Escaping Royalty

Rita and Lita took us both to a very fancy looking bedroom, claiming the others also had a room for themselves. I wanted to see them, but apparently due to some ritual, Luna and I had to spend the night alone.

Alone isn't the right word. The two maids were standing adjacent to our bed, preparing to watch us all night.

"Why must you watch us sleep?" Luna asked.

Both of them looked at each other with a curious gaze.

"If our services are required in the wee hours…" Rita began.

"It surely would be a shame if we were not present." Nita finished.

Very weird…but wouldn't they need sleep too?

Speaking of sleep, there was only one big bed in here. So either we were going to have to take turns sleeping, or we were…

Oh…

Luna let out a yawn and went into the walk-in closet.

"I'm going to change into pajamas. What a tiring journey we've been on."

"Er…what…?"

"Hmm?" Her head tilted curiously. "What seems to be the matter?"

"Are we going to…sleep in the same bed?" I cleared my throat to adjust my voice.

I'm a guy. My mind goes places sometimes I don't want it too. And right now, it was in a place I was scared to tread so soon.

"We've already rested together, so this won't be much different." She went back into the closet, then peeked her head out. "Besides, this is only natural for us as a couple."

Natural? Last time we were so close while sleeping, we were in a tree, but this was a bed. There's a difference.

"It seems the boy is not confident…" Rita said.

"Yes, indeed. He lacks confidence in himself."

"You two stay out of this!" I shouted, feeling embarrassed.

"Walden, please, be at ease." She stepped out from the closet in a cozy looking outfit. She also found something matching for me. "Tonight is merely about getting rest for tomorrow. You need not worry about anything else." She smiled.

She was right. I was overreacting…maybe the stress of everything was getting to me?

We both slipped into the bed together, my mind calmed a bit.

As I relaxed though, another thought entered my head. I was going to marry into royalty, and one day become the most powerful person ever…

"I can't believe this is happening…" I took a deep breath. "Am I really going to be the emperor of the moon?"

Luna sat up, tilting herself toward me.

"You'll have plenty of training from my father and other advisors. But I will also be part of your life. We share many responsibilities."

"But still. I'm going from nothing to everything. It's crazy."

She leaned over and kissed me on the lips.

"We'll take it one step at a time." She smiled.

She looked really pretty just then.

I had the urge to brush my hand against her face, then pull her close for another long kiss.

What was I worried about before? It seemed to have slipped my mind.

"Look, it has begun…" Rita said.

"Yes yes. What a show." Nita chuckled.

"Okay!" I shouted, quickly lying on my side, facing away from Luna. "never gonna get any dang privacy around here…"

Maybe this was the universe's way of telling us we weren’t ready for a big step just yet.

Luna was snickering to herself. She tugged on the string of the lamp and turned out the lights.

"Goodnight, walden. I love you. Please get plenty of rest."

"I love you too, Luna. See you in the morning."

***

One fantastic night's sleep and fancy breakfast later…

Rita and Nita escorted us to the room where we'd be meeting Luna’s father, helping us get comfortable in the very fancy white seats.

“Please call upon us if…” Rita started.

“...you need any assistance.” Nita finished.

Then they both bowed and left the room. Two guards stepped in to watch the door.

I really felt my stomach twisting. This anxiety was killer.

Her father’s a big deal. He’s not only the most powerful man in the empire, but also the parent of my lover. That combo meant I’d have to do some serious bootlicking if I wanted to get in his good graces.

“When you meet my father, just act normal,” she said, putting a hand on mine. “He’ll appreciate your honesty.”

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head.

“You’re nervous. But my father will trust you if I do. He doesn't expect you to be perfect, but he wants you to be the man I chose. So just be you.”

That worried me even more. Acting like myself seemed incredibly disrespectful. Especially given the situation his daughter and I were in.

But Luna’s easy nature right now gave me a little hope we’d be able to get through this without much trouble. Assuming he ever shows up, that is…

***

We'd been waiting an awful long time in this room. I was starting to wonder if he was actually going to show up or not.

"Is this normal?" I asked.

"It's not like my father to be so late." She stood from her chair, livid that things were not going well here. "I cannot believe he would do this to us!"

Neither could I. If what Luna said was anything to go off of, this man wouldn't be late to anything. Especially not planning his own daughter's wedding. Something was wrong.

We both marched to the door, but the two guards at watch both stepped in front of it and blocked us. That wasn't a good sign at all.

“Lady Luna and esteemed guest, we are not allowed to let you leave this room until the emperor has arrived.”

I was just an esteemed guest now? Something was off about that.

“My father should have been here over an hour ago. I must find out what is taking him so long.”

The guards didn’t budge. They held strong to their stance, preventing us from leaving.

I pulled Luna to the back of the room, then kept my voice down so the guards wouldn’t hear us.

“No way your dad would be late to a meeting like this, then tell these guys to lock us in.”

“I agree,” she nodded. “Something is very wrong.”

We had to get out of this room and find her dad. I had a feeling we got duped by someone, probably one of her sisters. Luna was thinking the same thing. It was only confirmed by the fact that Luna was told to originally meet her father on the moon, not on the last ring.

Now I was worried about the others too. But we needed to escape this room before we could rescue them.

***

We didn’t have a whole lot to work with here. The guards were watching us, and they kept the only exit locked up tight.

I noticed Luna go up onto the stage, then she started stomping her foot around it.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Every room like this has a secret door incase of emergencies. I’m looking for it.”

“Keep it down.” I hushed her, walking up on stage to help her look. “Let’s try a different way of searching.”

If there was a secret exit on the floor, there had to be some sort of way to open it remotely. No sense in stomping around to try and find a hollow spot.

I had a feeling it would probably activate with a button, but we searched everywhere and couldn’t find one.

“Oh, wait…” Her eyes lit up, looking like half moons, “when I was young, my mother told me that these secret doors can only be activated by lunar power.”

I can see how that would work out for them.

Luna looked like she was really struggling to hold up her strength after activating her magic. Her hand lit up much more dim than usual.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “You okay?”

“I’m…” she started breathing heavily. “For some reason, my strength is leaving me.”

Her powers let up and she fell to her knees. I caught her and held her up.

“Luna, I think this has to do with the phases of the moon. Remember?”

She nodded.

The moon was currently in the Third Quarter phase, which meant it was half bright and half dark. She only had half her strength left. Anyone would feel like they took a hit from that.

She had to conserve her energy if she was going to continue to use magic.

“I’ll be careful, but we must find that secret door.” She stood to her feet, ready to retry.

Her hand lit up again, now just a tad brighter than before. She had a spotlight coming out of her palm.

There was a click sound at the back of the stage when the light hit it. A small hatch opened up.

“That’s our exit.” I said. “Let’s go before the guards notice.”