. But when I looked across the halls, I saw Lukas, and he winked at me from across the corridor, and I felt like I was doing a good job so far, which only encouraged me to keep going. That's when everything fell apart the moment both of us stopped front of the main entrance infront of the palace... this must be the so-called Princess Anastasia. I'll call her aria for short
She saw me and looked at me with a critical gaze. Why? I have not the slightest clue. And yet I felt a sheer hatred for this... princess
NO!!!!
The woman who thought she owned the prince's attention, love, and care when she saw me with him...and to be honest, I didn't care not one bit as she froze in place for a second, then her face twisted into something sharp and ugly. Funny, I didn't give a reason for her to make such a disgusting face in front of me. Her eyes shot daggers into my chest the moment she started to march over to me; her voice spoke in a sickly syrupy sweet way. "Oh? "And who is this little... thing with you, baby Carus?"
Can you believe this? Since I entered this place, I've gotten accused of being a thief, a spy, and a criminal, of all things, but I will not stand or let any woman come up here with an unpleasant attitude just to push me around like I wasn't standing here. The audacity of this girl! Just wait till she meets my nasty side, and I felt it... a bomb inside me was about to explode if she stayed near me any longer.
She smiled like a viper, and
then... God help me...
I... as she came closer to me and whispered in my ear.
"I won't let you take my sweet carus away from me, you man-stealing wrench."
I couldn't believe it. Her words—did she really think I was after this lame polar bear? She must be high on some kind of crack; that's for sure because there's one thing I won't do: get with this jerk almost shipping me with him or insulting my name, let alone dating... but she wasn't the type to listen. Her words carried a warning, and I soon found out what she meant as she tripped herself on my leg while pushing me down, faking an ankle sprain. She staged it. A shove here, a fake bruise
There's a scream, and boom, one hell of a dramatic fall.
"CARUSSSS SHE PUSHED ME MY POOR LITTLE OLD LEG IS HURT PLEASE HELP ME BY GETTING JUSTICE GET RID OF HER CAREYYYYY PLEASE PLEASEEE!!!!"
THIS bad... woman is trying to get under your pants, and I only gave her one good piece of advice by telling her to leave, and she... she...
ARIA!!! Enough, this is my guest, and frankly, I know better than anyone she would never lay a finger on anyone unless provoked so unless you dont want me telling your father how pathetic you're being in front of a worthless mortal right now, I suggest you shut your damn mouth because your low-level acting skill wont cut it. Damn, even my three-year-old sister can perform better than what you just showed me. Wipe those fake tears up because I'm not picking you up; I have a meeting with your father so come along now before i escort you out the palace myself
BUT!!!
huh? Did you say something...?
He shot her a cold glare, and it wasn't like the others: the stare, the voice, the tone... held my feet in place and shut the princess up as well; she just walked off to his office just like that. This man is crazy powerful; it makes me wonder, has he ever killed anyone before?
One moment he was there, chest heaving, eyes wild. Next, the air snapped, and he was gone. Teleportation. A trick he used when he wanted to be anywhere and nowhere at once... Without a word, leaving me standing in an empty hall with my thoughts.
I ran after him without thinking, because what else do you do when the person who just saved your life disappears into thin air? Because I know for sure that the princess would've landed me in a cell again doing the cell block tango. I ran down the marble corridor, out into the courtyard, and nearly collided with someone.
Not Lukas. Not the prince. A stranger.
He was tall and cloaked, and his face was unfamiliar in a way that made my skin prickle. He reached out with a gloved hand and helped me steady myself. His voice was soft and polite, like someone who'd been taught to open doors for ladies and to never raise his voice.
"Are you all right, miss?" he asked softly.
I blinked. "Yes. Thank you," I stammered.
He took my hand just for a moment and raised it to his lips and kissed it. A proper, old-fashioned kiss on the knuckles. It should have been romantic. It should have been ridiculous. Instead, I felt something cold and sticky on my skin.
Is this...? Blood?
I looked down. There was a smear of dark red on my palm where his lips had originally touched. I wanted to pull away, to scream, to demand answers. But instead, he smiled at me, and then with an odd, unreadable smile... he bowed.
"My apologies," he said. "You are in the prince's debt, I believe. Good evening. I heard interesting stories about you. I do hope we will meet again."
And then he walked away, disappearing out the door like a dark beast with secrets he's keeping. I stood there, hand burning where his lips had been, and thought, What was that all about? My life had just become a thousand times stranger, and soon I would understand just how weird my life would become. I then shrugged my shoulders while walking back to my room.