He sits on the ground with his legs crossed around me. This would be nice if my leg didn't feel like it was burning.
"I never got shot with an arrow."
"Must be nice."
"You're so dramatic."
"You aren't dramatic enough, getting shot with an arrow is worth being dramatic over."
Being curled in a ball can't be helping this. I stretch myself till I'm sprawled out across him. The tips of my hair touching the ground.
It isn't helping. He puts his hands under my back and pushes me off of him. I land on the ground stomach down. My life flashed before my eyes.
"Ow... Why would you do that?"
He shrugs. "I thought it was funny."
"You're evil."
He nods. "Extremely."
I would get up, but it hurts too much. I'll stay like this, even if it's extremely uncomfortable. The ground is hard and cold. I can hear everything under the dirt when I press my ear against it. All the little insects doing whatever they're doing. All The footsteps from the villagers inside the walls. The grass moving from the wind, the roots growing and animals in the distance.
I hate when my ears work like they're supposed to at the most random times and the other times they barely work. They need to pick a struggle, can't have both of them. I hate this but can't move for some reason.
"What are you listening to?"
"Everything."
He lays on the ground, facing me. He is facing the light, and I still cannot see him, we're too far away. This isn't fair- well actually, he might be really ugly and hiding his face.
I'm so mean, no one is ugly.
"Are you hiding yourself because you don't like something about yourself?"
"No? I'm hot as fuck. I need to stay mysterious so no one knows who I am, and I can kidnap you easier."
"You can take me right now."
"That would be too easy."
"Oh, pardon me for not overcomplicating everything."
"Too simple of an apology."
He rolls onto his back. The pain is lessening. The sky is still bright. Hopefully she isn't done with the dress. I'm going to miss them, Callista, Zephyr and mystery man.
After making myself sad for some time, the tortuous pain stops. I sit up and fling my hands in the air.
"I'm fixed!"
He stands up and holds his hand out. I give him mine and he pulls me up. I feel completely fine, as if nothing happened. How spectacular.
We walk back to the kingdom. It's a little far away.
"Would you shoot me with an arrow if I try to run away right now?"
"No, enough has been wasted on you. We're having an arrow shortage crisis and need to preserve the remaining few."
"Then what would you do?"
"Bet with the gods that you wouldn't make it a day and go back to my kingdom since I've failed to kidnap you."
"I'd survive more than a day. I would even get back home."
He nods. Eventually we get back to the gate.
"If you help me get home, I'll show you the unicorns. We even have some babies and I'll let you have one."
He stops walking for a second before walking through the gate.
"Sounds tempting."
How disappointing. Callista walks over and rubs her muzzle against me. I pet her ginormous head. Why do they need to be so big? Her wings are so pretty. I haven't seen them unfolded yet, but they're so soft and giant. They're thick when folded too. She doesn't lay down this time. Well then. There's nothing to hold onto.
"How am I supposed to get on her?"
"You don't."
"Thank you for the help and wise advice."
"You're welcome."
I scrunch my nose. How rude. He walks over, grabs the sides of my waist and lifts me up. I swing my leg over her. Oh, that was easy. He gets on her bum and whistles. She starts walking back. I wave at the guards, and none wave back.
They must have broken hands.
"The sun is setting."
"I can see."
"We got to get back before sunset so I can watch Luna make the dress."
"You have an obsession with this dress."
"It has the most beautiful sketch I've ever seen. I need to see the end product."
"Then hold on, princess."
I wrap my arms around her neck. She is so soft. He whistles again and she starts running. Weeee. Not as smooth as unicorns.
"Can't you teleport us there?!"
"Only if everyone agrees."
I get as close to her ears as I can.
"Do you mind?" She snorts. "She agrees!"
"Great, now stop yelling at me! I'm right here."
I turned around to him. "Oh, sorry."
He shakes his head and drags his hand down her back. She slows down till she's still. He crawls to the middle of her back, crosses his ankles under him and he wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. He keeps one arm around me and his other hand on her back. He's so close. I can feel straps under his clothes. All the foreign objects, pockets. What in the world?
He mutters something and within a second or two, we're in front of the stalls. I feel so dizzy that I probably would have fallen off of her. He lets go of me and gets off of her. I slide off.
He walks her to the stall before going over to Zephyr. He definitely has favorites. I walk over to Callista. The other two don't seem interested in me.
"Hi baby. Hopefully I see you in the future again. Don't forget me," I tell her, hopefully quietly enough for no one else to hear.
She puts her nose against mine. I'm a puddle. I ran my hand across her face a few times before leaving with mystery man. I wave at her; she points her nose in the air and won't look away. Awe.
We went back to her room the same route we left. I knock on the door, after a second Darian opens it with a giant smile on his face. He steps aside and bows. So much bowing.
"Hiiiii."
He waves before going back to the desk. I follow the mystery man in, and he closes the door before I can. I walk back to the seat near the floor and sit on it. Mystery man sits beside me.
She has most of it done. It's layers upon layers of light blue fabric and other shades of blue. The corset is gorgeous, it's just gorgeous. My wedding dress better be this gorgeous. She is so concentrated. I turn to mystery man.
"You like to watch cloth making too?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
"To bother you, princess."
"How flattering, you're a real charm."
"I know."
For a long time, we sit here, and I watch her. The dress is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pieces of clothes I've ever seen. And for the life of me, he will not stop messing with my hair or poking me. He kept his word of bothering me.
"I will smack the tomorrow out of you, if you do not stop."
I smack his hand away before he pokes my thigh for the 29th time.
"You have thick thighs; it is my duty to poke."
I jab him in the thigh a few times.
"Isn't so fun, is it?"
He takes my hair and puts it as a mess on top of my head and over my face.
"This is extremely fun."
"If you don't stop, you-"
"Stop the both of you!"
We look at Luna who seems disappointed.
"Sorry," we say.
Darian starts laughing at us.
After just a little longer she finishes the dress and kicks us out since it's late. We all wished each other goodnight. He insists on taking me to the room, as if I don't know how to get there.
"You're infuriating."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it as one."
I sigh and we get to the room. He opens the door for me, and I walk in this wretched room. He pats me on the head.
"Goodnight, darling."
He disappears. The audacity of that man to leave before I could say goodnight.
...I couldn't even say goodbye.
The universe works in weird ways, maybe I'll see him again. I walk to the bathroom and take all of the things I'll need to keep myself clean. All the oils, clothes, everything. I put them in my pockets. Now all the pockets are full. I also clean myself for one last time while it's easy and wear the new pants, they're thicker. Afterwards, I put on the jacket, grabbed my dress and other shoes, the old pants wrapped around some more delicate bottles. That's all. I probably look like a buffoon.
I open the door, thank goodness it doesn't creak at all, and I carefully walk down the hallway, trying my best not to let the heels of the boots touch the floor. This is so stressful but fun. It wasn't this bad at home; everything was loud there unlike here.
I get to the door of the mini library and slop in. Good thing these pants have this weird belt, or they would have fallen down from all the bottles in the pockets. I walk over to the hidden wall, put my dress over my shoulder and the shoes on the floor. Hopefully this works.
I put my hands on the same spots he did and pushed the door. After a moment of straining my arms, the stone rubs together as it opens. I pick up the shoes and push open the door with my elbow enough to squeeze through. Once on the other side I push the door close.
It is so dark here. I wait an awfully long time for my eyes to adjust but when they do, my heart stops-
Someone is leaning on the wall, in front of the stairs that lead down.
A/N: Who is it? 👀
Also, sorry for rushing the middle of the chapter so much, I didn't want to keep dragging it out. I first planned for her to escape at chapter 15.
I love this book so much.