Hi! Thanks for the reviews, sorry I haven't updated in a while, too much school work! What do you think of this chapter? Please let me know!
Chapter 4
Claire marched back up to her room muttering indecent thoughts about Prince James. He had only been at the castle for an hour and already she felt loathing turn to hatred. She slammed open her bedroom door and walked in pulling her armour off moodily and letting it drop to the floor.
Throwing herself onto her bed she screamed into her pillow. After a few minutes she had calmed down considerably and sat up slowly, wondering how she could escape from the castle. After her previous attempts at going into the city extra guards had been posted around the outer walls, she knew she had no chance of going into the city. Contemplating where she could go she realised that she could probably reach the roof through her window. Quickly grabbing her latest book she walked over to her window and pulled herself out so that her back was to her room and she was standing on the window still. Looking up she spotted a flagpole hanging above her window, it was rusted and looked like it had not been used for centuries. She had to jump to grab it but once she was hanging she pulled herself up so that her feet were on the pole and balanced carefully. If I were to fall now- No! Don't think about it! She thought to herself. Carefully balancing and standing up slowly to her full height she reached up and hooked her hands over the edge of the roofs. Pulling herself up she scrambled onto the roof and moved quickly away from the edge. Grinning she looked over the edge and laughed, full of excitement and relief that she hadn't fallen.
She looked around and admired the view, the sun was shining and the city looked incredible from above, rows and rows of red tiles reaching out into the distance. Looking back to the roof she looked around for a place to sit. Finding a suitable area she sat down, curling her feet under her. Opening her book she was transported to a pirate ship, out in the ocean pillaging and fighting. Adventure at every turn...
"Claire where are you! Mother's searching for you!" shouted Prince Harry.
Claire groaned quietly to herself, choosing to ignore her brother's call she got back to her book. Captain Marcus was in trouble; he was fast running out of food and feared a mutiny on his hands. Going up to deck he looked across the clear blue seas, looking for distant land...
"Claire, come down. I know you're up there. It doesn't take a genius to work out where you are when there's an open window," a low voice said with a small chuckle as the head of Prince James poked out of the window.
"I'm not coming down. I refuse to. I'm reading my book up here," she replied tersely, inwardly groaning that it was him who had found her.
"Come on Claire, you've got to come down. What will you do for dinner, I could try throwing up some cakes but I don't think my aim is quite that good when leaning out of a window," he cajoled grinning up at her.
Leaning over the side she glared at him. "Fine, I'm coming down. But only to shut you up, you're giving me a headache. Catch my book, will you?" she answered dropping her book down into his open hands. Silently thankful that she was wearing breeches she pulled herself over the side until she was hanging by her fingertips and felt with her feet for the rusty flagpole. Carefully she let go and knelt down hanging onto the flagpole with her hands. "Ugh, I'm not sure I can get down," she murmured trying not to let the fear in her reach her voice.
"It's ok, let yourself hang and I'll grab you and pull you in, you'll be fine," James replied seemingly to be laughing at the predicament she had reached.
Slowly she rocked letting her feet go so she was holding the pole in her hands and hanged on her arms. Looking down realised how high she had had to jump in the first place but before she could panic she felt two strong hands grip onto her waist and pull her in through the window. Still shocked about the height she fell onto Prince James and he ended up supporting her, her head buried in the crook of his shoulder. Coming back to her senses she looked up into the face of Prince James, lost in his sparkling deep eyes... Prince James! Quickly she pushed him away and ended up sprawling on the floor.
Before she could recover, she heard the thump of the door opening as her maid, Alice, walked into the room, eyes downcast. As she looked up she noticed who she was in the presence of, eyes widening as she took in both royals. Bobbing quickly she left the room shocked.
"No!" groaned Claire, Just great. I'll be the gossip of the maids for a week at least now... and with James in the room! Pulling herself up she mumbled a quick thank you and nearly ran out of the room straight into her mother.