He looked at her,
The way she needed to be looked at,
Like the whole world could crumble,
And he wouldn't blink.
—Atticus
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
"G-Game?" asked Eva, not noticing that he still hadn't let go of her hand. Was she hearing it right? No way was this the King! If he was the King, then she was right when she said that he had a few screws loose!
"Yes, do you know how to play blindman's buff?" spoke the man and Eva stared at him for a whole minute before she opened her mouth to reply.
"You are serious?" He wasn't serious, he was completely crazy, she thought to herself.
"I am. We will play two rounds and you can ask something from me in return if you win. Anything." he explained the rules and Eva still couldn't believe that she was going to play a kid's game with this stranger.
But then the idea entered her mind. She could ask anything from the man? She could also easily ask him to pay back the lenders and later when she had earned enough, she could repay him! So many problems could be solved if she won, and Eva resolved that she would play this childish game if her family would remain safe from the clutches of the public.
"What if you win?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes from behind the mask. She didn't want to be tricked into anything unreasonable that would make her problems increase.
"Clever." the man stared like he was trying to place her and Eva shivered.
"Are we going to play in the hallway?" she asked, ignoring his previous comment. Did he think she was a fool?
The man's lips quirked behind the mask. "No, Lady Eva. We are going to play in another room. I wouldn't want you to bump into the servants and scare them out of their wits."
Eva considered his words to be reasonable. She didn't want to make a fool out of herself in public especially in front of this stranger — not that it mattered. He was already going to see her in her stupid form.
"You haven't answered my question." she reminded him and tried to wiggle out her hand from his grip.
He didn't let go.
"I assure you that it will be in your favor. If that doesn't seem trustable, then I could take an oath."
"Can you promise?" came the innocent words from Eva's lips and for a second, the sight of them distracted the man.
"What if I break the promise?"
Eva smiled ruefully, looking down at her feet and he didn't like the sight of her upset expression. "It wouldn't matter, I suppose."
"Lies. You will feel hurt."
She had to tip her head back just to meet his gaze. His eyes were serious and she once again fell speechless at his words which felt heartwarming and suspicious at the same time.
"How do you know?" she asked.
The man didn't answer but only tugged gently at her hand in the direction of another hallway. Eva silently followed him and her eyes caught sight of black markings on his uncovered hand. She couldn't see what was written on his hand but they seemed to be the famous inky design that everybody in her village had been getting excited about.
It was considered blasphemous if a woman got the markings but she had spotted many men with a revealed part of their body inked with words and different designs. It intrigued her but she hadn't had the opportunity to see it up close.
The stranger came to stand outside an unfamiliar room and opened the door without knocking. She was shocked by his fearless behavior and wondered if he didn't care about his head anymore.
But she did!
"Are you staying as a guest here?" she asked as he led her into an empty room with one wall covered wholly in glass giving a full outside view of the garden. He had finally let go of her hand and Eva heard a sharp click behind her indicating that the door had been locked.
She was trapped in a room with a stranger yet surprisingly she didn't feel a bit scared; although still nervous in her mind.
The room was big with enough space to play the game.
"You can think of me as a guest in this room," he spoke from behind her and she unconsciously straightened her posture.
"Are you ready, milady?" he asked, after appearing in front of her.
"The blindfold?"
His black eyes glittered as he dragged out a red blindfold from his trouser pocket and approached her. Eva stepped back automatically but the man's words stopped her.
"Let me help you wear it."
She was not going to fall for it and refused immediately, "Thank you but I can do it myself-"
"Are you scared?"
That did it. She absolutely despised being called a coward or a weakling. Eva knew she was a little tense around him, she could feel it in the way her body responded to his — and she didn't want him to know.
Her eyes closed in response to his question and she turned around to let him do his work. The masked man smirked which she was unable to see and neared enough to let her feel his presence from behind.
Eva held her breath as she felt his fingers touch her ear and forehead, letting him tie the blindfold seemed to have been a wrong idea. He took his sweet time wrapping the red cloth around her eyes. His fingers brushed along her hair and Eva gulped, feeling her body temperature rise.
She hated how her body was reacting to his smallest touch. After what felt like a decade, she felt him take a step back. Her sense of sight had been stolen but it only strengthened the rest of her senses.
"I am going to spin you three times. Count with me." his voice was soft and husky, his breath brushing against her earlobe.
"Okay." she felt her throat getting drier with each passing second and desperately wished for a glass of water.
She could feel his hand clasp around her smaller one and he brought it to the top.
"One," she spoke as he twirled her around, neither too fast nor too slow.
"Two." Eva could feel herself getting dizzy already.
On "Three," her feet stumbled but he managed to stable her by gripping her waist in his hold.
"I apologize." she quickly uttered and sensed the man's touch leave her completely. She was surprised to hear that his feet didn't make a sound as he walked around. Didn't shoes click when they were walked on with?
His aura was what helped her find him. She could feel the darkness coming from a corner of the room and her feet slowly traveled in that direction. Eva felt as if she was back in her childhood, playing the same game with her sister and father while their mother watched from the kitchen window.
"Always try to confuse the other person. Don't let them think that you are coming in their direction and give them a surprise attack." was what her father had told her when she had gotten sad at not finding her sister twice in a row.
She decided to follow her father's advice this time. She walked in the opposite direction to where she felt him standing and when she felt him move from his position, Eva lunged towards him and caught a piece of fabric in her fists.
"I caught you." she cried in excitement, taking off the blindfold from her face to see that she had grabbed his shirt in her hands and had still not let go.
Quickly releasing it as if she had touched a burning hot iron, she looked up to see amusement in the stranger's eyes. "I wasn't aware that you were so good at playing the game," he commented and nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"Can I tell my wish?" asked Eva, and all of a sudden, she found her plan changing into a new one. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her as she forgot about her previous plan of asking for money.
What she spoke next, amazed him as much as it surprised her.
"Can you take off your mask?"