Chapter Seventeen
Theo
You could say that this was where the story began. With everything that happened building up to that moment—nothing compared to it. It was like every dream I had of her before just crumbled and fell to its knees when I heard her voice and saw her face. I held her hands the moment I was inside the room, and I felt her trembling. She was nervous that we would be seen, so we stood in the corner of the room, as far away from the windows as we could be, and the rest was in whispers.
“I was in despair, complete and utter hopelessness. I thought he killed you back there,” she told me as tears began to form in her eyes.
“I wasn’t in my full strength or else you would have seen him burn,” I said, anger seeping through my voice.
“Sh,” she whispered and put her finger on my lips. “There are guards right outside. They’ll hear you.”
“I’m sorry. I just hate myself for failing to save you back there,” I toned my voice down to a whisper and held my head down.
She was smiling, but I could barely see her eyes. I felt her lips slowly fall on my forehead, and sweet shivers ran through my spine.
“Thank you,” she said.
I felt her hands slide to hold mine again and I held on. Even our breaths were faint whispers, but I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest and through the throbbing of the veins on her wrists knew that her heart was also racing.
“All these years, life was tasteless. The only thing that got me to long for the next morning was that I knew I would find you someday,” I said, pulling her body to be closer to mine.
“And here we are,” she said, her cheeks reddening and a smile breaking them.
We stared into each other’s eyes. No speech could express what we both were feeling. It was like living a whole eternity of uncertainty and finally finding a truth—like not knowing if there was any water but being sure that there was a thirst and finally swimming within the pure waters of a river.
I slid my hands to the back of her neck and pulled her face closer to mine. I closed my eyes, my lips waiting for hers to meet them. Instead, they were met with her fingers. I opened my eyes, and she was caught in shock.
“Wait,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I thought—” I hesitated.
“No, wait, there are footsteps outside,” she whispered in fear.
She quickly led me to the side of the bed that was on the other side from the door. I prepared myself for something to erupt right in that room. All I needed to hear was just the slightest hint of agitation in her voice, and I would have torn the castle down.
The door opened with a slight creak. I could tell from the sound of the footsteps that the person standing by the door.
“Are you OK, Elise?” the deep voice was asking.
I immediately recognized the voice . King Harold.
“Yes, why would you think that I wasn’t?” she replied in a dismissive manner.
“You were supposed to come down to drink with us,” he said, walking toward the center of the room, awfully close to where I was hiding.
“I’m not feeling like it. I’m a little sick. I don’t know why,” she said. I noticed the hesitation in her voice.
This was the moment. It was the moment when I should have leaped out of hiding and taken the king’s life at once. I had the perfect opportunity, but I was afraid that fighting him while being in the same proximity as Elise could put her in danger, so I waited.
“Is it your back?” he asked her, suspiciously.
“Yes, a little,” she replied, with less hesitation in her voice this time.
“It is an effect of the injection that you got for your spine to hurt a little. A necessary pain, and a healthy one. As long as you feel this way, we don’t have to worry about anything getting out of hand, now do we?” he said, his voice getting farther away from me.
“I figured, and it’s better this way,” she said, obviously complying with him just to get him out of the room at once.
“Rest for now, but not much because she wants you to be with us,” the king said.
“I will lay in bed for a bit, and the moment I feel better I’ll come down,” Elise replied.
“It smells like, something dead in here,” he said, and he walked closer to where I was.
I began to feel my heart racing. The blood was rushing to my eyes, and I knew that if I just thought the wrong thought, I would begin to turn right and there.
“Oh, I left the window open,” Elise said and quickly walked ahead of him, rushing toward the windows above me.
“Must be the stench of those dirty men sleeping in the yard. They are rotting like the animals they are,” the king said with disgust in his voice.
“Why don’t you let them go back to their homes? If they are this much of an annoyance to you?” Elise asked.
It was a mistake to ask that question. It gave the king a reason to stay in the room and start talking about himself for a long time.
It was nothing but disgusting to hear his words. He explained how he needed his army of men around him in the yard, but at the same time he knew it was dangerous to do so. He thought this left them room to someday revolt against him or try to kill him. However, by treating them like animals and giving them the bare minimum of food and shelter, they would always feel like they need him. So, no matter how badly they were treated, they would still think him to be divine for the many things that he had to offer them.
“Again,” he said as he began standing up from the bed, “rest and meet us downstairs. She has felt much better with you around.”
I rose with half of my head from behind the bed when silence followed the king’s words. His hands were on the side of her face, and I could see the expression of disgust on Elise’s face.
My stomach cringed at that sight, and I rose to my feet once I saw him touch her and admire her face. I lost it. The anger gripped me in that moment, and I was about to leap forward and attack him. I stood on my feet, read to turn at any moment.