Baby, I'm never gonna leave you,
Say that you wanna be with me too
Cuz I'ma stay through it all so jump then fall
-Jump Then Fall, Taylor Swift
♛
"Did you find anything?" I asked Ryder, referring to when he'd disappeared to look for more evidence.
He shook his head, "No. By the time I thought I'd seen something I heard you running and thought I'd come see what was going on."
I nodded, sighing. We'd made it back to the station and were waiting for the train to come.
"You got any more money left to pay for our tickets?" Ryder asked.
I nodded, "One more bill. After that we're broke."
"I think we should head back to my home. Your father probably won't be expecting it at all and I'll try talking to my father."
I nodded in agreement. "Maybe we'll get a moment to sleep and not run."
Ryder searched my eyes, before his gaze landed onto my lips. I felt my face heating up, I didn't like being stared at. "What? Want to take a picture of me?"
"What happened to your lip?" Ryder asked, shifting his eyes back to mine.
I ran the pad of my index against my bottom lip. "Oh, I ran into a tree branch whilst running away from Francis."
He snorted, "Of course you did."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked raising a brow.
Before he could answer, the train stopped at our station. It was time to board.
Once again, Ryder and I found ourselves a separate train car. Although it was now midday, there still weren't many people on the train.
The village was about an hour away. I missed my car. Poor Babe. I hadn't gotten the chance to mourn her death. I hoped she found car heaven, she'd done a great deal of good for me. I was surprised that the train stopped at so many places, but was grateful for the convenience.
My eyelids weighed down, but I didn't want to fall asleep. I was too frightened. Francis. The message we'd stumbled upon. Heading back to the village. There were so many things that could go wrong. Too many.
"Hey, Diana?"
I turned to Ryder. "Yeah?"
"If you want to go to sleep, which I can see that you do, go for it. I'll wake you up when we get to our stop."
"What about you?" I asked.
Ryder sent me a playful smirk, "Trust me, you really need the beauty sleep. See, unlike you, I don't need much to stay attractive."
He wasn't lying. Wait what?
Before I could argue, I felt myself drifting off into a blissful sleep.
♛
"ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS. WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE TWO CRIMINALS ARE ON OUR TRAIN. REMAIN CALM AND PLEASE STANDBY. BLOCK OF ALL EXISTS AND IMMEDIATELY REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY. WE ARE BRIEFLY STOPPING THE TRAIN."
What horrible nightmare was this?
I felt someone shake my shoulder. "One more minute, Mum."
"I'm not your mother, god forbid." I heard someone laugh.
My eyes flew open when I realized where I was. I sat up immediately. "Wha- What's going on?"
My gaze met with Ryder's, his eyes filled with alarm. "Diana, we need to get off of the train right now."
I scrunched my brows, "Er...why don't we just wait till it stops like normal people?"
Ryder shook his head, grabbing my hand and pulling my lazy self up onto my feet. "They'll get here before we even try. We have to leave now."
"It's freaking moving at a million miles an hour!" I protested looking out the window.
"More like a hundred, but that doesn't matter. We're dead if we stay here, so it's best we take a chance and hope we don't die jumping out."
I shook my head, "And how do you propose we leave? There's no exit in our train car, if we try using any other one we'll be got."
Ryder scoffed, "Oh how you underestimate me, Princess."
Without warning, Ryder stood up on the train seat and reached up towards the handle of the window, pushing it open. A gust of wind, cross that, a freaking tornado of wind entered the train car.
"You're actually insane."
"If we die, I swear I'm going to murder you." I threatened through gritted teeth.
"Remind me to explain to you afterwards, that you only live once, therefore you can't kill-"
I shoved him slightly, "Shut up, nerd."
He raised his hands in protest, "Geez, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you were trying to push me off and kill me right now."
"How'd you guess?"
He sent me a smile, "Ready?"
I pursed my lips, trying not to wince as my hair smacked me in the face thank to the wind. "No, not particularly."
"Perfect. In three we jump."
I nodded, "Okay."
"One!"
"Two!"
"Wait!" I cut in. "On three, or after three?"
Ryder sent me a glare. "Does it freaking matter?"
"Uh, yeah!" I protested, "If you jump before me, I could get my head lodged between the window and suffocate to my death. Or worse--"
"--On three! On three."
I nodded, taking a deep breath as Ryder counted again.
And with that, the two of us leaped from the ledge of the window.
I kept my eyes closed, awaiting the impact. And boy did it come.
"My clothes!" I whined, "They're ruined."
Ryder let out a laugh from beside me, "I think your clothes are pretty much the least of your concern right now. Look at your hair."
We'd landed right into a puddle of mud. Just our freaking luck. My hair was caked in mud along with pretty much everything. I felt the murky water soaking into my clothing, reaching places it really shouldn't have.
"Shut up peasant!" I snapped jokingly, "Look at yourself."
"Me? A peasant? Learn to respect those greater than you!" Ryder replied, wiping the mud off of his face.
We shared a moment of laughter. Never had I ever imagined I'd be on the side of a railroad, covered in mud, laughing with a wrongfully convicted heir to the throne.
"Do you think you'll be able to navigate us to your house from here?" I asked, spitting the mud out of my mouth and getting up onto my feet.
"I think so."
Soon enough, we were off, walking in broad daylight looking like mud-men and earning numerous stares from strangers on the street. Every step made me cringe, the feeling of my feet pressing against the moistened soles of my shoes.
Gross.
♛
"Dahlia?" Ryder called out.
After what had felt like forever, we had finally reached Ryder's house. Legs sore and lungs heavy. We stepped into the house, heading to the kitchen for some water. I didn't even complain about the metallic taste, too parched to bother.
"Ryder? Is that you?" Dahlia's voice called, she entered the kitchen.
Her eyes landed on me, and she immediately tensed up, sending me a glare.
"Where's Dad?" Ryder asked.
Dahlia's lips quivered slightly as she spoke, "I- well...He's gone."
Ryder clenched his fists, "What do you mean he's gone?"
"They...they took him!" Dahlia burst out.
"Who? What are you talking about?" Ryder urged.
"Her bloody Royal family!" Dahlia seethed, spitting her words at me.
"When did they take him?" Ryder demanded, not looking at me.
"Just as soon as word got out that you two were near the village." Dahlia frowned in thought, "I think it was just about an hour ago. Dad told me to hide, I'm sure they would've taken me too. They talked about some leverage or something. I was too scared to focus on their words."
I stepped back a bit as Dahlia stood up, shoving past me, sending me a glare as she fled the house.
Ryder stood up as well, turning towards me. I sent him a sympathetic look. I didn't think my father would stoop so low. First he used me, now he planned on manipulating Ryder using his father.
"I'm so sorry about your father, Ryder. I'll do anything I can to help you get him--"
I was cut from my words when Ryder abruptly pushed me against the kitchen counter. "You did this, didn't you? You told me to leave so you could tell your little fiancée the whole bloody plan in the woods, didn't you?" He snarled, squeezing my wrists.
My eyes widened in both shock and fear. I attempted to pull my hands out of his grip but he only tightened it further. "Ryder, stop it. Stop! You're freaking hurting me."
The feeling of the counter digging into my lower back wasn't much fun either.
I threw my foot up to Ryder's kneecap, managing to loosen his grip and pull my hands away. I distanced myself from him, "How could you for a second believe I had anything to do with this? Ryder. I've spent more time with you in the past week than I have with anyone else this whole year! Trust me, I don't like most people and I certainly wouldn't travel across the country with someone I just to turn around and stab them in the back."
"I don't believe you." Ryder seethed, letting out a humourless laugh, "The way I see it, it's the perfect plan. Use the pretty Princess to fool the boy, and waste his time, filling him empty hopes and promises. You're sick, Diana. Bloody sick."
My lips parted open, in loss of words. I felt my mind buzzing furiously. My heart felt heavy in my chest. I couldn't believe, after all we'd been through, all we'd done for each other, that Ryder would think so low of me.
"You know what Ryder? I'm done. You can be hung for all I care. All I've done is try to help you and you decide to turn this whole bloody situation on me? You make me sick. Maybe you deserve it. Maybe my father's right."
I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth. The hurt that flashed across Ryder's features made my heart fall further.
"Ryder I--"
"Get out."
"What?" I protested. "No, we're just tired! Ryder we're not meaning the things we're saying. Please--"
"Get the hell out before I do something I regret."
I looked at his face, searching for any sign that he wanted me to stay. There was nothing.
I bit my tongue to prevent myself from letting out a string of curses, barging out of his house and slamming the door behind me.
I dropped to the floor on the porch, tugging at my hair in frustration, leaning back.
What the hell had just happened?
♛
I sat on Ryder's porch for what felt like an eternity. I wanted to run back into his house and smack him for accusing me of such a horrid thing, but I didn't have the guts to do so. I felt quite betrayed myself, feeling like the friendship or whatever we'd formed together had disappeared in the wind.
I looked around, finding no one out. I couldn't blame them, it was scorching outside. All the mud from that puddle had hardened to my clothing and skin. I felt like a rat. As I looked around my eyes caught sight of some silver on one of the electricity poles.
I stood up, getting off of the porch and heading to the pole. As I approached it, I realized it was just some flashy poster. I was about to turn away when the words caught my eyes.
Masquerade Ball. 9:00pm. Tonight! Join the King and Queen as they celebrate their daughter's wedding pre-rehearsal party
I reread the words over and over a couple times. A masquerade ball? In my honour? Had the town gone mad? Had no one realized I was supposed to be missing? Bloody hell.
I slumped back onto Ryder's porch, but just as I leaned against his door, a brilliant idea sparked into my mind.
I stood up abruptly, pounding my fist against the door.
Almost immediately, Ryder pulled open the door. I didn't wait for an invitation, barging into his house and seating myself in his living room.
Ryder slumped down onto the couch in front of me, placing his head into his hands.
I crossed one leg over the other, folding my arms and sending him a glare. I refused to speak until he apologized or something. We couldn't keep working if he didn't trust my intentions.
Ryder looked up, almost flinching at my glare before he let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for hurting you. That was stupid of me, I know...I know you've done nothing to hurt me. I'm sorry. I'm glad you didn't leave."
I pushed aside a strand of mud-caked hair falling onto my eyes, relief lifting my hear. I let out a deep breath. "It's okay. We just need to trust each other from now on."
Ryder nodded in agreement, sitting up slightly.
"It's time we figure out what we're going to do."
Ryder shook his head, "It seems like that's all we're ever trying to do. We never have a freaking plan."
I stood up, walking until I was standing right before him. "Get up."
Reluctantly, he stood up. I brought up my hand and without warning slapped him across the cheek.
He stepped back, holding his cheek, "Bloody hell! What was that for?"
"I don't know," I shrugged, "You're negativity makes me angry."
"I'm just stating it as it is."
"Wrong."
"What do you mean?"
I raised my hand again, smacking his chest this time.
"Freaking hell, what was that for and how did you become so strong in like two minutes?"
"That was for being a prick."
He chewed on his lip, "I guess I deserve that."
I sent him a small smile, "So do you have a suit?"
"Do I freaking look like someone who could own a suit?" Ryder asked in bewilderment.
I shrugged, "You should. You're a king after all."
He brushed off my words. "Why do I need a suit?"
"We're going to a dance."
"What dance?" Ryder questioned. "I can't dance!"
"My masquerade ball."
"Your ball?"
I nodded. "Yep, apparently despite disappearing for over a week, my parents are still throwing a party in my honour. All the villagers are welcome."
"As in, like, in the castle?"
"No, we're going to dance out on the street in the middle of the night," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Of course I mean the castle! Trust me, I'm not too happy about going back there. But with masks on, it'll be the perfect way to slip in unnoticed and to hopefully find your father. And maybe figure out what my father's planning on doing next."
"Sarcasm doesn't look good on you," Ryder told me.
I brushed past him. "Get used to it. You're stuck with me for a bit longer than you probably hoped. Does Dahlia have any dress I could borrow?"
Ryder shrugged, "I think so, she won't be happy about it though."
"Sucks for her." I scoffed heading out of the room. I was sick of her attitude, despite barely even knowing her.
"I don't have a suit!" Ryder protested.
"Find one!" I called, "You have an hour!"
I headed to Dahlia's room, pulling open her closet. Much to my surprise it was filled with clothing.
Perfect.
I was going to find something ravishing to wear.
Who said I couldn't get vengeance in some killer heels?
♛
Hey lovesss.
Again a bit of a filler, but there's gonna be a LOAD of stuff going down in the next chapter!!
Make sure to vote if you enjoyed!!
xx IceCat
QOTC: Who is/are your fictional/celebrity crush(es)? :P