Chapter thirteen
Unable to sit still any longer, Amirah climbed out of her bed and grabbed Sharrkan's robes. She pulled them over her plain white nightgown, keeping warm as well as hiding her new scars. She slowly pulled open her door and entered the hallway, forgetting about the guards until she nearly ran into one as she turned. "O-Oh! I'm sorry!" Amirah gasped and jumped back, trying to keep quiet.
The guard she bumped into laughed lightly and raised his hands, "No, no it's ok! We didn't realize you were still awake, Princess! Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine I just...needed to move around some I guess," Amirah made up an excuse. Her eyes wandered the hallway aimlessly.
Then the second guard spoke, breaking her from her thoughts, "We must request you remain in the Purple Leo Tower for now, Princess Amirah. King Sinbad's orders."
"That's fine." Amirah's eyes landed on Sinbad's door, reminding her of what he said earlier. It was the middle of the night, yet she could see the flickering light of candles from under the closed wooden door. Biting her lips a bit she gingerly walked up to the door. The guards returned to their positions, pretending they weren't watching the scene play out.
Amirah lightly knocked on Sinbad's door. She hoped he wouldn't answer, that he'd be asleep. Yet at the same time she desperately hoped she wasn't completely alone in such a large wing of the palace. The guards didn't count, they didn't know her.
"Come in," Came the quiet reply from behind the door. Amirah didn't want to admit her heart-rate increased.
Entering the bedroom, Amirah's eyes widened. It was even larger and more fancy than her room- and she had been thoroughly impressed with her new quarters. Sinbad sat with his back to her in an interesting looking chair, an open scroll in-hand. He didn't raise his head until Amirah was nearly beside him, then he asked, "Can't sleep?"
"Not really, no." Amirah replied, taking her surroundings. It was strange- seeing Sinbad without a single metal vessel or piece of jewelry on and with his hair down. He looked a lot more relaxed, but Amirah was only more on-edge. It was as if the entire professional element had been erased. It wasn't like Amirah dressed up much before anyway, but she felt like a different person in just a thin nightgown and robes of a country she'd only dreamed of seeing before now.
"Have a seat," Sinbad offered, gesturing to the chair across from him. Amirah walked over and sat down, subconsciously pulling her knees to her chest.
A moment of silence went by before Amirah spoke, "Why are you up so late, King Sinbad? Don't you have work to do in the morning?"
Sinbad shrugged, "I'm sure Ja'far won't mind."
Amirah smiled a bit, "I'm sure he'll mind a lot."
Sinbad rolled up the scroll he was reading, the slight fear crossing his features a sign that he agreed with Amirah. Leaning back in the chair he decided, "I'll just tell him I couldn't sleep. It's not much of a lie."
The princess nodded, unsure how to respond. Her eyes began wandering again, and she began wondering where Sinbad stored all of his metal vessels. Turning back to Sinbad, she asked him just that.
"They're all in my bureau over there, sealed with magic that only allows me to access them," Sinbad explained, nodding to the dresser to his right.
"I see." Amirah nodded again, officially out of conversation material. She still felt awkward, but was thankful for the distraction from her thoughts, even if it wouldn't last long. She could feel her body weighing down on her, begging for sleep.
"You look exhausted, Princess," Sinbad noting the bags under her eyes. Casually, he suggested, "Go try and sleep. I'll be right here."
"In here?" Amirah's eyes widened slightly. Sinbad nodded. "N-No, I couldn't- I, uh..." She bit her lip, searching for an excuse. "W-Where would you sleep? Ja'far will be angry if you don't get sleep, nevermind that it's not very healthy and-ah..." She continued to ramble, cheeks becoming dusted in light pink.
Sinbad laughed. This only made Amirah panic more, "W-What's so funny?!"
"I've never seen you so flustered," The king continued to laugh, his words making Amirah blush harder.
"I-I'm not flustered!" Amirah defended herself, sitting up properly. "Princesses do not get flustered like that!"
"Oh?" Sinbad sobered some, smiling like an idiot. "Is that so?"
"Yes!"
Outside of the bedroom, the guards stood in place on either side of the doorway, smiles dancing on their lips as they listened to the princess's panic within the room. Eventually, it calmed down, and it seemed Sinbad had managed to convince her to sleep. This was a relief to the guards, as they knew she had been up all night tossing and turning and fidgeting about, attempting to fight back whatever terrors haunted her mind.
~
Author's Note-
This is a cute chapter :3
I somehow wrote 3 and a half chapters in the mere week between last chapter and this one so, uh, yeah. Still keeping to the weekly upload schedule though so I can get even farther ahead.
Still recommend going to read my other fic I'm uploading 'Fate/Magi' because I worked like 10 times harder on that than this (not like I'm slacking on this or anything xD) but yeah go read it pls :D