What Sofia thought was very much the truth of the matter; the stench of spilt wine saturated the air.
In the desperate attempt to make up excuses, Amber is quick to rise from the sticky floor, if not quick enough to look exactly where she was stepping.
Her foot slides on a wet patch she had missed in her haste to clean up. There is a cry of pain suppressed only by the bottom lip to shoot under her teeth. Amber gingerly lifts her gown, turning her leg from right to left to gauge the damage.
To avoid any more accidents, Sofia carefully picked her way across to Amber's side, kneeling by her to inspect the damage.
No broken bones as far as she could see, but…
Blood! Horrible, disgusting, messy blood!
Amber drops her skirts to cover the sight and place her hands to her mouth.
This was a disaster. All she had wanted was to have a few glasses of wine for herself. And instead all she had managed to do was waste a full bottle of wine and now she was bleeding.
She had to get Amber up and sitting away from the area, that was certain. Taking hold of Amber's arm, Sofia fixed her gaze on Desmond.
"Can you help me, please?" She didn't like the idea of dragging Desmond into the situation any further than her sibling already had but she had no choice.
He tottered over to them, almost looking as if he was about to fall flat on his face where Amber had caused her injury, and took to standing on the unoccupied side of the princess, placing his hand on the underside of her arm and the other just on her back, for extra support.
With a combined effort, they got her to stand, balancing on them both and on the leg she had not damaged. They hefted her away from the remaining puddles and pieces of glass as far as they could, seating her on the end of the bed that wasn't soaked through with alcohol.
"How did this happen?" It's the only question Sofia can ask in order to make sense of the situation.
She knew Desmond wouldn't say anything but she certainly wasn't expecting Amber to suddenly clam up, holding her head down low and clasping her hands tightly in her lap together. "Amber."
The sound of her reluctance passes through a hum. "All right, all right." There's was nothing else left to do but spill the beans on all that had transpired during the night. "And now we're here."