“There are three guard changes a day and Marreth always takes the morning one if he has to complete a mission. He must have used the excuse to come to you, and that happened a while back, so give or take twelve hours,” he replied, brushing his fingers against my cheek.
“I never thought I’ll be able to do this again,” he admitted, then shifted to give my tummy a kiss. “Or this,” he added. “Or this,” he lowered his lips, progressing onto my inner thighs. I jumped up at the sensation, his newly formed stubble tickling my skin as I grabbed his face.
“You didn’t have facial hair before.”
He huffed, then shifted his cheek onto my palm, scratching me with his stubble playfully. It reminded me of a puppy who demanded cuddles. “I’m a full-grown male now, it’s been over a year since my coming of age,” he explained.
“The wonders of the faerie world,” I smiled, calling twenty-six-year-old men teenagers.
“I cannot wait to show you the wonders of the faerie world,” he replied, silver eyes pinned on me. I loved seeing him like this, untroubled, free from the shadows that had tortured him, embers of life burning in his eyes.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” I knew the question would break the spell, wake him back to reality and I wanted nothing more than to give him a few hours of peace, but worry started to crawl inside of me. I could not lose him again, not now that I had him back, that he recognised me, not when we had another chance of being together.
He frowned, like the question had raised physical pain, but he immediately adopted a commanding stance and stood from where he had laid nestled in my lap and took the three necessary steps to reach the cart that still held several trays of food.
If one thing, Rhylan showed generosity with our meals, the cart arrived stacked full of trays with packaged food and drink, from sandwiches to ready-made meals that we could heat up by the fire, butter, soft bread buns and lots of water bottles.
Ansgar picked a few things on a tray and when he felt satisfied with the food haul, he returned to bed. Instead of eating, however, he started picking the food and organising it into, what minutes later, looked like some sort of map made out of lettuce leaves, cut bread, and butter containers.
“The entrance is somewhere in the tunnels down below, and the king and court must be situated at the centre, with the corridors spinning downwards,” he explained, positioning a bun at the very centre of his creation. “When they took us out, we made seven left turns and two right, which brings us somewhere here,” he gestured to where the small butter containers sat, “close to the court but not inside it.”
I was surprised at the amount of detail he had gathered during that walk, especially since he looked on the verge of fainting from the chains I wrapped him in.
“Okay,” I replied, trying my best to squeeze any useful information from my brain.
“It means that all this side,” he moved his fingers across several lettuce leaves, “is part of the court, therefore it will be well guarded and protected, possibly the deepest part of the kingdom. And I believe the prisoners are held in this area,” Ansgar gestured to where he had created various lines of rolled bread to mimic the tunnels. “They would have to be the furthest away from the entrance on this side, the last thing they want is to give their prisoners a chance to escape.” He showed an area that contained almost half of the court.
“So how do we find out where it is?”
“Do you remember anything from when you were brought here? Anything might help, even the smallest detail,” he asked hopefully, looking at me with calm and reassuring eyes, trying to jiggle my memories.
“I don’t know, Rhylan jumped me in. We were on a beach in India and he bought me sugar, so I wouldn't faint. Then we walked the same corridors until we reached the ones with carpets and got into the throne room,” I explained. I wanted nothing more than to point that entrance on the map, but I had to be honest with both myself and him, I had no idea where I'd come in through and at that moment, the last thing I cared about was to sightsee.
“How long was the walk?”
“About an hour?”
“Did you leave the throne room through the same door?”
I tried to calm my nerves, forcing myself to remember. Ansgar grabbed one of my hands in his and caressed the inside of my palm slowly, with reassuring gestures.
“It’s alright,” he whispered, “take your time.” Even though he wanted to calm me down, his words had the opposite effect, raising the tension in me. I wanted to help so much, but I hadn't even thought about remembering details, I had blindly followed Rhylan across the halls.
“Someone else brought me to see you, there were guards around me and I walked with him, with Marreth,” I explained, closing my eyes to get a better grasp of my memories. “They had to hold Rhylan down, he wanted to come after me...through the doors!” I jolted. “Yes, there were the same doors!” I replied with excitement, happy to contribute.
Ansgar smiled encouragingly. “That’s great fahrenor, stay with the memory. Tell me everything that happened,” he said, continuing to massage my wrist with his thumb.
“I walked with Marreth, and he told me about you, about what they had done to you. It didn't take as long as the first time. Maybe twenty minutes?”
“Did you go into any other room?”
“No,” I quickly said. “As soon as I learnt they were keeping you away, I asked the king to take me to you.”
He nodded several times and his eyes lowered to the makeshift map he created, gazing over details, his eyes scanning visuals I did not understand. I could only look at him and admire my mate, the sheer determination he possessed to get us out of there, to fight for us.
“There are two options,” he announced in the end, grabbing me back from the daydreaming state to pay attention. I was decided to inhale every detail and help as much as I could.
“The entrance must be around here somewhere, and it must, of course, be well guarded. It needs to be close to the soldier’s quarters so they can be ready to attack at immediate notice,” Ansgar advised, thinking like the prince he was. Trained in strategy and battle.
