Soul Behind The Mask

8. Many Questions

She was laughing happily with her lion friend in the endless grass field. Erin growled. Ashlyn scrunched her nose and leaned close to his face.

"My beautiful kitty, I love you so much!" she said, softly stroking his long golden greyish mane. Erin started purring loudly. The girl closed her eyes smiling.

But when she opened them back again, she saw Armand's face instead.

She gasped, backing away. Careless, she didn't notice the black hole that swallowed her as she fell, seeing Armand reaching for her, before she regained consciousness.

*******

Ashlyn woke up in a bed. Still covered in sweat from her dream, she quickly realised that both the bed and bed chamber weren't the cozy ones she was used to open her eyes in, back in the family cottage.

And certainly, there wasn't any yelling between her parents, something she had to get used to recently.

She frowned, analysing her dream. Erin.. Armand? Impossible. If that was true, Armand would have to be the banished Crown Prince, the only one that could shape shift into a feline. A lion, in this case. Nonsense! Her mind brought her back to the day before, where she remembered she spent some time with Erin at the forest... Till she fell.. Asleep?

She quickly analyzed her surroundings.
"Fancy room... Very fancy."

Her eyes gazed at the majestic chandelier hanging in the ceiling.

Just when she was about to stand up, a maid entered the room.

"Oh! The miss is awake! Shall we inform Master Stefan?"

She blinked. Stefan? How was this possible?

"Stefan? Oh, sure! Let me just, uhm, dress up!"

The young maid nodded. "Sure thing! Your clothes are in the closet, miss. Feel free to pick anything of your choice!"

As soon as the young woman closed the door, Ashlyn stood up and ran to the closet in front of the bed, opening it.

"Damn! There's so... Many."

She didn't know which one to choose. Her head was starting to hurt. Suddenly she felt an electric-like spark going from her whole body to her index finger.

"Ouch!" What was that? She didn't know.

She was wasting time with this. She turned her head, noticing her old clothes piled up on top of the drawer. Her eyes lighted up.

The girl quickly put her shirt, pants and long boots on before she walked outside the room.

Stefan greeted her.

"Heyyy how are you feeling Ash? Didn't even appreciate the whole dresses I had for you".

"I'm..fine! And I sure did! It's just, you know, I'm comfortable enough with my own, so thanks for keeping them haha!"

She then gasped remembering all her questions.

"Stefan! Where- What am I doing here? Is this your house? What happened yesterday? I'm-"

"Okaaayyy slowww down gurl, I will answer all your questions, but first, shall we have breakfast?"

Ashlyn took a deep breath and sighed, nodding.

"Alright! Follow me!"

The young girl followed her best friend to the room, where a big table was prepared for breakfast. Stefan pointed with his arm for her to sit in any of the chairs. She was so busy staring at the Stefan's family portraits, so she didn't notice Armand eating quietly at the dinner table as well.