“Would it be alright if I took a few minutes to wash or do you need the water?” he asked, barely looking in my direction and tugging a clean pair of pants to his waist.
“All yours,” I murmured, surprised by his attitude. Had he not missed me as much? Was he still upset? I needed to clarify things between us, I wouldn’t be able to take another night like this, with the two of us separated, unable to touch each other. It felt weird, heavy, as though something was missing from me and I really wanted it back. Wanted him.
I waited until the sound of the shower stopped, steadying myself onto the bed and waiting for him to return in a more forgiving mood. He came out a few minutes later, hair wet and only a towel wrapped around his waist, catching whatever drips of water remained on his body.I swallowed hard. “Did you have a nice day?” I tried to be as normal as I could.
“I did,” he half-smiled. “I missed training,” Ansgar confessed with excitement, the soldier in him striking out and regaining his position. His muscles looked even more defined than usual if that could even be possible, and his shoulders, tense with effort.
“I expect your day was not too tiring?” he replied. I frowned at his coldness, the cordial conversation he held with me.
“I made muffins,” I announced, the only thing coming to mind that had no reason to upset him. I didn’t think that telling him how I’d spent most of the day getting dolled up for Rhylan and spending long hours in his company would have a positive effect.
“They smell delicious,” he agreed and left the bedroom. I followed his steps until he went into the kitchen and I assumed it was to try one of them out. This was not going as planned, normally Ansgar would be more than happy to eatmefirst, but now his attention focused on the food.
When I spotted him leaving the kitchen, chewing on something and two more muffins in hand, I wanted to go to him and hug the hell out of the man, take him right there on the floor, and confess how sorry I felt for keeping him away. But he stopped and took a seat. On the sofa.
“What are you doing?” I immediately asked, jumping from bed.
“Going to sleep,” Ansgar answered while grabbing one of the pillows to settle it under his head.
My eyes went wide. Was he punishing me for not wanting to have sex with him last night? No, he wasn’t that kind of man, I told myself. Yet here he was, denying his closeness.
“On the sofa?” I asked with panic in my voice, ready to drag him back into bed.
“Uh-huh,” he only responded, lashes dragging him to sleep.
“Ansgar?” I called, but by the time I had circled the sofa and spotted him, his eyes were already closed and shoulders relaxed, an arm resting laxly across his stomach. “Are you asleep?” I whispered in another attempt, but he did not reply. So I stayed there, watching him for a long while, following his breathing, calm for once and even though I wanted nothing more than to drag him into bed with me, I did not want to deprive him of rest. At midnight, I placed a few more kisses on his lips and cheeks and went back to bed, sad and alone.
“Morning, princess,” Rhylan’s voice gave me a fright, forcing me to jump in bed.
“What are you doing here?” I reprimanded him, grabbing the sheets to cover myself until I realised I had fallen asleep in my bathrobe.
“I knocked for about two minutes and you didn’t answer. I got worried,” Rhylan said but a grin appeared on his face as he continued. “I can see you had a busy night and needed your beauty sleep.”
“What?” I frowned, not understanding his meaning, but he pointed to the empty side of the bed, where Ansgar should have been and I turned to see about two dozen red roses with the biggest petals in existence, arranged in a bouquet right next to the pillow.
I had an urge to hug them to my chest and cry, but I would no longer do that in front of Rhylan, I promised myself.
“Give me a minute to get dressed,” I said and he nodded, walking towards the sitting room and the sofa. “Don’t,” I immediately stopped him when he wanted to take a seat.
Rhylan looked at me in surprise, then his eyes thinned, scanning me from head to toe, preparing himself to make a remark. But at the sight of my sorry ass, he nodded and announced, “I’ll wait outside.”
After breakfast, I was forced to do the whole thing over again, get measured, learn etiquette and rules, have a quick lunch, and dine with the king and queen, who seemed to get more used to my presence and engaged more in conversation, which meant that I couldn’t just sit there and had to interact.
The only thing keeping me from not losing my mind was Rhylan’s plan, that we would both get out of here. So I did as advised and found joy in my voice, imagining Queen Bathysia asking me questions and Ansgar by my side rather than Rhylan, all the while counting the seconds to be back into my mate’s arms.
But I was once again the first to arrive in our room and waited for my prince for hours, until I fell asleep once again, alone, in the bed. During the following nights, he started to make a habit of arriving extremely late, sometimes at two or three in the morning and crashing directly to the sofa. By the time I got out of bed to go to him, Ifound him already asleep or just about to, the only exchanges between us courteous questions about my day.
Although it broke my heart, I allowed him the time he needed, hoping that he would soon enough want to talk to me again. The only sign that he still cared was the varying colour roses, which seemed to multiply on my bed with each passing day, so much so that I had filled half of the room with vases, those roses the only companions in my lonely nights.
“Are you planning to open a flower shop?” The sound of Rhylan’s giggles woke me up. He had made a custom of this in the past week, acting like my alarm clock with whatever silly remark he came up with that particular morning.
“It will probably be more successful than your silly grins,” I groaned at him and started rising from bed.
“I should think so, most of these beings haven’t seen a flower in their entire lives. Yet here you are, accumulating half a planet’s rose stock. Fuck boy must be content,” he smirked and shifted to the doorframe, his usual place to wait for me.
I groaned again but said nothing. In the past week, I had barely spoken to Ansgar for more than four or five minutes in total, let alone engaging in the activities Rhylan suggested. That would be something I kept to myself though, and even if he may have remarked on whatever colour this separation torture painted on me, he never said a word.
“More dresses today?” I asked with a sigh, wondering how many clothes did they think I would need, especially since, as far as they were aware, I would stay here with Rhylan and could have a dress ready for me whenever I needed to.
