Hunt hurries through his breakfast and heads straight to the stables before I even get a chance to make it through mine. He does not so much as glance at me when he passes by me. Letting out a sigh, I look at my only half eaten bowl of oats and get up. I cannot seem to get myself to finish my food when Hunt is angry with me.He has never been this upset with me in the past. Even when I went into the castle and stole the crown he was on my side. He did not question me he just showed up to help me get away safely. When I decided to take a job here he happily took one with me to make sure that I was okay. Now, he is upset because I spent the night with a Prince?That is not going to work for me. if he does not want to be here then he does not have to stay. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I have done it plenty in my life. Sure, he has always been there with me but that does not mean that I need him. It might be a lie that I have to keep telling myself but if that is what
I find the Prince straying into my thoughts for the rest of the day. Hunt never once comes to talk to me so I have the entire day to stew over what happened as well as how to fix it. There is no way that I am going to be able to keep working with Hunt and seeing him every day if he does not allow for me to explain things and for him to hear them out. It is not fair to me or to our friendship for him to do this. It is not like I really betrayed him or anything.For lunch I decide to take it outside and eat it behind the stables. I am not ready to see Hunt look at me accusingly and still continue about his day. Instead, when I grab my food and mumble that I will be back to Cook she gives me a sad smile as she watches me walk out of the door. Hunt passes by me on my way but I keep my eyes down so that he cannot see the hurt in them.I swear that I could almost feel him reach out to stop me but I just keep walking. If he wants to talk to me then he is going to have to do it the right way.
Do I sleep in the Prince's room for the night or do I make myself go and face Hunt once again? That is a question that I find yslf hung up on for the rest of my shift doing dishes. The bed in the Prince's room really is quite comfortable. I am sure that the stables are not anywhere near as nice to sleep in. How would Hunt feel if I were to go and sleep in there? He got so upset about last night that he might think I am selling out for something better.It might be best for me to just go into the stables at first and see what happens. The room can always be my fall back plan if Hunt is being overly rude when I get in there. My comfort comes second to getting him back talking to me again. Since he ate lunch with me I am hopeful that he has moved on enough from last night for me to be able to talk to him again. It might have only been one day but I miss my best friend. "Where are you going to be staying tonight?" Mary asks walking up to me.I feel like she is testing me and my response
"What are you doing here?" Hunt says as he kicks my boot to wake me up. I look up at him groggily. I must have fallen asleep waiting for him to come back. Sure enough, he is plenty drunk and it looks like he is looking for a fight. Whatever though. It would not be the first time that we fought. We both tend to fight rather dirty. Unluckily for him, he woke me up from a rather deep sleep so I am not going to hold back. "What do you mean what am I doing? What were you doing all night?" I yell back at him. "Does it really matter? It is not like you checked in with me last night. You just did whatever you want, which just happens to be the Prince. You know, the one that we are supposed to be avoiding?" He yells at me. Hopefully there is nobody awake that heard that part of our argument. My eyes grow wide as I drop my face into my hands. Hunt must think that I am defeated as he lets out a sigh and walks towards me. I am nowhere near done with this argument but it is not worth everybody
The next morning, I wake up earlier than Hunt. If we want our plan to work we need to be seen together as little as possible. A little grumbling when we are in the same room might not go amiss either. Luckily, my bed leaves a lot to be desired in terms of comfort so it is not difficult for me to push myself up and get ready for the day. By the time that Hunt gets up and moves around, I am already in the kitchen washing dishes. I rushed through eating my breakfast so that I would not have to eat at the same table. Mary sees me actively trying to avoid him and comes over with what I am sure she believes to be wonderfully sage advice."You know, I once had a fight with my husband. It lasted a month before we realized how silly it was. We still could not stand the idea of not being together but at the same time we could not stand to be around each other either. In the end, we decided that instead of being miserable apart we could be miserable together. Once we came to that decision and s
For a couple of weeks Hunt and I keep watch on all of the comings and goings at the Inn.Nothing as eventful as when the Prince stopped in happens even though we try our best to keep track of it all. Every lunch I head out back and watch to see if there is another drop but I do not catch one. It could just have been a fluke meeting spot but normally the meeting spot does not change too often as it gets more difficult to keep track of. Hunt and I have done a decent job of making sure that everybody believes we are still not talking. Mary has been much kinder to me as she thinks that I am upset over it. She is always giving me a kind word or an extra meal like it would make up for things if we were really arguing. At night, that is a different story.Every night I go up to the loft early while Hunt goes out. He goes out until most of the others are asleep and then he comes back to the loft. He pretends to stumble in all inebriated but in reality he has really just been scouting around.
"What is it with you wanting me to stay with you? We have always known that there would come a time when we are not able to stay with each other. Our lives are not the easy kind. What happened all of a sudden to change how you want our future to go?" I ask him."I thought that I was going to lose you. That is what happened. I thought that you were going to get caught stealing from the king and that would be the end of it. It terrified me. You jumped into danger just to prove yourself with no second thought to me. What do you think would happen to me if you had been caught?" He asks me quietly.I am glad that he lowered his voice for this conversation so that nobody is able to hear everything that he just said. It was enough to make sure that I went to prison for my actions if not outright killed for them. With him speaking more quietly though, I find that some of his intentions are coming through a little differently than I would normally take them. Does he really like me as more than
The following day I try everything that I can to get Hunt to change his mind. It might have originally been my idea for him to go back and gather information but this is not the way that I wanted for it to happen. I wanted for us to come to the decision together so that we could work better together. Now, I am not sure if he is going to come back or not once he gets what he needs. He very well might just stay there. Would I really wait around for him if he does leave? When I enter the kitchen to grab breakfast I find that Hunt has already spoken to Mary about leaving. The look that she gives me when I enter is full of pity as I grab my breakfast and make my way to a table. I have no idea what all Hunt told her but I do know that things are not going to be the same around here after today. I grab a table and notice that nobody is bothering to make eye contact with me. I have not exactly made any friends since I have been working here but I thought that a few were beginning to open up
After we finally leave the dining room we head back up to his room to begin packing our things to leave first thing in the morning. He explains to me that there are a few items I am able to leave behind as the door is kept locked when he is not here. He pays Mary quite a fee to keep the room open for him since he has had to leave in a hurry a few times while leaving items behind. She has given him his own key to lock the door with when he leaves keeping others out.As he explains this I am surprised to remember that the last time that he left he kept the bedroom open for me to use. He did not bother taking all of his personal effects out but rather left them behind and kept the door unlocked for me to have use of his room while he was away. This shows far more trust than I would ever expect a Prince to give a thief like myself."Are we making any other stops on our way into the city tomorrow?" I ask to stop my mind from spinning around all of the things he has been telling me today."
For the rest of the day I zone out most of what is going on around me as I try to find a way out of this meeting with the King. There is no way that I can bring myself to meet him. I value my life far too much to put it in danger like that. As we finish packing up and preparing to leave the following morning I find myself with little to share as I spend all of my time focusing on trying to find a way out. "Sloan? Have you heard anything that I have said lately? I am used to women being quiet around me but not having them zoning out while I speak." He says finally capturing my attention. I flick my eyes back to him and note the slight concern written on his face. He might be joking towards me but something about the way that I am acting is quite definitely concerning him. Maybe I should have made more of an effort to pay attention to him. "I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind. Much more than the other women that happily hang on your every word." I say with a bit more venom than intende
The shock over what had just happened is hard to shake. My face is as bright of a red color as it has ever been. Probably more so if I remember correctly. I never would have expected him to kiss me on the cheek in front of all of these people. The fact that he did it directly after I had slapped him made it all the more shocking.When I do not respond for a while he seems to get more worried. At first he was smirking as he watched me blundering for something to snarky to say back to him. When I was unable to think of anything, I just sat there for a while and stared at him. I wanted to lower my eyes but I would be damned if I let him or any of the other patrons think of me as demure."Are you okay? I did not offend you at all did I? That was not my intention I just wanted to demonstrate how to distract those around you when you are in my position." He stammers when I make no move to reply. "It is a little interesting watching you flounder for a comeback though. If I had known that it
As soon as we finish our food some of his Knights sit down to join us. They are all staring at me curiously as we are sitting rather close together. After the way he kept me on his lap the other day I am a little surprised by their antics. Maybe, they are more surprised at the fact that I am still around than the fact that I am getting closer to the Prince."Your Highness, we made sure to follow him out of town. I have one other person tailing him to make sure that he does not circle back." One of the Knights says addressing the Prince."Good, I do not want to have to have him killed before I am able to save Hunt. That would really put a damper in my plans." He says turning to look at me.I warm a little inside as I realize that he really is planning to help me rescue Hunt. So far, I would not have been surprised if he had just used that to get closer to me. Knowing that he actually intends to help has me feeling things that I did not expect. There might be a bit more to him after all
Did he really just ask me to marry him? Hypothetically, of course, but still. He did just mention that word. I am not ready to even come close to thinking about something like this. There is no way that he would ever accept me either. It takes me a few moments to realize that I am staring at him with my mouth hanging slightly open. I have not replied to his 'proposal' at all. I guess that in the least I could just agree to think about it. Even if I have no real intention of entertaining the idea of marrying him by any means. Still, if it is going to keep me on his good side for now then I could at least pretend to think about it."Are you okay? I understand if this is rather sudden but I really expected that you would have expected it a little more after everything I have told you." He says sounding worried."It is rather sudden. I know that you have brought up the idea of us being meant for each other and all, but I just never really considered that you would ask something like this
When we arrive back at the Inn I am amazed to see that the clothing from the first store is already being delivered. It was lucky that she had that much stock that fit me or else we would not have seen any of it for weeks. Still, the fact that it is already here shows just how much he had to spend to get them to move it this fast. Most likely cost him what I would consider to be a small fortune.He immediately makes his way to his usual table while everyone stares at the fact that we both walked in together. Some of the ladies are giving me dirty looks as he places his hand on my back to steer me towards his table. I give them back an answering glare as they all give me looks that could maim.As soon as we sit down, Mary brings us out some water for us to drink before rushing back to grab us some lunch. As opposed to all of the dirty looks that the other ladies have given me, she gives me a hesitant smile as if she is judging my mood and reaction to all of the attention. I give her a
"What are the rest of your plans for today then?" I ask him after we leave the store."I thought that maybe we could just go and get some lunch at the Inn and talk for a while. All I plan on doing for the rest of the day is trying to convince you to leave with me in the morning." He admits."Considering what is going on with Hunt I do not think that you could make me stay at this point." I tell him honestly."That is not exactly the way that I wanted you to agree to leave with me but I guess that I will take it. I guess we could just make sure that you have everything ready to leave with me tomorrow then. After we eat a decent meal of course. You need to put a little more meat on you." He says.I look down at myself and have to admit that I could use a little more. I have spent my entire life half starved. I cannot imagine myself looking any other way. The fact that there is any meat on me at all is quite an accomplishment. The time spent washing dishes has helped since I have receive
The next store that he leads me to is still not quite the quality of cloth that I am looking for. As I do not want to hurt his feelings after already insisting that we go to another store, I decide to keep this one to myself. To be completely fair, it is not like I normally buy clothes anyways. Actually, I had never been in a clothing store as a customer before so this is all kind of a novel experience.To his credit though, this store does have more wool in it than the last one. Even though the winters are really cold and the wool is nice on those days, the summers are extremely hot and that is what we are witnessing right now. The wool is going to have me feeling like I am dying. Maybe I should have just gotten a few more at the first store?"Do you want me to leave you here again?" He asks me after telling the seamstress what all I still need."Just for a short period. This should not take as long as the first store. Besides, I will not k now if he is watching me or plans to come b
"I am sorry that it took me so long to get back. I was trying to give you your space while you shopped for dresses. As soon as I heard the whispers that the Guild Master was in town I rushed back over here." He says to me."Why would you do that? I have been dealing with him for years." I say."I watched outside for a bit but it did not seem as if he had any plans to just allow you to walk out of here." He tells me.As much as I appreciate his help I can only hope that this does not come back to bite me. Sure, I was struggling but I always find a way to talk my way out of things. This time, I was a little caught off guard and struggling but I definitely could have found a different way out of that. One that would still allow me to go back to the Guild in the future."I would have figured something out." I say indignantly.In truth, I am not completely sure that I would have talked my way out of it but I am still hopeful. I have always managed to talk my way out in the past. This time,