“May we eat something? It’s been a long evening.” I also need to see more of this place and understand it better before he puts me in some room with no way out.
“It’s midday. Do you not see how bright the moon is?” Kyranis stills, right in the middle of a floor covered by an elaborate mosaic pattern, and just as I’m about to apologize for my ignorance, a man as tall and slender as a reed stops next to us and bows so low his dark brown braid brushes the tiles.
“Your Highness. Welcome back. It’s such a joy to see you with your promised at last,” he says in a haughty voice before straightening his back to stare right at me. He has an angular face, big blue eyes, and lips that somehow look bold and soft at the same time.
“Thank you, Reiner,” Kyranis mutters before clearing his throat as the crowd of fancily dressed elves fills the interior behind us. The musicians must have followed us as well, because the flowing melody they produce accompanies us even now. “Could you bring some food to the breakfast room?”
Reiner places his hand on his chest as his face scrunches.
“But Your Highness, it’s no longer breakfast time,” he says, as if this disruption of the daily schedule was a personal offense.
Next to me, Kyranis fills his chest with air before speaking in a low voice that echoes under the ceiling, no doubt reaching everyone’s ears. “If I say it’s breakfast time, it is breakfast time.”
Reiner bows again, not missing a beat. “As you wish, Sire. I will get everything delivered with haste,” he says and walks off, stomping as if he was marching to war, not ordering the cook to make eggs. Or whatever it is that they eat here.
“I’m guessing there won’t be French fries?” I joke to lighten the mood. Or maybe to endear myself to my cruel captor. I don’t know. I’m in survival mode.
Kyranis sighs and takes hold of both my hands as he faces me in front of dozens of people. “That is unfortunate, but I am sure the cooks will do everything in their power to accommodate your wishes,” he says somberly, as if the absence of fries was a grave matter of the state. Before I can find my voice, he glances at the courtiers and speaks, “Dear friends, there’s entertainment prepared for you in the ballroom. We shall join you shortly.”
Several elves bow, some clap, but Kyranis wastes no more time on them and guides me farther down the corridor. Four guards in armor made of a material resembling flintcreate a wall between us and the others, to make sure no one follows. I kind of appreciate it, because I’m a fish out of water, and I don’t want to be gawked at as I eat.
Kyranis squeezes my hand. “Your fingers are so cold. You must get a warm drink as well.”
“I… um… thank you?” I’m stunned, because I don’t recall anyone ever coddling me so much. I did get to pick and choose from the lunch buffet at boarding school, but once I left its walls I had to pay extra if I wanted food made for me.
No longer, it seems. Though I wish I already knew what price I’ll be paying for such comforts.
Kyranis smiles and then pulls my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to my tender skin. “Like ice. I’ll have gloves made for you of the finest leather,” he tells me before tugging me along the corridor, through a door so well-obscured by a massive tapestry featuring a sea monster that I would have missed it.
Behind it is a spiral staircase, and after climbing two stories, we’re in a hallway with ceilings vastly lower than on the ground floor of the castle. The colors here are muted, the draperies hung on walls—heavier, but when Kyranis passes through one of the doors, we step into a bright space, with massive arched windows opening the small circular interior to the vast sea.
Two servants are lighting lanterns, but the moon itself illuminates the space in a way strangely reminiscent of sunshine, despite being noticeably dimmer. I drift to the window for a better view of the ocean.
This time it’s Kyranis who follows me as the servants set the table behind us.
While the moon is pure serenity, the waves far below us are volatile as if they were trying to reach us with their green-black mouths made of seafoam. A large fish jumps into the air every now and then, teasing the dark birds flying above the water.
But then a massive shape catches my eye. A dark, snake-like shadow looms below the surface, cutting through the sea at an alarming speed.
“What is that?”
“A leviathan,” Kyranis tells me as his chest presses to my back, and his hands settle on my hips. The monster pushes its head above the unruly waves before coiling its massive form around a jagged rock. I imagine this beast wrapping itself around a fishing boat and crushing it to pieces, but the prince is there to reassure me. “You’re safeat my side.”
“I’m guessing the beach isn’t exactly a place to go for a swim?” I ask as one of the birds catches a fish. The moment it sits on a rock to swallow its catch, a tentacle bursts out of the water, grabs it, and pulls it under the waves.
Yep. I’m definitely not going swimming there.
Kyranis chuckles as his hand cups my chin. “Not without preparation. Those are treacherous seas, but my people have mastered them over millennia. Most of the things we eat here come from the ocean,” he says and spins me around to face a lush spread of unfamiliar foods. Arranged on two tiered stands are small yet beautifully presented treats, but I can also see a selection of bottles and herbs, as well as a basket of fruit.
He’s obviously trying to entice me, to make me drop my guard so I do what he wants. I keep that at the back of my mind, but the scent coming from a steaming bowl shaped like a seashell loosens my resolve to hate him. The smell reminds me of cherries and cream.
The rumble in my stomach is as embarrassing as it is telling. I haven’t eaten since before work, hours and hours ago.
“Can I try some?” I ask awkwardly, because eating is the reason for our presence here, yet I still feel like I should be asking permission.
The same servant who approached us downstairs steps forward, ready to fulfill my every wish, but Kyranis chases him off with a wave of his hand. “Leave us.”
“This is… unorthodox,” Reiner mutters, but another glare from Kyranis sends him and a serving girl out of the door. As it shuts, we are on our own again, and my heart beats faster when Kyranis pulls away one of the carved chairs, offering it to me.
