A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 7

Timandra stirred awake from her sleep but winced loudly when the corner of the quilt brushed her arms slightly. Even the softest fur of the cover felt like poking thorns when it came in contact with her bruised skin. It all seemed like a nightmare to her, waking up in the middle of nowhere, captured by the men and the beatings she received at the slave house but the fresh pain on her body was a reminder that it was very much real.

She peeled the cover away from her body and sat up. Her body felt like it was on fire due to the extreme amount of pain. She looked around and found herself in the middle of a large bed. Her eyes wandered around the unfamiliarity of the place and she tried to recollect what had happened to her the previous night. She vaguely remembered someone rescuing her from the man and carrying her here.

She glanced down at her arms, which were neatly dressed over her wounds. As she was about to get down from the bed, she heard a knock on the door. She was too scared to answer the door and quickly got back into the quilt, covering her body up to the neck.

When there was no answer from the chamber, Meeda, one of Sevin’s apprentice opened the door carefully and peeped her head inside. Her master had asked her to drop some silk dresses and robe in to the prince’s chambers. She kept wondering, why the prince had asked for gowns and dresses until her eyes landed on someone who was hiding in the prince’s bed.

“Oh my God!” She almost screamed but muffled her voice by covering her mouth with her palms. She did not have any intention of creating a ruckus at the prince’s chambers so early in the morning.

‘It is just a woman, probably the one who warmed the prince’s bed the previous night’, she thought.

“My lady!” She bowed. “The prince had asked for this..” She lifted the dresses that were hanging on hers arms.

Timandra was staring at the woman in front of her with wide eyes. All she heard was the word ‘Prince’.

“Where am I?” She asked Meeda. In turn, Meeda stared at the woman as if she had lost her mind for asking that question but she couldn’t be rude to the prince’s concubine. So she quickly opened her mouth to answer her.

“My lady, you are at the prince’s chambers.”

“Prince?” Timandra raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, My lady.” She began to arrange the gowns in the only empty wardrobe that she could find, keeping only one in her hand. She placed it on the edge of the bed, “My lady, I will prepare your bath.”

She walked into the prince’s private bath and started filling the huge tub with water and fragrance oil. She drizzled rose and jasmine petals over the surface of the warm water.

Timandra slowly got out of the bed and started walking behind Meeda.

“Who are you?” Timandra asked her, standing a few feet away from her.

Meeda had her arm dipped into the water to mix it. She froze on her spot, looking at the woman’s injured body and torn dress. She lowered her eyes immediately.

'Who could have done that to the poor woman? '

“I’m Meeda, My lady” She got up to answer her mistress. Meeda thought the woman was very polite unlike the other concubines in the palace but she seemed a little weird and lost to her.

“Do you know who I am?” She asked again.

She wasn’t quite sure yet she decided to answer her mistress, “You.. you are the prince’s concubine, my lady.”

“Concubine?” Timandra stood there blankly. Meeda walked behind her and realised that she couldn’t probably get into the bath with all the bruises over her skin. She decided to wipe her body carefully with a clean towel.

Meeda helped her with wearing a baby pink silk gown and began braiding her layered auburn hair. She loved the woman’s strange hair colour and soft texture that she kept feeling them between her fingers. The woman in her country had pitch black hair which were thick and rough. She had never seen some one so fair because all the woman that she had seen were honey color while this one was as white as milk.

She left the woman alone in the chamber after she was neatly dressed.

Timandra walked to the window from where the whole kingdom was visible yet she couldn’t enjoy the view in front of her. She felt hollow at her heart. She kept staring senselessly when she heard the opening of the door and in walked a handsome man with obsidian eyes, slightly stubbled jaw and perfectly sculpted body like from a woman’s fantasy.

As she turned, his eyes met with the soft blue pair of her eyes that enthralled him like a drug.

“I’m Ragnar.” He spoke as he noticed the fear stirred waves in her ocean blue eyes. In those hypnotizing eyes, he could see confusion and gentleness at the same time. He had to blink a couple of times to recover from the intense stare.

"I found you unconscious on the roads and brought you here.” He informed her. “May I know where you belong to, so that I can help you reach there?”

She stared at his black orbs which were as open and honest as any child’s, full of warmth and security. He felt very familiar as if she had seen him before and she wanted to trust him, “I don’t know.” She paused and lifted her gaze at him to see his reaction. “All I remember is waking up at the banks of a river.”

In his right mind, he would have suspected the woman to be a liar or a spy but strangely he wanted to believe her words since her wide eyes displayed nothing other than honesty. He nodded, “And your name?” He asked even when he knew what her answer would be.

She shook her head from side to side, looking defeated.

She couldn’t be from any of the countries he had travelled before, but if she belonged to the lands beyond the seas, then how did she end up in Vonentis? Where there anyone else with her? He kept thinking. He would probably send a team to look for any ships or intruders. Till then she must be kept a secret from the council of ministers and the king’s officials since, they would summon her to the court and keep her in captivity until her identity is known. Ragnar did not want that for the woman and thought that he could keep her in his chambers.

“Have you eaten something?” Ragnar remembered that she had to take her medicines. He walked out of his chambers and ordered the servants to bring the breakfast to his bed. Ragnar never liked to eat alone in his chamber and he always ate with Avira’s company.

The maids brought his breakfast which include hot buns toasted with butter, meat steaks, a bowl full of wild grapes and a hot cup of milk. The servants placed the meal on the table a few feet away from his bed and walked out. He knew that servants in the palace would begin to talk and the king would eventually come to know about this woman’s stay in the palace but it would take a few more week but before that he would take care of this issue.

He took out two plates and arranged the food on them. He carried it to his bed, where she was seated uncomfortably.

“You should eat this.” He carefully placed the plate on her lap.

She didn’t know she was so famished until she laid her eyes on her plate. She pounced on her food and devoured it like a hungry lioness. Ragnar was amazed to see a woman eating like that, not that he had seen many woman eating. Avira was the only one who ate with him and she was trained right from childhood to eat lady like.

When he noticed that she was almost done, he transferred his food on to her plate. She didn’t mind thanking him as she took a huge bite of his bun while Ragnar sat enjoying the show in front of him with his lips curved up.

Later as she finished her meal, Ragnar let Meeda to clean her wounds and dress them freshly. He ordered her to do it regularly until her wounds heal. He gave her some privacy and decided to meet Avira and tell her about this mysterious girl that he was hiding from everyone. There was no point of keeping Avira out of his little secret. She was his cousin and no way could he hide his secrets from her for a long time.

He knocked at her door and her personal maid was the one to come out. She bowed to him and walked inside to let Avira know about the prince’s arrival. Soon, she left them alone.

“Brother, I didn’t get a chance to see you at breakfast, today. Is everything okay?” She asked him while embroidering a rose on a piece of cloth.

The prince nodded as an answer and took a place next to her. “I see you have finally learned it.” He spoke, looking at the design she was struggling to get from many days.

“Yes.” She beamed with happiness and pride at her newly learned skills.

'Isn't it beautiful?'

He nodded looking at it for a few seconds.

“Avira, I have something to tell you.” He confessed, “No, Actually I have something to show you.”

“What is it?” She asked coolly, without removing her eyes from the cloth.

“Drop this here and come with me.” He snatched it from her hands and started pulling her out of her chamber.

“What is it?” She grew very impatient and nagged him all through the way. His chambers were a good hundred metres away from Avira’s and he had to tolerate her bugging till he reached the narrow pathway outside his chamber.

“Avira, I must warn you, not to make a single sound when you see what I have in my cham…”

“Oh for goodness sake..” He couldn’t finish as she pushed him aside and walked in unannounced and stopped dead by the sight in from of her.

“Gods!!?' She cursed loudly, looking at the woman sitting on his bed with her arms folded around her knees. “Who is she?”