Chapter 7
Brimming with rage and anger, I storm out of the mansion with my wet hair still clinging to my scalp. Instead of asking for a carriage, I just lean against a rocky wall and give a moan of frustration. "Lost, are we?" With blurred eyes, I turn to stare at Alex. "Stalker are we? What are you doing here?" I blush vigorously and try to tame my wet hair, in-between trying to act calm. Alex shrugs, "I don't stalk people, people stalk me. Order from kitchen maid. I needa get some oranges." "So why aren't you doing that?" He raises an eyebrow. "Is that your tactful way of telling me to leave?" I smile and cling onto his arm. "I don't do tactful."Alex leans in closer than I thought he would, and stares intently into my eyes. He brushes away a tear from the corner of my eyes, before smirking. "Now I get the phrase 'your eyes are mirrors to your soul.' I can see myself in them!" Can he see how much I love him? Is that what he's trying to say? "Hey, my hair's looking alright." Scoffing, I give him a playful shove.
Alex suddenly rubs his chin with a sprinkle of stubble. "You don't want go back to that stuffy place just yet do you?" Suspiciously, I ask him, "Why? Are we running away?" "You can call it that. For about an hour."
Intrigued, I'm about to follow him when he turns around. "You can't be going down the streets like that! Your a princess, here-" He thrusts a cloak at me. "Your disguise." Slipping it on, I roll my eyes, "Funny, I didn't know we were playing masquerades. I would've got my costume." Alex wrinkles his nose in a extremely cute way, "What? Get a tacky mask that shows half of your face. I totally can't recognise you. Not." I pull the cloak over my hand and follow Alex through the noisy streets.
The hustle and bustle brings a nice change from the lonely, quiet palace atmosphere, but soon, I start to notice details. Like how most people's clothes are ragged and torn, how some don't have shoes and scurry the filthy roads with bloodied feet, or how some as young as 2 are sitting against street corners, squatting in the dust and begging for change. How the stubborn lords lift their noses up at some peasants like they were rats. Another thing that brought tears to my eyes, was how a carriage just zoomed past a poor, old women and splashed a bucketful of mud over her, the driver laughing his head off. How could the beautiful world I was living in be so horrible?
Alex lightly strokes my hand, and drags me away from these horrible visions. We bump into 4 leering men. "Another bloody servant. Born out of wedlock. Made for nothing." Alex's face darkens, but with clenched fists he carries on walking, until one throws a stone at him. "You worthless thing, how dare you walk through these same streets my feet have touched. Scum. I am worth ten of you." Alex turns around. "It is us servants, that run this country." The man leers. "exactly! My point! You filthy things should be banished!" Eyes brimming with rage, I turn to face them. "Then what? Who will you have to clean your dirty feet? Fill your bulging stomachs. Do your chores? Do all the stuff you resent for you? You'll be a headless hen." They all laugh. "With a filthy temper and attitude like that, your defiantly a servant. Without a doubt." Alex cups my elbow "Clara..." I pull away from him and stride closer to them, even though they step back as though they don't want to be near me.
Angrily, I yank off my cloak and watch as it falls to the floor. The men gasp. "Princess Clara..." Alex throws it over my head and clutching my wrist, we run past these horrible streets.
Alex envelopes me in a hug the moment we pass their sight. "How can people say such things?" Alex shrugs. "You get used to it. I suppose." Then he grins at me. "They got told!" I laugh, "Yeh, I kicked their fat butt's." Alex mock-frowns. "I? C'mon, share the limelight, I helped too!" "Ok, we! Hey where are we?" Alex holds his hands up. "Ok, before you start screaming about the smell...The stables." I scream. "POO!" Alex rolls his eyes. "No there won't be no poo!" "No- Poo!" I point at a murky blob of brown poo right next to my feet. Alex starts to laugh. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for thinking it's chocolate ice-cream." "It looks nothing like chocolate ice-cream!" "Are we having a debate about how poo looks?" "Yes." I stick my tongue out at him.
He starts to laugh and I look at him. Really look at him. His eyes crinkle at the edges as they dance with laughter and mischief. His lips are curved upwards and the sun dances inside his scruffy, tousled caramel hair. I see a boy. His past is pain, he has scars, but he's strong. This is the boy I love. "Once your done checking me out you can get inside." Alex calls from inside the stable. "Do I have too?" I whine. "Hey, I don't want to start giving you orders because that would be weird, y'know seeing as I'm the servant." Holding up my gown, I trudge inside. "Don't start that business again!"
Inside is small and brown, packed with muddy hay. Suddenly. SNIFFFFFFFFFFFFF! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I shriek as a wet solid nuzzles my neck. Alex smirks and walks towards the angry horse. "Quieten down, unless you want this bad boy to neigh the place down. Or if you prefer the sound of horse neighing and us getting caught, then scream all you want." "Us getting caught?" Alex shrugs. "...About that." "We're stealing?" Alex picks a rotten apple off the floor and tosses it at the lazy horse. "You badass enough, or are you going to look down your powdered nose at me?" I break into a run and leap at the horse's back, right as it moves so I land in the middle of a stack of hay. "Number one, I don't powder my nose. Number two, I'm all game." Alex nearly doubles over laughing and gives me a hand to haul myself up.
We hear footsteps. "Quick!"
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