The Lie

Chapter Eleven

The visit with the king came about an hour after Hester and Anadil had their first kiss and it couldn't have gone better.

The king said he had misjudged Tedros and Agatha and their "alternative lifestyle" as he called it.

The group made their way out of the castle later that afternoon, splitting up into couples along the route.

That caused several... incidents.

About half an hour into the trip back, Sophie tripped over a roof after staring at Nicola and tumbled down a hill.

Hester and Anadil laughed until they almost started crying.

Nicola was biting her lip to stop herself from joining in on the laughter and Sophie was glaring at all of them quite vehemently.

Another time, Hort and Ravan went off the path to have some "alone time" and got lost.

The others found them after about half an hour of searching.

Hort had apparently been attacked by a skunk and Ravan had been sprayed trying to protect him.

His hair was now slicked against his skull and he tromped through the woods while everyone tried to avoid him and the unbearable stench.

Hort clamped a hand over his nose and stayed by his boyfriend faithfully.

Before Hester and Anadil could get into some kind of trouble, they reached the castle.

Dot breathed a sigh of relief, clearly not wanting to find her friends... together like that again.

She was happy about it the first time but it would certainly be awkward now.

~

Agatha saw the bird fly in through the window with her bite still attached to its leg and frowned in worry.

What happened?

Why couldn't it find Sophie?

She was already grabbing her essentials to go the other kingdom and demand to know what happened to her best friend.

Just as she was about to make her way to the exit, there was a call from one of the servants.

"The ambassadors have returned!"

Agatha dropped her thing s and raced down the hallways until she skidded to a stop at the front entrance.

She saw her friends coming in and she let out a sigh of relief.

She rushed forward and grabbed Sophie in a tight, lung constricting hug.

Sophie squeezed her just as fiercely, but it seemed like there was something missing.