A Queen Without A King

Chapter 8

I wake up, still over the covers of my bed, not moving a muscle, staring blankly out the window. Owen's words from last night float around inside my head. He barely knows me. Why would he ask such a question? And why presume something so absurd? No one ever hurt me. I'm princess, soon to be queen. No one would have the audacity to hurt me. 

A knock on the door pulls me out of my thoughts. I slowly sit up and push myself to my feet. I walk over to the mirror and look at myself. My eyes are puffy and red from crying yesterday night, my hair is flying every which way, and I'm still in Owen's clothes. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and head over to the door. 

I open it an inch and peek out to see who it is before opening it all the way. It's Aveline. "Hey," I mumble.

"Jeez, what happened to you?" Aveline asks, stepping into my room and shutting the door behind her. "You look like shit."

"Thank you so much for letting me know." I collapse back onto the bed and cover my face with my arms. I feel the bed dip as Aveline lays down next to me. 

"Talk to me," she says, pulling my arms from my face. "You're rarely like this... I think the last time I saw you in this state was when- OW!" I smack Aveline on the shoulder before she brings him up. "That was rude. But I'll forgive you because I know it's a touchy subject."

"It's not a touchy subject. We just don't talk about him." I rub Aveline's shoulder to make up for the fact that I hit it. "And I just had a long night, that's all."

"Bullshit. You've had long nights before and you still keep going." Aveline gets up and keeps talking as she heads into my washroom. "Owen didn't look too good this morning at breakfast, which you missed today."

"I miss breakfasts all the time, that doesn't mean anything." When I used to have loads of work to do, I would work and eat at the same time in my room. It was far more time-efficient. 

"You would miss breakfast when you were working, which you aren't anymore," Aveline yells from the bathroom. "These days you're only missing when you're with Owen. And since he was there today without you, you have no excuse."

"Can a girl not just sleep in?" I grunt, stuffing my face into a pillow. Aveline walks out of the washroom with a cloth and a bowl of water. She places the bowl on my nightstand and sits back on the bed. "What are you doing?"

Aveline doesn't answer and begins to take the pillow away from me, pushing the hair out of my face. I watch my sister as she dips the cloth into the water and wrings out the access before bringing it to my face. "It's warm, don't worry. Just try and relax." I nod my head and close my eyes.

I feel the warmth of the cloth as Aveline starts washing my face. I take deep breaths, grateful for my sister. We may not always get along, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. I think back to when I used to do the same as she is doing now whenever she was having a bad day. I always told her the same thing she just said to me. We've leaned on each other for as long as I can remember. 

"I'm not going to force you to talk to me, but I would really appreciate it if you did," she whispers, placing down the cloth next to the bowl. "I worry about you, you know?" I nod my head and pull my sister down so that she's laying next to me again. "Laying down means talking time, right?"

"Yeah, laying down means talking time," I confirm. Aveline visibly relaxes and turns to me, giving me her full attention. I take a deep breath and start telling her what happened yesterday night with Owen, starting from the moment I woke up on the couch in the middle of the night. I didn't think the date before was pertinent to what he said afterward.