Private Tales The Lost Princess and The Exiled Prince

[Arun]

Arun had not been lying.

Beneath his cup were indeed three threes. The other numbers didn't matter much of course, and he smiled as she pulled away the wooden mug. "Elves don't lie."

Which was of course entirely not true in it of itself. If they didn't lie then playing this game was pretty meaningless in the first place.

"I believe that makes me the winner?" He prompted her with a proud smile.

 

[Maeve]

"No," Maeve couldn't believe her luck and she smirked. "I was right, there are five threes. One, two," she pointed to her two then across the table to his three.

"Three, four, five."

Now it was her turn to look a little smug.

"So, first question. What's the best sex you've ever had?"

 

[Arun]

Arun was utterly startled by the question.

It was not the sort that he had been expecting during this game. He had thought she would be asking about Elven culture or perhaps the Eagles some more. Not that. Arun's cheeks colored, at least as much as they were able to do so.

His throat cleared. "I...uhhh."

Fingers flickered for a few seconds as he considered whether or not he could actually just slip out of answering, but the look on her face told that it would not be possible.

"In Saen." He frowned. "Right before the war. There was a woman name Aslla."

Arun remembered her well. Beautiful dark hair contrasting with her slender features, slight curls within her locks. She had been unique, gorgeous, and a spark that had set his flame. "She was a fierce warrior and that prowess showed itself even in the bedroom."

 

[Maeve]

His reaction was more the reason why she asked than anything else and she wasn't displeased with what she got. Maeve put both elbows on the table and put her chin in her hands to listen with bright and curious eyes.

When he was finished with his story her lips twitched. Was that meant to be an attempt at humour?

"Interesting," Mae grinned and then picked up her dice and rolled them again, saying no more on the subject. She slammed the cup down and peaked underneath.

"Two twos."

 

[Arun]

Arun narrowed his eyes for a moment, frowning for just a second until he took his own cup and drew it back before rolling.

A breath filled his lungs as he glanced beneath the rim of the small wooden mug, no expression showing on his face as he spoke. "Five fives."

He said it in utter deadpan.

Arun may as well have just told her that the sun was going to rise in the morning and set in the evening. There was no lie, no truth. There was only the fact that beneath his dice cup were five dice showing five pips each.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve's eyes narrowed a little.

"Liar," noway had he rolled exactly five dice. He had said elves didn't lie but she felt like he wouldn't have agreed to play liars dice with her if he couldn't do it. She wasn't an elf after all, maybe the rules were different when it came to human elf relationships.

She had no fives under her cup and she revealed as much then motioned for him to reveal his.

 

[Arun]

Arun only smiled at her, letting his hand come off the cup for a few seconds before he reached out with two fingers and then gently knocked the cup to the side.

It fell over with a clatter to reveal five fives.

"What can I say." He smiled at her, leaning back on the couch with a smug sort of expression that he had seen his father wear a dozen times over in his life. He lounged for a few seconds, considering. "Question was it?"

Arun mused. "What is your most embarrassing evening?"

 

[Maeve]

Mae pouted and folded her arms over her chest. He had told her elves didn't lie. If that was the case then the rest of this game was going to be so easy. So she swallowed her pride and thought of how best to answer his question. He seemed to be getting the hang of what type of questions you asked in this game at the very least.

"Had to be... when I lost a bet and had to ride through the city naked, facing backwards, with my hands bound behind my back without a lick of alcohol for a bit of courage," her cheeks were red as she remembered the evening. "At least it was getting dark but my dad saw me and the look on his face," she cringed.

 

[Arun]

He smirked. "That does indeed sound rather embarrassing."

Arun had no idea what his own fathers reaction would be to that sort of think. He imagined it would be something like complete and abject horror at the thought of his son even thinking of such acts. Then again, perhaps he also simply wouldn't care.

He usually never had.

"Who tied your hands?" The Elf asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

 

[Maeve]

Despite the story being about her, Maeve was laughing at the memories.

"The friend I lost the bet too. She also had the pleasure of being the one to rip all my clothes off," she sighed. "It was very humiliating in the middle of the beer hall," she shook her head with another giggle before returning her attention to the dice.

She slammed the cup down.

"Two sixes."

 

[Arun]

Arun nodded his head with a smile, looking down at his own cup for a few seconds and closing his eyes before taking a breath.

There was an odd...prickle at the back of his neck, though he was not entirely sure where it came from. Lips thinned, and the quirked into a smile as he tried to ignore the feeling creeping up within his mind. "Perhaps I'll keep in mind your fondness for Streaking while we travel."

The Elf said as he slammed his cup down.

He peeked beneath it, then frowned.

"Three twos." Arun glanced up at Maeve.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve grinned at his comment but said no more on the matter. She didn't tend to make it a habit of streaking but she wouldn't make promises she couldn't keep.

She settled back into the cushions and watched his expression carefully. The slight marring of his brow made her think he was finally attempting to lie but she had to tread carefully. She checked her own dice and then slowly nodded to herself as if thinking hard then said.

"Five twos."

 

[Arun]

There was another flicker of expression, that odd feeling running over his spine. Eyes glanced towards the window for just a brief second. "Hmm."

Arun looked back towards Maeve.

"Lie." He said with a gesture towards her cup.

A bright smile grew on his face as he did so, as if knowing something that she did not.

 

[Maeve]

Doubt flickered in her eyes for a brief moment. Had he finally caught her out and lied? She chewed the inside of her cheek and then reluctantly removed the cup to reveal her five dice.

Underneath was two twos, two sixes and a single four. Unless he had lied she would have won this round too.

 

[Arun]

Predictably, Arun had not lied.

A frown shot across the Elf's face, his lips thinning for a brief moment as he looked up towards Maeve and furrowed his brow. "Perhaps I should learn to lie."

He knew how to of course, it wasn't as though he had some sort of oath in place that prevented him from doing so...it just seemed rude. Though, perhaps that was half the point of this game. Being rude meant that he could win.

"Go on then." He said with a sigh. "Ask your question."

Though he already had an inkling of the topic.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve laughed at the combination of his words and annoyed expression. Little did she know her words were about to echo his own thoughts.

"Well, it is called liar's dice... maybe your peoples love of rules should outweigh their dislike of lying," she smirked then tapped her chin thoughtfully as if giving a great amount of thought to what question she was going to ask him next.

"Okay... What's the worst intimate experience you've ever had?"

 

[Arun]

Arun had actually thought about lying, though it had not seemed advantageous to do so yet. Perhaps...next round though. An idea formed in his mind.

He thought for a moment, looking at her with a frown. "It will seem like bragging."

Arun's statement was vague, but...it was also the best he could offer without actually answering her question in full.

"I do not want you to think me boastful." This was not exactly a great opener to what his worst intimate situation had been, but truth be told it was difficult to have any real 'bad' experienced with how he'd been before his time in the war.

The incident though he thought might satisfy.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve rolled her eyes a little; elves were such prudes when it came to certain things. Maybe it was just Arun. In the end she spread her hands out in a gesture of innocence.

"There will be no judgement," Mae was simply victim to the common human trait of curiosity and sticking ones nose in where it didn't really belong. "Though I am slightly dubious you have had a bad experience if you consider it still to be... boasting," she raised an eyebrow sceptically.

 

[Arun]

"Okay." Arun said as he took in a deep breath. Fingers tightened for a brief moment, and then he wondered how he had gotten himself into this particular situation.

It seemed ludicrous that he would be having such a conversation with a human of all things, much less one that he had only met less than a week ago. Such things were really only shared with life-partners, someone whom you would spend centuries with.

This was...strange. "So there were five women and myself..."

Arun launched into a story of a time before war, before strife, before he had even come into himself as a warrior. A tale of when he had convinced five Elven Maidens to join him in the bedroom, a tale of erotic sensuality that had eventually devolved into a catfight of who was allowed where and on top of what.

A fight that had turned violent...and ended with a the walls of his palace leveled.

"Sorceresses can be very dangerous." Arun explained.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve grew quieter, redder, and more alarmed the further into this story he went. She now understood why he had not wanted to come across as boastful because that story was anything but embarrassing, which was what she had been hoping for when she had asked her question. She guessed she had said bad rather than embarrassing explicitly but even so! She felt mildly cheated but also terrified of ever meeting one of these 'sorceresses'.

"They sound it..." Mae said warily, rubbing at her arms after the description of the fight. She gave a small shudder. She couldn't quite imagine holding that much power it would just... come out in a time like that and over such a... not to lessen Arun to anything cheap or worthless but, over such a small issue. It was bewildering.

"Alright, next roll," she cleared her throat, shook the dice then turned them upside down with the usual soft slap of the bone cup against the wooden table. "Three ones."

 

[Arun]

It was clear that Maeve wanted to change the subject as soon as physically possible, and with a small smile the Elf simply complied.

The tale was not exactly one that he had told often in his lifetime, in fact he was pretty sure he'd only recounted it twice before. Once had been to his father when he'd needed to explain what had happened, and the other was to his friends during the war.

It had been an amusing tale then. "Three threes."

The Elf said as he lifted his own cup.

"Oh no I'm sorry." He corrected. "Four."

 

[Maeve]

Had he forgotten he had had to lie and was now trying to cover it up, or was the first answer the lie and the second the truth because he didn't like lying? She pressed her lips into a thoughtful pout for a moment and then glanced beneath at her own cup once again. Either he had three or four threes. Mae had none so he would have had to have rolled almost his entire hand as threes. It was possible but rare.

"Liar," her eyes narrowed a fraction.

 

[Arun]

He pulled the cup away to reveal Four Threes shining glorious with their pips upward.

"Ah." Arun said with a smile. "See, I can lie after all."

His eyes were keen, his wits about him. Arun had not forgotten the fourth one at all, he had simply lied to her and said there was only three at first to make her think that he was then lying. Within the span of only a few seconds the Elf had become a master-manipulator.

Then again perhaps he really had just forgotten.

"Now. My question?" He asked smugly.

 

[Maeve]

Mae mumbled something about not quite calling that lying but she nodded reluctantly after her mutterings.

"Yes, your question," the red head huffed slightly and scooped the dice back into her cup. She was wise to his tricks now though, such a stunt wouldn't work a second time. She would have to try and catch him out in other ways and see if this new confidence got the better of him.

 

[Arun]

In truth, Arun wasn't even entirely sure what he was going to ask.

These questions came to him about as naturally as anything else related to her. All of it was guess-work. All of it was pulled from some novel that he had read once or twice a hundred years ago. Lips thinned for a moment in consideration. "What..."

He frowned.

"What...who is your dream partner?" He did not want to pidgeon-hold her into 'men'.