He noticed that she had adorned her small, pointed ears with piercings, and had another in her nose that had a small jewel in it. She probably didn't realise that he could purchase a year's worth of mead with that tiny jewel alone back in Banesteppe.
Perhaps, once she was conscious, she would let him convince her to remove it before they entered the city. The demons there would be suspicious enough as it was, without flaunting her wealth in front of them.
Colour had begun to return to her face. Though still pale, a healthier blush had risen into her cheeks. Her lips had lost their blue hue and returned to an inviting rosy pink.
Lephas was relieved when the water began to bubble and he had a reason to tear his eyes away from her. He carefully pulled the pot out of the fire and left it to stand on the cool slate floor of the cottage. He removed his thick gloves.
Lephas dipped a spare scrapof cloth bandage into the water and waited for it to cool a little. He swallowed and shuffled closer to the faerie on his knees, taking a breath to steady himself before reaching in to dab the cloth against her head.
At first there was no reaction. Lephas just focussed on cleaning the blood from the girl's face, but as he gained confidence and began cleaning closer to the head wound, she began to stir.
“Wh–?” she groaned, but didn't open her eyes.
“Don't move. I'm trying to clean you up,” Lephas spoke, his voice tight and gravelly, sounding foreign to him. He cleared his throat.
“Wh–where am I?” she mumbled.
“You hit your head when you fell in the snow. I'm just trying to clean your wound. You're safe,” he answered, trying to pretend he couldn't see his hand shaking as he dabbed at her.
“The snow? Oh yes, the demons... Where did they go?” Her words were slow and sleepy.
“Uh, don't worry about that for now,” Lephas hedged.
“Good. Monstrous beasts.”
Lephas scowled, his hand pausing mid-daub.
Monstrous... Guess that meant the attraction was going to be strictly one-sided. He shouldn't have been so disappointed to hear it, he supposed.
Clearly wondering why he had stopped cleaning her, the princess opened her eyes. Her unnervingly bright azure irises locked on his own dark gaze. After a few long seconds, she leapt up.
“What is the meaning of this?!” She scrambled away from Lephas as fast as she was able to in her manacles, until she had her back to the wall of the bedroom. Her chest began to heave with panic.
“Calm down, you're safe.” Lephas sighedand placed the rag carefully back into the pot of water.
“Safe?!” She gaped. “Are you joking?”
“You're alive, aren't you? Something you wouldn't have been for much longer if we hadn't picked you up, I can assure you,” Lephas snapped, feeling another deep scowl forming on his face.
“You can assure me of nothing,” she retorted. “Where am I? Who are you?” She cast her eyes nervously over his horns.
“You're in an abandoned farm cottage with my men and I. My name is Lephas – I'm part of a special group sent by King Zelrus Dawnoaken to retrieve you,” he explained, feeling his ire rising.
She laughed hollowly. “King Zelrus? Now I know you're joking! There's only one king of these lands, and that's–”
“Princess. If you value your life, you won't dare speak his name in front of me,” Lephas interrupted. The anger bubbling beneath must have been visible in his expression. The faerie observed him warily.
“What do you want with me?” she asked quietly, still curled up in the dark, dusty corner.
“We will be taking you back to my king. I'm sure he will have many questions for you,” Lephas answered simply.
“And after that?”
“I don't know.”
“...So, you know who I am?” She relaxed a little and her eyes losttheir wild, panicked look. “You called me princess just now.”
“Princess Lori Goldwyrm.”
