“You’re mocking me, now.”
“Yes. I am. I didn’t think you so thin of skin.”
“I’m not.”
I take a sip of honey wine and shift in my seat. I don’t want to get drunk around this man. God, what I might say. It goes straight to my head, though.
“I must attend to matters of state this afternoon. The car will take you back to the castle.”
“You’re not coming?”
As he reads the disappointment in my voice, his eyebrow twitches.
“Don’t get any ideas. I just get bored of sitting in that room with nothing to do and no one to talk to. We humans are social creatures.”
“I understand.”
He dabs at his lips with a napkin. “Let’s make a deal.”
“I want to hear it before I agree to anything.”
“I’ll give you freedom of the castle. You will not go beyond the grounds without my leave, but you will be allowed to move freely within the walls. With certain restrictions, of course. The armory and the lower levels are closed to you.”
“Trust me, I’m not interested in the armory.”
“As you say. It is agreed, then.”
“Whoa. Wait up. You offered me something. What do you want in return? I know there’s something?”
“Join me for dinner.”
“That’s all? Just dinner?”
“Just dinner, and something else.”
I sip my wine and eye him. “What else?”
“It’s a surprise. I won’t hurt you.”
“This morning you threatened to chop my hand off.”
He grits his teeth. “I only meant to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation.”
“Right. Okay. I’ll take freedom to move around in exchange for eating dinner with you, and…something else, but if you think I’m going to do anything with you, you’re delusional.”
“Do anything with me?”
He looks genuinely confused.
“Netflix and chill,” I mutter.
“I wasn’t planning on showing you a movie.”
“You know what? Never mind. Are they going to take me back now?”
“Yes. I will call upon you at seven. Wear a different dress. Something lighter. The cream one, I think.”
I nod, deciding at that moment that I will wear anything but the cream one.
5
I’m not allowed out of the vehicle until we reach the castle again, and when we get there, my freedom of movement does not begin, apparently, until I’ve gone back to the room first. I refuse to call it my room, which implies I have some connection to the place.
I didn’t sleep very well last night, so the first thing I do is put on a nightgown and crawl into the bed to lie down for a while. Seven o’clock is late, hours from now, so I have some time to doze, and doze I do.
I wake fitfully, every hour or so, and by the time I’ve tossed and turned for four or five hours, I feel rested, if it a little cotton-mouthed. I’m still stuffed from all this food the prince has been feeding me. No wonder he’s so strong, if he eats like this every day.
I find the plainest dress I can. There are no shorts or pants in the wardrobe and the uniform I was wearing last night was removed by whoever made the bed and tidied up the room while I was gone.
I pick out a pair of sturdier shoes, too. I didn’t realize that riding boots were an option. They feel a little clunky, and I look ridiculous in a dark-blue dress and big boots, but it beats padding around freezing stone floors in slippers.
True to the prince’s word, the door is unbarred. In fact, the big oak bar is gone completely. A servant passes me as I step out into the hall, stops to look at me like I’m a curious animal in the royal menagerie, and hustles about his business. I go the opposite way, for good measure.
This place is so complex that I can’t even begin to guess at the layout. I just want to get some air, get out from under the roof. The high stone ceilings feel like they’re hovering over my head, ready to come crashing down at any moment. For such a huge place, it is decidedly claustrophobic.
So, I walk.
After maybe ten minutes I find an open door that leads outside, but not to the courtyard where I came in, or where I first landed in the helicopter. It opens onto a wall that curves around into another tower. The top of the wall is ten feet across, the stones worn smooth by time. To my left, a smooth, waist-high stone wall overlooks the courtyard below.
To my right, the wall is full of little slits, as if to shoot a bow and arrow through. When I peer through them I have an unobstructed view of the valley below, brilliant green in the daylight. It’s a beautiful country, it really is. The fields are lush and the distant mountains are cloaked in mystery and mist.
Glancing back at the castle itself, I wonder about this mountain. It’s weird that it stands up alone in the middle of this huge basin. Maybe it’s volcanic?