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“OKAY, I LIED! I LIED!”
Aurora had been forced to listen to Lyric’s whining for the last hour or so, but it didn’t effect her that much. She was getting used to it.
“I lied when I said it would be the lap of luxury, okay? The blankets made me itch, the floor was hard, and I have a crick in my neck! If only I had a pillow, I think one of the problems could have been prevented. Couldn’t she have considered bringing at least one pillow?”
“This isn’t a bed and breakfast, Lyric. Don’t be an ass!”
“Well, it would have been the nice thing to do! Excuuuuse me for expecting a little too much out of people!”
Aurora stared at the blanket on the floor, wishing she could use it to muffle his mouth. “I had to sleep on the floor, and you don’t hear me complaining!”
“Well, you were raised in poverty. You’re used to the hardship!”
“I wasn’t raised in poverty!” Aurora gasped. “We were perfectly happy!”
“So you say, so you say. But you certainly weren’t raised like a princess!”
“And thank God I wasn’t, or I would’ve ended up spoiled and hateful like you and Rachelle!”
“Don’t speak badly about poor Rachelle! She got taken away by monsters, and she has you to thank for it!” Lyric crossed his arms over his chest. “And don’t yell at me! You’re starting to sound like whats-her-name’s step-mother!”
“Her NAME is Cydney!”
“You sound like Cydney‘s wicked step-mother!”
“And don’t compare me to Cydney’s step-mother! That women is awful! Do you really think I’m as bad as that?”
“No, I don’t. So let’s not argue!” Lyric laid a hand on Aurora’s shoulder, but she shook it off. “It seems like arguing is all we ever do! But we don’t hate each other, do we? I mean, I don’t hate you. But you might hate me, for all I know.”
“No! I don’t hate you!”
“Then we shouldn’t argue! Save your anger for that cheating fiancé of yours.”
Aurora grumbled to herself. For a man who didn’t want to argue, he was bringing up some pretty sore subjects. “Anyway, I didn’t start it. You’re the one who started complaining about the crick in your neck.”
“And what’s so wrong about complaining about a crick in my neck?” Lyric countered. “Fact of life: some people complain. Just because we’re not all superhuman like you...”
“Lyric, shhh!” Aurora put a finger over his lips to silence him, but she withdrew the finger as quickly as she could. Touching his lips seemed like an awfully intimate thing to do. She was surprised by how soft they were. Was a man supposed to have such soft lips? “I think someone’s coming up the stairs.”
“Well, let’s hope it’s whats-her-name.”
“Cydney!”
“Right. Cydney. Don’t get so huffy! I’m bad with names. It took me awhile to remember your name, didn’t it?”
Aurora rolled her eyes. How could she possibly forget the days of hearing herself referred to as “girl.”
A few minutes later, Cydney ascended the stairs to work on her ball gown, and Aurora was more than happy to help Cydney with her dress. They were stitching and hemming for at least an hour; Lyric wandered the room and peeked into boxes.
“I’m sorry he’s so nosy,” Aurora apologized on his behalf.
“Oh, it’s okay. No one’s touched that stuff in a really long time. Not since my father died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, it’s okay. It happened three years ago.” Cydney sighed as she rethreaded her needle. “But it’s still hard to think about. Death is always hard.”
“I can imagine. I’ve never lost anyone that I was really close to. I guess I’m lucky.”
“Yeah.”
“And I’ve never known my parents, so I’ll probably never know what it feels like to lose one.”
“Well, that’s sad too... not knowing your parents.”
“I guess so.”
Lyric opened up a small box in the corner of the room and unleashed an immense cloud of dust. His subsequent coughing spasm was so loud, they had to suspend their conversation.
Cydney shoved her needle into a pincushion and stepped away from the dress. “It isn’t even close to being finished, is it? I’ll never have it done before tomorrow!”
“Well, if we keep working on it...”
“I can’t.” Cyndey shook her head. “I can’t work on it as long as I’d like to. I still have chores to do. If I don’t finish them by a certain time, my step-mother gets angry.”
Aurora grumbled. “She should do those chores herself! That’s what I think!”
“Yeah... that’s what I think too. But I have to do what she tells me to do, or she’ll throw me out of the house.”
“Aren’t you living in a shack? She’s already thrown you out of the house!” Aurora hoped she didn’t sound rude, but she couldn’t hold her tongue where Cydney’s step-mother was concerned.
“Yeah, I guess you‘re right.” Cydney sighed. “But she’d throw me out of the shack too.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Me neither. And I’d rather not be homeless.”
“There isn’t someone else you could live with? Like a kindly uncle, or a nice old grandma?”
“No.”
Lyric strutted over to the girls and stood beside them. “Well, I have a solution. If she throws you out of the house, you could always come work for me. You could be a maid in my palace. What would you say to that?”
“A maid in your... palace?”
“Yes, I’m an emperor. Or did you not know?”
Aurora spent the next ten minutes explaining their royal statuses to Cydney, who seemed to believe them, because she apologized at least a dozen times for having them stay in the attic. Aurora assured her it was no big deal, even though Lyric’s sour face seemed to counter her words. When Cyndey excused herself to do her chores, Aurora continued to work on the dress. It was the least she could do to repay her for giving them food and shelter.
Lyric hovered beside Aurora, indifferently observing her handiwork. “You’re not a bad seamstress.”
“Thanks. And you’re in love with Cydney.”
“What?”
“You are!”
“Am not!”
“Yes you are! You’re a complete jerk around me, but you don’t say a thing around her! You threaten to put me in a stockade, but you offer to give her a job! That’s kind of a contrast, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do I detect more jealousy creeping into that heart of yours?”
Aurora’s nose puckered at the thought. “What? No!”
“Ahhh, Aurora. You make me laugh. Always in denial of your lust...”
“Lust?! You make ME laugh!”
“Shhhhhh.” He touched a finger to her lips. “Hush. You don’t have to be ashamed of it. If I was a woman, I’d be in lust with me too.”
Aurora grabbed his wrist and tossed his hand away from her. “You wish I was lusting for you!”
“I don’t have to wish for something that’s already true.”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!” Aurora would have stomped around the room in fury, but she remembered that they were supposed to be hiding in the attic. “I swear, if I have to spend ONE MORE day with you, I might go crazy!”
As if to tempt her, he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “Mm-hmm. Yeah. Crazy with lust, I know.”
Her hands were shaking with rage, so she ceased her sewing. She didn’t want to ruin Cydney’s dress. “Why in the world do you think I’d be lusting for you when we always argue?”
“There’s a fine line between love and hate. Or didn’t you know?”
“You know I don’t like you, Lyric! You’re trying to make me mad, and you’re trying to change the subject! You never explained why you’re so rude to me, but so nice to Cydney! It’s because you have a crush on her, yeah? Am I right?”
“Wrong!” Lyric protested. “First of all, I’m not rude in the least. If I was a little rude to you in the beginning, it’s because I ended up naked and stranded because of you, and that doesn’t make Lyric happy, you understand? And... do I need a reason to be nice to Cydney? Do I? Honestly?”
“At least you remembered her name this time,” Aurora said with a sigh. “Are there some earplugs in one of those boxes you were digging into?”
“No. But I found a very large women’s underwear, if you’re interested.”
“Are you insinuating that I need large underwear?”
Lyric rolled his eyes. “Ohh, here we go again! Something else to argue about!”
“No... no.” Aurora picked up her needle again and started working. “I’m not going to argue with you anymore.”
Aurora continued to work on the dress through the rest of the night. Several hours later, Cydney brought up some dinner and kept insisting the dress wasn’t Aurora’s job to finish. Aurora, however, was determined to finish it before the end of the night. She even gave Lyric a quick lesson on how to sew, and he helped her sew some lace onto one of the cuffs. To her surprise, he was actually tackling the task with some success. He didn’t even complain about the lack of pillows when they went to bed that night.
The next morning, Cyndey woke to a pleasant surprise. When she climbed the stairs to the attic, she found Lyric and Aurora standing by the finished product.
“Oh, wow!” She ran up to it and traced a finger across the perfect stitching. “You actually... you didn’t have to... oh wow!” The tears in Cydney’s eyes were an expression of utmost gratitude. “It’s even better than I ever imagined!”
“I’m glad you like it. And Lyric helped, you know.”
Lyric tried to downplay his contribution. “Oh... well... I didn’t do much... it was just a little bit of this and that. You don’t have to thank me.”
“Thanks to BOTH of you!” Cydney exclaimed. With arms outstretched, she tried to seize them both in a hug. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much this means to me! I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come along.”
“Now you can go to the ball, right?” Aurora exchanged satisfied glances with Lyric. “We’re going too.”
“We are?!” Lyric exclaimed.
“Of course we are!” She leaned closer to Lyric’s ear and whispered, “we have to meet with Charmaine, remember?”
“Oh, yes... yes, of course.” Lyric nodded along as he spoke. “Of course, there is a bit of a problem.”
“And what’s that?”
“Well,” Lyric went on, “all the ladies in the realm are invited, but I’m not a lady. And the last time I checked, I didn’t have an invite.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. You know how you were saying something about finding a large pair of women’s underwear?”
“Yeah... so?”
“In that same box, there was a large dress.” Aurora looked over at Cydney with a grin. “I’d say it was large enough to fit the broad, masculine shoulders of a manly man like you, Lyric.”
It took him a moment to understand her proposition, but when he did, Lyric leapt a foot into the air. “What? What? No way! There’s no way I’m going to do that!” Aurora went over to the box and pulled out the dress she was referring to, and Lyric’s eyes must have tripled in size. “Are you out of your mind? No way! I’m not wearing that! Never! No! Not in a million years!”