Chapter 71: Back To Square One
Evanna’s eyes fluttered open after the sunlight beamed into the room, landing directly on her face. The startling light seemed to almost burn her eyes, blinding her to roll over and grab the nearest pillow to cover her head. Relaxing her body once more, her breathing became long and slow as she snuggled further into the bed. Evanna could not help but note how well rested she felt, especially after being on the road for so long.
The bed she lay on was as comfortable as the floating clouds in the sky. Or so she assumed. It was extremely comfortable, most likely more so than her own at home.
Evanna sighed in content until her mind caught up with her and her lids snapped open before she bolted upright, staring around bleary-eyed. Realisation dawned on her as the disorientating feeling simmered down while she scanned the unfamiliar bed chamber.
The previous day flashed across her mind, and her erratic pulse beat calmly once again. Glancing to the side, she eyed the balcony doors. She swore she fell asleep outside. Not her best idea considering it was on the ledge of the balcony. Maybe I got up and climbed into bed? She must have been that tired and groggy; she could not remember.
Nodding to herself, convinced by her answers and utterly oblivious to the idea that somebody could have carried her to bed, she climbed out of it and began scoping her room. Within minutes, she found no escape routes besides the balcony, but she honestly did not have high hopes for secret passageways or the like anyway. So, it appeared, the only course, if she ever chose it, was the balcony, but it was too much of a drop for her to attempt.
Evanna was back to square one.
A knock at the door startled her from her reverie, and they swung open gently without Evanna responding. Rina tentatively stepped into the room, her eyes looking at the bed only to become panicked for a millisecond before they found Evanna standing in the middle of the light, airy room. She watched as Rina’s tensed body relaxed, and a bright smile lit up her face, "Good morning, my lady. His highness wishes to see you for breakfast."
Without much more Evanna could do about it, she nodded her head and walked towards her private dressing room. She let Rina pick out a dress for her; she did not wish to try and prettify herself up. The king’s words still stuck to her like a thorn in her side. Plus, her only goal was to escape the palace, and luckily, the prince decided to remove her from the prison for some unknown reason.
He mentioned torturing her, something she did not wish to stay long enough to see what sort of techniques he wanted to use. Sighing, Evanna turned around after Rina helped her into a tea green dress, one where the sleeves were short and capped just below her shoulders, which were once again kept bare, with another part on the front of the dress wrapped around her neck. There were golden lacey leaves over the top of the sleeves and merging down her bodice. The rest of the dress flowed out towards the ground.
Evanna glanced at herself in the mirror. She was still to get used to the differences in dress style, yet she was rather happy not to have to deal with wearing a corset. Although, she still felt quite naked with so little on. Her bare arms and shoulders would warrant her a whore in Dunhurst, but from the way Rina was smiling at her, she knew this was the norm.
She walked back into the bedroom and sat down in front of the dressing table, and looked into the mirror at her overly messy hair. This typically happened to her thick hair when she slept well and most likely rolled around in her sleep. Evanna has never had anyone sleep by her side, so she did not know how she slept on a daily basis, but from the number of times her body was wrapped up like a cocoon or a pillow or two were thrown on the floor, she decided that was the case.