Page 3 of Royal Lies

"Everetta!" Mr.Prim and Proper barked against my ear, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. Man, I could’ve landed on my ass if I hadn’t been careful. Turning around to face my attacker I spotted the bright blond, blue-eyed boy glaring daggers down at me. Ugh, what now? I stood on my tiptoes because hell to the no was he going to look down on me. I mean who wants to be looked down on? Not me, it makes me feel so insecure, wouldn't you?

"Eli!" I screamed back just as his slightly dirty, manicured, and yes I did just say manicured, hands clamped down against my smiling lips, which were no longer smiling.

How dare he cover my mouth! No one stops me from speaking!

I licked his damn hands. I'll have to make sure to rinse my mouth afterward just in case. His hands were dirty after all. I mean traveling and sleeping on dirt tends to do that to both guys' and girls' hands. Let's not discriminate now.

Why did I lick his hands?

Well, no one fucking clamps my mouth.

Curling back his hands from me, with a glare still ever permanent on his face he scowled down at me. Man, how the hell does he do that, we were practically the same height. By that I mean we were both like around five feet, sad but true. We're shorties.

*Sigh*

It's not fair that he’s the only one who looks superior. I frowned. Crossing my arms over my own chest. Fine, I'll let him win this round. Rolling his bright blue eyes on me he sighed, exhausted at my antics. To be honest, I'm surprised he lasted this long.

I just love messing with him. It's so fun!

"How many times must I tell you to keep your voice down," Eli glowered even more at me as he slammed a finger against his lips. Turning back toward the room he scanned the rowdy room from the corner of his eyes. The bar was filled tonight with all sorts of fae and species. From trolls to whatever that two-head thingy is sitting in the back corner by the bar.

You know the outside looked pretty decent but the inside. It was filled with all sorts of unruly characters. And the bar, just a simple wooden slab for a table, was near the back. Stairs stood beside the bar leading to the rooms upstairs, and I so wantedto sleep in a bed for once. Who cares if their unclean anything would do besides rocks. I mean I love a good adventure but even I need some comfort in life.

Behind the bar stood a bartender, bartendress?

I don't know what do you call a woman bartender?

Behind her was a stack of alcohol. I never really was one to drink but even I could tell their options sucked ass. I mean, not even one drop of fairy wine, what about pixie brew? Such a waste. I think these people are just really here to gather information like me and Eli. Or maybe to finally rest in a bed, or find a safe place from the forest to retire their sorry asses. Maybe get directions, ok never mind there are a lot of reasons.

Rolling my own eyes back right at his stupid face I kept my arms crossed huffing out a little breath, if only to annoy him more.

Hey, got to take my victory any way I can, right?

"I'm sure that being in the middle of nowhere means no one knows us here," I argued back, cocking my dirt-stained brow as he frowned, shaking his head. Ya, he offered to clean me up with his magic but why? I mean the whole point of an adventure is to get dirty, isn't it? Contradictory to how I want to sleep in a bed but don't mind the dirt, I know. But there's a difference between a good night's rest and a soil-covered body.

Eli’s bright blond waves were curling in on themselves after days upon days of nothing but sleeping on cold solid rocks. Ya, that means no showering. Unless of course, you mean bathing in nearby rivers, which quite frankly wasn't much. Or for Eli using his ice magic to make ice and waiting for it to melt before cleaning himself that way. I prefer the river over any ice bath. Thank you very much. Of course, I could just use my magic to heat the melted ice but I didn’t remember that spell yet and Eli won't tell me a thing.

"Honestly, half the time I don't even understand what you're trying to say." Eli held his head in his hands simultaneously shaking it in exasperation. Yet despite his weary state his prim and proper tone still has yet to be lost.

I get why he's so exhausted but, don't you think I am too? I mean for magic's sake. We just walked for two weeks straight, with no breaks either. I mean after the two weeks of course Eli would let us rest but no breaks in between and even then, it wasn't like I got any conformable sleep with the pebbles and stones as my mattress. We've been going on this journey for months on end now, it would be nice to finally rest in some form of an establishment and by some I mean just a nice bed would be great.

I'm not asking for too much, just a nice simple king-sized mattress filled with the softest cushions and stuffed with the finest feathers in this realm. Nothing much. Naw, I'm just joking with you.

I just want a bed.

Any bed.

I watched as Eli wandered off to the bartender. Gripping onto his hood over his head, Eli ducked his way over placing an arm on the wooden slab used as a table. The chipped stools in front withered and molding. It seemed that even the barest touch might send the wood splintering. Then again there was a rather beefy-looking troll sitting on one of them. So maybe the stools were tougher than they seemed.

The bar was too loud for me to make out what they were saying. Given the fact that we were here to gather more information on the girl, we were going to save. I'm assuming that's what they were talking about back there. It must've been a rather brief discussion because a moment later Eli was strolling back before I could even make my way to him. His pace wasarrogant as always but brisk. Despite his hood firmly pulled over his head he still managed to give off that air of aristocracy.

"Come on I heard a rumor about a girl with raven violet hair and pitch-black eyes burning down a whole town. She's currently being held in the Summer Court." Eli whispered, his hood still firmly pulled over his head as if acting suspiciously totally wouldn’t draw attention to us. I sighed, shit I hated the court there, it's always so creepy and formal. Everyone's always putting up a front. Hiding their greed behind their smiles and false pleasantries.

Oh ya, I forgot, right now we need to gather all the members of theROYALS. And I don't mean the royals as in crowns and kingdoms, I meanthe ROYALS.

There is this fae group in the realm that has really powerful magic that they use to help and rule over the Fae Realm, or so Eli says, oh ya that's the blondie's name if you haven't figured that out yet. Anyways, that is apparently the only way we could get back our thrones, or so he says. So ya, me and Eli are one of these so-calledROYALStoo, pretentious names if you ask me. I wonder who came up with the acronym. Don't know what it stands for. So confusing cause like Eli and I are also the other royals, the ones with crowns. But we are also part of the 'ROYALS' who were the most powerful beings in the realm.

Anyway, when we come together we should all be able to gain back our full strength, or magical power. At least that's what Eli told me. Ok, so he didn't really tell me that, but he hinted at it which might as well be him practically telling me it, right? So I guess theory two was correct, which explains how I was able to use magic now.

---