Kidnapping the Prince

Kidnapping the Prince Installment X

Kidnapping the Prince Installment X

~ DAY THREE OF THE BALL ~

Talia had woken Ryan and me up that morning with instructions to “make your selves look presentable, and dress in something drastic” before marching out of the room, silent Willa in tow. Ryan had sworn she acted more like our mother than our maid.

“Why so early?” Ryan had grumbled. “I’m still sore from the jousting tournament yesterday.”

“Yeah, the jousting tournament you lost,” I had taunted with a grin, causing Ryan to frown.

“I still got second. . .” he had protested weakly.

As it turned out, “drastic” meant “fitting for a bear fight” which meant “slightly wanton.” When Ryan and I had emerged from our rooms dressed in normal clothing, Talia had nearly screamed before shoving us back into our rooms. She and Willa then dug through our clothing until they found what they deemed appropriate for a bear fight. A pair of very tight, white breeches and a sleeveless black tunic trimmed with gold for Ryan; a body-hugging, low-cut black dress of silk and lace for me. Lovely.

“Talia,” I had gasped when they forced me into the full-body-suffocater, “I can’t breathe!” And of course, she hadn’t really cared.

“It’s the only proper thing you have, milady!” she’d protested as she laced me up tighter.

“Proper?” I’d asked incredulously while gasping for breath.

“Proper for a bear fight,” she had corrected with a smile.

Now, we sat in a crowded indoor arena. The black obsidian stands were lined up against the equally dark wall of the circular room. In the middle of the stands was a ring; the floor of it was white marble that shone brightly in stark contrast to the rest of the arena. The ring was really more of a pit, standing a hundred feet in diameter and twenty-five feet deep. Four barred wooden doors each a foot thick lined the pit, and torches shone from every open space. Every ten or twenty feet, a fireplace had been added in the stands, and all of these were lit, but despite the many fires, the place still had a certain chill to it.

Most of the stands were filled by thirty minutes to the start of the fight. Amid the constant chatter, I was certain I heard a growl somewhere. Everyone was dressed rather scantily, but the women still had on their unnecessarily large amount of jewels. Although by now, the fourth day in the Divine Circle, I had pretty much completely repressed the urge to steal things everywhere, seeing all the gems glittering in the torchlight still made me itch to take them.

“See that giant purple gem with the silver band?” I muttered to Ryan. His green eyes scanned the crowd around us until he found it.

“Yeah. That thing could sell for fifty gold, at least,” he muttered back, a hungry lust in his expression. I grinned; my apprentice was learning. Unfortunately, a young girl sitting beside the woman with the purple jewel mistook his greedy look for herself. She stood up gracefully, puffing out her chest slightly, and walked slowly and what she seemed to think was seductively towards Ryan. Ryan, however, didn’t notice her approach until she was practically breathing down his neck.

“Whoa,” he gasped, flinching away from her powdered face that was inches from his own. She smiled.

“Don’t be afraid,” she cooed, “I don’t bite.” Batting her long eyelashes, she flipped her long hair over her shoulder.

“Um, that’s nice, but I didn’t exactly think you were a vampire,” Ryan said rather expressionlessly, leaning away from the girl some more. The girl laughed as if that were the most amusing thing she had ever heard. I resisted the urge to gag. Instead, I nudged Ryan.