"Get up" Venetia mumbles from my now open door.
"Why? It's not as if I've got anything to do, let alone live for" I reply grumpily, still half asleep.
"That's where you’re wrong" she says as she walks over to my king sized bed and places herself on the edge of it.
"What?"
"We have a visitor" she grins and I notice a sparkle in her eye that’s been absent for months.
It has been so long since I have seen it or seen her truly happy. She manages to keep herself sane in this house which is a feat in itself. We can’t do things like normal teenagers. We can't even surf the net freely. There are a few websites that aren’t blocked, such as clothing websites and the like. Nothing with articles or information is available to us though. That is strictly forbidden, although lately, I have felt like breaking the rules!
"By visitor you mean who?" I ask carelessly. Probably just another delivery.
She was ordering clothes online every five minutes but I can’t blame her. If that's what keeps her entertained and father gives her unlimited access to his credit card... Well, it's his own stupid fault isn't it.
"A gentleman" she whispers.
"Right, so basically just another delivery man huh? And you woke me up for that!?! For Christs sake Tia, you know once I'm awake I can’t get back to sleep and lately I haven't..."
"No. I mean a real visitor. He's coming to dinner tonight" she squeals.
"Tonight?" I ask questioningly.
"Yes, tonight. And actually there's three of them. But only one that I'm interested in" she growls.
"And by interested in you mean what exactly?" I say, raising an eyebrow.
"Dionne do the math! Gosh, for a girl as intelligent as you, you never fail to out do yourself when it comes to... Understanding men... And relationships. He's incredibly handsome, single and he's the first proper male company I've had in God knows how many months. What is it? Nearly eleven now right?"
"Just over four" I correct her.
"Oh. I stand corrected. Christ, it feels like so much longer than that!" she moans. Hmm, maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe she wasn't as entertained as I had thought. Or was led to believe... "But anyway that doesn't matter. What matters is that I look the best, the sexiest I can tonight!"
"And how old is he?"
“Twenty nine..." she mutters, probably hoping that I wouldn't catch what she said.
"Twenty nine! Tia! You’re only fifteen! That's even too old for me, let alone you! Why on earth do you..."
"I think you’ll find under customary marriage laws that once a girl is twelve, she can legally marry if her own consent was given. I’m almost four years past that stage and if I had the choice I’d have consented to marry a long time ago. So I’m going to grab this opportunity by its horns."
"By law perhaps but I don’t think you’re ready to be a wife yet."
"That’s for Howard to decide isn’t it? I’ve changed a lot since being kept here and he might find me quite mature. I have read loads of adult books lately, I even managed to get the guards to sneak me in a few books on politics."
"Politics?" I ask confused.
"Yeah, didn't you know, Howard is a politician. And, he's English!"
"You read a book on politics so you could impress him?"
"Well, he looks really hot! I saw his picture in a paper on father’s desk… But I had to read the book three times before I could even begin to understand any of it properly.”
