I know its rude to stare, but my eyes are glued to her. The wrinkles along her arms and face shows how old she is and I'm almost surprised at how quickly she moves. I look at the prisoner curiously but he pays no attention to me.
She holds a platter with shaky hands and the prisoner reaches to help her.
"I need no help," she states before sitting it down on a small coffee table.
"I wasn't attempting to help you," he says. "I just didn't want you to drop the food."
She playfully swats at him and he pretends to be hurt by her actions. I watch as the prisoner reaches for a slice of bread and the jar of..... What looks like jelly but the scent says other wise. I nearly gag watching him eat and turn away.
"I can tell your not a fan of bread and jacola jelly," she says taking my hand in hers. She examines me before adding "your getting a little thin dear. You should eat something."
I shake my head. "No thank you. I'm not really hungry."
"Nonsense!" She shouts and I jump. "My job is to serve and serving is what I am going to do." Her eyes seem to twinkle and I watch as they turn from blue to a light green color.
What species is she?
"TIMMY, TONY, TALLY!" She yells over her shoulder. Immediately three of the elves scurry towards us and stand there shoulder to shoulder. "Get the guestrooms ready for our guests."
"I don't need a room," the prisoner speaks up and we all look at him. The tray was completely empty except for the empty jar. "I don't sleep."
"If you are here, you will get a room," she says shooting him a look. "And what ever you do in there is your business. But only one person in one room."
Now shes giving me the same look and I look at the prisoner who's looking back at me. "We..... Uh...."
"There's nothing between us," he says. "We crossed paths and ended up here."
The lady rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything else about the topic.
I'm walked to my room by one of the elves and the rest of them follow behind on my tail. The small elf stops in front of a wooden door and motions for me to open. Twisting the door knob, I push it open.
The smell of brown sugar greets me and I step further in. The room looked a bit old; the darkness making it seem a bit abandoned.
"There's candles on the window sill," a tiny voice behind me says.
A bed is placed in the far corner next to the window and it reminds me of my home.
Not the palace.
But my real home. The home I decided to keep my family.
I turn around and look at the elves that filled the doorway.
"Thank you. You guys can leave now."
They start to walk off and I'm left alone. I rub my hands up and down my arms suddenly feeling cold. A cloud of smoke escapes my lips and I look once again at the closed window.
Huh?
I turn around and the prisoner stands there; his body leaning casually against the door frame.
"Is it cold in here or is it just me," I ask just above a whisper.
He looks around for a second before shrugging. "I don't feel anything."
I stare at him.
His chest is bare but he doesn't feel anything??
"Thank you for taking me with you," I tell him, changing the subject. "You could have left me there in the palace dealing with my husbands....." I don't finish my sentence.
"And you could have saved yourself by telling them I kidnapped u," he says. "And no punishment would have been done. Well..... To you, that is."
I fiddle with my dress. "There still would have been a punishment for me."
We're both silent.
"Tomorrow we'll be heading out," he says breaking the silence. "You should get some sleep."
I nod in agreement. Before he turned to leave I added "Goodnight."
With one hand on the door knob he looks at me. "Night." And he closes the door.
