crossfire, cardan | 16 +

six

CARDAN'S POV ..

She was a drunken mess on the restroom floor.

She calls herself responsible but pulls stunts like these. What the fuck was she thinking getting drunk at a party full of sexually needy teenaged faeries?

I turn to leave the restroom, but something tugs at my feet; it doesn't matter to me if she stays here until the next morning; it's none of my business. She did this to herself.

I leave the bathroom and head upstairs to my bedroom, which isn't my bedroom anymore since I live with Balekin now. I don't miss this house in the least; being away from my father and Dain is more than enough, but being with Balekin isn't much better.

I don't need to change because I'm already dressed in what I slept in the night before. A pair of sweatpants, as they call them in the mortal world, and a button-up shirt, that I can't be bothered to button up.

The image of her passed out on the floor keeps repeating itself in my mind. Even if I roused her and brought her here, where would she sleep? There's only one bed, and I'm not going to sleep next to her; otherwise, she'll have to sleep on the floor.

Imagine what she'll do when she wakes up in my room; perhaps she'll slit my throat with the dagger she constantly tries to murder me with, or she'll let me live with the humiliation of helping her, which is even worse than dying.

I sigh, obligating myself off the bed and dragging myself back downstairs to the main bathroom. I take one of the cups from the sink's counter and open the faucet to fill it with water, then crouch above her and spill the water on her face, praying she won't wake up.

She sits up and rubs her face after taking a long breath. She gives me a few seconds of her notice before trying to punch me with her fist.

I squeeze her wrist midway, "Quit it. You're hardly sober and you're still searching for a way to hurt me."

"Foolish," I scoff, and she violently snatches her hand away. "If you don't wish to sleep in the bathroom, just get up and follow me upstairs."

She takes a breather before leaning on the sink's counter for support, but it's not much help when she can't even go halfway through the bathroom door without falling.

I seize her left arm and hoist her off the floor; she's in no position to fight or protest, so she doesn't, and it's the first time I've ever seen her so quiet. I carry her up the stairs to my room, where I set a few pillows on the floor and two blankets for her to rest on.

"Be grateful I'm even letting you stay in here since this is all you're getting," I say as she tries to get comfortable on the hard ground.

"Like I was the one who personally begged you to help me," she fires back, turning her head away from me. "Switch off the lights."

I crawl into bed, switch off the lights, and lie down on my back, unable to sleep because her presence in my room is that much of a nuisance.

She, on the other hand, had no difficulty falling asleep. She doesn't snore, at least.

ANASTASIA'S POV ..

Everything is a blur; last night was a blur, and sleeping in Cardan's bedroom was a blur as well. I promised myself I wouldn't get drunk, but here I am. I should be thankful Cardan found me rather than some guard who would have reported me to Madoc. Though the humiliation of Cardan seeing me passed out on the bathroom floor is hardly any better.

The sun surges through the drapes that cover the large windows on each side of the room, Cardan is still asleep and I'm afraid any movement would wake him up because I'm too sober to face him like this.

I get up anyway, I have no idea when he'll be awake and I need to find Jude and Taryn. Something happened last night, we wouldn't just spend the night over for no reason.

I crept to the door, positioned my hand on the door handle, and gradually twisted it, took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and hoped for the best. The door was open and creaked as soon as I grazed it.

"Leaving so soon huh?" A voice startles me, and I sigh, knowing that I've failed to go without disturbing the great prince.

"It's not like I wanted to be here in the first place, Cardan." I scoff as I turn around to face the haughty adolescent.

He's splayed on the bed with disheveled hair, a half-off shirt, and black kohl smeared all over his dark eyes. If I didn't hate him so much I'd say he looks quite, captivating.

He yawns and grabs a bottle of wine from the nightstand near him, pours it into a glass he picked up off the floor. "You should've seen how messed up you were, sleeping on the bathroom floor, drunk and passed out."

"And what were you doing then?" I question defensively, "oh yeah, let me guess; getting drunk and hooking up with strange faerie girls who you don't even remember the names of."

"You're not completely mistaken," he replies, relishing the faerie wine. "but at least I wasn't sleeping on the guest's bathroom floor."

"You're an asshole, Cardan."

"Careful how you speak to me, princess." He teased, grabbing a napkin and rubbing his wine-stained lips. "This is my room, and you're in my palace, am I not right?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm leaving your beloved room." I fumed and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

That boy is too much for anyone to handle. He's so egocentric, self-indulgent, and infuriating. It's only been a day and a morning and I'm already sick of him.

I make my way downstairs, a little hungover from the night before. I was hoping Jude might interfere, but she appears to be busy dealing with other matters.

The throne room is nearly vacant; no one else has stayed over. Although it seems like I'm the only one here, Madoc and the others would not have left without me...at least, I hope not.

I notice a guard standing near the garden's entrance and approach him, praying he knows where Madoc is.

"Good morning, have you seen Madoc? I haven't seen him ever since he was due to meet with the king," I ask, attempting to shove down my hair with both hands.

"I'm fairly sure I saw Madoc and his wife leave with three girls and a young boy," he explains, and I nod before turning around and going back to the stairwell.

Well this makes no sense at all, they couldn't have just forgotten about me, I mean it's ridiculous to even think...

Oh, I'm sure Cardan has something to do with this. He's made it his living purpose to make my life hell.