Masquerade

Talked All Night Part 2

Special thanks to Cassie who helped me a lot with the chapter. Still not sure it feel quite right, but I don't think I have the skill right now to make it what it should be.

The song is Greensleeves, original lyrics I think. It's by...well, not really known but presumed to be King Henry the Eighth.

Talked All Night Part 2

Cassandra stared at the row of hedges in front of her, no, not a row, because even in the darkness she could see that there was another row behind that, and it stretched off into the distance, a small field of hedge walls perhaps.

"What is this? This wasn't here before."

"A present for Rap...I mean the Princess Rapunzel, from the crowned Prince. It's a hedge maze."

"A maze?"

"Do you want to give it a go?"

"A maze at night?"

The man smirked and pulled one of the hanging lanterns from its hook by the pathway.

"Well, if you're too scared..."

"I'm not scared. "Cassandra scoffed. "I just don't think it's the best idea to get lost in the middle of the night."

He turned to her, his face half in shadows.

"Get lost with me."

"What?"

"Forget everything, everyone, get lost with me." He held his hand out for her.

She hesitated for a moment looking behind her towards the party where her friends were, they were probably wondering where she had got to. She owed it to them to know where she was, she didn't want them to worry about her. But there was something so alluring about the man, about the maze. That little tingle of excitement in her stomach, the slight breathless feeling knowing that she didn't actually know where the night was going to take her. It was a familiar tug between the feelings of duty and obligation, and those of freedom adventure, desire.

She took his hand, noticing how warm he was though the thin silk of her gloves, how long and fine the fingers were, how calloused the skin was, and finally she knew something about this man. He wasn't a courtier or a scholar, he was somebody who worked with his hands.

Then she was following him into the maze.

The hedges blocked out the last of the sound of the party, and the last of the light from the castle. It was as if they were passing into another world, the close lines of hedges forcing them close together so that the fabric of their clothes kept brushing against each other with a soft rustle.

Could he hear how hard her heart was suddenly beating? She felt it was so loud he must do. He led her deeper into the maze, the openings in the hedges appearing seemingly out of nowhere, everything pitch black outside the tiny circle of light their lamp was creating. It was as if nothing else existed outside that glowing circle, as if for that moment it really was just him and her in the entire world, as if they were lost together.

"Question three?" He said quietly, breaking the stillness of the night. For a moment she had forgotten their other game.

"Go on?"

"What would be a perfect day for you?"

In that moment, she was so caught up in the stillness of the night that she could have said 'exploring a maze at midnight', but she'd been thinking a lot about having a 'perfect day' as she had travelled back to Corona. She knew exactly what she wanted it to look like.