Chapter 6, part 5

The deep, sweet darkness of sleep enveloped her. She was still feeling the softness of her pillows against her face, but she was no longer conscious of the world around her. Images and sounds of another place were taking shape behind her closed eyelids and she breathed slowly.

Sharp lights burned her eyes, and loud sounds blew away the other world inside her head. Her body reacted to the adrenaline, and she was flung halfway across the giant bed by her own panicked reaction before her eyes had a chance to focus. She was aware of a great danger, but she was unable to understand what, how or where. Something came rushing towards her, the same thing that seemed to be causing the noise and somehow the lights.

Prince Alexander grabbed her shoulders, the doors to his study wide open and still moving away from the wall where they had caused the impact that had woken her up. His face was bloody and bruised, his hair was clotted with either mud or blood. Blood was spraying across the silken night gown she was wearing as he crushed her shoulders against his stinky chest. She finally managed to scream, but the prince did not react. He was roaring something she could not hear.

His shirt smelled of vomit and urine, and it was soaking her face. At this realisation she began struggling against his grip. He roared like an animal and shook her violently before holding her tightly again. They somehow ended up awkwardly seated on the side of the bed. The prince sagged against her, his weight crushing her further.

She dared not move again. The prince's breaths were hard and shallow, like she imagined those of a dying person would be. She was horrified at her own cruelty when she felt a touch of happy relief at the thought. The guilt made her hold on to his arms to make sure he did not slip when he went as good as limp, helping him to lie against the headboard and leaning into his smelly, wet clothes. As for the leaning in, his clutched fist in her hair left her no real choice.

There was a long silence. She tried to imagine how much time might have passed but she was too sleepy to have any idea of it. It seemed to be hours since she had been falling asleep in her bed, alone in the dark, but the image of light somehow streaming from him to the lamps as he closed the distance between them was still so close in her mind that she assumed it had been less.

As time continued to pass she felt her eyelids grow heavy despite herself. She was still terrified that he might suddenly move, shake her, or roar again, and her joints still pained from the rush of his entrance. The last thing she wanted was to fall asleep on his chest.

It was a weird feeling being so close to him. The last person she had been close to had been Gabrielle, and there had not been anyone before her. She imagined that she might have been close to her father if it had not been for the unfortunate circumstances of her birth. She was not comfortable with the closeness, but there was still a sort of comfort. She enjoyed the sound of a heartbeat, and if he had not been drenched in fluids she did not want to know the names of, the heat from his chest would have been nice as well.

Considering the aspect of comfort in their strange embrace brought unwanted thoughts to her mind; long since forgotten dreams of a loving mother, the jealousy she had felt at the sight of her half-siblings in their mother's arms. She pushed away the thoughts all together and focused on sitting still enough that she would not disturb her sleeping prince.

“This situation is impossible,” he said slowly. His voice was hoarse. Catherine opened her eyes, only the realising that they had been closed. “We will have to work quickly to find the best solution we can in as short time as possible. You are ruining my life.”

“I don't mean to, sir,” she said. He made a noise that could signify either annoyance or mirth, she could not tell which.

“I am glad to hear you are out of excuses, my dear.”

“Sir, do you know you're bleeding?”

He pushed her away slightly and looked down at the space she left behind, then as far up his own body as he could. He would not be able to see any of the large blood stains. He furrowed his brow and sat up straighter, almost letting completely go of her.

“Where've you been, sir? Is everything in order?”

“Everything is fine. I went out to amuse myself for a bit, that is all.”

“You've been in a fight, sir.”

“I know.”

“But why?”

“I went out to amuse myself, like I said.” His friendly tone encouraged her to ask him again. Something about the situation made her feel less like a burden and more like just another person. He did not remind her of his usual harsh self at all.

“Did you fight to amuse yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“It is not as strange as it sounds, my dear. It is not the first time I do so. You should know that I have only just returned from battle, surely a bar fight can not surprise you that much.”

I didn't know bar fights were fun. And I didn't know war and bar fights are the same,” she said, considering his suggestions.

Nothing could be further from the truth! I must have confused you. War and battle is more than just fighting soldiers. Much more.”

“How? What else is there?”

The prince fell back against the headboard again, running a dirty hand across his face and through his hair. It pushed around the blood and grime already there, drawing a line across his face that followed the scar on his throat.

“There are innocent women and children, lives of people who have no way of defending themselves. There are people who go absolutely mad. I had a very good reason for turning to magic, and I knew how much it could cost me.”



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