Her Fear, His Obsession

No one could ever hurt you, my love

The next morning, Alia found herself waking up to a strange chirping sound. Curious, she opened her eyes to get out of bed and found herself back in the strange room. Thinking that this was her chance, she silently slipped out of bed, looking for an escape route. She opened a door and stepped out into an empty hall. After no more than three steps, she heard, "My Queen?" from behind her. Turning around, she saw three men staring at her. After seeing her face, they instantly kneeled down to the floor. "Please forgive us, your Highness, for daring to look upon your face. We are your lowly slaves, nothing more."

With that, they silently arose with their eyes fixed to the floor, and one of them spoke up, his hands trembling, "My Queen, how may we serve you?"

"I'm not a Queen. I just want to go home," Alia said, slowly backing away towards the stairs. As she continued to walk backwards, she felt herself bump into a hard wall. She turned around and found her face staring into a black moving wall. Moving her face up, she looked and saw none other than the man who had been with her the last two days.

"My love, you are home." He gently reminded her, as he moved his hand up to stroke her face. His other hand moved down to see her injured hand, which was now wrapped.

"Thirty lashes for each of you for not being at the door when she awoke. Severely punish the slave who was told to stay remaining at the Queen's side this morning." He called out to the trembling guards.

"Shall we go eat, my Queen?" Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her so that her left side was protected against his chest. With her in his arms, Luca made his way downstairs, chuckling as she protested that she could walk alone.

"I know you can, my love, but you have no need to."

Luca carried her into the dining hall and settled down with her on his lap. Stroking her hair and back with one hand and placing his other on her legs, he called out, "SLAVES!" Three people came running out and bowed. Alia frowned internally, she didn't like the way he called them. But she barely spoke enough to advocate for herself, she wasn't brave enough to stand up for anyone else.

"Your Queen is hungry. Serve her NOW!" They bowed and rushed off. Moments later, they brought back three trays. A woman began to open the domes, at Luca's motion, and the waft of waffles filled Alia's nose. She gave a light smile, which a very astute Luca noticed.

"You like waffles, my love?" She squeezed his hand, using their signs from yesterday to communicate her joy.

"What do you like on them?" She remained silent. Sighing, he grasped her hand. "Let's play our game. If you like it, squeeze my hand. If you don't, tap my hand." She squeezed his hand. Good, she likes this game, he thought to himself.

Looking to the toppings already present, "Syrup?" Tap. Huh, Luca thought to himself.

"Whipped cream?" Squeeze.

"Nutella?" Another squeeze.

"Mangoes?" Tap.

"Strawberries?" Another squeeze.

"Blueberries?" Tap.

"Is that it?" Tap. That means she liked something more, but Luca couldn't think of anything else good.

"My love, I've lost the game. Can you tell me?" She smiled when he said that he lost the game. That means she won?

"I win?" She whispered softly, almost sounding surprised.

He was quick to assure her, "You will always win, my love. You did so wonderful as always. Now, can you tell me what else?" Nuzzling her neck with his nose, Alia felt a wave of happiness and comfort pang in her heart.