The Elitra: Book One

Chapter Six

"Do not allow her to leave the room, unless you'd like to replace her," she heard Duraun say. And then she heard his footsteps receding.

She could hear muttering through the door but couldn't distinguish any words. They were keeping their voices low. She turned around to survey the room she was in when her guards outside the door stopped talking. There wasn't anything she could try hearing.

The room she was in was decent sized entry way with a high but thin table. It held a large bouquet of dark colored flowers, mostly dark reds and purples with splashes of ivory and cream. The floor was marble with gold paint swirls that danced around the rooms three walls leading her further into her new suite. Her temporary suite. When she could think of a way out, she was gone.

She found herself in a large square sitting room. There were two comfy looking chairs and a thin chaise in the center of the room, and between the three pieces of furniture was a low coffee table. A large square rug decorated the center of the room, beneath the two chairs and chaise. A giant hearth that took up a good amount of wall space to her left watched the two chairs.

She saw as she stepped more into the room, a set of doors on her right which had been hidden by the turn in the doorway, and then another door, a single paned door on her left, beside the hearth.

She wandered over to one of the chairs, the two both having the same kind of fabric, pale blue with gold flecks. A deep stain coated the wooden legs and knobs that peeked out from their thick, plushy arms. The wood was the color of dark moose hide.

Her feet led her there without her really paying attention to what she was doing. Her mind felt like it was drifting, floating on an ocean with no land in sight, seeming like one was lost at sea. And that was exactly how she felt.

The cushion bumped into the back of her legs and she flopped down into the pale blue cushions.

She put her head in her hands and her forehead to her knees. Hot tears burned at the corners of her eyes. Only a few seemed to slip down her cheeks, she felt so dry of the salt. She sat there for a long time, sniffing and letting the slow tears drip down her cheeks to her chin and onto the rug that took up the middle of the floor.

Slowly an idea formed. She bolted to her feet and went to the door. It was only an idea, and she doubted she'd get away with it, but she was going to try regardless.

She had a hand curled at her middle, an unconscious and nervous reaction. She reached over with her free hand and took the latch and pulled down. The thing stuck locked. When she released it she sighed and was about to go back to the chair when the door opened swinging into the hallway.

She stared at four faces looking at her surprised.

"Is there something we can get you?" the one closest to the door said.

She looked up at them with her mouth just hanging open, no words coming out, then when she realized she wasn't saying anything, closed her mouth and shook her head. The one who had spoken nodded and pushed the door back shut. She heard the latch rise and fall back into place. It was locked again.

She turned around but didn't have the motivation to move so instead she leaned against the door and slid to the ground. She put her head to her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs tightly.

She stayed that way for a few hours until she jerked awake, not realizing she had dozed off, her bottom numb and hurting from where she'd fallen asleep on the floor.

She crawled forward and then realized that was a bad idea as she felt the pain spike in her hands. At least the fera was working. Her legs and hip area was feeling better. She forced herself to her feet and dragged herself to the set of doors. As she pushed them open she found herself facing a grand room with another four post bed, except this one also had the railing that had darkening curtains. She crossed the wood floor until she wobbled on a plush carpet. She bent over to unbuckle her heels and stepped out of them. The clunked heavily to the floor now free from her feet. She dragged herself to the bed and without taking any of her skirts off laid where she had the strength to bring herself and fell back into a restless sleep.