The Soot Princess [Hiatus]

53- Furthermore

Eevon

As short of a walk it was, I had become tired and my back ached. The prince opened the door for me and I lumbered in with the backpack, which he had tried to relinquish from my grip, but I had not allowed in the hall. I promptly dumped it by the door. He walked in behind me and closed the door. He opened one of the small pockets in the backpack and pulled out the bottle of painkillers and set it on the nightstand for me and the disappeared into the bathroom. 

"No, no. I can do that," I attempted to plead. 

"Even I," he called from the bathroom, "can do this." He returned with a small crystal cup of water in hand and set it too on the nightstand. Then opened the pill bottle to retrieve one of them and set it next to it. 

I had seated myself on the large bed in the meantime. I seemed to have fallen asleep at some point, because I don't remember taking the pill and drinking the water, which were no longer on the table when I awoke. I also don't remember crawling under the covers. The prince was also still there. He was on the floor with his head resting on the bed and his hair falling over his closed eyes. My hand brushed a lock off of his forehead and he didn't stir. I glanced at the clock, which I had forgot that I had disconnected, but an alarm on his watch happened to go off. 

He groaned, and rubbed his eyes as he was turning it off. "Shit," I heard him whisper. 

"What are you still doing here?"

He looked up astonished and rubbed his eyes again. "Umm, we need to get going. We have to both be at dinner." 

I uncovered my warm body and sat up.

"and you can't wear that." He pointed to the outfit he had passed to me earlier. He strut into the closet and returned with a red, open back gown. "This shouldn't irritate your back."

I glanced at it and came to my conclusion, "Never in hell am I wearing that. I'm not going to show off the bandages." 

"We don't have time to argue."

I went over to the closet myself in a slightly slower fashion than him and pulled out a formal long sundress instead. "This is light enough it shouldn't bother me either."

"Fine, whatever, just put it on quickly."

"As soon as  you leave the room."

"Right, and let me know if you need any help." He closed the door behind him. 

The sundress was very flowy and the main colors were purple and green. It had long sleeves with cuffs that buttoned halfway up my forearms. The neckline was a sweetheart with piping lining it. I twirled once to see how it looked and the skirts spread out around me. I dove back into the closet for a pair of shoes and came out with brown, roman styled sandals. I opened the door after slipping the shoes on and the prince was waiting anxiously for me.

"For one, pretty and two, let's go." He escorted me down a flight of stairs around a corner, down another flight, and a lot of other things. We stopped outside of a pair of great oaken doors. "Okay, don't speak unless you are spoken to, be positive, smile, umm... Be polite, no teasing comments, umm..."

"Everything will be fine," I coolly said to him.

"I just don't want anymore trouble."

"Okay, well here goes nothing." I opened one of the doors.

I could hear an audible sigh of relief as I saw no one in the room. He led me to the chairs and told me which was mine to sit in. I sat without anything else to do. The doors opened again and the other two brothers were behind us. They paused as they took in their brother standing behind my chair, which he had pulled out for me unnecessarily.

"Are you sure she should even be upright, Char?" Mason the ass asked.

"Glad for your concern, but she is-"

"I can speak."

"-fine," he finished. "As you can now tell." He gave me a knowing look with a grimace. He took his seat and hissed "I thought there would be no trouble!"

"Was there?" I quipped. I could see him squirm with a nearly uncontainable sigh.

The doors opened lastly to allow the main show in. Everyone stood, then sat together. A extravagant four course meal was delivered, course by course my stomach filled. My back became more sore, if it was possible or maybe the drugs were wearing out. Hard to tell.

A simple conversation was flowing among the diners. One, I was not privy to join, so I listened, like at dinner back at North Street, what I do best.

"This carp's seasoning it not as tasty as last time. Did the chef change?"

" I do not recollect being notified of a change of staff."

"It's not a big deal," Alex cut in. "It tastes the same to me."

I could not tell if it was even carp. Never had fish before now. My fork sunk into each tender morsel and savored it. It wasn't a very unusual or weird taste.

There was a lull in the conversation shortly after. I spoke, "May I request permission to not come to your dinners?"

"No," was the  immediate response. 

"May I inquire why?" I tried to be proper.

"Are you questioning us?" the queen asked as she shoved a bite in between her thin lips.

"No, but I am asking for a reason." 

I got a mild glare from a particular prince. I already knew to tread carefully on cracked ice. 

"What if we were concerned about your safety. You are a ward of this nation after all."

"I don't buy it."

"Buy what?"

"Figure of speech, never mind." I doubted I would get further. I tried. Good bye, life after high school.

I stayed quiet the rest of the evening. Maybe I should just camp out for the rest of the year. I could buy a tent in a short amount of time with money from Kate's Café and rent a campsite. Washing clothes would be the biggest hassle... I fantasized.

The clatter of silverware gradually stopped after the dessert course was served, at this point I couldn't eat another bit, even if I wanted to.