Chapter 18: Tag Along

Bang, bang!

Thorne knocked at the door, it threatened to fall off its hinges. Lily wished she could hide from the embarrassment; people were already staring at the three of them.

‘Harder!’ Alouette yelled.

It was as if she took pleasure in doing this.

Thorne obliged; this time the door really began to crack. Lily could see the wood had already begun to shift to the outline of his fist. She winced; just how many things were they going to break in their time at this city?

‘Are you insane!?’ came a muffled voice from behind the door. If there was going to be no answer, there was now. Alouette smirked victoriously. Lily supposed, in some weird way she’d won whatever competition this had been.

The door opened slowly and out peered the head of a half-awake boy with frizzy hair.

‘Do you know what time it is, Alli?’ he glared at her, then saw Thorne and hid his face again.

‘It’s time for you to go with me to the ball.’ she announced proudly.

‘Ally how many have I told you, I’m just the 47th prince in a long line of better-looking guys’ the boy sighed from behind the door.

‘You won’t be 47th or anything if you don’t open this door right now.’ She threatened, looking at Thorne with a mad joy in her eyes.

‘You don’t suppose, she’s crazy or such?’ Thorne bent down to whisper to Lily. This time, thankfully, Alouette didn’t hear them.

‘It took you this long to figure that out?’ Lily smirked; Thorne had become softer. He’d been nicer to people and even slightly more approachable. As approachable as a towering heap of a knight could be.

The door creaked open, the 47th prince gave shifty glances at Lily and Thorne.

‘You can come in with your maid but leave this…’ he stared up at Thorne, ‘Thing out here.’

‘This thing as you would so call him is my royal knight.’ Alouette looked proudly at Thorne. Thorne shrugged.

‘And he will most definitely be entering your castle.’

The inside of the prince’s “castle” was far smaller then Alouette’s had been. In fact, Lily would go so far as to call it a royal apartment.

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And even that was being generous.

‘You and your scary looking bodyguard aren’t going to change my mind,’ the little prince said, ‘I’m not going outside of this castle again. Not after last time.’

Lily listened eagerly, she was already thinking what a great story this would make for her journal.

‘You have too,’ Alouette moaned, twisting at her dress, ‘Come on Jules, it’s gotta be you.’

‘No, no and no.’ he answered stubbornly.

‘L-Lulu, c’mon, do something.’ Alouette whispered, elbowing Lily in the chest, ‘Like we practiced.’

Lily gave a loud dramatic gasp, falling to the floor.

‘She’s d-dead!’ Alouette gave a high-pitched shriek, the prince dropped his tea that he’d been obsessing over.

‘Don’t be silly,’ he said, staring annoyedly at the spilled tea, ‘You and your crazy antics.’

He bent down, pressing a finger to her neck. Lily kept one eye ever so slightly open, she couldn’t miss any of this. Thorne shifted slightly at the sight. Lily wondered if he was jealous.

‘See, her pulse is fine.’ He got back up, sighing,

‘So what’s this really about, Alli?’

These were the words she hadn’t wanted to hear but evidently needed to. Alouette took his shoulder, dragging him out of sight. Lily turned to Thorne. He looked back at her.

‘You sure do get me into a lot of strange situations,’ she chuckled.

But she hoped he would keep on doing so.

‘I didn’t do anything this time,’ he protested

‘That’s exactly why we’re here.’

Thorne didn’t have a response. He’d been caught.

Lily gave a victory laugh just as the prince started yelling from across his apartment. He wasn’t cursing but the way he spoke, he might as well have been.

‘You nasty thing!’ he scrambled out back to Lily and Thorne. But it quickly became very apparent to Lily that he wasn’t yelling out of anger. She grinned.

A bright red lipstick mark ran against his neck.

Alouette came out, a little dizzy. When she saw Thorne and Lily she smiled widely, holding up a fat thumbs up.

‘Plan B was a success.’

‘Don’t bother telling me plan A.’ Jules sighed, scratching his head, ‘You have the rest of the day to go get dressed.’

He shooed them out to the front door.

‘I’ll see you to-night!’ Alouette waved cheekily, blowing a kiss as she left.

And Lily could swear that she saw Jules blush.

‘Now, now,’ Alouette clapped her hands together, ‘I have to thank you two for helping me out.’

‘But we didn’t do anyth-‘ Thorne began before Lily shushed him quickly.

‘We’d love to accept your thanks,’ she said for him.

‘Then that’s great.’ Alouette smiled, ‘You two will be my guests of honour.’

‘But we’ll have to do something about all… this.’ she waved her hand aimlessly at the two of them.

Lily’s heart raced; she’d never danced at a ball. She stayed stunned as Alouette ushered her out, changing both their outfits several times. Lily caught glimpses of Thorne from time-to-time, he’d been fighting back any attempts to take off his armour. Eventually, the maids tending to him gave up and were replaced by a grisly looking blacksmith of some kind.

‘I think this one suits you Lulu,’ Alouette exclaimed as Lily walked out again, ‘Spin around!’

Lily spun around, closing her eyes. She still hadn’t the heart to correct the name Alouette had decided to give her.

She heard Alouette’s small screeches of delight and smiled.

Her skirt glittered against the candlelight; Lily wondered how many homes she could buy if she sold it.

Still, it was a beautiful thing.

Thorne walked back into her line of sight (where she liked him best) and Lily gasped.