Life and Lies

Part 4: Secret Hideaways

Im overwhelmed by the amount of young people in the small pub. Its filled to capacity with bright and smiling faces, everywhere I look the people are talking loudly and dancing along to the fiddle music coming from near the bar. I can't help but smile as I am sucked into the crowd and met with all kinds of bright smiles and cheers. Edward is so relaxed next to me, when he sees a boy he knows he pulls him in for a brief hug of friendship. 

"Eddy! you made it!" The boy shouts over the noise, "And who is this beauty you have to accompany you?" He turns and takes my hand, kissing it sweetly before letting me go.

"This is tavia, she just arrived here from a small village in italy, traveling with the new princess." Edward informs him with a gesture over his shoulder as if he was talking about someone behind him. I smile brightly at the boy and he returns the favor.

"Well pleased to meet you, I'm liam and this here is my sister olivia. he says gesturing to the short stocky girl behind him. She turns at the sound of her name and looks up at me with awe. 

"Well Ill be damned, you have to be the most beautiful girl I ever saw!" she says quickly. I'm shocked at how crude she sounds but recover quickly with a smile as she takes a long pull from her drink. when she's finished she lets out a hiccup and then offers me the cup.

"You seem like you could use this more than me girl." I take the cup hesitantly and look inside, the drink smells foul and my stomach churns at the thought of drinking it but this is the first time i have ever been outside the comfort of a palace and I want to enjoy my freedom. So I pull the drink to my lips and down the rest of it in one gulp. I try not to gag at the taste and swallow it down quickly. Edward gives me an impressed look and motions to the bartender to serve up another round. 

"Well Tavia I've never met anyone who can out drink my sister but it seems like maybe you might be her match!" Liam laughs and takes the new drink offered to him by Edward. 

The night goes by very quickly and soon I find myself at the middle of the dance floor feeling warm and fuzzy. I cannot stop laughing at the way Edward dances so stiffly and try my best with the new moves liam is trying to teach me. Im dying of laughter at the drunken way he keeps slurring his words and he keeps giving me a stern look that says i need to pay better attention. I laugh him off and make my way past him to the empty table against the wall, taking a seat facing the room. I look up to try and see where Edward has gone and spot him in a dark corner with a girl i don't know, he pushes a strand of hair back behind her ear and pulls her closer to him, I can't look away as their lips meet and I feel the contents of my stomach coming back up. I tear myself away and rush outside just in time to heave everything in me. Liam comes out just behind me, 

"Ill go and get eddy to take you home." He says kindly and leaves me outside still spitting and coughing. I feel defeated, even though I had told myself I wanted nothing to do with this prince there was still a naive part of me that thought maybe there was still a chance. a chance he may actually be interested in courting me and I could actually fall in love. As it turns out all the stories Ive heard about him are true and he is just another failed courtship as he had said. 

I lean my head back against the wall and look up at the lighting sky. Pretty soon the entire court will be awake and wondering where we are. We need to get back soon before we are found out. Just as I am about to head back inside to look for him Edward comes stumbling out of the pub. He looks at me with annoyance before he too notices the light in the sky. 

"Fuck me!" he says loudly and a man passing by snickers at the two of us, obviously mishearing what his intentions are. Edward grabs my hand and pulls me off in the direction we came from the night before. I stumble along behind him as he walks fast back toward the palace. I see the hut come into view and start to walk toward it but he pulls me back in the direction of the wall,

"Theres no time, Ill come back for our clothes later, right now we have to get back before the palace wakes." He says in breathy tone. I groan and rush along behind him, eager to get to my bed and sleep off this inevitable hangover. Ive never been allowed to get drunk like this before, mother always counts my drinks and cuts me off when she believes Ive had enough. Although my brother Steffen is a man and allowed to have as many as he likes and always tells me how horrible it is the next day.

We reach the palace just as the sun is packing over the horizon and Edward and I are huffing with exhaustion. He pulls open the door and we both rush inside to find one of the chamber maids coming down the hall. Edward pulls me along in the other direction and tells me to keep my hair over my face. 

We walk swiftly though the quiet palace and finally come upon my roomie turns on me and grabs both of my shoulders to make sure I'm paying attention.

"Don't tell anyone where you were last night. If anyone asks you for any reason, lie. even if they come to you with the knowledge of what we did deny it. no one can know about my secret hideaways or ill be just as trapped here as you." with that he walks off leaving me once again standing outside my door completely shocked. 

I enter the room quickly and strip off the awful dress he had given me, tossing on my nightgown and climbing between the sheets for a few hours of sleep. of course that is too much to ask for as a knock sounds on the door. I groan and shout for whoever it is to enter. To my surprise its Edward who enters the room. I sit up immediately and pull the comforter up to my chest. He looks surprised to see me already in bed and I sense a flash of excitement in his eyes before it disappears. 

"I just wanted to also say I had a great time last night. who knew an uptight Italian princess could be so good at drinking." He smirks and grabs the dress i discarded to the floor before leaving the room before I can say anything. 

"What an arrogant prick!" I shout at no one as I throw myself back onto the bed. finally closing my eyes and getting some sleep.