Spellbound: COMPLETE

Chapter Thirty: Ariadne

"Anything for you, highness," he said winking.

I smiled and he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Ardeen!" Bell cried. "I will not hurt anyone else! I thought that you-"

"I know," I interrupted. "But if he is guarding you then Prince Durnham cannot hurt you again."

The light dawned on Bell's face and she threw her arms around me. "Oh thank you, thank you!"

I laughed. "You are welcome, and I think I will ask someone else to come to guard your room as well. Someone I know would not let anything happen to you," I said with a wink.

Bell looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Then I remembered, she did not know I had seen her with Austin. "Nevermind."

I began walking out of the room and Bell grabbed my shoulder. "What did you mean?"

I sighed. "I saw you and the stable boy together the day of your ball."

Bell's face reddened and she shrunk back in shyness. "Oh."

"Don't worry, I have not told anyone. And I know that he has feelings for you, and he would never let the prince harm you, or even come near you."

"But he is not a guard."

"All stable boys either want to become a guard or a knight so that they can have a higher title-"

"You would make him a guard?"

"If he wants to," I replied.

"Don't."

"What? Why not? You will be safe if he is protecting you."

"I would not be able to see him as often after Prince Durnham leaves-"

"We could make him a stable boy again-"

"He would never degrade just so that he could spend more time with me. He would want to protect his title."

"I could knight him-"

"I would see him even less-"

"Bell, what if he wants to?"

Tears filled her eyes. "He could die."

I instantly regretted what I said. "I am sorry Bell, I was not thinking."

"It is okay," she said then plopped down on her bed. "You can go back to dinner now," she said, her voice muffled through the blankets.

I walked out of her room, thanking Elias as I passed him, then went into my own room. And although I was not weak or sad from thoughts of my father anymore, I was fatigued and needed rest; that is if my troubling thoughts would allow me a decent sleep before we had to go dance.

** ** **

"How are we going to move him?

My sisters and I were all gathered around Prince Durnham who was sound asleep on the magic seat that led to Estevan's kingdom. And he snored.

"We could just push him off," Iris said.

"Then we might wake him," Bell grunted.

"Let's try carrying him onto the floor," Fortuna whispered.

We all huddled around the stocky prince and all tried to grab an arm or a leg, in some cases the waist. One the count of three we each lifted with all our might, groaning under his weight. We barely moved him away from the ottoman when it was too much and almost everyone let go, causing his head to hit the floor with a loud thunk. The rest of us let go, and we all covered our mouths, hoping he would not open his eyes. Luckily for us, he seemed to be in a deep sleep. If anything, his snoring got louder.