Princed

Chapter 10

Irenie was quickly exiting her bedroom door when she nearly ran right into Ophelia and Curdie who had been walking down the hall together.

Rat followed quickly on her heals as her other cat, Turnip, lazed on the bed. Ophelia and Curdie watched with surprise as the princess skidded down the hall.

"Irenie! Where are you going?" Curdie shouted after the princess who didn't so much as blink an eye at them.

She was all the way around the corner when the two of them heard the princess' reply. "Business!" She called back and they stared at the empty hall for several seconds before Curdie's gaze drifted back to Ophelia.

"Well I guess that means we're on our own tonight," he said, scratching the back of his neck and closing his eyes.

Ophelia's mouth pursed before she poked him in the chest with her fan. "Don't get any ideas, miner-boy," Ophelia laughed abruptly and began walking again, wandering down the halls as the sun was setting. The lady had said that she needed some fresh air and like the gentleman Curdie professed himself to be, he said he knew an alright balcony in the knight's tower from which to watch the sunset.

"Ah, right," Curdie muttered from behind, his face going a slightly brighter red.

They snuck behind the guards who had passed out from their ale earlier that evening, and found themselves on a balcony overlooking one of the sides of the mountain where there was a shear drop for two hundred feet down.

"Not bad for a miner," Ophelia smiles her catty grin back at Curdie as they rested their hands on the barrier between the drop. "All the other girls you take up here must love it."

Curdie's face went bright red but he popped himself up and sat down on the stone wall before looking Ophelia directly in the face.

"It's just us, you know," Curdie said in barely a whisper. Some sounds of guards who were fast asleep and groaning made its way to the outside as Ophelia flicked an eye back to them for just a second. Curdie's mouth fell into a straight line as his warm brown eyes burned through Ophelia. "You don't have to pretend to be witty."

"Just because I'm not currently lashing you with my wit right now doesn't mean I'm pretending to have it all the other times." Ophelia snorted dismissively and braced herself against the low wall as she stared almost unhappily at the sun which was currently dipping behind the other mountains.

Curdie released the tense breath he been holding back and grimaced. "Yah yah alright, I mean, you don't have to be witty around me." The knight rolled his eyes and leaned back over the incredible drop. It elicited just the faintest reaction from Ophelia whose eyes widened. "Just be you, Ophelia."

Again, she snorted, but the wealthy woman's fingers buried a little deeply into the sides of her arm as her gaze hardened on the horizon. It was almost night.

She laughed then, and shook her head, breaking the concentration "You know... when I first met Irenie, I hated her."

Curdie's eyes went to the size of teacups in seconds having been fully caught off guard by Ophelia's statement "What? But you–"

She laughed lightly again and instead directed her gaze to the terrifying drop below them as the last of the golden rays cascaded over Ophelia's pale gold hair. "I know, I know... of course we're good friends now, but..." she paused and her fingers tightened on her arms again. "But Irenie doesn't care about wealth, she didn't care who my father was or what I did, she wasn't easily won over like some of the others I've met in my life. I didn't like that..."

The wealthy woman hummed to herself and Curdie stared at her in astonishment, still unable to get his head around the idea of what Ophelia had told him. He didn't know anyone more 'above it all' than Ophelia Estrild.