WANTED

Chapter 13: The First Morning

It was the first morning of the annual Pellah Festival and Alyss rose bright and early. She threw the curtains open, and the bright morning sunshine spilled into the room. Tony groaned from where he lay on his camping mattress on the floor. He pulled his blankets over his head, trying in vain to shield his eyes from the light.

Alyss giggled and threw one of the pillows from her bed at him. Suddenly Tony jumped up, throwing off the covers and darted straight at her. Alyss gave a startled shriek as Tony's bare arms snaked around her waist. He effortlessly picked her up and threw her on the bed, landing neatly beside her moments later. Tony propped his head up on his elbow, watching Alyss recover with a wide grin on his face.

Tony's head was in the perfect place to block Alyss' view of the sun and when she looked up at him there were rays of light bursting from behind his head, it looked almost like a halo. Much to her relish Tony was only wearing a pair of loose pants and she was provided with a full view of his very... defined chest. Prince Anthony looked Godlike.

"What?" he asked, giving Alyss an odd look. She realised she had been staring. 

"Hmm?..." she began, unable to to tear her eyes away from his captivating form. When she managed to move her eyes to his face he was grinning mischievously.

"Don't worry," Tony reassured her in a cocky tone, "I'm used to women staring; it's not your fault I'm unbearably attract - "

Unfortunately he didn't get to finish the sentence, as Alyss slapped him hard on the chest before he could get out another word. Skin on skin contact; ouch!

Tony rolled off Alyss' large bed and onto his own camping mattress. His groans of pain never ceasing. 

"Come on lazy, rise and shine! It's time to get up!" Alyss chirped.

Tony just moaned in reply.

"It's the first day of the festival, sleepy! Get up!" she reminded him brightly, before adding. "Well,  I'm going down to have some breakfast, I shall tell Jenny that you'll be down soon! Don't be too long... dearest husband!"

And with that she cheerfully left the room and skipped down the stairs. She quickly found Jenny and requested a breakfast for two of eggs, toasted bread and bacon. Then she seated herself at a table up against the wall; a place where she could watch the rest of the room without being unknowingly watched herself. Alyss warmed her hands on a mug of hot tea while she waited for Tony to appear.

"Here you go, dear," Jenny added as she delivered the tray of breakfast. Just as she arrived , Tony appeared at the top of he stairs. "Oh hello Thomas!"

"Good morning Jenny," Tony replied in a friendly tone.

"Can I get you a drink of something?" Jenny queried.

"Oh yes please, whatever you've got that's hot will be fine." Tony answered and then sat down opposite Alyss. "Good morning wife," he addressed her with a smirk on his face.

"Good morning, I trust you've recovered from your... unfortunate accident." Alyss answered, smiling.

"Mmm..." Tony mumbled unappreciatively.

"Here you are," Jenny appeared again placing a steaming cup of tea in front of Tony. "Will you two be attending the Festival?"

"Of course!" Alyss exclaimed excitedly.

"She's been talking non - stop about it for the past two days," Tony commented with a grin. "It's as if she's possessed!" Jenny gave a hearty chuckle and didn't notice Tony gasp when Alyss kicked him in the shin, under the table.

"Okay, well I'll leave you two to your breakfast. Enjoy the day!"

"You too," Alyss called after her.

"What was that for?" Tony groaned. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Possessed?" Alyss questioned, raising an eyebrow. Tony just chuckled, this earned him another kick.

"Alright! I'm sorry! Now, what are we going to be doing today? Are we really going to go to the festival?" Tony seemed a little puzzled.

"Yes, just not for the whole day. When we finish breakfast, we'll have to make an appearance; as to not raise suspicion. But after lunch we'll sneak away, into the forest, and have another training session." Alyss informed him, beginning to eat her breakfast.

"That's it?" Tony queried, to which his answer was a nod.

When the couple had finished their breakfast, Alyss moved upstairs to get dressed as Tony handed the empty dishes to Jenny, with whom he had a quick conversation about the festival. Tony bade the woman goodbye and moved upstairs.

When Tony opened the door he was greeted by Alyss' bare back, well almost bare; she was wearing a bright red dress with buttons all the way down her back, but all the buttons were undone. The dress was beautiful; it was made of a thin but sturdy cloth, which was a little bit strange. At the first glance the dress was red but as Alyss moved so did the dress; the colour changed. It was almost as if the dress was made of fire.

The skirt flowed out from her waist in a wide circle and the bodice clung to Alyss in all the right places. The sleeves went almost to her elbow. Though the style was simple, it was by far the most gorgeous dress that the prince had ever seen... and Prince Anthony had seen a lot of dresses.

"Do me up, would you?" Alyss asked quietly, keeping her back to him.

Tony silently made his way over to her and slowly began to do up the buttons. When he finally finished the last button, he slid his arms around her waist and gently kissed her neck. She sighed and leant her head back against his shoulder. They stayed like that, perfectly still for a moment but then, letting go of her waist, Tony softly moved Alyss' black as midnight hair back into place.

"Thank you," Alyss whispered, "I'll meet you downstairs,"

A hint of a smile lingered on her lips as she silently disappeared. Tony fell back on the bed, trying to summon the blissful moment... but it had passed. So he hurriedly got dressed instead.

"Ready," Tony declared, slipping a knife into his boot. And then he disappeared out the door.