Alliance

Chapter Sixty-Five

I sat in the bath for an hour. I could have stayed longer but the water turned cold. After a quick wash of my hair and body with one hand, I stepped out.

It was too early to go to bed, it was only three in the afternoon, but the time did not stop me from pulling on my last pair of clean plaid pajama shorts, a grey shirt, and the silk hotel robe over my shoulders. Honestly, I looked like a train wreck as I glanced once more into the mirror.

Stepping into the hotel room, I froze.

"Ben," I breathed, taking it in. In the middle of the living room, a blanket had been laid out. Two trays of food sat in the middle of the blanket beside two wine glasses with a bottle of red wine.

Ben sat on the blanket, his back leaning against the sofa.

"What is this?" I said, walking up to him.

"Well, I assumed you were hungry."

"So we are having a picnic on the floor?"

"Well," Ben smiled up at me, "I can move everything back to the table."

"No," I sat down beside him. "This is good right here."

I watched Ben as he leaned forward, grabbing the two wine glasses and wine. He popped open the wine and poured us each a glass.

Handing me one, he smiled. "To us, for getting here and surviving."

I clicked my glass with his. "And may we get home in one piece." We both drank the sweet wine. "So, what did you order?"

Ben leaned forward to remove the cover on the food tray. "I decided to get something you may never have had before. Pasta." On the tray were two plates of pasta I could not identify.

"And I expected you to get us sandwiches," I chuckled.

Ben gave me a pointed look as he handed me a plate and fork. Pasta was something my father and I never ate. We were fish, meat, and potatoes type people because that was what we could afford.

But the texture of the noodles, the delicious creaminess of the sauce had me falling in love with pasta. And I found out the hard way that pasta was filling. Ben uncovered the dessert tray which was chocolate cake and I moaned because I was already so full, but I still ate a piece.

The entire time Ben and I talked. We talked about anything and everything. He told me stories of how he had grown up in the Palace. Like one time him and his brother had stolen one of his father's crowns before an important event where it was required for the king to wear his crown.

Ben and Anthony had hidden it in a random supply closet. There were so many closets around the palace that when Ben and Anthony got caught and had to go get the crown, they couldn't find it. That resulted in a Palace-wide search for the missing crown.

I never grew tired of his stories as Ben talked but then he turned the table to me.

I didn't have any great stories of losing a crown. But I did have the time when Dad and I built a tree fort in the woods near our house. And the times we would camp under the stars pointing out star constellations.

It was late in the afternoon when the stories dried up. The empty plates scattered over the blanket.

"Thank you," I whispered to Ben. His arm was around me as I leaned against him and the sofa. "For dinner."

"You're welcome," he said. I felt his words vibrate in his chest.

That moment, that was what I wanted. Him and I at peace. No one else around reminding us that we were in the Alliance. That we were in fact, mentor and student. But could it make it work?