"Clara," Reign ordered a nearby maid as he entered the drawing room with Effie in his arms. "Bring a glass of water for our tired guest, and have a bowl of stew prepared as well. She needs something to build up her strength."
The young maid was too dumbstruck at the absurd sight that met her eyes to properly respond at first. She stared wide-eyed at her beautiful, immaculately dressed prince cradling a dirty, disheveled commoner against his breast.
"Didn't you hear me?" Reign commanded. "Run along, don't waste time."
"Y-yes your highness," the maid stuttered timidly before ducking her head and bowing out of the room.
Once she was gone, Reign gently lowered Effie onto a nearby couch.
"Do you need anything else?" He asked, his eyes still prying all over her body as if looking for some injury or wound that he had previously missed. "I could order the palace healer over here to attend to your medical needs."
"Really, this is more than enough," Effie grumbled. "In fact, you've done more than you needed to. It's not like I ran all the way over here to receive royal treatment. I have something urgent to tell you. You're in danger, don't you get that? Yet you're fretting over me when your very own life is at risk here!"
"That may well be, but you can't expect me to stop fretting over you. Remember, my life would have ended if it wasn't for you."
"Why do you always bring that up? It's becoming quite tiresome as an argument," Effie sighed, folding her arms defensively. "Would you just listen to me already?"
"Alright, alright," Reign put his arms up in defeat. Then he gently took a seat next to her on the couch, crossing his long legs and folding his hands in his lap. "I'm listening."
Effie exhaled a long breath of air, not even certain where to begin. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. There was so much to tell him, but she could hardly get her thoughts straight now that she was finally sitting before him, ready to disclose everything she had seen and heard.
'Don't think, Effie,' she told herself firmly. 'Just start speaking.'
"There's a dark storm brewing over Evanore right now," she finally began. "I believe it to be a storm created by dark magic. There was a dark witch lurking in the shadows of the city. She was with a man. A man who was paying her to... to kill you."
Reign's body shifted uncomfortably on the couch as he uncrossed his legs, switched them, and then crossed them again. He folded his arms across his chest in thought, but he remained silent.
"Didn't you hear me?!" Effie cried. "There's a conspiracy- a plot to end your life! Meaning, if they have it their way, you'll be dead in a matter of days, or hours! How can you be so calm? I expected you to respond with a little more urgency than this."
"I realize this is a grave situation," Reign replied, his voice low and serious. "I was just thinking... Did you get to see the face the man you said was paying to have me killed? Do you know who it is?"
Effie shook her head. "They were hiding in the shadows... they were speaking in hushed voices and wearing cloaks that obscured their faces. I didn't get a good look at them. But- but the witch... You need to be careful with her. The amount of dark power I felt within her was terrifying. She's very dangerous."
"You're worried about me, aren't you?" Reign's serious expression fell away, a slight, smug smile appearing in its place.
"You're unbelievable," Effie griped in exasperation. "I don't know what more it will take to get you to understand the situation. Well, at least I've done my part. So, do with my warning what you will. If you want to get yourself killed then be my guest."
"Sorry," Reign said, covering his mouth with his hand to hide his amused expression. "Getting you riled up is too much fun."
"That's it, I'm leaving," Effie exclaimed, rising to her wobbling feet. "I don't have to take this from you."
But Reign's arm shot out before she could go anywhere, taking hold of her wrist to stop her. "Wait, don't go. I'll stop teasing you now, I swear it. So please sit down and let's finish discussing things together, alright?"
"Humph!" Effie huffed, reluctantly letting Reign guide her back down onto the seat by her arm.
"Now, I wonder who could have it out for my life," Reign pondered. "There are a great many men under father's employment who haven't liked the way I've been acting lately. They liked it much better when I was docile and depressed- when I was just a shell of a person; a ghost."
"Maybe it's one of the guards from the prison that you punished," Effie suggested. She could already think of quite a few soldiers who got on Reign's bad side back then, and lost some fingers for it.
"That's what I was thinking. Euphemia, are you certain you didn't recognize anything about the man that you saw? The way spoke? The sound of his voice? His mannerisms?"
Effie chewed on her thumbnail, trying to recall anything to memory from the night before. There was something.... he was very tall and broad. A huge man. His build actually did remind her of someone. And when realization hit, her eyes flew open wide.
"You remembered something?" Reign leaned in attentively, his face so close to hers that it took everything within Effie's willpower not to focus on those fluttering white eyelashes like the feathers of a dove, or his warm breath against her face..
"I don't want to falsely accuse anyone..." she said carefully. "But I think that man... He might be the prison warden."
Reign's eyes darkened. "That wouldn't surprise me at all. Not only was his hand wounded that day, but so was his pride. He had enjoyed far to many years unchecked, doing whatever he pleased down there in that cesspit of a prison. Then I came along and put an end to all of his wretched antics. So, if anyone would have it out for me, it would be him. However, I can't accuse him of anything yet without proof."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"That's not something for you to worry about," Reign smiled reassuringly. "You've done well coming straight here to warn me about the threat. I can take care of the rest from here on. I have many men at my disposal who can investigate, and look into the matter further."
"But-" Effie began to protest, but in that exact moment the door to the drawing room swung open, and in walked the young maid from before, carrying a silver tray with a beautiful crystal-cut glass of water, and a steaming bowl of stew.
"Ah look, Clara has returned." Reign sat forward on the couch, taking the tray from the girl. "Thank you. I will take it from here. You may go."
"Yes, your highness." Clara curtsied deeply, eyeing Effie dubiously from beneath a fringe of honey-blonde bangs. Then she scurried off as instructed, leaving Effie and Reign alone once more.
"Here," Reign offered, holding the glass of water out to Effie first. "You should drink."
Fresh, cool water glistened in the glittering, crystal glass before her, enticing her. She hadn't realized how thirsty she really was until that moment when she laid eyes on it. Effie didn't protest this time, grabbing at the glass in Reign's hand and pressing the cool rim to her lips. Then she drank quickly, gulping down every last drop until the water was gone.
When she was done she passed the glass back to Reign, who sat it down on the sliver tray. Then he lifted an ornate spoon, dipped it into the stew and held it out for her to take a bite. It was oddly reminiscent of the night he had fed her by hand in the prison. The memory of that time made Effie's face flush.
"Have a bite," he offered. "You need to keep up your strength."
"You don't have to feed me, you know. It's not like you're someone's servant. You're a prince, for goodness sake!"
"I may be a prince. But now I exist to serve you."
"Just give me that," Effie demanded awkwardly, grabbing the spoon from Reign's hand and shoving the bite of stew into her mouth.
At first she began eating purely out of pure spite. But after the first few bites began to fill her hollow insides with the warmth of the delicious stew, Effie couldn't seem to stop eating. She shoveled spoonful after spoonful of stew into her mouth, not bothering to care about how ill-mannered she must appear to Reign (or just about anyone else) in that moment. And it was only after she had finished off the final bite that she suddenly became acutely aware of how heavy her eyelids felt, as though they were weighted down by an invisible force.
"You're exhausted," Reign pointed out tenderly, taking the bowl and spoon from her tired hands before she let them drop to the floor. "You must have put yourself through a lot to get to me."
"It was nothing..." Effie's said drowsily, her head beginning to loll with fatigue. "But now that you mention it, I am a little tired... Mind if I rest here for just a little while?"
"Nothing would satisfy me more in this moment."
At his words, Effie allowed her body grow limp. All the adrenaline that had powered her up until now had finally drained from her muscles, until nothing else remained but pure, aching exhaustion. Effie's head eventually slumped over, coming to rest against Reign's shoulder. Her eyelids fluttered, only half-open as she was now at an angle to observe some stains on his beautiful silk shirt.
"Oh no... I seem to have soiled your fine clothes with mud."
She started to swipe away languidly at the caked dirt against his chest with a tired arm, but Reign placed his hand over hers to stop her.
"Don't worry about it. I have many more just like it in my wardrobe. Please, just focus on getting some rest."
"O... kay..."
And Effie slowly drifted off to sleep.
Reign let her lay on his shoulder for quite some time, allowing her all the rest she needed. Effie was never even aware of his fingers gently brushing her hair away from her lashes, or the way he peered down into her face for minutes at a time, committing every every mark and freckle to his memory.
Reign knew that he needed to handle the situation with the warden and the dark witch very soon. But right now, his only priority was Effie.