Red

28. Swordplay

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please vote if you enjoyed this chapter!! good and juicy secrets and things are coming these next few chapters hehehehhehehe

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Warmth slowly settled onto my skin, stirring me from the depths of sleep. I wake to sunlight streaming in through the towering windows across the room, splaying over the bed and filling the room with iridescent light. As my eyes adjust, I take in the large expanse of the room and the ample bed I currently laid in.

I come to a realization that I was not in my own bed chambers, but Rome's.

Oh yeah, that happened. My cheeks tinged a flush crimson as I remembered the events that unfolded yesterday, and last night.

Oddly, Rome was not in the bed, nor was he in the room at all. There was a depression in the mattress beside me where he laid not long ago, leaving me to assume he left only an hour or so ago, if not sooner. Puzzled, I slowly sit up and hold the bedsheets close. My skin tingled from chilled air despite the sunlight's warmth.

     Winter—or whatever it was called here—was on the horizons, I could sense it. Feel it in my very bones. Although the trees didn't look any less green, snow was coming. I assumed nature's life in the Underworld held on a lot longer, and the blooming flowers and tall green trees that hugged the kingdom would not whither like the mortal world.

     I avert my gaze from the window and take a careful look around the room. I had no clothes, as they had all been ripped, quite literally, to shreds. What was I to do? I didn't want to stay here all day waiting for his return. It was awfully strange he would leave me without saying anything. I wanted to find him.

     Hopping out of the bed, I abandon the warm bedsheets and pad over to the giant wardrobe sitting along the far wall. There had to be something I could wear.

     Searching eagerly for some warm clothes, I scavenge Rome's clothes and eventually find a shelf filled with women's clothes.

     So he knew I would eventually be spending the night in here, and knew my clothes would just happen to... fall apart in the night.

     I softly slap my cheeks and get ahold on my blushing self so I could get dressed. Digging around for a few minutes, I find a simple tight-fitting tunic and leggings that were airy and light. There were also some shoes I found in his closet that were solid brown boots of my size, beautifully garnished with rich and expensive leather that probably cost a thousand war horses.

     Strapping them on, I look myself over in the mirror draped along the wall next to the closet and grimace.

     I looked... Peculiarly tired. Despite a fire that seemed to burn in my sapphire eyes, the rest of my being seemed terribly weary. I didn't quite feel that way, though. I felt like I had all the energy in the world.

     Pushing my tangled brown locks past my shoulders, I braid my hair tightly down my back and secure it with a silky lace ribbon I found in the dresser. There, one problem solved.

     By the time I find myself in a fairly busy hallway towards the south-end of the castle, I thankfully run into Iliana and Persephone. The two girls give me gleaming smiles as they find me and quickly make their way up to me.

     "Hello, Your Majesty. Are you looking for His Majesty?" Persephone asks, her soft brown eyes twinkling in the sunlight.

     I nod slowly, a brow rising in curiosity. "Yes, how did you know?"