“The guards have brought by a crust of bread and a few metal containers of water through the day – does that count as adequate? It’s more than I was personally expecting, seeing as I am now a prisoner of war.”
“It’s not going to be comfortable, but it should be enough for you to survive on,” Raxx replied, his face remained stony and indecipherable.
“Then by that definition, yes – I have been fed and watered.” Sat on her hard, metal cot, Faye turned, so her back was against the stone wall of the cell, and pulled her knees up to her chest.
The shadow demon didn’t respond. After a drawn-out silence, Faye eventually spoke.
“I assume your king doesn’t know you’re visiting me?”
“What makes you think that?” Raxx’s eyes flickered to look at her.
“These midnight visits of yours, after the guards have finished their rounds, seem awfully secretive for someone who has his king’s permission.”
The demon smirked. “That’s very astute of you.”
“Is my assumption correct?” Faye asked.
“Not whollyincorrect.”
The princess growled with frustration. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“It’s both.”
“Hestaesia help me, if you give me one more non-answer...” Faye gritted her teeth.
Raxx laughed softly. “Alright, let me put it this way; King Zelrus has asked me to keep an eye on you and Lori, but he probably won’t have expected me to be quite as thorough.”
“Then whyareyou here?” Faye fixed the shadow demon with a hard glare.
Unsurprisingly, Raxx didn’t respond. He turned to face the stone wall and, after pausing for a moment, he pulled his gloves off, tracing his fingertip against the rough surface of the stone.
“Oh good, and here I thought you had broken into my cell in the dead of night to do something strange with no explanation whatsoever,” Faye muttered sarcastically.
She strained her eyes through the dim light in an attempt to decipher what the shadow demon was writing, but his fingers were moving too quickly.
After a few long minutes, Raxx stepped back and appraised his invisible handiwork for a moment. He tugged his gloves back on and turned to stare at her for a long moment before extending a hand.
“Come with me.”
Faye cocked a brow incredulously. “What are you talking about? Where? What was all that business about?” She nodded her head toward the wall.
“You’re cold, hungry and frightened. I can fix two of those things – for now, at least,” Raxx replied.
Faye hesitated. What exactly was Raxx suggesting? She wasn’t sure she completely trusted him, but – she glanced around the dark, dank cell – anything had to be better than this. The faerie sat forward and grasped Raxx’s hand with her own.
One moment, the demon had been pulling her up onto her feet, the next she was standing in a warm, dimly lit room.
Her head spun, suddenly hit with a wave of dizziness and she felt her body swaying.
“Sit down, shadow travel takes a bit of getting used to.” Raxx released her hand and gently pushed her backwards. Faye’s knees buckled and she sat down, landing on something soft and comfortable.
“Where are we?” she mumbled, rubbing her fingers against her temples.
“This is where I live.”
As her eyes adjusted to the light, Faye looked curiously around.
It was a small, single room that appeared to be located in the loft space of a building with no windows, if the sloped roof was anything to go by. Faye supposed it suited the strange demon.
