Page 19 of Born of Blood and Thorns

With an exhale, he pushed off the wall, turned, and left me there, pressed against the cold stone wall at my back, my heartbeat pounding and my breaths ragged. What was wrong with me?

"You'll need to get used to us then if you are going to stay." Lore sighed as if the weight of those words hung heavily on his shoulders.

"I get to stay here?" My head whipped around. The amount of back-and-forth with this man was enough to give me whiplash. "Why?"

"Do you have somewhere else to go?" Lore asked, watching me wearily.

My voice lowered as my shoulders slumped. "No." I shook my head sadly as I thought about it. If I left, I'd run away without direction, money, or protection. At least here, I could devise a plan that didn't include storming into the cold night. "No, I suppose I don't."

"Then stay, for now."

Despite everything, for now, it sounded pretty good.

CHAPTER 9

Bella

It took me half the night to find my way to the castle's front door. Another hour to find my way back to the kitchen, where I found Alysha chatting with Alastair.

"Did Lore not show you to your room?" Alysha asked, her eyebrows shooting up as she rose.

"No." I noted the intimate way they had both been sitting, the red flush that had spread across Alysha's face as if it were indecent and she had been caught doing something wrong. "He did not."

"That man!" She moved across the room, sparing Alastair not a backward glance, and moved to my side. "Well, I best be showing you then," she said with a slight accent.

I followed her into the castle, and as we ascended the steps, we veered toward the left instead of the right.

"The castle is too big for us to keep up with fully," she said as we passed a few hallways and rooms. "There are a few areas I try to keep as clean as possible. I use this room in the summer because it's cooler, but it'll do for you tonight until we can get you something better and cleaner."

We entered a room that was bigger than my house in the village. A sitting room with a room off to the side, but there were also double doors that led to a balcony. There was a thin layer of dust, but not as bad as the other areas I had explored. This was dusty from just a few weeks of not being used. Alysha busied herself with the fireplace as I studied the room. The bed was less intricate than the room I'd explored earlier. The bedspread appeared handmade, stitched together from various cloth, yet it looked warm, cozy, and most importantly, comfortable.

The day's events seemed to catch up to me quickly, and I felt the tiredness hit my bones. My mind was a mass of thoughts that seemed like a firestorm within me, even as the weariness pulled me down. After walking for what seemed like hours, combined with the sudden filling and emptying of my stomach, exhaustion seeped into my bones. I could have dropped right there on the floor.

I stumbled forward, grasping the bedpost, too tired to study it further than to know it was solid beneath my fingers. Alysha paused in her work to look over her shoulder. The flint stilled in her hands.

"It's a hard transition. This is a different world. But you'll get used to it." She stood, walking over to me. Her hand gently grasped my arm. I wanted to tell her I was fine, but my words caught in my throat as I felt my eyelids threatening to close on me. She helped me to the bed, pulling back the covers. "I'm sorry dear. I'll get you some clothes together as well."

"This is fine," I mumbled, grateful for the warm bed.

"No, I completely forgot to get you the things you needed. It's just been so long since anyone has?—"

"This is perfect," I said with more force as I kept my eyes open to meet her cerulean gaze. "'I've not slept in a real bed in so long."

Her head tilted to the side, and she gave me a half-clenched smile but said nothing as she helped me pull up the bedding. I was too tired to change from my filthy clothing.

I turned to my side, ready to dismiss her, and envisioned a time long ago when I had a room like this one. So long ago, when my father was still a prince, I didn't go hungry or cold. I hadn’t always been safe, but I had a semi-full belly and a fire in my hearth every night—which was something more than I had just a few nights ago.

Just as I closed my eyes, a roar sounded in the distance. I was too tired to care as my eyes closed, and a sigh escaped my lips, giving into the warmth from the fire that wrapped around me. I was out before Alysha even left.

The rattling of dishes woke me. The instant my eyes opened, I felt the day was much later than I was used to waking up. Usually, despite my constant fatigue, I would wake with the sun as if I couldn't bear to miss even one ray of its warmth before it was violently torn from my grasp one day.

"Good morning, sleepy head," a soft voice murmured.

I lay there for a moment, looking around as confusion hit me until it all came crashing down: where I was, what had happened, that I was finally out of my father's grasp but no safer than I had been there.

One thing I was thankful for, at least here, was food.

On a tray, there was buttered bread, a small bowl of jam, eggs, bacon, and a mouth-watering blueberry muffin. It was the cup of tea that held my attention. It was hot and steaming.

---