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.

”I wasn”t sure how you took your tea, so I brought some milk and a bit of sweetener. Mind you, it”s not sugar. We”ve been plumb out of that for quite a long time, but I learned how to create something similar a few years back.” Alysha paused as I adjusted, took the tray, and stared at the bounty. I felt the emotions bubbling up inside of me. Tears threatened to spill over my eyes just as she had brought me breakfast in bed.

”Thank you.” I sniffled as my stomach grumbled loudly, reminding me I”d emptied my last meal on the boots of the broody male, Lore.

Alysha”s voice softened. ”Are you all right?” she asked, sitting next to me.

”Yes,” I mumbled as I shoveled the egg into my mouth, trying to stifle the memory of the last time my nursemaid had brought me breakfast in bed. It had been my birthday, and my world had toppled to the ground that same day.

My nursemaid had died that day, along with most of the court. She”d been the only kindness I”d known there. The closest thing to a mother I’d had. Now she was dead, and I was still here. It didn”t seem fair.

”Do you remember how to get to the kitchen?” she asked after a long moment of watching me.

I nodded, not looking up from my plate. I feared I”d lose it and show more of myself than I was ready to share.

”Good. Everywhere in the castle is open, but I recommend staying out of the east wing. Only ghosts and monsters are found there.”

”The dragon?” I asked, washing down the food with a scalding hot gulp of tea.

”He only comes out at night,” she reassured me as she approached the door.

”Wait. I”m not a prisoner, am I?”

She turned, studying me, her lips pressing together briefly as she finally sighed. ”No, of course not. I don”t think you should try to leave either.”

”Why not?” I asked, pushing the tray aside and preparing for a fight. In my brief conversation with Lore, he had told me he wanted me to stay; I had nowhere else to go. What if that had just been an illusion to make me feel less like a prisoner and more like a guest?

Alysha lifted her palms toward me with a grim expression before she folded her hands demurely in front of herself. ”You can try but I don”t think the castle will let you.”

”The castle?” I stared at her as if she had gone crazy.

”Yes, you remember us mentioning a curse, right?” She paused, her face searching mine as if trying to decide how to explain it without sounding crazy.

I had news for her. This whole thing was crazy. I was beginning to believe I”d been caught, cracked my head, and was either dead or stuck in some unconscious prison within my mind. No telling what atrocities were happening to my body if that were the case. I pinched myself, wincing as I did. Alysha observed me but merely shook her head and turned.

”When you”re ready, I”ll be in the kitchen.” She moved to the door and paused her hand on the doorknob. ”I”m happy you are here, Bella. I look forward to us becoming friends,” she said before disappearing into the hallway.

And with that, I was left to my own devices. Which was not a good idea for anyone.