21. Mistaken Identity.

[Megan]
"The king's delegate called, the Prince would like to have dinner with you." My mother said entering my room unannounced.
"The P-Prince." I swallowed nervously.
"Yes the Prince and it is about time, you need to get ready immediately and make sure this time you make a lasting impression." She scowled at me. "Nana, get her ready to spend the night at the palace."
"The night?" Nana asked concerned.
"Yes the night, do you have any problems with that?" She asked glaring at Nana.
"Yes, no, but I just think maybe it's too early, she has her reputation to think of, she can't spend the night with a man she's not yet married to."
I watched the exchange going on with growing fear, Nana had never spoken back to my mother before, talk less of engaging in a full-on argument with her, I began to fear that my mother would take her anger out on Nana.
"Are you lecturing me right now, will you now tell me what to do?" She spat out angrily.
"No, that's not what she means, Nana was just concerned for me that's all, I'll go get ready now." I pulled Nana away from there immediately.
"Make sure you're ready in thirty minutes." My mother ordered before leaving the room.
I made sure that I heard the door shut before I turned back around.
"What was that?" I scolded Nana. "You can never do that again, what if she fires you and takes you away from me, please Nana, don't scare me like that ever."
"You don't deserve to be treated that way, my dear child, you can't spend the night with the Prince, he doesn't even have feelings for you, I'm afraid that he'll treat you badly, use you and then dump you when someone else comes around."
"I have no choice, Nana, mother has planned this since I was just a child and the King is in support too, I can't do anything about it, I have to convince the Prince to like me, I have to charm him," I said.
"No my dear, you don't have to, you shouldn't throw yourself on any guy, the right one will come for you and fight for you if need be." She said, trying to convince me.
"Oh, Nana, if only my life were different," I said, remembering the feeling I had when the Prince's friend held my hand.
I wondered if I would ever see him again, I'd been beating myself up for thinking about him because there was no future for us both.
***
Less than thirty minutes later, I was dressed and on my way to the palace, I felt nervous because I had never spent the night with a man before and I wondered how my first time would be, if the prince would be gentle or if he would be cruel and rough.
My heart pounded rapidly the closer we got to the palace and the swell of my breast strained against the tight gown I was wearing.
"Ma'am, the Prince is expecting you for dinner in his chambers." A servant took my coat from my shoulders and showed me into the Palace.
I could never get enough of the view, the palace was so beautiful, I could see why my mother wanted it to be my home one day, I tried to convince myself that my mother was right and that she was only doing all this for my own sake as I ascended the stairs to the Prince's chambers.
"His highness will join you shortly." The servant opened the door and gestured for me to go in.
The room was empty but there was a romantic dinner already set up, the light in the room was dimly lit and the smell was very good.
I walked slowly into the room and took a seat at the table, then I started playing with the hem of my dress nervously as I waited for the Prince.
Did I mention that some paparazzi were outside the gate and they took pictures of me as I was driven in, I might just make front paper news tomorrow and my mother would no doubt be proud.
.
.
[Liam]
"The Prince asked to see you." Mr. Franz said as he entered the office.
"Luke?" I asked and he nodded his head without speaking any further.
I could imagine why, I was probably the only one except Sir Thomas among the workers who referred to the Prince by his name and it usually got all the rest of the workers flustered.
"Do you have any idea why he wants to see me?" I asked.
"I don't know, but he's in a very awful mood, he screamed at me and I froze, nearly peeing on myself." The timid man replied.
"I'm sorry, Franz, I'm sure he never meant to yell at you, I'll go find out what's wrong with him," I said comforting the young man.
As I walked towards the residential part of the palace, I began to think about what Franz had said. If truly Luke was in an awful mood, I could guess two things that could be troubling him.
One would be Claire, I wondered why he wouldn't admit that he was falling for the woman and the other was Megan.
I did not like to imagine him with Megan, but my heart skipped a bit as I imagined running into her in the hallway.
"The Prince is a bit busy, he has a guest, I'm sorry I can't let you in." The doorpost guard said, refusing to give me passage.
"What guest, the Prince sent for me," I argued.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't given such orders." He said again and I frowned.
"Is the Prince even inside?" I asked and when he didn't answer I picked up my phone and decided to give him a call instead. "I'll just call him."
"There's no need for that," The other post guard who had been silent since said hastily. "You can just wait for him inside."
He moved to open the door but the other guard stopped him.
"We have strict orders not to let anyone in." He said, frowning at the other guard.
"He's the Prince's friend, he comes here all the time with the Prince, let him enter, he said the Prince sent for him, I don't want to get into trouble with the Prince." He said and the other guard finally yielded.
"We're very sorry for the delay, please go in, the Prince will join you soon." He said.
I shook my head before going in.
"Your highness, I've been expecting you." Megan rose from her sitting position and curtsied before me, she was looking down, avoiding eye contact with me.
I was shocked when I saw her because I wasn't expecting anyone inside and when I saw the romantic dinner, my heart fell. The King must have planned a romantic dinner for Megan and Luke.
Luke?
And that was when it hit me, Luke had asked for me, maybe this was what he wanted help with, he wanted me to pretend to be him throughout the dinner, he was giving me a chance to have dinner alone with Megan.
My heart soared with joy and then I quickly got into character.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting my lady, if you'll give me a minute to wash my hands, I'll join you momentarily," I said hurriedly and made a beeline for the bathroom.
I was grateful that she still hadn't looked up, or she would have called my bluff, I was still dressed in office wear, and I looked every bit like myself, even my hair was lighter than Luke's.
I knew where everything was in Luke's room since I was very familiar with the room. I took some of his clothes and I changed them immediately, I also applied some gel on my hair and I used some contacts to hide the original color of my eye.
My eye color and Luke's were not so different but mine was a more pronounced green while his was a hazel-greenish color.
When I was satisfied with my look, I took two deep breaths and went back outside.
"Please have your seat." I frowned when I saw that she was still standing.
"Ah, yes, thank you very much." She looked flustered.
"Let's dig in shall we?" I took a seat opposite her and sat down.
I watched her as she kept on avoiding my eye throughout the dinner, she was so quiet I wondered if she would fall off her chair, she was very nervous.
"Hey, relax." I couldn't help myself and I held her hand on the table softly.
She gasped in shock and raised her eyes to mine, she looked at me intently as if studying my features before she spoke.
"You're not wearing any camouflage right now." She commented.
"I'm having dinner with you, why would I need any camouflage? I trust you to keep my identity secret."