9. Chapter

Eira

The darkness did not leave easily. It retreated in long heavy waves, and every inch it abandoned left behind a dull aching pain. My head throbbed as if an anvil had been placed inside my skull and someone kept striking it in steady rhythm.

When my eyes finally opened, the first thing I felt was the cool touch of silk against my face.

I was not lying on the damp stone of the prison cell. Beneath my back there was a soft mattress and the blanket covering me was heavy and scented.

I tried to sit up, but the world immediately tilted. A quiet groan escaped my throat and my hand instinctively reached for my forehead. I felt a clean bandage wrapped tightly around my head.

"Stay down before you vomit on my sheets."

The voice came from the direction of the window. It sounded like breaking ice, sharp, cold, and completely without sympathy.

Zade stood at the window with his back to me. In the gray light of dawn I could only see his dark silhouette, the width of his shoulders and the posture of his body, like a bow pulled tight. He did not turn around. He spoke as if I were nothing more than an irritating piece of furniture in his room.

"What happened?" I asked. My voice sounded hoarse and weak in the tall room. "The cell... the darkness..."

"You fainted like a weak noble lady," he replied mockingly, finally turning around.

His expression showed nothing. His blue eyes were empty and cutting like a winter sky. There was no trace of softness in them. This was a stranger. A statue without a heart.

"You hit your head on the stone. The guards found you before you suffocated from your own panic." He walked toward the bed but stopped at a polite distance. "You were a pathetic sight, little girl. I thought you were a thief hardened on the Ironblood border, not a trembling child who collapses from a little darkness."

His words struck like a bucket of cold water. And the way he called me little girl cut into me as if he wanted to strip away everything I had fought for on the streets.

The anger that had always helped me survive sparked to life again in my chest.

I forced myself to sit up again. This time I succeeded, although the room still drifted slightly before my eyes.

"Do not call me little girl," I snapped stubbornly, grinding my teeth against the pain. "I did not ask you to save me. You should have left me there to die."

For a brief moment something dark flashed across Zade's face, but it disappeared before I could understand it.

"Do not think I brought you back out of mercy," he said, stepping closer, his voice dropping into a threatening rumble. "You are only here because Noctis needs a bodyguard. You already wasted valuable time by showing weakness. You have two hours, little girl. Wash, eat something, and meet me at the training grounds."

Then he turned toward the door.

Seeing his arrogant indifferent back was the final spark that broke something inside me. I refused to remain just another nameless object in his game.

"Eira!" I shouted after him with all the strength I had left.

He stopped in the doorway.

Slowly he turned back, one eyebrow raised in mocking curiosity.

"Yes?"

"Eira is my name," I hissed, trying to burn through his armor with my stare. "I am not your little girl, not your servant and not your toy. My name is Eira, and you had better remember it the next time you open your mouth."

Zade's gaze darkened.

For a long moment he simply looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time. The corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. Maybe it was a restrained smile. Maybe just anger.

"Eira," he repeated, tasting the name. His voice sounded deeper now, rougher.

"Very well, Eira. Two hours. Training ground. Do not be late."

The door slammed shut behind him.

I remained alone in the enormous bed, my hand trembling as I touched the bandage on my head.

I had no idea what had happened while I was unconscious. All I knew was this cold ruthless prince who had just crushed the last piece of my dignity.

But at least now he knew my name.

And I swore I would make sure he never forgot it.