Several guards entered the room almost immediately, however Daire didn't take his eyes off of me, so I kept my face carefully blank. My mind was racing at how best to avoid a night in the Palace's dungeons, but I refused to let him see that.
"Guards, Princess Sophia has refused to bow before me, kindly escort her to the dungeons. We will see if a night spent down there will cure her of her defiance."
Standing, not liking Daire towering over me, I affected an air of indifference whilst I wandered towards the guards.
"By all means, have me imprisoned. I believe the press in both our Kingdom's will be VERY interested to hear about the treatment this Princess receives.. especially so soon after she almost died.."
I smirked smugly at Daire.. checkmate! Instead of finding shock or resentment in his expression as I was expecting; I was annoyed to see he seemed like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Addressing one of the guards, he stalked closer to where we stood, confidence radiating from him.
"Waverley, what happened to the last person to threaten me?"
The guard, Waverley, looked between the two of us, clearly highly uncomfortable, before informing me that he had never heard of anyone threatening the.. esteemed.. Crown Prince.
"Of course not, because no one has ever been that stupid. Two nights I think, gentleman, for the Princess, plenty of time for her to cool down."
Daire winked at me, before sauntering out of my quarters, without a backward glance.
Following the guards down to the dungeons, I conceded defeat. I hadn't had enough time in a Royal Court to have beaten the Prince in a battle of wills on my first day! I smiled inwardly.. he may have won this battle but I WOULD win the war.
* * *
I really wished I'd just bowed to him or at least allowed him to call me Sophia. I'd only been in the dungeon for about twenty minutes, but believe me that felt like lifetimes!
I was shocked at the state of the place, like something out of an ancient drama! The floor, walls and ceiling were carved from stone and there were puddles of .. please God.. water everywhere. Chains dangled from the walls and there was no source of light anywhere.
Sitting in the deepest darkness, pretending not to hear the sinister squeaking of who knew how many rats, I decided I could outstay Daire. I would make it through the two days with my head held high and never let him know how much I hated it.
I lost track of time, but probably less than an hour later, all my strong intentions went out the non existent window when I realised my Aunt had arrived.. there was no way I could stay down there! I'd kowtow to the Prince if necessary!
"Waverley! Waverley I have an urgent message for the Prince! Waverley!"
Finally, after hollering his name about 12 times, the lock clicked and the thick wooden door screeched open revealing Waverley stood in the open doorway.
"If you tell me the message Princess Sophia I will pass it on to His Royal Highness personally."
"Thank you Waverley, however the message is highly confidential and personal. Would you be so kind as to fetch me pen and paper so I could write him the message?"
With a nod of acquiescence, Waverley locked me back inside my squalid prison, returning minutes later with the requested items.
\\ Prince Daire,
I have just discovered that my Aunt is visiting so I ask if we can postpone my imprisonment until a later date?
If you do not release me immediately, I will make you regret it, mark my words!
Princess Sophia. //
Handing the letter over to Waverley I waited for my release.
* * *
I would kill him! He was a dead man! Provided, of course, that I survived my aunts visit.. the pain was close to unbearable! The bastard still hadn't released me and the cold, hard floor certainly wasn't helping with my discomfort!
In hindsight, I probably should have refrained from threatening him in my missive, but it couldn't be helped, what's done is done.
The door of my cell suddenly flew open, crashing against the wall behind it, wood splintering and falling to the floor.
Blinking against the sudden, harsh light, I saw Daire had finally arrived. Breathing through the aching pain in my abdomen, I reached down and pulled off my shoe, as Daire looked down at me searchingly.
With a sudden burst of energy I launched by shoe at his head and was rewarded when it connected with its target. I cackled loudly when the Prince, clearly caught off guard, went crashing to the floor, his face landing dangerously close to a particularly strong smelling puddle of.. water.
Recovering quickly, he scooped me into his arms and carried me out of the dungeon. Blinking, I was shocked when I opened my eyes and found myself, still in Daire's arms, outside of an unknown door. I must have dozed off, more tired than I realised.
Once inside, Daire set me on my feet, his eyes scanning my body anxiously.
"Where are we?"
"My quarters, we need to get you cleaned up and it isn't safe for you to be away from me right now."
Too tired to fight, I obediently followed him into his bathroom where he ran me a bath.
"You take your time bathing, there's a bathrobe and shirt for you on the side, as well as some.. feminine products. We'll talk once you're done."
Smiling at me gently, so different from the Prince of earlier, he left the room, closing the door softly behind him. I settled into the bath, the hot water soothing my aching body and finally relaxed.