Page 103 of Long Live the King

She waved her hand.

As I neared, she headed into the woods.

I was tired, starving, cold, so I followed on the path.

Was I going back?

Yep. And I was furious with myself about it.

But I wasn’t sure what else to do.

The other woman met us and they both walked with me back to the room. She set me in the chair and food was brought for me. I ate slowly a meal that tasted of gamey fowl and gravy. I drank two mugs of ale even though I knew I shouldn’t drink. I needed my head about me, but I wanted to drink, I desired numbness. I stuck some of the bread aside for my next escape.

I was lonely and confused. I ate and watched the woman encourage the flames in the fireplace and slowly it grew dark. I kept my spike near me within reach, but no one wanted to harmme and then finally it was night. They bowed and left me to sleep.

I went to bed with the iron spike beside me, holding it in my fist.

I barely slept.

It was very quiet on the one hand, no hum of electricity or machines, and noisy on the other: wind howling, and when it stilled the sounds of animals moving, people talking, coughing, laughing, then more wind.

It was too dark, darker than I ever thought dark could be. I got up and used the pot, feeling my way to it, and the woman came in, spoke to me — it seemed as if she were asking if I was okay. I nodded, climbed into bed, and stared into the darkness again.

At dawn I didn’t want to get up, so I stayed there. The women came in a little later and tried to nudge me to get up, but I just shook my head and pulled the pile of blankets up over my ears. I lay there, trying to decide what to do.

Later, the door was open, the women were bustling around the room. One put a bundle of sweet-smelling lavender in the corner to dispel the stench of the piss pot. The other put a bouquet of flowers in a bowl on the table. There was bread and cheese set in front of my place with a blaze in the fireplace.

My first thought waking up slowly had been Lochie, the mystery of how he had come into my life and somehow now this — a flash in my mind of his smile, his jawline right beside mygaze, his cologne in my nose, his neck muscles as he raised his head to tease me. He had really liked me. I knew it.

He had told me that he did dangerous work. Did it involve the guys in the SUVs? Was he in the mafia and was I caught in some turf battle?

Except how wasthisthe turf?

None of it made sense. If this involved Lochie, if it involved his work fighting for his brother’s lands, then the story was magical, how were the lands like this?

And magic didn’t exist.

This place seemed like something out of Game of Thrones — if a dragon landed in the courtyard I would be like,yeah, of course it did.

God, I really wanted a pizza. Followed up with a piece of chocolate cake, whipped cream on top.

I thought about Lochie’s lips pressed against my forehead. Then when he walked across my apartment with his ass so freaking perfect.

He had been like a Roman god. A ginger Roman god, and he had adored me.

He thought I was bonny.

And he had eased into my life as if he were marrying me, as if we had settled it. When he said ‘We hae decided,’ putting down the menu, it had seemed like he meant so much more. He took it for granted we were going to be together. It was hard to describe, no one would believe me — I had known him for two days.

And now I was kidnapped. Hostage in a primitive foreign camp where people bowed when I passed.

I got up. I peed. I sat at the table in my disgustingly dirty clothes with the wrap around my shoulders and ate breakfast. Drank some ale with it. I gestured and mimed that I really wanted water. They gave me more ale.

They brought in another dress. It was beautiful and in a different color, but I refused it.

No way. Even if it did look warmer. I was not joining this cult, not for a layer of clothes in a pretty shade of blue.

The wind was howling outside, so I didn’t try to escape again. I stayed near the fireplace and the day was long and boring. I slept more because I was tired from the long walk yesterday. And I had raw blisters from carrying my spike. I was overwhelmed by all of this. I collected a bit more food.

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