Page 18 of Ruling the Green

Did that mean I necessarily trusted the prince and his personal guard? No. But they certainly seemed like the lesser of the evils. They brought me food and endless pitchers of water.

Without that, I might be curled in a ball on the floor before dinner was even through.

It wasn’t the same as the water from my lake, but it was lake water, so it helped slightly. At least, it kept the withdrawal symptoms somewhat at bay.

The problem was, to continue to do so, I would need to drink nearly nonstop all day and night. It wasn’t sustainable. And any kind of exertion was only going to intensify things.

By the time we made it up to the fourth floor of the castle, the effects of the water withdrawal were starting to set in.

A headache was pounding behind my eyes, my skin felt paper-dry, and an ache started in my legs.

Once I was alone, I could take a small sip of my water in the flask on my thigh to ease it. But some part of me was worried to use any of it in case I would need it for my escape.

I might just have to suffer.

I honestly didn’t know what the next stage of withdrawal might be. The head and body aches were usually enough to send me rushing back to my lake to revive myself.

“You might want to explain to her where she is,” Vishen said as we all finally made it to what seemed to be the final floor, though from the outside, I knew there was one more.

“Right. This is my wing. My father’s wing is on the complete opposite side of the castle for safety reasons.”

Right.

So in case of invasion, if they went for the king, the prince could still escape and preserve the line of succession.

“From this set of stairs to the one way down there are all my quarters. There is a library,” he said, waving to one side of the floor, “as well as an office and sitting room.” We made our way to the center of the floor where there were two closed doors, one on each side. “That is Vishen’s room,” he said, waving to the side where the other rooms were located. “And this is mine,” he said, approaching the only room that was on the left side of the hall.

He pushed open the door and waved me in.

My stomach twisted at the idea of being behind a closed door, but I stepped past the threshold.

The room was as enormous as it seemed from the outside.

The space was dominated by a bed large enough for five adults, covered in midnight-colored bedding and flanked by large nightstands with candelabras dripping in black wax.

Directly across from the bed was a hearth that was nearly as large as the bed itself.

There were doors to either side of the room, which I assumed were for storage and a water closet.

The windows stretched the whole back wall on the sides of the bed, nearly floor to ceiling, letting in as much light as the dense forest canopy allowed.

“This is where you will be staying,” he explained.

“I believe the staff brought up luggage and set it in the storage closet,” Vishen explained. “But I would assume they are all empty.”

I shrugged. I certainly had nothing to bring with me.

“For the time being, you can borrow something of mine to wear, if you want to be out of that dress.”

There was a tapping sound running down the hallway before, suddenly, an animal rushed through the bedroom door, seemingly drawn by Jet’s voice.

A gasp escaped me as I jumped back a step.

Because that all black wolf-like creature was almost as large as a barguest.

“He won’t attack,” Jet said, rubbing the beast’s head. “Unless told to or to protect me.”

“It’s a wolf-dog,” Vishen explained when Jet didn’t go on. “I found it whining in the woods as a pup. Brought it back to the castle and trained it to protect Jet.”