CAPTIVE by the Prince

Chapter Three

He paced back and forth across the cell and occasionally threw his prisoner a venomous look. He took a deep breath and said something incoherent underneath his breath. He started pacing again; shot her a glare then muttered a curse.

He'd been doing that for the past thirty minutes now and it was giving Ana a trifling headache. She observed his lithe movement, the graceful sway of his arms, and the dramatic swish of his cloak. If one would've been trapped alone in a dungeon for over a day, any movement from someone other than hers would seem very... entertaining.

"You know, in as much as your pacing back and forth is highly amusing to watch, I need to hit the road. So, would you be kind enough to open the gates and please, please let me out of here? And I'm asking nicely here if you haven't noticed it yet," Ana said as she followed her captor's movements with her eyes. She leaned back against the cold wall of the dungeon, one knee raised, and her arm casually rested atop her knee.

Legolas stopped his pacing and glared at Ana. "If I only knew who you were, I would have slaughtered you the moment I had laid my eyes on you in the meadow."

"Okaaaay Legolas," Ana started as she stood and approached the bars. "You are one angry elf who has lots of issues to work out. Unfortunately, I have no time to be the recipient of your angsts and threats. If you let me go, I might recommend someone to help you. He goes by the name of Dr. Hopper, also known as Jiminy Cricket in another world—not that you needed to know that—however, I'm chummy with Snow and she swears by that Dr. Hopper is a genius. I could, you know pull some strings and—"

"Don't you know when to stop talking, vampire?" he grated. "And I don't need any hopper. And for the last time, vampire, my name is Ivan! Prince Ivan to you."

"Okay, Prince Ivan—?"

"Ivan. Just Prince Ivan."

"Right, Just Prince Ivan, the first thing is I have a name and it's not a vampire. Second thing, I don't respond well to threats, so I'd advise you to choose your words wisely. And third, don't you have some prancing unicorns to feed or fairy dust to sprinkle? You've been hanging out here with me in this cell for like the past half-an-hour. And you're no fun to be with."

Prince Ivan approached the bars. "First, you are a vampire. Just admit it. Second, I will give threats whenever it pleases me. Third, I don't have any prancing unicorns to feed. You cannot hold a unicorn captive. And I don't sprinkle fairy dust! I'm an elf—we don't have fairy dust—and I'm allergic to dust."

"Ah. An elf who's allergic to fairy dust. Now you have given me an idea," Ana said smugly. "You know, you should never reveal your weakness to an enemy."

"Aha! So now you do admit you're an enemy."

"Must you always take everything literally?" She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's start over. Hello, Prince Ivan. My name is Ana Romualdez. I'm from a normal place called Earth, the third planet from the sun. I want to freak out but freaking out won't help so I decided to be open-minded about everything, considering that I am talking to someone with pointed ears. So, despite everything else, I'm glad to have made your acquaintance." Ana resisted the urge to make a curtsy.

When Ivan just stared back at her with a puzzled look, Ana jerked her chin. "Go on. It's your turn."

Ivan scowled at her, nevertheless, he complied. "My name is Ivan, Prince of Elfiro, the elven kingdom in this realm—Enkantria, which also happens to be found on Earth, the third planet from the sun. And I don't see any point with this conversation."

"Well, that went well. Uhm. Okay. Ivan, I have this weird feeling that you don't like me—"

"I despise you," Ivan said, cutting her off.