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Finally, without preamble, Orik’s smooth tone filtered through the intercom. “What do you need?”
She’d hurried to respond, only slightly stumbling over a ripple in the carpet. “Hey there, you.” Miraculously, she’d lost all her ire at hearing his voice. “What are you doing tonight? Maybe you could join me for dinner or something.” She’d noticed that being sweet and flirty always seemed to render him speechless, as though every word she uttered was unexpected. Later she would wonder if she had sounded desperate for company, but the wine in her system made her not care.
“I canna just take the night off. I have responsibilities.”
She had suddenly gotten the feeling he was avoiding her on purpose. Why? Because of their kiss? An uncharacteristic self-consciousness had washed over her. Maybe the kiss hadn’t been as earth-shattering to him as it had been for her. Maybe he did find her bothersome and was just being the polite ambassador-slash-jailer.
Some people were content to remain inside for days at a time, months even. She was not one of them. She’d begun to feel like the walls were closing in on her, the room shrinking. Smaller. Smaller. Suffocating her. Never had she been confined to one spot for so long, denied the ability, the freedom, to go where she pleased. After weeks on that ship, and now in this room, she’d begun to feel drained, listless, like if she lay down long enough, she’d melt into the floor. Her energy felt more and more diminished with every passing day. If she’d ever been sent to prison, her soul would have expired long before her body.
“You do have responsibilities,” she’d told him. “One of them is currently trapped in a tower, going bananas.”
“I oversee brigades of troops and see to the security of an entire kingdom,” he’d replied, finally sounding exasperated. “I canna drop everything to do your bidding.”
A jagged metal shard of hurt had churned in her chest. It seemed that kiss had meant nothing to him after all. Had he really not experienced those mind-bending sparks when their lips had touched? Even now, she recalled how he’d responded and was sure he’d been affected. Or maybe it was simply what she wanted to believe. That a mysterious and magical being like him found her attractive. Had she been fooling herself from the start?
Sighing, she had slumped against the wall, resting her cheek next to the intercom. “At least promise me I’ll get to explore this planet before you send me back to Earth.” It was one thing to keep her locked up, but to exile her back to Earth without at least allowing her to experience the wonders of this planet seemed cruel.
He must have been preoccupied, because it took him longer than usual to respond. “Look, I have to go, but I promise we’ll talk about this later.”
His answer didn’t boost her confidence whatsoever.
The next day, she’d decided she’d had enough. Cooped up. No end in sight. She wanted to scream. Instead she’d taken action.
Sure, June had come to visit her on occasion for “afternoon tea”, which had been a nice reprieve from the suffocating boredom—and during which Jessie had learned that, anatomically speaking, there were zero issues between June and Tristan—but Jessie had still been trapped, and June only asked that she be patient and apologized for the in-house detention, explaining, “Orik has been a little extra protective as of late because of the attempt on my life.”
“Can’t you talk to him? Tell him to ease up?” Jessie had asked her one day.
“I’m still learning this new world myself,” she’d admitted. “Let alone all the rules that come with being royalty. Orik and Tristan grew up here, have lived here over five hundred years.”
That had taken her aback.
“I’m sure this confinement won’t be much longer.”
Though she was still reeling over the five hundred-years bomb June had dropped, Jessie could understand why June didn’t want to throw her weight around just yet, being such a new—and foreign—Queen.
Apparently, the attempt on her and Tristan’s lives had jolted Orik deep in his core. The worst part? The coup had been perpetrated by a group of his own soldiers gone rogue. No wonder he was on his guard with her.
Her father had often spoken of the deep unbreakable bonds formed between those who served together. He’d said the connection with his brothers in arms was like none he’d experienced outside of his family. Orik must have felt so betrayed.
Didn’t mean he had to take it out on her with this indefinite seclusion shit. She’d been going stir crazy while there was a whole new world to explore! All the miraculous nature, pulsing, breathing, living beyond her sky-high balcony had been tempting her for days. She’d been resisting the soul-deep urge to rebel and explore on her own longer than she even thought possible, but even then she had been determined to be good. To wait for Orik.
Until June revealed something crushing.
Orik had lied to her from the start. She would never be allowed to return to Earth.
Ever.
The edict had been set shortly after June had become Queen.
Whistling a jaunty tune, she flipped her knife in the air once more, catching it by the hilt.
That day, Jessie had held it together until June left her room, saving her freak-out for when she was alone. The following few hours had been a blur of emotion. She’d never again see the sun rise over her and her father’s favorite campsite. Would never again visit her parents’ gravesites. She envisioned all her family’s belongings, their pictures displayed on the walls of the home she would never set foot in again.
My shop.
Her devastation had been so unbearably raw.
The next day, she had picked the lock of her door and sauntered out into the castle halls with a furious determination. Anger seemed to have heightened her senses, alerting her if others were near, allowing her to prowl the halls like a ninja. Before long, she’d managed to locate a room that held rows of lockers and found a guard’s uniform that would help her to blend in. It wasn’ttoobaggy on her.
