238 Chapter 238 : You’re on your own

Eira turned away from the man who was walking down the courtyard pavement. That annoying lycan, why did she allow herself to get mixed up with someone like that? With his long silky silver hair, his tall firmly toned body, his deep honey brown eyes and his-

“Eira!”

The princess looked forward and saw Jacob standing there with his hands on her shoulders. Had he been calling to her for long?

“Eira what happened in there? Are you okay? Did that man hurt you?”

Man? What man? Oh had Jacob seen the confrontation that she had had with the silver haired lycan? “No he didn’t do anything, we just got off on the wrong foot is all, I think he might have been a little drunk.”

“Oh thank goodness..”

Eira went wide eyed when Jacob pulled her into his embrace, and hugged her. Jacob and her had never made physical contact of any sort ever, she made sure of that. But now here he was hugging her right after asking her to dance. What had gotten into the men lately?

“We should get you home,” Jacob suggested as he pulled back. “Places like this aren’t for someone like you, I’m sorry.”

Eira would have wanted nothing more than to do exactly that, to just go back home and throw herself on her comfortable bed after such an exasperating evening, but after a taste of the wine that Jacob had given her and had felt it’s calming effects, she wanted more.

.....

“Why don’t we have one more drink first,” Eira responded to Jacob before heading down the staircase.

Jacob was taken by surprise, what was going on? Eira wanted a drink? Why the sudden change in character?

“Are you coming Jacob? I’m going to order wine with or without you!”

“Alright, but will you please slow down,” he mumbled, “you never drink, I’m just worried about the repercussions of all of this!” He rushed back downstairs to catch up with Eira who was practically rushing to the bar. “We can’t have you getting drunk, your father would have my head.”

Eira called to the waiter and ordered a a glass of wine. “I’m not going to get drunk, just a little taste to calm my nerves, you have no idea what I’ve been through the past couple of days.”

Jacob was feeling really conflicted with Eira’s decision to drink all of a sudden, on one hand it might help him score some points with her because alcohol tended to liven people’s mood. But on the other hand it was the first time she would get intoxicated, first timers tented to overreact after a swig or two and it might get people talking. She was the princess after all, word would definitely get out.

Jacob was pulled from his reverie by the sound of Eira smacking down her empty cup of wine and telling the bartender to ‘keep them coming’. He moved to the chair beside her and ordered himself a cup of ale as well. He made a mental note to stop Eira at her third cup and take her home. Three cups would be enough to help her relax and still keep her sober enough.

*

“Eira?... honey it’s me can I come in?”

Melissa placed her ear on her daughter’s door but still she heard no response. “Sweetie I know you’re still a little upset about the whole fiasco with your father but I promise you he isn’t upset, he was just being overly protective. You are his only child after all.”

The nosferatu woman listened for a response but there was nothing. Had her daughter already fallen asleep, or was she ignoring her?

“Eira I’m coming in.”

The woman opened the door slowly and stepped into the darkness of Eira’s chambers, she hadn’t even bothered to light her candles?

“Eira? Are you asleep honey?”

Luckily for Melissa, being a nosferatu meant she had great eyesight even in the dark. She walked to her daughter’s lumpy bed and sat down right at the edge. Eira seemed to be fast asleep, and without dinner? Melissa reached for her daughter and shook her gently in an attempt to wake her up.

“Eira, wake up honey they made your favorite for dinner. You can’t go to bed hungry you’ll get an ulcer.” The queen shook her daughter again, a little more assertive this time. “Eira..?”

Melissa narrowed her eyes at the lump in the bed before pulling the blankets and furs off. She jumped to her feet and gasped when she saw the pillows that had been stuffed into the bed. “Oh no, Eira..”

*

Back at the party, Jacob was helping Eira walk out the door towards the gardens to get some air, who knew a glass and a half of wine would be enough to get her this intoxicated? They neared a bench in the gardens and he helped her on it gently before sitting next to her.

Eira immediately leaned into Jacob’s shoulder and began humming an inaudible tune. Good gods, what was he going to do? She was the only one who could teleport them home. If he took her back by carriage her parents would have to see her like this and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want to lose points on the scale of potential spouses to the beautiful woman he had liked for so long.

From a distance, Jacob saw his sister exiting the door, whipping her head side to side before marching up to where Eira and him were sitting.

“Jacob are you a bloody idiot or something?!” Janis stopped in front of the princess and gently pushed the strands of red hair from her face. “She’s as drunk as a fish Jacob, how could you let this happen?!”

“She had one and half glasses of wine,” Jacob replied defensively. If he had known she was such a light weight he wouldn’t have allowed it, but he didn’t. Jacob knew many wom who could down a whole bottle and be as sober as ever, how was he supposed to know that Eira couldn’t hold down that little amount of alcohol?

“It doesn’t bloody matter how many cups she had! Are you going to tell the king the same thing when he asks about the state of his daughter?!” Janis began pacing in front of her brother and the redhead who was still humming by his side. “Oh your majesty we’re sorry we took your daughter to a party and got her a little drunk. But don’t worry sire, she just had one bloody glass!”

“Stop panicking, we can find a way to sneak her back into her room...” Jacob replied, not in the least bit happy about the sarcastic response his sister had given him. “If we do this right they’ll never even know she was gone.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?! She’s the only one here who can teleport.” Janis pointed out. “We’ll literally have to drag her through the front door if we get lucky enough to pass through the gates!” The dark haired elven woman sat down on the bench and cupped her face in her hands. “It will be our heads for sure.”

“Will you stop panicking you’re going to make me start panicking!”

“How can I not?!” Janis responded sternly. “These are the types of situations where you need to panic.”

Jacob became thoughtful for a minute before turning to face Eira who was now dozing off. “What if we just don’t take her home?”

historical

Janis looked up at her brother and gasped, “what do you mean not take her home? Where are you planing on taking her? What if they look for her?”

“We’ll just keep her at the house for the night,” Jacob explained, “and when she’s all sobered up tomorrow she can teleport back home and no one will be the wiser.”

“This is a very bad idea...”

“It beats showing up at the palace with her in her drunken state,” Jacob responded. “We have no choice at this point. We have to choose the lesser of two evils.”

Janis immediately regretted helping her brother with his shenanigans, this could put not only Eira’s reputation at risk, but their friendship as well.

“Look I got Eira to the party like you wanted,” Janis responded, “I wish not to involve myself in this skim any longer, I’m sorry.”

Jacob scoffed and looked at his sister, “so you’re just going to leave Eira here? I thought the two of you were friends?”

“We are, and that’s exactly why I’m doing this, I can’t put my friendship with her at risk, she has a hot cousin and Eira is my only way to get to him, I’m sorry brother but you are on your own from here on out.” Janis gave Jacob a mini salute and made her way back to the castle.

Jacob was at loss for words, Janis could forget about him putting in a word to Damien that’s for sure. The elf turned to Eira and sighed when he noticed that she was fast asleep, now he would have to carry her all the way to the carriage, as of things weren’t already awkward enough.