How could they just be alright with their lot in life?
Thinking about my own life, I realized I wasn’t doing much better.
We made our way through the castle, and I kept my eyes down out of guilt.
Opening a door, he led me down another corridor until we got to a large and heavy wooden door. As he opened it, a light inside clicked on and revealed a huge and beautiful bedroom.
“I wanted a bathroom,” I reminded.
“These are our private quarters,” he explained. I froze at the implication but held back from saying anything. “A servant brought some of your things, they’re in that cabinet, please dress as you like.”
“Things? You sent people into my apartment?”
“We couldn’t just take you here without any of your things.” He huffed a laugh. “Although you didn’t have much… we brought what seemed important.”
I wanted to run or maybe cry.
He made it clear from the beginning that he was bringing me here to live with him, but it took me seeing my belongings here for that to finally set in. I was going to have to live here. At least for the time being. How far was I from Ember Abyss? I didn’t even know what direction to start running towards if I did get out.
I could run into a trap, into my own death.
I was stranded.
By the time I had showered and dressed, I was half-weak with hunger. Still, I didn’t want to give up this little bit of freedom. I was sure he was waiting outside the bedroom door, but I had more freedom here than I’d had the night before. His bed was pleasantly soft, with sheets that made silk look coarse.
A window overlooking some greenery caught my eye, and I moved closer to look. The view was amazing, reminding me that this place was built into the mountain I’d seen the previous night. In the sunlight, the sparkling buildings were even more impressive, almost blindingly beautiful.
As I leaned out further, I could see wild rose bushes sprawling and climbing higher and higher up the side of the mountain.
The flowers were blue.
I gasped, thinking back to my prized plant back in Marie’s shop. I was so proud of finding just one, but it looked like there were thousands of them growing up the rocky slope. I pulled the window open further, wanting to get a better look, but the height spun my head.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I jumped as I heard his voice behind me.
Good thing I wasn’t following through with my initial thoughts to escape from the window.
“These roses, I’ve been looking for more for almost a year,” I admitted. He walked up closer to me, and I was suddenly self-conscious of my hair, which was still damp from the shower. He smelled incredible, still that sweet smell of honeysuckle and citrus.
“They grow all over the place here. We try to keep the population down, actually.” He laughed. “Some farmers here think they’re basically weeds.”
“No,” I gasped.
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for them being a royal flower, I’m sure they’d have been killed off by now,” he shrugged. We both gazed down at the flowers, and I realized how close we were to each other.
“I’m sorry about how I did this,” he said softly. He backed away from me and sat down on the bed.
Deciding to hear him out was difficult, but I leaned against the window frame and waited for him to say more.
“I was so caught up in finally finding my mate, in moving forward with our life together, that I never considered you wouldn’t be ready for the same,” he explained. “I was shortsighted. My people are dying off, and… I wasn’t thinking of you as a person.”
“What’s caused this change of thought?” I had to admit I was surprised.
“Someone else said something… about you, and it pissed me off. But that’s not far from how I treated you.”
“What is this whole thing?”