"Princess Eadlyn!" someone exclaims. When I turn around, I realize that it was Erik.
"Nope, guess again."
"I'm so sorry, your highness! I didn't realize."
"It's fine," I reply, and turn to Arthur, "Guess your idea didn't work."
"Maybe I just wanted an excuse," Arthur says.
"An excuse to do what?" I ask.
Arthur stares off into the distance as if contemplating something before saying,"An excuse to get out of staying at a party full of people I've never seen before in my life."
"Well, you know SOME people," I reason. We walk up the stairs to the third floor. "Can you stall my maid while I sneak into my room? If she saw me, she'd probably hand me a huge, puffy dress covered with sequins or something and I'd end up looking like a disco ball."
"Sure, but I thought your maid was Jane," Arthur replies.
"Jane got a day off today, but she made me a replacement dress a while back which is in my closet now," I tell him.
"Okay. I'll tell her my butler left something in the clothing making area and I need her to get it. I can signal you when she's distracted," he suggests.
"My parents used to signal each other by tugging on their ears. I saw them doing it once, and basically no one noticed. Want to try that?" I say.
"Why not?" Arthur replies.
When we reach my rooms, I hide and Arthur knocks on the door.
"Hello, miss, can you grab something from the sewing area for me? My butler forgot to get it," Arthur says to my replacement maid.
"Yes, your highness," she replies.
Arthur tugs his ear, and luckily, the maid doesn't notice. I sneak into my room and change as fast as I can into a strapless blue-green dress with horizontal ruffles and grab a matching tiara. When I peek out of he door, Arthur is turning the corner. I tug my ear and shake my head "no" to signal to him that he still needs to stall. He tugs his ear back. When I see that the maid isn't there, I run out of my room and halfway down the staircase. Arthur's finishes his conversation and walks down, too.
"Well, at least we're more discreet than Eady," I say.
"Let's go back to the party, shall we?"
Author's Note
Mini ship moments... Tugging ears. Staring off into the distance. For the other dress, think of America's dress on the cover of The Selection for the color.
-Nom Nom
