Arianna always saw to it to keep a close eye on Celine whose family had all been killed in the Great War many years ago. They'd bonded when they were mere children, before the war started, and had never turned back. The only reason she wasn't in a similar position to the trembling prisoner right now was because she came from the royal line.
“Of course not. She wouldn't risk it.” No one would. The sentence for stealing from the king or queen, or any royalty, was to spend the rest of one’s days in a cell with barely enough food or drink to survive. Starving and dirty for the rest of their lives. Many times the women, and even the men, were susceptible to...cruel acts in prison. Arianna grimaced and refilled her goblet. She couldn't wait for this to be over and it would be—soon. Whichever way the pendulum would swing, it wouldn't bode well for the prisoner.
“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” said the king.
The woman nodded, her entire body trembling now. “Y-yes, your highness. I didn't...I didn't...” She gave up and bowed her head down. She rocked up and down as if she couldn’t keep still.
“I'll tell you what. I will allow you more meals and a bath once a week if you admit to the crime and tell me how you came to be here.”
Collective gasps floated around the room. The richly dressed royalty finally turned to see what was happening. Even Arianna couldn't believe it. The king never offered any kind of leniency or gifts. A part of Arianna understood why he'd want information from the prisoner, because this particular prisoner was not typical.
The prisoner looked up at the king with wide frightened eyes. She shook her head back and forth, her blackened hands opening and closing in the cuffs. “Y-your highness, I have already told you. Already told you everything.”
“Fine, take the prisoner—”
“Wait!” she cried and fought against the guards trying to drag her up.
Arianna tried to keep her expression neutral as she watched the scene unfold. The king lifted a hand to stop the guards. They shoved her roughly back down to her knees, which must have hurt, but she didn't make a sound.
“Shopping, I shopped at store. No, didn’t make it there. I don’t know. A man, a demon, came, t-took me. He’d kill me. I went. He d-dragged me away from my home.” She spoke so rapidly, her words ran together in a long stream without pauses except for large breaths. “We came near a rift. Atal warriors s-started to charge, to fight. The demon opened a portal. The Warrior pulled out a crossbow and killed him; he fell down, his body fell against me. I got knocked into the portal. N-now I'm here. I do not belong here.”
The king tapped a finger against the throne as he stared at her. His eyes, black as a sunless sky, watched her with an intensity that became of madness.
“Who was the demon?”
Tears slid down her cheeks. “I don't know. He...he took me away from my family.” Her soft voice broke and she hung her head low.
For several minutes, the only sound in the room was the thump thump thump of the king's finger on the throne. Then it stopped and silence suffocated the room like heavy rain.
“I'll allow you one bath.”
The news didn't make her smile, didn't light her eyes with joy. Her dried lips only pulled further into a frown. “B-but your highness, I do not belong here.”
He didn't blink as he watched her. “I know you're not one of us. But you didn’t admit to stealing from the queen and that must be punished.” He waved at the guards and they dragged the prisoner to her feet and out of the room.
Only after she left did conversation resume.
“Well that was odd,” Celine whispered.
“As if almost thirty years in a cell isn't punishment enough. Let alone for a crime she didn't commit,” Arianna said.
“Arianna, come here.”
Arianna froze, even her heart didn't beat for a moment at the sound of the king's order. Celine turned to her with wide, frightened eyes. She could practically hear her thoughts. Did he hear us talking?
Arianna stood on legs that felt like they were filled with water. Her gown swished around her slippered feet as she walked to the king's throne, her head bowed low. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the royalty and aristocrats watching the scene with curious gazes. She stopped before the king and dropped to both knees, her breathing unsteady with fear.
“Your highness.” Her eyes stayed trained on the gold and copper tiled floor below his booted feet.
“Look at me,” he said in a low voice.
She had to tighten the muscles in her body to keep from visibly shaking as she looked up at him. His eyes never used to be so dark. Once they were a deep brown but now black as tar. His skin, once golden like sunshine, now was darker—almost the color of coal. She had no doubt that years from now everything about him would be black, like his heart. His hair used to be a lovely auburn, red with a hint of brown that shined like polished copper in the light, but even that had turned over the years to the color of his mother's hair—black.
“Yes, your highness?”
He looked at her for what felt like a year. “You still have not taken a man?”
Of all the questions he could have asked her, in front of the entire audience, she never thought he'd ask that. “No, I have not.”
“Are you waiting on someone...particular?”
Where was he going with this?
“Yes,” she answered.
His eyes swept over her body. The look didn't linger, yet she felt the need to cover herself up with a heavy blanket. “Perhaps it's time for you to stop waiting and move on.” He paused to let that sink in. “He isn't coming back to claim you.”
She couldn't stifle her gasp. He was wrong. He would come back. But she kept her lips sealed, the last thing she wanted was to incur his wrath.
“I want you to dine with me tomorrow.”
She looked back down at the stone floor so he wouldn't see the panic in her eyes. “Anything you wish, your highness.”
She could hear the smirk in his voice. “Anything I wish....” He stood, every tall, terrifying inch of him. “Tomorrow then.” He stalked away, knee-high leather boots crunching on the stone floors.
Arianna stood, keeping her eyes averted from the Queen as she went back to Celine who looked as though she could barely contain her eyes from popping out of her skull.
“What was that all about?” she hissed in a low voice.
Arianna glanced around to make sure no one watched them, then snatched Celine's hand and pulled her behind the royal red curtain and down an empty hallway away from the throne room.
“He wants me to have dinner with him.” Her voice stayed controlled but her heart raced frantically in her chest. Sweat formed at her temples and a single drop slid down her face. She wiped at it with the back of her hand. Strange she was sweating because she felt decisively cold, almost freezing.
“What could he want?”
“I...I don't know.”
Celine pulled her into a tight embrace. Suddenly, Arianna found herself fighting back tears.
Don't be silly, she told herself. It's just dinner. Yeah, even she couldn't fool herself.
CHAPTER 7
Medina's was a little shop squished between two other small buildings on a narrow brick street. On one side sat a coffee shop that always made Medina's smell like freshly brewed coffee and on the other side sat an antique shop that always had a ‘closed’ sign in the window. Lily told the driver to wait for her and went into Medina's.
A bell that sounded like a wind chime rang as she entered. Bright chandeliers and wall sconces lit the shop. Old rugs, discolored from age, covered the floor and a variety of bookshelves and glass cabinets lined the room. Lily gingerly passed through the bookshelves and smelled a mixture of herbs and coffee. Soft instrumental music played from the back of the store. A soft voice hummed along to the tune and made Lily smile.