Dinner seemed to drag on and on and it was a hard fought battle to keep my anxiety from getting the best of me. Every time I watched someone dip their bread in the gravy or down a goblet of wine my nerves shook my insides. Not to mention Aleister trying to get me to drink the wine and me not having any real excuse for not drinking it.
I would pretend to take a sip knowing eventually it would be obvious I wasn't drinking. Can't drink and continue to have a full goblet at the same time. So risking complete embarrassment I acted like I was reaching for the bread and deliberately knocked my goblet over.
"Sorry!" I panicked and used my napkin to dab at the mess.
"It's alright darling." Aleister soothed with a hand to my back. "Let the servants take care of that." He pulled the cloth from my hand and handed it to the serving girl. "Accidents happen after all; we're all guilty of it every now and again." He kissed my blushing cheek.
I laughed nervously and nodded at him.
"Here have some more wine." He offered his goblet to me.
"Umm… no thank you." I bowed my head just the slightest. "I think because I don't drink often it's already getting to my head." I gestured towards the mess the servants were cleaning.
Aleister laughed and downed the wine in one gulp. "Then I will have to drink for both of us."
I smiled at him and nodded thinking the more he drank the better. It would make it easier for our plans to fall into place if Aleister was out cold. According to the plan by morning Sebastian and I would be gone and Aleister and Olivia would be in bed together. With any amount of luck we'd all be happy in the end.
xx
"I can't believe this is finally happening." Elise whispered excitedly as we made our way through the halls.
"Yes." I agreed peeking around a corner to make sure no one was coming. "But we have to hurry." I looked back at them. "Sunrise is quickly approaching." I pointed out.
It had taken nearly all night for everyone to pass out either from the alcohol or the valerian and kava. Not to mention getting Aleister into bed who was just awake enough to try and take me to bed with him. However once his head hit the pillow he was completely out.
The three of us quickly made it to door leading down to the dungeon and quietly as possible slipped inside. Huddled together at the top of the steps we nodded at each other in encouragement before Elise and Nelly went on ahead to deal with the guards.
I crept down the steps and listened to the two women flirting with the guards and crossed my fingers. If everything went according to Elise's plan the guards would be too busy to notice him sneaking about. The plan was to get the two guards as naked as possible and into a cell for some privacy. At which point they would tie them up and gag them.
I just hoped that this worked and that they weren't recognized. Nelly decided that for this plan to work they would have to disguise themselves. So with some heavy make-up, wigs, and some risqué clothing they would become enchantresses looking for a good time.
They would confront the guards whining that they had gotten lost but it was okay because they stumbled across two handsome guards. I didn't think it would work but what did I know about seducing a man. Though after being seduced myself twice you'd think I would have an idea in what it entails.
"I'll be your prisoner." Nelly purred loudly.
That was my cue that the guards were distracted enough for me to get by and get to Sebastian. As I walked past the first cell a woman's hand suddenly stuck out with a key dangling from her finger. I took the key quietly and continued to Sebastian's cell trying to hurry as much as I could.
I unlocked the cell and slipped inside and found Sebastian stand there staring down at me.
"Hi." I whispered as I smiled up at him.
He just snorted and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at him. "So you made it this far; now what?" He arched a dark brow.
I lifted my skirts revealing bundles of clothes tied to my legs. "We're changing and getting out of here." I nodded as I pulled the ties holding the bundles to my legs.
"Well aren't you a clever little lass." He smirked.
"Don't start." I bit out and picked up the pack containing the things he would need to change into. "Now hurry up so we can go." I ordered then went to work on stripping out of my clothes. Nelly dressed me in as simple of clothing as possible so it wouldn't take much for me to get them off. No corset and no knickers, just my hoop skirt and dress.
"Here help me." I whispered as I turned my back to him.
Sebastian undid the buttons down the back of my dress then leaned down and placed a kiss on my neck.
"Not now." I whispered as his hands slipped inside my dress and trailed around my sides. "We have to get out of here first." I ordered and stepped away from him which was very difficult to do. I wanted to stay there and let him have his way with me but if we didn't get out of there we never would.
He pulled away from me with a reluctant sigh. "Alright." He agreed and began stripping down himself. "So what's the plan?"
"Well," I started as I pulled the dirty old trousers on. "as it stands we work in the stables of Lord Elbridge who brought us along with him to care for his horses. We were curious about the party and go lost if anyone asks." I pulled the shirt over my head and tucked it into my pants.
After all the time I've spent wearing woman's clothes these men's clothes felt odd to be wearing. I kind of felt exposed with how form fitting they were but at the same time too constricted from the waist down. Well I wore clothes like this before so it's wasn't a completely new concept to me.
"And you think that story will get us out of here, do you?" He questioned as he finished dressing himself.
I used some soot I had in a pouch and dirtied my face with it before handing it to Sebastian. "Unless you have a better idea?" I questioned wide eyed and when he had nothing to say to that I nodded curtly. "So it's settled then, we do this my way." I grabbed my dress and stuffed it into his mattress. "Now let's go." I ordered then opened the cell door.
Sebastian followed me out of the dungeon and through the dark halls heading for the back of the castle. "We're going for the servant's entrance." I whispered and as quietly as possible opened the door leading to the kitchens with a check to make sure it was mostly clear.
A few servants were still working cleaning up to get ready for the cooks to prepare the morning meal. Somehow we had to get past them to the back door without causing too much of a fuss.
"Excuse me."
As I was thinking of a plan to get out of there Sebastian walked up to one of the servants.
"What are ye doing in here?" The woman questioned as she stared up at him. "This is no place for scruff like you." She suddenly glared at him.
"Yes mistress." He nodded guiltily. "Sorry fer being in yer way mistress. My fellow and I we're getting a might bit hungry and we're lookin fer what scraps of food we could find."
I was shocked at how easily it was for him to speak in such a common way. Maybe he had practice or maybe he was once rather common himself. Either way it was impressive since I wouldn't be able to do that myself or even think of doing that.
"You see mistress, one of the other lads in them stables stole our food and we were hopin a kind hearted lady like yerself coud help us out."
"No I can't help you out!" She glared at him. "Now git both of ye!" She pointed sharply towards the back door.
"Yes mistress." Sebastian nodded and headed for the door.
It only took a glare from the woman in my direction to get me moving as well. Once outside I sighed in relief that we made it past the kitchens. "Now we just have to get past the back garden and through the gate." I pointed in the direction we needed to go. "There's only one guard and from the information Nelly gathered four on patrol. Most of the guards are out front and within the castle for the celebration."
"Your wedding celebration?" He arched a dark brow at me.
"Hey if you would have taken me with you like I begged you to this wouldn't have happened to me." I scowled. "And again this is not the time for this."
He nodded curtly then grabbed me by the arm and started walking for the back gate. As we got close he gripped my arm tighter and gave me a hard jerk. "Just you wait until we get outside," he growled loudly. "a switching is what you're going to get."
"What?" I stared wide eyed up at him and tried to jerk away. Had he suddenly gone mad? "Let go of me!"
"You better pray you get away from me." He glared at me as we walked through the gate. "When I get done with you you won't be able to sit for a week." He gave a curt nod towards the guard watching us.
"Hold there." The guard suddenly ordered causing us to stop. "What's going on?"
"This little rodent," he gave me a hard jerk. "tried to sneak into the castle through the back. I'm going to switch him good."
"I see." The guard glared at me. "I hope you'll learn your lesson." He narrowed his eyes. "Carry on." He dismissed us and moved back to his post.
"Evening lord." Sebastian inclined his head then jerked my arm causing me to stumble along behind him.
"Let go of me!" I hissed and tried to jerk free of his hold.
"So you can run away?" He questioned coolly. "That'll only make your punishment worse." He nodded at a passing guard who was watching us.
"You should switch the boy for thinking of running away." The guard suggested with a glare at me.
"You're right." Sebastian agreed then looked at me with a fierce glare. "We'll just double your punishment and maybe beat those wayward thoughts out of your simple head."
I stared wide eyed up at him and struggled even harder to break free. I had no idea what he was talking about but the look on his face said I needed to get away. "Let me go!"
He jerked me in close and leaned down until we were nose to nose. "Keep it up and I'll switch you in front of everyone."
Even though his words were harsh his eyes told a different story. They were soft and open, conveying a message that I couldn't quite read. However, I suspected that whatever it was he was doing he wanted me to go along with it. So what could I do but go along with it especially if it got us out of there without incident.
"No!" I shook my head fearfully.
He snorted at me with a glare before standing up right and once again jerking me along behind him. I just hoped that he wasn't actually going to actually switch me for the sake of being convincing.