A/N: Sorry, I don't exactly know what happened and why all those stupid numbers came up, but I hope this works... I haven't been getting as many reviews I had hoped for, but alas, I will deal. (hint hint). PLEASE REVIEW! They make me wanna update more/faster! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was lazy and just felt like reading fics...so yeah. Hope you like it!
ENJOY!
-
Aly closed her door and put the back of her head against it. Why was he playing with her? No...he couldn't have been toying with her...she could see in his eyes that he really was hurt when he pulled away. Almost like he had to...No. That couldn't be it either. She closed her eyes and sighed. Then what was it?
She pulled off her boots, socks and breeches and dipped her feet into the hot water in the tub that the servants had put in before. Wiggling her toes in the water she sat on the edge before taking off the rest of her clothes and slipping in, allowing for the water and steam to clear her mind of all thoughts - Braden included.
-
The next morning after Aly had gotten dressed, she made her way to the Pages' Wing to tell her brother that she was now a Player. She turned the corner and saw two people kissing and thought nothing of it until she got closer. She saw a darker colored hand playing with...red hair! Aly's mind raced. Who was her brother courting? Why hadn't he told her? She quickened her pace and when she got right behind Alan and his new "woman" (she shuddered at the thought of Alan and a woman...) she coughed loud enough for the two to break apart.
Alan looked over the girl's head and saw his sister and his face turned as red as his face. "Aly! What a surprise!"
The other girl slowly turned around, obviously afraid as to whom she would come face-to-face with. "Aly?"
Aly's mouth opened in shock. "Aliya!"
Alan laughed nervously. "So I've seen you two have um, met?"
Aly laughed. "I had no idea you were, well, with my brother..."
Aliya tried to smile. "Well, I can't say I didn't know you two were twins..."
Alan tried to laugh and see the bright side of things, but failed miserably, only awaiting his sister's temper. "And I had no idea you two knew each other."
Aly saw Alan's misery-stricken face and smiled. "Don't worry, dear brother, I'm not mad. But you should most thankful that I like Aliya. Has she told you yet that I have joined her ranks amongst the Players?"
Alan's eyes widened. "You did? I suppose Mother is unaware..."
"Yes, she doesn't know, but Dad does, and after much persuasion, he agreed. We leave for Maren in a month or so." She saw Aliya grab Alan's hand. "How long have you two been an item?"
Alan coughed. "Well, it's still mostly a secret...but about a month or so."
Aly smiled. "Well I'm very glad for you two." She stepped back. "I'll let you two get back to whatever it was you were doing, for I must go eat my breakfast! See you at practice, Aliya!"
Aly walked to the mess hall in silence, and did not notice a tall dark haired man walking a few feet from her. He obviously was thinking too much and didn't notice Aly until they walked into each other at the door.
"Sorry Neal."
He nodded his head. "Aly."
Aly looked up and saw that Neal's usual emerald eyes were blazing, and his brows were furrowed. "Something wrong Neal, dearest?"
Neal opened the door and let her in first. "Get your food and then we'll talk." Aly shuddered. His voice was cold and almost deadly, and she was almost certain she knew why.
She got her food and sat at an empty table. Thankfully none of her other new Knight friends were in the mess hall or they would be hounding her with questions as to why she wasn't sitting with them. Neal sat down and immediately went into a quiet tirade.
"Apparently Kel has fancied Domitan" (he emphasized his cousin's name with utmost disdain, Aly noticed), "for quiet a while, and now Domitan claims he loves her. And he kissed her at the ball, and told her he loved her and all that and last night took her out to dinner. And all along, my Yuki knew. She knew and didn't tell me! And..."
"Neal!" Aly put up a hand to silence him. "First of all, of course Yuki wasn't going to tell you. She knew you'd react like this."
"Like what?" Neal asked, his nostrils almost flaring. Aly readjusted her Sight - Neal's Gift was blazing with anger inside him.
"Like this! Like a a jealous two-year-old who's incapable to think that perhaps, just perhaps, his cousin has liked his best friend for a while. And that this once-infamous womanizer has finally found the woman that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and would never dream of hurting! That's why Yuki or I didn't tell you. Or Kel. Or Dom. We all knew you'd react this way."
Neal's mouth opened and closed in shock. Clearly no one had spoken to him like this in awhile. Or at least it had never really hit him this hard before.
"You knew too?"
"Nealan, that's besides the point."
"But I thought Dom had an interest in you."
"Obviously not. Besides, he was much to old for me, and he told me that he loved Kel before he even told her! Now would you grow up, go apologize to your wife, cousin, and best friend, beg for forgiveness and give them your blessing, or I'll make sure the gods have punished you before your 30th birthday!" Her eyes had changed into their amethyst hue, on call of course just to scare Neal, and when he saw the resemblance to the Lioness, his former Knight-master, he whimpered and ran out of the mess hall.
Aly laughed, her eyes changing back to their normal hazel-green and began to eat her porridge.
-
Aly walked into the Palace theater where the Players would practice a few minutes before the rehearsal was to begin. She sat down in one of the seats and waited for the others to arrive. An older man walked in a few seconds later and introduced himself as Theodore. "You can call me, Theo. Or which ever character I'm playing at the time." He laughed and shook her hand. "And, lemme guess, considering your reddish-blond hair, I'd have to say, you were the daughter of one of the Kingdom's most famous couple..."
Aly nodded, amused by the older man who reminded her so much of her dear friend Coram.
"You must be a princess!"
Aly cocked her head to the side, but started to laugh when Theo exclaimed, "Got you! I'm only kidding, you're obviously the Lioness' daughter."
"Obviously, Theodore," said another man who walked through the door. He was short and probably in his late twenties. "The name is Rhys Lansig, been a Player since I was 10."
Aly shook his head. "Aly of Pirate's Swoop. I'm one of the new recruits, although I've wanted to join almost all my life. The King himself had to beg my father to let me join."
Rhys smiled slyly. "Let's hope you're as good as the King thinks."
"I'm better than he thinks," she returned his sly smile with her own.
"Aly! I've seen you've met Rhys and Theo then?" Aly nodded as Christopher walked in with Ronnie.
"Hello Chris, Ronnie. Where is Aliya and Braden and everyone else?"
Christopher bowed to Rhys, "Your Highness, I am unaware, for I knew not that I was their keeper."
Rhys rolled his eyes. "Quiet Christopher." Ronnie stifled a laugh and playfully hit Christopher's arm.
Aly's stomach turned over when Braden entered the room. He looked as gorgeous as ever - his jet black hair as unkempt as ever and his muscles showing through his shirt, his steel grey eyes searching the room. And resting on Aly. Aliya noticed the tension, and slight awkwardness between Aly and Braden and putting that thought in the back of her head said, "Well, Rhys, we're here, when are we starting?"
"As soon as the others get here."
Aly snapped back to attention from her daze as she stared at Braden. She needed to get over him; he'd never want her, especially after he stopped their kisses twice..."Who else is there?"
"Us!" A plump woman in her early thirties walked in with a young child on each hand. "I'm Ivy, and this is Nari and Donovan, and this," she nodded her head to the man walking in behind her, "is my husband Morgan." Morgan was taller with sandy brown hair, that each child had, while Ivy had blonde hair. "Rhys, Jade can't come today, she's sick."
Rhys sighed, clearly frustrated. "Fine. She didn't have a major part in this production anyway." He motioned for everyone to sit, and they sat down in the chairs that were on the stage in a semicircle. Aly made sure to sit far from Braden - she sat between Aliya and Chris. "As you all know, we'll be traveling to Tusaine and Maren within the next month or so, and we have a new addition to our group, Aly of Pirate's Swoop." Aly noticed Nari and Donovan's eyes open wide in surprise at the child of two very famous Tortallans. "We'll be performing many short plays for the Royal Family and their Friends there-"
"Why only short ones?"
Rhys cocked a brow. "Apparently, they have short attention spans." Everyone chuckled as Rhys continued. "There will be a few love plays, a few "self-discovery" ones, some comedy, some dramas, and some comedies. But don't worry - everyone will have a fair share of stage time." He began to pass out scripts to everyone, but only two of the apparent many. "I don't feel like overwhelming anyone yet, so there's only two here. We'll work on three or four a week, and revisit them all right before we leave. So, everyone up! We'll start to read through 'Young Love' first, shall we!"
Aly stood up, holding her script for 'Young Love'; she had a supporting role, and suddenly butterflies filled her stomach. But why? She laughed as Aliya touched her arm in comfort. "Thanks, I don't know why I suddenly got nervous!"
Aliya smiled, "Don't worry, it'll go away soon enough, and you'll never have that problem again."
Aly smiled. If only getting over Braden were that easy - which it should have been considering there was practically nothing to get over.
"Oh, how fickle woman can be!" The reading had begun. Christopher waved a dramatic hand over his forehead.
"Pardon me, sir? Did I just hear you claim that woman are fickle!"
"Yes, maid, I did. Don't you agree?" He continued to hold his stance.
Ronnie opened her mouth in shock. "I most certainly do not! I have loved the same man for the past year, yet it is he who stopped loving me only last week! 'Tis men who are fickle!"
Chris grabbed Ronnie's upper arm in anger. "Men are not the fickle ones, dear maid. I saw my beloved only moments ago kissing another man...my own flesh and blood!"
"Who, milord?"
"Mine own brother!" He whispered, "Mine own brother!"
Aly was soon to walk on soon, and she noticed Braden was too. Oh gods, Braden can't be Liam...
"Liam!" Aly snapped her eyes up from her script and saw that Braden wasn't Liam, but Christopher. Oh thank you, gods!
Aly watched as Braden's character came on and talked briefly and animatedly with Chris before Chris swiped at him...Braden was the treacherous brother. "Come me with me, maiden, for my brother is mad!" Braden dragged Ronnie off the stage as Chris sank onto the floor in agony. That was Aly's clue.
"My lord, what is the matter?"
"Who calls upon me?"
"It is I, Lady Olympia."
"Lady Olympia? I do not recognize that name...nor that face." He stood up, astonished by Olympia's beauty and almost compulsively kissed Aly (Olympia really). Aly's knees buckled like they were supposed to, but she didn't even need to act. His kiss was aggressive yet gentle. But she felt nothing more than a good kiss. Nothing like she felt when she kissed Braden...
She pulled apart, a sad flicker in her eye, Chris said nothing to the real Aly, as the script called for Aly to be sad and confused when she broke the kiss.
"My-my lord?"
"I'm sorry, fair Olympia, but I was taken aback by your beauty. Will you ever forgive me?"
Aly thought a moment before kissing Chris (Liam) again, but this time more slowly and "lovingly", but again she felt nothing. This time Chris broke the kiss, and both were smiling. She looked over his shoulder, and could have swore that she saw Braden's already dark grey eyes and get darker or more menacing. He couldn't be jealous...could he?
Rhys clapped his hands, to signal the end of the reading. "Not bad, not bad, I like everyone's parts enough, but I think we might have to make it a little longer." He nodded towards Aly, "Good job, Aly. The King was right; you're a great Player."
Aly beamed. "Thank you, Rhys." She curtsied deeply and saw Rhys look down at her, a smile playing on his lips. He clapped his hands once. "Ok, people! Onto the comedy!"
-
Aly walked with the other Player/spies to lunch in the mess hall, completely ignoring Braden as he was talking animatedly to Aliya about something. When the group got to the mess hall, they were the only ones there, and they sat at a table, the girls on one side, and the guys on the other. Ronnie sat in the middle, and she started to flirt with Chris. Aly rolled her eyes and whispered to Aliya behind the blonde girl's back, "Almost entertaining, isn't it?" Aliya slapped Aly's arm playfully and continued to eat her vegetables.
"Not one for carrots then?"
Aly looked up and saw Braden's grey eyes twinkling at her, a smile spread across his face. She flung one at him. "No, not at all."
"May I ask why?"
She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "My mother use to make me eat them all the time when I was younger-"
"-for your eyes."
Aly grinned. "Aye. But it was pointless for I have the best eye sight in all of Tortall." She winked.
"Do you now?"
She stabbed a piece of potato. "I do."
He gave her a sideways glance. "What makes you think I believe you?"
Aly smiled. "Nothing. But I believe it, as does my father, my brothers and Their Majesties themselves."
"Everyone but your mother."
"And you, apparently." Aly stuck up her nose in a fake hurt.
Braden grinned again and went back to eating his carrots. "And me."
-
A/N: Ok, this might have been random, I apologize. But did everyone like it enough? Did you hate it? Love it? PLEASE REVIEW!
-AE!