Chapter 8

Well. That could have gone better.

The long walk back to her room - and she almost sagged in relief when she saw it, she'd been half convinced she'd gotten herself downgraded to the dungeon - had been enough to drain the fire out of Kate, leaving her with nothing but burnt out, frazzled nerves.

Once inside, she thanked the guards and closed the door behind her before making a beeline to the table, grabbing the glass she'd left there and downing the contents, keenly aware it was water and not wine. Or vodka. Vodka would have been nice.

She refilled the glass and slumped into the chair.

"I meet the King, and what's the first thing I do? Yell at him. Good job Kate, really, top notch stuff there."

Not that he hadn't deserved it. No one, royalty or not, had the right to touch her without her permission, especially behind her back. He was lucky she hadn't decked him. Not that she could have, damn those guards had been on the ball. She could have done without the swords at her throat, though - oh.

She reached up to check her chin, frowning when she couldn't find the cut, and set her glass aside before heading to the washroom for a look.

She stood before the mirror, craning her neck, turning her head this way and that, but she couldn't find a wound.

Okay. That was weird.

She'd been cut, she knew she had, she'd felt it. But there was nothing, not a drop of blood, not even a scratch. She knew the elves had healing magic, but she was pretty sure she'd remember if someone had healed her. Which begged the question: What the hell?

Was there some kind of magic in the air, or in the water? Okay, that was probably grasping at straws, but what else could it be?

Was it possible she'd been mistaken? Felt cold steel and just assumed she'd been cut?

Rubbing her chin, she wandered back out into the main room as she considered. She'd been sure she'd been cut. The guards had their blades at her neck, and then Aduil had come up behind her and said—

Kate froze mid-step, the memory ringing in her ear.

Edain.

He'd said edain . Aduil had called the KING edain. Father.

Aduil was a prince?

Kate dropped back into the chair, suddenly not so sure her legs would hold her.

Aduil was a prince.

That was so much worse than a lord. Lords were a dime a dozen, at least they seemed to be back home, and Kate had always gotten the impression that it was more of an honorary title that didn't mean much except that you were related to someone important and got to hang out with the royals. Or that you owned a lot of land? Maybe that was just back the Elizabethan era. Whatever, not the point.

A prince was intimidating, he was an actual Royal with a capital R, and Kate had no idea how to act in front of human royalty, let alone elven. Exhibit A, her performance with the King.

Oy.

She dropped her head into her hands, wondering how many other times she'd done the wrong thing. 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' was almost certainly improper, although… Aduil hadn't seemed to mind the silly song, not even when she'd bashed her head into his. He'd just laughed. A faint smile grew at the memory. She liked that little chuckle.

She shook her head, dispelling the thought because, again, not the point.

But if he hadn't been offended by even that, maybe she was wrong. She thought he said edain , but she was learning that a lot of Elvish words sounded similar, so maybe she'd misheard.

Actually, that made a lot of sense, because why would they send a prince in, alone, to give language lessons to someone they thought dangerous enough to keep under constant guard? And even if that wasn't the case and she was guarded for another reason, surely a prince would have better things to do than hang out with Kate all day.

Of course, there was still the uncanny resemblance to the King ...

Well. There was only one thing for it. She would just have to figure out a way to ask him when he came back.

And she would have. Except he didn't come back. Not that day or the next. Sometime in the late afternoon of the second day Kate had tried asking the guards about Aduil using the little Elvish she had and a lot of mime, but they were worse than those guys with the big hats at Buckingham Palace and she got nothing.

The more time passed, the more worry crept in. What if she was wrong, if he wasn't a prince and he'd gotten arrested for standing up to the King for her?

Wait, that didn't track.

He gets arrested and she only gets sent to her room? No, more likely he'd just gotten called away to something more important. He'd probably come back when he was done. Or maybe they'd send someone else to deal with her.

That idea didn't bother her at all. Nope. One elf was as good as another.

As long as it wasn't the King.

By the evening of the third day, when she still hadn't seen anyone other than the erell who brought her food and the ever watchful guards, she started getting a little stir crazy. She'd already searched the entire room top to bottom, for lack of anything else to do, and found a hidden drawer in the nightstand, which was exciting for about half a second until she found it only held a sheaf of blank papers. There wasn't any sign of pen or quill or charcoal or whatever they used to write around there, so doodling was out, but she made good use of the paper anyway by forming a makeshift basket out of a bundle of blankets, placing it on the other side of the room and tossing crumpled papers into it.

When that got old, she raided the closet and put on a fashion show of sorts. Surprisingly, the elven clothes all fit perfectly, as if they'd been tailor made for her. They looked pretty damn good, too.

She was still wearing one of the outfits — a silvery sort of tunic with a grayish green undershirt and olive-green leggings — when she found a hidden latch on the window and threw it open wide, breathing deep of the fresh, cool air. Three days was too long to stay cooped up in a little room, no matter how nice. She wanted out, to go back to the garden or walk the halls, or anywhere really, she didn't care at this point. She'd even be willing to go back to see the king, let him stare and shout and… then again, maybe not.

It didn't matter anyway. There was nothing she could say that would move the guards to take her anywhere. She didn't have enough words.

This would have been so much easier if Aduil had disappeared after she'd become more fluent. Or if he just hadn't disappeared at all. Seriously, what had — She cut the thought short with a shake of the head, because nope, not thinking about that. Or what it meant for her that he hadn't come back, and they hadn't sent anyone to replace him.

Denial was a wonderful tool.

Kate stuck her head out the window into the golden rays of the day's last light — at least she could pretend she was outside — and her eye caught on a ledge a few feet below. It wasn't very wide, but she could probably fit her feet on it if she hugged the wall. After that, it would only be a brief shuffle to the left and a short drop to the slate roof of a bay window the next floor down, which conveniently jutted out almost far enough to meet a sturdy looking tree branch. It would only be a small jump; she could make it.

The question was, would she be able to climb back up? Because as much as she wanted out of that room, she knew how big the forest was and she had no illusions about her chances of traversing it alone. Especially without any supplies. Or a map.

Maybe if — she jumped at a knock on the door, banging her head on the window frame.

"Ouch! Son of a— "

The door flew open and Aduil burst in with a wide grin and bright eyes, looking like he hadn't slept in days. He stopped just inside the doorway, almost vibrating with energy.

"Kate! Kate! I found some — some... Iened aruned , maltif anem pedh, in istan sed! Kate, I found some ... "

"What, cocaine? Are you alright? Te maedh? "

His smile only grew, if that was possible, as he shook his head. "Inem maedh. Inem neth bann maedh! I found… Lai, in wae uvanem pedhed, in raim cere te. Taluin! "

He dashed back out the door as quickly as he'd come, leaving Kate to wonder what the hell had just happened? Was he actually on drugs? Was that where he'd gone, off on some bender? Before she could give it much thought, he was back.

"Taluin, Kate!" he called, motioning her over.

"Alright, since you asked so nicely," she muttered, ignoring his impatient huff as she warily followed him out of the room. Of course, she was grateful to get out, and it was a way better option than climbing out the window, but he was kind of freaking her out.

He led her through the halls, up one staircase and down another, jabbering excitedly the whole way, even tossing in an English word here and there, as if somethingsomething try somethingsomething long somethingsomething found somethingsomething hard somethingsomething would be in any way comprehensible. It wasn't. She still had no idea what he was going on about but smiled and nodded as if she did whenever he glanced her way, because it was never a good idea to upset crazy people.

Well, maybe crazy was an overstatement, but it was always better to err on the side of caution.

It wasn't long before they came to a grand set of doors inlaid with different shades of wood patterned to depict a great night sky over the treetops, filled with stars that actually seemed to twinkle, though that might have been a trick of the light . Aduil didn't slow his step as he swung the doors wide open and strode inside. Kate's eyes widened as she slowly followed.

Now that was something to see.

Gorgeous twelve-foot-tall bookcases lined the walls farther than she could see in either direction of the seemingly endless room, pausing only to make space for slim arched windows washed in the waning light of the setting sun. Wheeled ladders stood ready at the end of each bookcase to reach the highest shelves and spiral staircases enclosed with a leaf patterned mesh were set at even intervals, twisting their way up to second and third floor mezzanines. Crystal chandeliers, just beginning to glow, dripped from the distant arched ceiling over wide tables marching down the center of the room, each set between massive stone pillars carved with sinuous leafy vines.

"Woah ..." she breathed. Elves didn't go halfway on anything. "Is this your way of apologizing for ghosting me? Because if so, I accept."

Aduil only glanced back over his shoulder, calling, "come," as he took off to the right and Kate hurried to catch up.

Five minutes later, she still hadn't caught sight of the end of the expansive library when they turned in to a smaller room. Though, smaller was really a relative term. Kate was pretty sure she could fit her entire apartment inside with space left over. It was decorated much the same as the rest of the library, with the addition of stained-glass lanterns adorning each table, and one bookcase which seemed devoted entirely to scrolls rather than books.

Aduil made a beeline for a table scattered with papers and picked up a faded red clothbound book and held it out to Kate as if presenting a prize.

"Read," he said with a proud smile.

"Okay… But I probably won't - wait, what? What did you say?" Kate asked, eyeing him like he was a cucumber that had just asked her for the time.

"Read," he repeated, thrusting the book into her hands.

"Yeah, that's what I thought…" The thing was, they hadn't covered that word, in either language. Come to think of it, they hadn't covered a lot of the words he'd been using.

Kate looked down at the book in her hands, and after another glance at Aduil, grinning at her like the cat that ate the canary, reverently opened it to the first page.

'November 2,

I saw an angel at the club last night, dancing all alone, pretty as can be…'

"What ...?"

It couldn't be.

Wary excitement thrumming through her veins, she flipped through the pages, faster and faster, only to find each one filled with handwritten English. And unless there were dance clubs in Taleria - which she was sure she'd remember - it was from her world. She stopped on a page with a few underlined words and notations in a delicate Elvish script and looked up at Aduil.

"So this is where you've been all this time?"

Whether he understood all the words or not, he seemed to catch her meaning and nodded.

"I only… read… much. I ..." he paused to check a note on the table, "need you ... help."

"Are you kidding, of course I'll help you! Aduil, this is amazing!" Kate laughed, shaking her head in wonder at the book. "We'll actually be able to talk!"

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Translations

Edain. - Father

Iened aruned , maltif anem pedh, in istan sed! - God's wounds, what is the word, I know this!

Te maedh ?"- You Well?

"Inem maedh. Inem neth bann maedh! - I am well. I am more than well!

Lai, in wae uvanem pedhed, in raim cere te. Taluin!"- Oh, I have not the words, I must show you. Come!