The Bad Fairy (girlxgirlxgirl)

41. When two becomes three

💧

Chepi wakes up to the noise of Nayan carefully closing the bedroom door behind himself, an hour before sunrise.

At first, she thinks about closing her eyes and going back to sleep. Her head feels groggy and her mind is absent of thoughts, and that is a rather sleepy state to be in. But just as she is about to drift off to yet another short, dreamless sleep, the face of Anemone flashes before her eyes. Her dark eyes, the chill of the dungeon, and the whispered promises of the night. It wakes her up like a rooster in the early morning.

She sits up, her head spinning at the sudden movement, and glances around the darkened room of the crown prince. He has a balcony on the side of his room, wide and open, letting in the darkness of the morning night air. His bed is to the left of the room, a wide and comfortable wooden frame with a thick, fluffy mattress on it. Chepi slept like a baby in this bed, while Nayan took the wine red velvet couch opposite of the bed.

Chepi knew that she couldn't stay the night with Anemone. Eventually Nayan would wake up and find her gone, and panic would quickly ensue. Every moment spent away from his room was a second more of danger. So, she had to leave and sleep here, and wait for him to leave. Now that he has left, for whatever reason so incredibly early in the morning, Chepi throws off her covers and stands up on tired, wobbly legs.

She has barely gotten a few hours of sleep, and her head is thumping with a distant, tired pain. But it's okay. She has something she needs to do. Someone she needs to see.

Chepi waits exactly four minutes before rushing out of Nayan's bedroom, down the quiet spiral staircase of the prince tower and out into the courtyard. It is still night, the sky barely blossoming with a faint yellowing colour. It's easy to avoid the few tired, patrolling guards, and it is easy to run across the courtyard without being caught in the shadows of the morning. Chepi shivers at the chill the morning dew brings, and tries to shake away the comfort that her covers had wrapped around her.

She reaches the entrance to the old dungeons just a few moments before the sun peeks from behind the horizon. Just as a guard is about to round the corner, Chepi opens the rusty old door to the dungeons and runs inside. She can only hope that Nayan has other matters to attend to, and that he didn't leave to go see Anemone. She needs a little more time. Jus a few more minutes.

After running through the same corridors as she did just a few hours before, Chepi finally reaches the rusty doors of Anemone's cell.

"You came back."

The darkness of the morning enchants them as a whole. Anemone is there and so is Chepi, after a few hours of the night spent apart. And Chepi certainly wasn't expecting it. Her breath is in her throat.

"And you stayed."

She thought Anemone would've escaped by now. Honestly, she wasn't expecting her to be here. Chepi had come here with the intention of getting disappointed and returning to Nayan's room, knowing that it was where she belonged from then on. To the fairies, and to the kingdom where she was born. But instead, Anemone is still laying on the floor of her cell, looking much more awake than she did last night. Her hands and legs are free from the chains that bound her before. But she is still here, despite how dangerous it was to stay, and her eyes don't leave Chepi's for a second.

It doesn't take long before Chepi has walked all the way over to Anemone, her feet moving as if with a mind of their own. She feels drawn to her. Enchanted, even. Completely taken by Anemone and her powerful presence, not being able to look away from her eyes. She takes one step closer, and then the next. Anemone stands up. Chepi has to crane her neck rather quickly, and it forces a gasp out of her throat. She sees a smile twitch on the demon's face.