Nadine Book 2

35. Festival

We get to the market in record time. We buy Dipak about 4 outfits, we both get a commoner dress. We get Dipak some shoes and 2 hats. Then we buy a bunch of cake.

We go to the king's office with all our bags.

"That's all yours. You should be able to make an outfit out of it."

Dipak starts pulling the stuff out. "How many outfits do you think I need?"

I swallow a cake nearly whole. "We didn't know what color you would want."

Thora hands me a cup. "Or the style."

The whole table starts laughing.

"AND A HAT." He puts on a straw hat.

"They have seen you. We wanted to make it hard to recognize you. You do look good in that hat too."

"I'll get 1 of these on and we will go now. I want to find something while it's still light out. It'll be harder to see at night."

After he changes, the 2 of us go for the door.

"I don't know about you not having a sword."

"This is weird. Who will I give orders too?"

"I'm sure you'll find someone sir."

"And you like being in disguises?"

"Just try it. Tre tried it and hated it. Don't think he'll ever do that again unless it's for throne work. Think of it as a challenge, sir. See how many people you can order around when you are like that in a different village."

"What do I win if I get 10?"

I shrug my shoulders. "A kiss." I raise my eyebrows. I'll surely kiss something anyway.

"So what you kissing?"

"You know what I'm thinking."

"I will get 10 if we have to stay there all night, and order drunk people around."

I laugh and give him a hug. We both turn into dragons and fly towards the village.

We land outside the village.

"Is Tre pressuring you to do stuff you're not ready for? Seems you moved really fast. Has me worried a bit."

I put my arm around him. "We decided to wait. He wants to wait until I'm in love with him. He wants to fix the bond. He won't chance breaking it. I told him that might be awhile. He said he would rather wait."

"What did you want?"

"I want the bond to get fixed too. But to wait for me to fall in love, may never happen. It has me concerned. But maybe as more of the bond gets fixed, and we spend more time with each other, things will change. We will see how everything goes. But to answer your question, no, I'm not pressured at all."

He squeezes me for a second. Then kisses me on the head. "How did a guard walk in on you then?"

"We were about to, and the guard came in to summon him. When he came back we talked about it." I shrug my shoulders. "It is difficult, he is my mate. I do like touching and being touched. I imagine things will get carried away on occasion, but with us both agreeing. Maybe that will help."

"So what about us and China?"

"No one ever told me the purpose of not having s*x on a vacation."

"It's to build the other parts of the bond up. We spend time together but no s*x. Figure out things together, enjoy each others company. Stuff like that."

"What do you think?"

"I do like building the bond. But it builds anyway. I mean how many times recently have we felt it get stronger? What do you want to do?"

"Have my clothes ripped off of me in China, sir."

He smiles. "Yes ma'am. I will do that." He squeezes me close to him again.

"I mean, as long as we're not in the room constantly. I would like to see China. I would like to see as much as we can. And I know you can be fast with s*x, so we'll be fine."

He smirks. "I will be fast with the s*x, so it doesn't get in the way of seeing stuff."

"That's perfect. I'm glad we agree."

He gives me a big kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"We better get in there and find something we want."

"I already found what I want sir." I give him another kiss.

"Woman, if you think I won't do you right here in the center of the path, you are wrong."

"Let's go. I told him what happened the night at the werewolf village too." He lifts his eyebrows. "He knew something wasn't right. He asked for the truth." I shrug my shoulders.

"Was he mad?"

"More relieved. Not mad at all. He told me some of the rumors he heard. They were bad. I made him feel terrible that night. I told him I was sorry. It made me realize that he's not the only one at fault. I helped break apart the bond too."

"You 2 were really young when you built the bond. It'll be stronger now as you build it back up. You're not kids anymore. What you both needed then, and what you need now are different."

"I think I'd like to talk to Omar about the bond. Tre got dropped so fast. No one ever even mentioned anything about the bond I had with him. I know they said ours snapped violently. But I didn't know about his. I know nothing about it. That must have been terrible for him too. Or maybe he didn't care at that point. I have no idea."

We go threw the castle gates. "It probably would be worth checking into. See what Omar knows. It may not have bothered him, or it may have hurt him. It's worth finding out."

We go right into a festival. My eyes pop open and I grab him so tight. "IT'S A PARTY. CAN I GO?" I see some commoner girls about my age and drag him over. He's rubbing his eyes.

"I love your hair. How do you get it to curl like that? I'm Sar. This is Mia and Jan."

"I'm Nadia. You have to use rods when your hair is wet. Wrap the hair around them and it will dry curly."

Jan jumps up and down. "I can't wait to try it."

"Me either. Hey, let's go listen to the band before the parade."

Dipak grabs me. "Stay with them. Do not leave the festival area. I will go find something we want. Here is a little money if you need any."

We get to the dance floor and dance a few fast songs together. I am having so much fun. Then we line up for a parade.

"The prince's carriage will pass through right here. We will be able to see him."

"Have you ever seen him, Nadia?"

"Maybe once or twice. Not much though."

"He is so cute. He has the best hair."

"Maybe he will see us."

They start jumping and squealing. I do it too. I like jumping and squealing. Then his carriage starts. The carriage is weird. It's all open with no walls or a roof. So he's standing on a platform getting wheeled through.

He smiles at the 4 of us squealing. He gets down with some flowers. Then he comes toward us and I freeze. I don't think he'll tell on me or make me go with him. He could for my safety. He could force me back to the castle. Maybe I can hide. I glance around and I can't go anywhere. People are behind us. I'm stuck here, and he is going to find out I'm here. Maybe he'll deal with the squeal girls and I will stand quietly and stare at the ground. That's the best plan I got. Hopefully, he won't notice me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him give them flowers, and then he steps in front of me. I look up slow, and his eyebrows shoot up.

"Hi." That's all that comes out of my mouth. I am half waiting for him to start yelling and calling for security. I'm starting to get scared. He's thinking about it.

He winks and hands me a flower. "I hope you enjoy the festiv..."

Me and Jan get thrown forward into him by the crowd pushing. He catches both of us and the guards push the crowd back. He's standing there with his arms around us.

I smile. "Thank you for catching us sir."

Jan starts jumping up and down. "THANK YOU." She's smiling so big.

"Have fun and be careful." He leans in to my ear and whispers. "I am putting a couple of guards on you. But I won't tell them why."

I throw my arms around him. "Thank you. I only wanted to have fun."

Jan grabs him for a hug then. Then I grab her arm and we go back into the crowd.

After the parade, Dipak joins me on the dance floor as a slow song comes on. He wraps me right up in his arms. "Did you have fun sweetheart?"

"Yes I did. So much. I won a little bear by hitting a target with an arrow. We've been dancing."

Jan smiles. "She hugged the prince."

Dipak puts his eyebrows up. I laugh. "That's a story for the way back sir. Just you, me," I get close and whisper. "and the 2 best friends he assigned me."

He chuckles. "Did he tell?"

"No, the guards don't know who I am. They are following me around, very confused."

"I guess Tre isn't the only one who keeps guards confused then." I bust out laughing. "Did you find something you want sir?"

"Yes and she's in my arms." I smile and hug him.

He kisses my head. "Yes, I found something baby. We can send the talkers in to negotiate now. Was there anything else you wanted to see before we leave?"

"I want you to see the arrow game they have. I think we can maybe put it in the arena for game night. Other than that, I wanted this one dance."

The song ends, and I say bye to the girls. He leads me off the dance floor, and we go through the games, then out the gates.

"I was wondering if those 2 guards were going to follow us all the way home."

I laugh again. "It turns out, teenage girls like princes. They were telling me about a parade, and we stood to watch it. The prince came out and gave us flowers. I tried to hide but it was to late. He seen me and knew who I was. Then the crowd pushed me and Jan into him. It was a bit of a mess. He told me he wouldn't tell on me. But he gave me the guards. I gave him a hug. Told him thank you. Then Jan did the same. That's all I seen him."

"At least he didn't tell on you. Or drag you to the castle and summon your father."

"No, he knows what it's like to be royalty all the time. He's like me. Sometimes we need some time to be normal. He did think about it though. He didn't seem that happy about leaving me with guards. But his only choice was to leave me with a couple confused guards or tell on me. He didn't really want to do either. So if he shows up later, don't worry, I'm getting yelled at again."

"Fair enough."

We fly home and land on the roof. We get into his office and everyone is still around the table.

Daddy glances at us. "Did you get something we can talk about?"

"I got something. She got to hug a prince."

Tre flips around and stares at me. "He didn't tell on me. He put a couple guards on me. Dipak was off doing something, and I was with some commoner girls."

Tre nods and turns back around.

"Tell us what you got."

Dipak gets out a paper and starts talking.