The wooden window creeped slowly as it pushed open.
For Elyesa, the moment dragged on forever, her grip tightened around the handle of Guba's sword, her eyes fixed on the window.
She knew that if it was indeed a guard or a servant that had come for her, she wouldn't be able to defend herself. She had no training whatsoever and whatever moves she wanted to pull, no matter how flawless it might seem in her head, it wouldn't work.
So, she had no plans of doing that at all.
She would beg, and when she realizes that pleading would do nothing, she would end her own life.
Better that, than to be soiled.
Finally the window pushed open, she could see the trees outside and the shadow of darkness from the night-sky that had descended upon them, but that was all.
There was no one.
Suddenly, a person hosted himself up through the window, half of his body inside and the other half struggling to get in, which he was doing really fast.
This was an expert.
Her breath ceased for a moment.
If only the Prince was here, he would safe her, but he was not and she was all she had right now.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she directed the sword to her stomach, but then she stopped.
The Prince?
Tears misted slowly in her eyes, the sword lowered.
That was the Prince!
She didn't move though. Somehow, her feet seem to have grown rooted to the ground, her body stilled with some forces beyond her control.
He finally made it in through the window.
She watched him walk over to her in nothing but a pair of trousers.
In a few large strides, he was right in front of her. He picked the sword from her, tossing it aside. Then he began a quick and thorough search for any injuries she might have. When he was satisfied, he cupped her face in his hand, then he pulled her into a tight embrace, brushing his hand over her hair and breathing her in.
At long last, he made it to her.
She was sobbing silently against his cold chest.
She had many things to say to him but like as if they had both decided that tonight wasn't a night for words, none of them spoke.
They pulled out of their embrace and Guba lead Elyesa to sit back by the lantern. After that, he closed the window and ensured that all the doors were locked tight.
He made a small fire by one side of the inn which he used to boil a kettle of water.
After some time, he returned to her with a bowl of warm water in one hand and a piece of towel in the other.
Then he began taking care of her wounds.
She flinched a couple of times in pain, biting down on her lips to stop her from crying out.
He looked at her, a strained look on his face, as he observed what they had done to his woman, and he was angry.
He was angry at whoseover had done this to his Elyesa, mad at himself for being so saddled down with so much responsibilities that he hadn't been able to stand up for her at the wedding. Then there was helplessness in the situation they were in, one they couldn't control even if they tried.
Then there was love, one that remained constant despite it all.
He rubbed some ointment gently over her wounds that he had now treated. That way, they would heal faster.
He was sorry, she knew.
He was sorry for everything, sorry for what she was going through, sorry that he couldn't do anything about it.
She knew, she knew it was hurting him too.
She didn't want to think about that though. Not now, maybe some other time but certainly not now.
She offered him a teary smile in a bid to comfort him. He paused, dropping the bottle of ointment gently on the floor, then he brushed his hand over her forehead, down to her hair ffectionately and he smiled back to her.
He got up after that, and he disposed the water.
Then he took her hands, and they both went to bed.
He kept his arms securely around her, like as if he feared that if he didn't, someone would come at the middle of the night and steal her away from him.
They breath in sync, that being the only sound that filled the silence of the room, except for the rain that was now tapping vigorously against the room. Their warmth engulfed each other, and they found peace in this silence.
There were questions to be asked, but neither said a word.
For tonight, they would pretend like nothing had changed.
Like they were still that perfect match with no one in-between.
***
She had doubted it at first.
The moment he had reached his shirt around her and tied it securely behind her neck, she had thought maybe he had something else in mind.
Then he had sprinted right out of the door and slammed it shut behind him, like as if she was a plague that he needed to get far away from.
That was when it all crashed down on her.
She had slipped to the floor slowly, her grip tight on his shirt, her mouth slightly open in a silent gasp of surprise, before hot tears of pain and rejection rushed down her face.
Even if she had been on the fence about how he had behaved during the Ritual and the Wedding Celebration, now she had an clear answer.
She knew.
The Prince didn't want her.
She looked around tbe room again as she hiccuped from how much tears she had shed.
The decorations suddenly didn't make her happy anymore, neither did it make her heart quicken its pace, nor did he make her blush. In fact, it felt like they had grown into a being of their own, with a luxury of a mouth which they were using to mock her.
The breeze blew in strongly, throwing up the curtains and blowing out some candles, making a room get even darker.
A cold creeped over her and she staggered to her feet, still nude expect for the Prince's long shirt that he had tied around her neck.
She took a fistful of it and sniffed it in.
Then her hold around the shirt tightened so much it made her hand go numb. Her face filled with rage, she picked up one of the vases on the dressing table, which was right next to the bed, and sent it flying across the room.
It crashed against the wall, the pieces scattering to different places on the tiled floor.
The lightening flashed, casting an a dark shadow of her on the floor, right up to the lower part of the wall where the vase bad crashed against.
She stared at the damage, her face a mess of tears and seething rage, her chest raising and falling in ragged breathing, her eyes filled with maddening determination.
Lightening flashed again, this time accompanied by a rumbling thunder and a downpour.