When I walk back to my room, I see that Ignifex has beaten me to it. He smiles when he espies me, but it is not his usual smile."How are you?" Trying for light heartedness, I feign surprise." Me? I'm awesome." A small smile flits pass his face. He is not the only one pretending. He grips my shoulders and I yelp in pain, snatching my forearm away. A bruise had bloomed there. His mask of indifference has well and truly fallen away now. His grip on my wrist is like iron as he pulls up my sleeve for a better look. I am savoring this moment when he is in such close proximity. I can pick out the individual strands of his hair and inhale his comforting smell. The promise that everything will be fine. But I can't. I have been drinking in this moment for too long. I wrench my arm out of his reach,waiving his fingers away, ignoring the baffled looks he is shooting at me. I can't let Lucinda see this, she doesn't know we are friends. She has taken so much already, she cannot take him away from me. God forbid, if she knows , he will be her puppet in her sick games. Keeping him dancing out of my fingertips , I don't think I can endure the loss of my only companion, and the one I love. I can't. I Can't!!
There was a time when we talked of escaping. Of running off and never looking back. It's all daydreams that belong in a whole different world, a different universe, a different realm, but they will never come true here. There is a trap door in this prison we have come to call as home. It's with Lucinda, and it will only materialize when she wants it to. She brings home food, if we kill her, and the key does not appear, what shall we do then?
Chapter 3
Lucinda clutched her chest as pain jolted through it, like galloping horses, each flash of pain was a pounding of a horse's foot. Wet moist blood made it's home on her dresses. Her energy was dwindling as her evils had come back to haunt her. Before long, she stopped fretting. The ensorcelled tower shuttered. With a magnificent creak, all the doors and windows flew open. The curse was finally over.
The accursed house was finally falling apart. I pushed myself upright and I gripped Ignifex's hand as we sailed down the trapdoor.
I smushed my face against his cheek, delirious with happiness. His arms hovered at my back for a moment before sweeping me into a tight embrace , his smile so wide it could catch fire. "What now?" He asked. A smile was dancing at her edge of my mouth, " Well for starters." I began ripping my hair linen. I glance up and Ignifex is peering at me with a amused look. "I meant what next? What awaits at the next bend of the road? While you were unwisely just thinking of fleeing that tower, " he rummaged in his bag and waved a small bag of coins tantalizingly, inches from my nose."Someone thought better." I whack his fingers away. "That's impertinence!" I accuse while pouting childishly, while internally beaming.
Ignifex folds his arms and stands there with dignified grace as I splash in a clear , gurgling brooke. Before long , his grumblings and frowns fall away as he gives up and sits beside me. " I am going to" I pause for maximum effect "get reinstated on the royal throne." I lift my chin confidently, the mere thought empowering me. "I don't mean to be disrespectful but you don't look very awe- inspiring while dripping wet. Princess." He lifts his eyebrows to dispute.I gesture to myself grandly. "Oh yeah? Under this veneer of a servant, a true princess glows underneath." I hear a loud snort. "I really can't vouch for that. A true princess does not go to bed without bathing for 2 days" He chuckles. I let my eyes linger on him longer than I should. His jet black hair and pearlescent gray eyes are just so endearing on him. As he glances up, I hurriedly say"I mean aren't we wasting daylight here?" And I shoot up to my feet and start racing away from him,the satisfying squelch of the grass under my feet.
