A.N. I did something funny in this chapter that I know a few of you will pick up. Another chapter and I hope it turned out a little bit longer. Enjoy and I will update if I get more spare time and a few reviews. :)
"My king, we advise you not to go out amongst the citizens. We would not want you to be sick or struck down within a day of your reign as king." One of Peter's closest men said to the young king when he was finally able to enter Peter's bedchambers.
On purpose, Peter had smeared some dirt on his face and he had made he hair greasy using some oil from the kitchen. He wore the clothes that the workers let him use and they tore it in the right places to make it look like Peter would be a young man of hard labor. Peter sighed and ran a dirty hands own his face and rubbed his eyes.
"I wish to do this. I want to be loved like my father was by his people, my people. They loved him for how much he visited them and treated them well, and I want to do the same to show my respect for what our people do and how hard they work."
Peter snuck out of the castle without anyone knowing where he was or people believing he just needed some rest from the day and night before. He rode one of the horses in the stable, and black horse called Mirage.
He rode quickly and silently through the woods and down the roads to the edge of the city. Peter slid off of the horse's back and grabbed the reigns as he walked it alongside him. He tied Mirage to a tree nearby where he could quickly go if anyone recognised him and began to walk with the other people. His people.
No one looked his way, except a few young women who giggled and smiled as he walked past, obviously liking what they saw behind the dirty face of the king in hiding. Peter had brought a small bag of money with him, but that was still much more than most of his citizens would see in their lives.
He stopped at a few little stalls and brought some vegetables to eat, which he did because he hadn't eaten since the night before, he gave a few coins to a family with four children for food and fabric, commented on the fine work of a local blacksmith and sat underneath a tree as he read some poetry he brought a few minutes before.
Peter savoured the sunlight on his skin and the shade from the tree making him feel not too hot, not too cool, just warm enough for his liking. He sighed, relieved from all of the stress of people rushing around and bothering him. He wanted the peace and quiet that he had at that moment, Peter felt wonderful looking at his people without them feeling like they needed to bow for him when he walked past.
Once again, he surveyed all of the people around the small village centre; his eyes fell on one person. It was the same girl that he had seen at his coronation the day before. Her face was a little bit dirtier but her clothes were still dirty but slightly cleaner and her hair was pulled back from her face and falling down her back to about half way down. It still had the same curls from the previous day, but they were slightly messy down the bottom where a few knots stopped her hair from flowing down as it should have.
The girl was looking around as well and Peter smiled widely at her when she saw his eyes on her. As Peter stood, the girl walked forward towards him; she too, was smiling widely.
The two didn't speak for quite some time when the girl reached Peter, they just ended up sitting side by side and looking at all of the other people and occasionally stealing a glance at one another. To anyone else, they would have looked like a shy couple or two nervous teenagers on their first date, not knowing what to do, based on the closeness and the smiles they shared. To Peter, he wanted to know the strange and beautiful girl (in his eyes, but not to many others).
"Who are you?" After about ten minutes of comfortable silence between the two, the girl finally spoke in a soft voice to Peter. Peter loved the sound of her voice and struggled to find his when he heard hers.
"I'm William." Peter yelled at himself in his head. His father's name was the first name that came to his mind. The girl smiled at him and Peter monetarily forgot about the stupid name he had picked out for himself.
"I'm Lucy Rain." Her last name confused Peter. He wasn't sure why a girl who seemed to make the world around her brighter, could have a last name that invoked dark, miserable days with nothing to do.
The two shook hands and Lucy stood up quickly. Peter quickly followed her up and found he was much taller than her, something he hadn't noticed before.
"Would you like to come over to my house for tea?" She asked and Peter nodded and laughed before clearing his throat.
"You now you probably shouldn't invite strangers to your home, right?" Lucy nodded at him and grabbed his wrist.
"I am sure that if you were that kind of man you would have tried to take me away a long time ago." Peter shrugged as the two began to walk further from Peter's horse and the castle. He liked the feeling of Lucy's hand holding his wrist as she lead him towards her small home.
The home was actually inside of a cave, but I provided warmth with a lovely fire. Only a few paintings were seen around the small place; there was on in particular that caught Peter's eye. Lucy saw him look at it.
"That was my sister Susan. Beautiful, wasn't she?" Peter focused his gaze on Lucy, who had been over at the kettle boiling water and now taken a place by Peter's side.
"What do you mean by 'was', Lucy?" Lucy looked down at the picture of her and her older sister Susan.
The two were laying in a green meadow side my side and they were looking up at clouds that day. Susan had their father's dark brown, almost black, hair that flowed down with such grave that she was often treated like royalty. She was the favourite because of her looks. Lucy was the smart one, she thought she would never be beautiful like her older sister.
"My sister took care of me up until she died from the illness that spread across the kingdom a year ago. My mother abandoned us and our father was shot dead in battle." Lucy distracted herself by going over to the kettle and preparing the tea for her and Peter. He sat by the fire with her.
"I know it is like to lose a loved one too." Peter started when Lucy sat down and took a sip of her tea. "I only lost my father by an arrow to the heart, many people loved him, but not as much as I did."
Lucy looked up at him with wide eyes and stood. She rushed somewhere and came back quickly with a wet cloth. She slowly wiped Peter's face, cleaning him of the dirt that was on there, and Lucy leaned back with her mouth opened.
"My king, how could I have been so blind to not have known it was you?" Lucy asked herself more than Peter. But he still grabbed her hand and moved so he sat closer to her.
"I did not wish to be known many. But I had hoped that you would have realised." Lucy narrowed her eyes as she studied his face.
"Well then, why are you here?" She blushed when she felt Peter move his thumb over the top of her hand back and forth.
"Because I wanted to see the one beauty that I never got to dance with last night. I wanted to see you, Lucy." A gasp escaped from Lucy and Peter studied her face to see confusion and sadness.
"You wanted to see me?" Peter nodded at her then took hold of both of her hands.
"And I wanted to dance with you maybe once to make up for me not being able to last night."
The two danced on their own, clumsily on Lucy's part for she did not know how to dance, and the two laughed and smiled for hours. Peter only stopped to look outside to see it getting darker outside.
"Lucy! I have to go." He said when he turned from the now opened door to his new friend. She nodded.
"I shall not hold you back, Your Majesty." Lucy walked to him and her cheeks flushed red when he kissed her cheek softly.
"I did enjoy our time together today, Lucy. I haven't had this much fun in my life ever! Shall we do this again sometime in the near future?" Lucy agreed and Peter found Mirage where he had left his horse. He apologised to the creature and found that someone had feed him through the course of the day. Peter made it back to the castle and quickly rushed around without being seen. He changed into his royal clothes and settled down for his dinner that he would have with his advisors.
But all he thought about was the day filled with dancing that he had spent with Lucy in her little cave home.
