Can I have Your Daughter?

Chapter 14

"Sir Meliodas..." Her soft voice whispered his name, and he couldn't help but grin. He loved how every syllable in her voice was a song. Her voice was soft and warm. She was safe at his side and all was right with the world.

Her voice beckoned him to turn to look at her, but all he saw was darkness. His brows knit together as his eyes scanned left to right, and then he spun around on his heels to look behind him. Nothing but darkness as far as he could see.

"Sir Meliodas..." He turned around again, and her form flashed in his vision, she was running towards him, her hand outstretched. Tears were streaming down her face. Meliodas' heart broke at the sight of how completely broken she looked. How terrified her eyes were. How pale her skin was compared to the warmth that usually showed in her pink cheeks. She looked so cold...

He felt his feet start to move beneath him as he ran towards her. The harder he ran, the further she seemed to be from him and the distance only grew.

Then she slowed to a stop, her body giving out beneath her, and she came crumbling to the ground. Meliodas ran as fast as his body could carry him and could still not reach her. "Elizabeth!" He yelled, and her face shot up to look at him with terror in her face, and her hand reached out again, tears streaming down her face.

That's when he felt it. An overwhelming darkness rising up and engulfing him and reaching out to trap Elizabeth. Entangling her limbs and wrapping around her neck like a sticky web. He couldn't move as he was forced to watch as she gasps for breath, her lips turning blue from lack of air. With a throaty growl, he forced his way through the darkness to run to her. She opens her eyes to look on him, the hand that reached for him suddenly pointing behind him. He turned his head in time to see a curved blade coming down on him and cutting him in two.

Meliodas' eyes shot open. He didn't make any sudden movements, at first, getting his bearing on the world around him. Slowly, his hand came up to rub his eyes as a shaky breath escaped his lips. It wasn't like him to have nightmares. And this one was particularly unnerving.

The darkness faded from his vision as his room in the Boar Hat became discernable. He shivered involuntarily and realized he had left his bedroom window open the night before. Now that he looked at the sill, he saw a small bit of snow had accumulated there. He rolled over to the other side of the bed to look out at the scenery passing and grinned. Hawk's mom had covered a lot of ground over the course of the previous day and the night. The sun was just about to peek over the horizon.

A cold gust of wind swept into the room, and Elizabeth's scent wafted his way from the pillows he was leaning over to look out the window. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he could imagine her warmth and her presence. Taking a deep breath of the cold air outside, he opened his eyes again with renewed vigor. "I'm coming to get you, Elizabeth," he whispered and he closed his window before jumping out of bed to head down stairs.

There was a heavy knock at the door.

Elizabeth stirred, her eyes fluttering open groggily. She pushed herself up in the bed and took a look around. Now that it was light out, she could see that there was a large window on the thick stone wall opposite to the door, and bright light filtered in, making the room far less scary looking than it had been the night before. The large canopied bed was accompanied by simple furnishings made of a dark cherry wood scattered around the room.

There was another heavy knock on the door and it made her jump as she looked at it like it might lunge at her. Frankly, she didn't want any visitors. She didn't want to be in this place. Her hands clenched tightly to the thick comforter covering the large bed and pulled it to close to her like it was a shield that would protect her from whoever was trying to enter.

There was a third knock and this time, it was accompanied by an unassuming voice, "Princess? It's nearly noon, it is time to wake." The voice was female. Young, but hinted of age through experience. Not like the hand maidens who tended to her in Lyoness. They all seemed so happy when they greeted her in the morning. This girl sounded like she had far better things to do than tend to her.

Slowly it sunk in what the girl was saying on the other side of the door. Noon? Already? Elizabeth turned her gaze out the windows again and saw that the sun had already risen high into the sky above. Her brow knit together as she thought about it. She hadn't been able to sleep much after hearing the voices in the hall the night before, but she also didn't remember when the exhaustion took her, either.

There was a fourth knock, and this time, it was far louder than the first three. The female voice that accompanied it was far more impatient than before as she called out again, "Princess?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath and braced herself. It seemed she wasn't going to be able to hide in this room forever...

"Come in!" She called out, and the door opened much faster than she would have thought possible for such a heavy looking wooden door.

In the doorway a girl curtsied before righting herself. Her lips seemed stuck in an uninterested scowl. Dull blue eyes were complimented by poorly kept braided back blonde hair. She couldn't have been any older than Elizabeth.

"Good Morning, Princess. My name is Tessa, and I will be your attendant. As it is noon, lunch will be served shortly," she paused, her face screwing into something that resembled distaste, and it occurred to Elizabeth that the girl was staring at the tavern uniform that she had been wearing when she had been kidnapped, "I shall fetch you more appropriate attire for dining with his majesty."

The girl who had called herself Tessa turned on her heels to leave, but Elizabeth called out to her, making her stop suddenly, "Wait! Please! Why have I been brought here? Where am I?"

There was a soft sigh, so soft Elizabeth was sure Tessa hadn't meant for her to hear the girl's annoyance, "You are the bride of the royal prince of the northern kingdom of Direneth. Your marriage will be swift, and he will assume his rightful place on the throne," she said it so fast, Elizabeth wondered if this girl had been practicing this line her whole life. "This is the summer palace. This will be your home once you are married."

With all of Elizabeth's questions answered, the maid curtsied and left her once more. Silence echoing through the stone room that suddenly felt like a prison. She watched the empty space left by the maid Tessa, hoping that at any moment someone would walk in and tell her this was all a bad dream. She could wake up in her bed.

The bed she shared with her beloved sin. The pearl on her ring finger shined in the light pouring into the room, and she couldn't help but see him in its reflection. What was he going to do? Was he going to risk war and banishment to try and save her? Part of her hoped he wouldn't though a large part of her hoped he would.

Tears were suddenly streaming down her cheeks, leaving wet drops on the deep red comforter pulled up tightly around her waist. She wanted so bad to return to the day before. To that moment where everything was perfect. The world was right, and nothing was impossible.