Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 7] Ch. 8 After Party

[This bonus chapter was brought to you by the Rusty Kraken. And by conveniently placed props.] 

Sebas

After the Volleyball game Vlad cooked up a bunch of food that had been brought by the spectators. He called off his lesson to take charge of the cooking brigade that wanted to join the party. Jekyll was surrounded by Julie, Liz, and Talisa... at least until he received an urgent message from a clerk from the Adventurer's guild and had to take off with Liz. Sable and Minerva had somehow bonded and it seemed like Sable was teaching things to Minerva. The Sorcery students played Volleyball with Flint and Nerinin and I somehow ended up alone after I had caught my breath and finished snacking on a kebab I'd purchased from a passing vendor since I'd used blood magic and couldn't wait for Vlad to finish cooking to mooch.

"Psst."

I turned to see Angela and Cedric behind me. Angela was the one who was trying to get my attention. Both of them had things behind their backs.

"Cedric has something he'd like to ask you." Angela said with a mischievous look in her eye.

I cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Cedric. "Alright, what's on your mind?"

"I heard a bit of that song you played last night. I've never heard anything like it, and I was wondering if you'd teach it to me." Cedric asked and pulled out the guitar I had gifted him while Angela pulled out Minerva's 'Amelia.'

I sighed. "Did Minerva put you up to this?" as I grabbed Amelia.

"Nope, but we did get her permission to borrow her." Cedric nodded at 'Amelia.' "I used to play with young master Sebas and my fellow knights, but it's been a while since I've been able to relax and learn a new song."

"I guess it would be a waste not to." I sighed and Cedric sat beside me on the blanket I was occupying. "Besides it is a song meant for at least two musicians to get the best out of it."

Even after all this time Cedric was eager to learn and it warmed my heart to be playing with my friends again. I taught him both parts to the song and we switched off. I saw Angela seated nearby and she couldn't take her eyes off of Cedric as her entire countenance screamed: maiden in love.

Although we garnered the rather acceptable attention of the group of associates, I wasn't exactly prepared for what happened next.

I guess Nerys caught the dancing bug and began kicking up sand and rolling her hips in a way that drew the watcher's eye and directed their gaze to her bewitching feminine features. From behind me, I heard Julie mention something about how they shouldn't be out done. And the next thing I knew she had dragged professor Perchwell out to the supposedly designated dancing section... Right in front of me.

For whatever reason Nerys took it upon herself to help personally instruct the good professor on just how to move her body since she was struggling to pick it up due to her embarrassment. Julie was a natural and was able to pick up each step and pretty soon Nerys had broken it down into counts and a few moves to cycle through. And suddenly the good professor began dancing like a pro... more or less. It was some kind of mixture between what you'd imagine witches in the moonlight would dance like with a salsa influenced sensuality.

"Hey Hyde." Nerinin approached me. She leaned down and asked me if I knew a particular song I'd just happened to pick up on my travels in case she asked me to place it. I nodded and gave Cedric that 'follow my lead' glance and he caught on. When I played the first few cords Cedric followed with the perfect flourish showing that he was on the same page.

"Okay girls, how about this one." Nerinin approached the dancers. "it's a hometown favorite, I even taught it to my twenty siblings."

I hit a sour note, and everyone flinched. Twenty! No wonder her dad so eagerly gave that fertility charm to my dad. "Sorry." I put that out of my mind and resumed playing. The wolves weren't even that polygamous. At least compared to the foxes.

We played deliberately slow at first, so they could get the hang of the steps. I haven't decided if that was a mistake or not since I began hearing: 'that looks like fun' and 'I love this song' and 'Oh we know this one.' Not only did the sorcery class get dragged in, but a few people sat down with instruments and joined us in playing along.

Even Minerva and Sable joined in dancing and I really had to just focus on playing since I was the accepted as the lead musician. Which makes no sense... I know I can barely hold a beat, and I make my fair share of mistakes, but since this was no formal occasion, nobody complained.

Honestly, it was a fairly enjoyable evening.

But an ache in my heart soured it.

Both Hyde and Jekyll... they have very nice lives... when I returned to being PRINCE Sebas how would things change?

*

Before the night ended, I excused myself. And slipped away without any fan fair.

After returning to the hotel I decided that it would be a good night to relax in the hot springs type bath they set up in this place. The traditional luxuries of a noble, huh? For some reason it never felt like I was able to enjoy these kinds of luxuries as a noble.

There were two baths and I walked in the one set apart for the men and walked into the changing room.

I placed my clothes into one of the provided hampers and tucked it away in the cubby built into the wall. I threw the towel over shoulder and walked into the open-air bath. I sat down at one of the designated wash stations and felt all sorts of relief as I scrubbed away the sand and grime. Once I was satisfied, I realized that I was still alone.

It was interesting that such a place would be so empty, maybe it was because they were all still playing on the beach. I walked over to the stones around the spring and lowered myself into it.

"Aaaaaaaah." I sighed as I settled in.

I felt the tension in my muscles leave and I decided to wade out to the deeper end and dip my head in to clear my head.

I took a deep breath and kept my back to the entrance then I let the water encompass my entire being as I submerged myself under the water. This week had been a nightmare on my nerves so having a moment where I could literally drown out the entire world was a much need respite and helped me reset.

It was so refreshing that when I stood straight up out of the water and flung my head back like a freaking majestic mermaid. I use my hands to whisk the water off my face and then ran my hand through my hair to push the rest of it out so it wouldn't drip into my eyes.

Then... every hair on the back of my neck sprang to attention.

I turned just the top half of my body since even the deepest part of the bath only brought the water half-way up my thigh.

Standing right at the edge of the bath was none other then a half-naked Julie with a white towel wrapped around that was just long enough to cover her modesty. I got a full shot of her shapely milky legs before I noticed the crowd of half covered women behind her shamelessly staring at my bare ass.

"What are you all doing on the men's side?" I asked as the server inside my head that controlled my actions completely crashed.