Anaya.
I scramble to my feet when I see the King standing in the doorway.
Pure power floods the room at his presence and I realise now why everybody is so afraid of him.
"Your majesty," I bare my neck and Alex does the same.
"Dear," the queen rushes to him, "You're not supposed to be out of bed!"
He swats her hand away like a fly, "I asked what a rogue is doing in my palace, at my table!"
For a man they claimed was dying, his voice was pretty darn strong.
Alex took my hand and I was grateful for the support.
"I'm Anaya," I say causing the King's head to swing to me.
"It's talking to me?"
"Amon!" The Queen warned.
"This is Anaya," she paused, "Dahlia's daughter."
His eyes widened as far as his wrinkled skin would allow.
"You are the child she had with that…..” he trailed off.
I didn't think there was a need to answer his question.
"Take me back to my rooms Natalie," he said finally.
Shooting us an apologetic look, Queen Natalie took him out.
Alex squeezed my and I turned to him, “This is all so crazy isn't it?"
He let out a short laugh, “Yeah, definitely. It's unreal, seems like a badly written novel. Are you okay?"
I really didn't know and after all the drama of the day, I really wanted to just crawl into bed and pass out. But I was also quite hungry.
"Let's eat"
We sat down and we devoured the food in front of us. I had initially thought it was a lot but by the time we were done, there was only a little left.
The queen sent a servant down to inform us that she was tired and wouldn't be coming back down so Alex and I went back to our room.
She had been kind enough to send sleeping clothes for us.
I changed in the bathroom while Alex changed in the room.
It was a gown. The material was thin and it was short. I felt really uncomfortable in it but I didn't have another option.
I emerged from the bathroom at the same time that Alex was finishing pulling a t shirt over his head. He looked at the dress I was wearing and his eyes darkened.
Rolling my eyes, I walked to the bed, "Rules. I am going to divide the bed with pillows. Each person has their side. If even just a part of you comes onto my side, that part will get cut off."
"Seriously Anaya," he asked.
"You're lucky I'm not making you sleep on the floor."
"The floor? You really think you could make me sleep on the floor?"
I raised an eyebrow in response and he scowled.
"Fine."
There were lots of pillows on the bed and I laid three vertically down the center.
Getting into bed, I turned off the bedside lamp, "Goodnight."
I heard Alex get into bed as well, "Do you want to talk?"
I frowned, "About?"
"About all this. Today couldn't have been easy for you. Finding all this out suddenly."
"Do you want to talk about where you went this afternoon?"
Silence.
"No."
"Then, no. I don't want to talk," I knew I was being sort of a bitch. He was only trying to be nice, but then I thought we were at a point where we didn't keep secrets but he didn't think so.
"I'm here if you want to."
His voice was soft and my heart fluttered. I fell asleep to thoughts of what could have been.
.
.
.
When I woke up, I felt really comfortable and I also had the impression I'd had a really good night's rest.
I was warm and something really nice-smelling was right in front of my nose.
I opened my eyes lazily only to start when I saw I was pressed up against a chest.
I was about to throw a fit when I realised my side of the bed was there, untouched. I was the one who had moved and now lay wrapped up in Alex's arms.
My face turned crimson. How was I going to face him when he woke up?
I tried extracting myself gently from his hold but his arms were too strong and there was no way I could do it without waking him up.
"Stop moving so much," he whined against my hair and I stiffened.
He had been awake the entire time. The bastard!
"Let me go."
He didn't say anything but I felt him shake his head no.
"Alexander, let me out of your arms this instant!"
He opened his eyes and moved so that he was now looking into mine,
"I thought waking up with you in my arms was one of the best ways to wake up. But now I rethinking it with all this noise you're making. Not even a 'good morning'!"
"Good morning," I muttered.
He beamed, happy to have gotten his way, "Good morning Anaya. How was your night?"
I felt my face turn red again. I had probably spent the entire night in his arms.
I tried to get up again and this time he let me, laughing.
I went straight to the bathroom and shut the door.
I looked in the mirror above the sink and sure enough, my cheeks were tinted red.
Mad at Alex, and myself, I stripped and got into the shower.
The hot water running over me was nice and I almost didn't want to get out but I also wanted to see if my mother was awake.
I got out and brushed my teeth with one of the unopened toothbrushes on the sink.
When I came out, Alex was still in bed. He replaced me in the bathroom while I got ready.
I wore the same clothes I had on the day before and waited anxiously for Alex.
He finished in record time and we headed out. There was a servant waiting outside for us.
"The queen says to inform you that breakfast is served in the dining room."
I looked at Alex. I wasn't really hungry and would much rather go straight to my mother's room but how exactly could you deny the queen?
So we went down. Queen Natalie was already there and she welcomed us, apologising for leaving us the day before.
"How is the king?" I asked, not wanting to ask outright if he would be gracing us with his lovely presence this morning as well.
"He's resting."
I took that as no.
Breakfast was bread, with bacon and eggs. I was just about to start eating when a servant walked in and whispered something to the Queen. Her face brightened and she nodded.
"Dahlia is awake," she said.
I dropped my fork with a clatter and stood up, "Can I see her now?"
I chambered up the stairs barely slowing down for Alex and the Queen to catch up to me.
I arrived at her door and stopped, taking a deep breath. I needed to be prepared in case this didn't go as I had imagined it would.
I knocked and her voice called for me to come in.
She was at the window we had found her at yesterday.
She turned around when she heard me enter and her eyebrows creased as she spotted me.
My heart sank. She still didn't know me.
Then, suddenly, she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth and tears filling her eyes as she uttered a single word,
"Anaya."