His Imprisoned Queen

Chapter 8 Closer

Elina’s POV

“Wait, so your brother just took off like that?” I interrupted before I notice it. I can’t help it. I am so intrigued by the story.

Kayden nods as he fixes his gaze on the view outside the windows. The sun is blooming on the horizon and brightening the whole city to wake up.

It’s weird that I don’t feel a tiny bit sleepy. I ask eagerly, “but what happened then? Were your parents okay? Did you get out of the shield?”

“It turned out the ropes were harmless. So I just untied my parents, and they were not hurt anywhere. The shield was gone in minutes.”

“And what happened to Jill?” my voice subdues as I speak. I am not sure if this question is going to trigger any bad memories that might break Kayden’s heart.

“She was alive. My brother didn’t kill her.”

I breathe a huge sigh of relief when I hear this. However, Kayden’s eyes become misty as he continues, “he was never trying to hurt anyone, you know. All he wanted was to get out of that room and live with his family.”

“Wow.” Feeling speechless, I stare blankly at a spot on the floor.

Kayden quickly rubs his eyes, and I pretend I didn’t see that.

“Richard didn’t hurt anyone in the castle either. He had simply hypnotized everyone in the castle to escape, and my father had to wake them up one by one. But they were all… fine. No one was hurt.”

“Did he ever come back?” I ask.

“Yes, but let’s leave the details till next time. And just to give you a heads-up, things didn’t end up well between us. Now, Elina, I think you should really go to bed.”

I sit up and feel frustrated, “wh-what? No! I want to hear the rest of the story! I’m not sleepy at all!”

Kayden sighs, and next second, he leans towards me. I let out a small gasp as his face stops only an inch from mine. I can even see the tiny little stubble on his chin. His eyelashes turn light brown under the sunlight. And his blazing blue eyes are staring at me with such intensity. I can’t stop myself from yelling in my head: How could someone look so perfect? How could someone have such impeccable facial features? And damn, my cheeks are burning again, but I don’t want to move away. It’s enjoyable to see his face at a distance this close.

Kayden grins a crooked smile and says in a somewhat flirting tone, “your eyes are bloody red. So are your cheeks.”

I turn away and touch my face with the back of my hand, trying to cool down my burning cheeks. “Oh. Are they?”

It’s also true that my eyes hurt a little, and they feel itchy, and they want to close themselves. I guess I do need some sleep. I protest no more and get up, slowly moving my numb feet to the bed. Kayden half lies down on the couch and uses his jacket as a blanket to cover himself.

“I will be staying on the couch. So don’t worry.”

I say as I get under the covers, “I’m not worried actually, but confused. Why do you have to stay with me? And why did you put guards around the hotel?”

“In short, we are not safe.”

I look at him with my eyebrows raised. Apparently, I don’t want any “in short.” I want to hear more details.

He resigns and continues, “remember the explosion accident? Richard plotted that.”

“Yep, I sort of guessed.”

I adjust my pillow into a comfortable position as Kayden raises his eyebrows in amazement, “you are not worried? Or scared?”

I shrug. “Well, no. More like… curious.”

Kayden sits up straight and looks me seriously in the eyes, “Elina, this is no joke. You know someone is trying to kill you here, right?”

“Being scared won’t change the fact, right?”

Kayden blinks. He seems dumbstruck by my words. Suddenly, something crosses my mind and I blurt out.

“But seriously? Coffee on shirts and closed metro stations? You think those can stop a human from going to work?”

It’s hard to resist the laugh once I start it. Kayden scratches behind his left ear awkwardly before he retorts, “Of course I don’t understand the human world as much as you do. More importantly, I don’t want to scare you. That’s why I used… gentle ways.”

I nod in agreement, “a bit too gentle though. Didn’t prepare me for the explosion at all.”

“I didn’t even expect you to get to the building!”

My heart sinks as I think of the people in the building when the explosion happened. After a moment of pondering, I ask, “those people in the building… are they all dead?”

“Oh no, we managed to save them all. There were a bunch of injured ones, but we sent out some of our best healers and they were all fine.”

I can’t stop crying happily, “oh my god, you have no idea how relieved and happy I am. To hear those words. Thank you!”

The room gets quiet for a while before Kayden speaks.

“Are you really not freaked out by the fact that someone is after you?”

I’m still in a happy mood for those people who have survived the accident, so I answer in a light tone, “not at all.”

“Wow, it’s just weird that one of your species can take it so calmly.”

“Hmm, human discrimination. That’s a first. Never expected to hear anything like that on this planet.”

Kayden seems a little embarrassed and says, “come on, you know what I mean. Don’t be offended, okay?”

“Maybe you can rephrase that sentence into something like ‘wow, you are really open-minded and good at accepting new things.’”

Kayden blinks and I’m a little flustered to see him speechless. Am I going too far? Did I sound mean? Well, if I’m representing the human species here, I want to be a decent and friendly one. Just when I start searching for some words in my brain to lighten the mood, I hear Kayden’s chuckles.

“You are interesting.”

“Hmm… should I take it as a compliment?” I say unsurely.

Kayden gives another chuckle and says, “It depends. You are the first person who speaks to me like that.”

Those words make my heart flutter. Having no idea how to continue the conversation, I wrap my blankets around me and give a fake yawn, “I think I’m going to sleep.”

“Good night. I will—”

Kayden starts coughing before he can finish the sentence. I sit up and see him curling up on the couch. The jacket only covers one-third of his body. He must be cold.

The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

“Do you want to sleep with me?”