Ladies, Lords, & Liars

Chapter Eight: The Invitation

  Aeric encountered no one in the halls on the way, and when he'd returned to his room, he discovered that another batch of clothing had been left behind, this one much larger than the first by a good three times.

    He put it away in the wardrobe with a hasty carelessness before he climbed into bed again.

   Seeing as he intended to take only a short nap before breakfast, he didn't bother changing out of his clothes. It was much easier to just fall asleep. He would, however, make an allowance for the boots. Sleeping in those would be a nightmare, not to mention he might ruin the fine sheets he was sleeping upon with the remnants of the garden that managed to cling to the soles.

    His walk seemed to have helped whatever restlessness that he'd been unable to overcome the night before, and he fell asleep rather quickly.

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   The only problem with waking up was that the sun slanting through the bedroom windows could in no way be early morning sun, or even late morning, for that matter. Which meant one thing...

   He'd overslept, and from the looks of things, not only had he missed breakfast but luncheon as well. He sat up groggily, feeling too hot and unable to take a proper breath due to the stifling mugginess of the air. He shouldn't have slept with the blankets pulled up quite so far.

   He swung his feet over the edge of the bed, yawning. He was actually relieved that he'd missed breakfast, more than anything. It meant he could delay meeting the princess for as long as possible, and therefore delay the inevitable fact that he would have to at least try some sort of flirting with her.

   It almost seemed that he was allergic to the thought, for every time it popped into his head, a sick twisting feeling dominated his stomach and spread through his chest like an acid.

   That sounded the worst out of everything he'd thought of so far. He hated this whole thing with everything in him, but he couldn't imagine how prissy and well-groomed the princess would be. He'd only ever met a few higher class women in his short days, but they had all bored him right out of his mind. The princess was one of the highest class women in the country, and that didn't exactly excite him.

   His mother would be overjoyed, of course. It was probably all part of her plan. She had to be deranged, if she thought it would ever work. The real prince would show up at summer's end, and then the act would be up, and if Aeric wasn't gone before then, he would probably be killed. He would definitely be killed.

   Again with the repeating trains of thought, but he couldn't help it. He just found it so hard to believe that his mother, who was usually so careful and thoughtful about every single thing she ever said or did, would even consider such an outlandish plan. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he couldn't help the tiny voice at the back of his mind that whispered that his mother had gone crazy, most likely a while ago. He just hadn't really seen it until this ludicrous plan was suggested.

  He should have seen it long before this had ever happened. He would have been able to prevent it all. But now he was stuck in a situation where every scenario but the singular, perfect one would lead, inevitably, to his death.

   He took a deep breath. Worrying about this wasn't going to make his boat sink or float any faster than it already was. He just had to hope and pray that things would continue to go as smoothly as they'd gone so far.

   And maybe he could avoid the princess for a few more days at least.

   Of course that was just wishful thinking. Everyone would be trying to get them together, he was sure. The queen herself had already done just that. He hoped she would miss dinner again tonight, or that he could find his own excuse to do the same.