Page 38 of A Princess, Stolen
“I love my dad, there was no choice!”
He didn’t say anything after that, but I could see from his halting movements that he was annoyed by my answer. Probably because he couldn’t say anything in response. He probably didn’t love anyone anymore, still, I thought about Lea.He was attached to her. As much as a person can be attached to someone.
When he stood after a while, he leaned casually against the wall and looked me over. “While we’re on the subject, what else do you know about me?”
“You are violent, uncivilized, and ruthless. Anything but a gentleman.” I have no idea why I wanted to provoke him since I was in such an unfavorable position.
He simply shrugged. “Okay.” He came toward me. “Anything else?”
“No!” My heart suddenly started beating faster.
“I’m going to tell you something about yourself,” he said, putting a hand on the bars. Standing beside me, he was much too close, so I had to look to the left to look at him. “You lied. The walls are as slippery as your father’s machinations; there are no nails or thumbtacks. There are no sharp edges at all, not a single one, at least not one that you could have reached. So…how did you do it? There’s nothing in the bathroom that you could have pocketed and used.”
I didn’t want to tell him. The ring was too precious. It held no monetary value for me, only sentimental significance.
“Did Troy give you anything?”
“No, of course not. Why would he?” I asked quickly, blinking several times.
“Stop that!”
“Stop what?” I asked, confused.
His nostrils flared. “Stop that, damn it!”
“Stop what?”
“Stop blinking! You do that all the time.”
“It’s a tic, I always do it when I’m nervous,” I said even though I didn’t need to justify myself.
“A tic? You’re driving me crazy with it.” He put a hand to his forehead and shook his head, muttering something that sounded like a prayer or a curse, or both. “Is there anything else strange about you?”
I used to see ghosts.
“Can you feed on air? You’ve been refusing food for days.”
I’m allergic to nuts and egg whites.
He looked at me intently, and suddenly, I realized how miserable I was. How tired I was. My shoulder joints ached, my fingers were numb, and I was freezing. And I was so hungry.
“Jesus, you’re more stubborn than a herd of mules, damn it!” Nathan took a few deep breaths without taking his eyes off me.
I bit my lip, and for a moment, he stared at my mouth. Something strange happened to his pupils. They enlarged becoming vast, dark lakes—lakes of mist in the night. Without asking, he grabbed my left braid. “I would have sworn an oath that you had thrown the ribbon away.” He was still standing to the side, looking at me intently.
I leaned my head against the bars in silence and prayed that he wouldn’t discover the ring. It was stuck higher up and his hand was nearer the end. “You said it was a gift and gifts should never be taken off.”
“That’s right.” Like the other day on deck, he abruptly let go of me as if suddenly I had extended a thorn and injected him with a paralyzing poison. He entered the corridor through the bars. “Tell me how you got free and I’ll untie you immediately soyou can eat without being tied up. You can also take a shower. That’s a fair deal, I think.”
I thought nothing was fair here, but I said nothing. Only when he had almost reached the end of the corridor where I could no longer see him, did I shout, “And you are not indifferent to me. Even if you tell yourself that, it is not true!”
Chapter 9
That night, Nathan brought me a wool blanket and wrapped it around me as tightly as you would swaddle a baby. He also put a hat on my head, which I prayed wasn’t covered in nits and lice. The warmth was still wonderful. He didn’t say a word and left me bound. Three times, he stopped to watch me, staring at me with raised eyebrows, obviously waiting for me to tell him how I had freed myself. Since I remained silent, he marched off after a while, cursing wildly.
When the light of dusk flowed down the stairs, I was exhausted and ready to tell him about the ring since the prospect of a shower tempted me. This time though, when Nathan came to me, he snapped the two cable ties on my wrists with a pair of pliers before I even said a word.
“Why?” I asked, taken aback, looking at my hands. They were pale blue like a corpse and felt like it too. I opened and closed my fingers several times and then lowered my arms. Everything hurt, but the worst was the pulling in my legs, which might have been emanating from my back.
