12 2.6

Eleanora pulled several pins from her hair and crouched in front of the window, fiddling with the lock. Her look of concentration was intense enough to temporarily confirm my internal musings that she had been driven insane. her long dress was pulled gracefully around her feet like a lake of moss, locks of hair loosely released onto her back. She replied this time, but her response rose more questions than it clarified.

"Your guards, most likely." Her tone was so casual that it took a moment for me to comprehend what she had said, sure for a moment that I had misheard. But the knowledge that the voice on the other side of the door was one of the captains of the guard confirmed her flippant statement.

Another knock resounded through the room, more frantic this time.

"Your highness? Haven, please open the door."

I held every intention of complying with his demands, but the shock of everything had frozen me in a place like an ice sculpture carved by a master craftsman. Questions piled on the ones I had organized before, weighing my mind down with lead.

What had happened after I returned Elenora to her seat? What did she do? Was I hallucinating this entire event from low blood sugar and an empty stomach?

I tried to voice my thoughts, but the only thing I could squeeze out was a strangled "why?" before my voice failed me. My assumptions that we had gotten to know each other during our walk were crumbling around me, ashes in the night. Nothing made sense anymore.

"Probably because I was a bit clumsy" was her flippant reply. Her hands stayed in motion, every movement smooth in a way that indicated she had done this before. No lady-in-waiting that I knew of was trained in the art of picking locks. My confusion intensified as I tried to make sense of a puzzle with most of the pieces missing.

"What?"

It seems I was limited to one-word responses at this point in the night. My voice had gained an edge of wariness, but my body refused to move in the direction of the door. I couldn't look away from her twisting hands, and I was positive there was more to the story then she was willing to say.

It took more than falling on one's rear end to motivate a guard to chase after you, and the noises on the other side of the door seemed to indicate the presence of at least half a dozen.

Possibilities race through my mind, going through all the crime she could have possibly committed. Did she kill someone? Steal something? insult a high-ranking diplomat and Destroy negotiations for World Peace?

Perhaps she was part of an overly complicated plot to kill the royal family, but I couldn't imagine where she would be keeping weapons.

Eleonora glanced up at me, a light of Amusement clear in her eye. the lock on the window clicked ominously oh, and she pushed it open with enough force to dislodge several years of rust build-up on the hinges.

"I brushed against someone's neck while relieving her of a pair of topaz earrings." she gave a small smile that seems almost predatory, not at all in line with the person that I thought I knew.

"They were gorgeous, but the color didn't suit her at all. I was doing her a favor."

She was on the edge of monologing like a fairy tale villain who felt prompted to recite their entire plan before killing off the protagonist. I shook my head quickly to dislodge that thought before continuing to more pressing issues.

How would one swipe a pair of earrings while they're dangling from some noblewoman's ears? She spoke like she had done this before, likely without getting caught. I watched uncomprehendingly as she analyzed the tree outside my window, my headache from before coming back with friends as my body caught up to the situation at hand.

The pounding on the door had stopped, and I could hear muffled voices talking on the other side. I forced an uncertain step in that general direction when I felt a tap on my shoulder, prompting me to turn around.

I was met with a pair of eyes shining with something devious as Eleonora shoved the heels she had been wearing all night into my arms, giving me a close-up view on how thin they were. part of me expected them to be splattered with blood considering how the rest of the night had gone. they certainly looked like they could have been a murder weapon.

Gracefully, she turned and leaped onto my window's ledge, perching for a moment with the temperament as a cat, waiting for something before she left.

She met my eyes for one last time as the first of the three locks clicked into place. I managed to spark enough movement for more than a one-word question, my racing mind forcing out one of the least useful of the myriad demanding answers.

"Is Eleonora even your name?"

The expression on her face flashed with surprise that quickly morphed into amusement. To no one's shock, she didn't answer my question. Instead, she held up something small, round, and bronze.

The guards finally managed to get the door open, swarming into the room like a barbarian horde several seconds too late to capture the object of their chase.

"I'm keeping this, your highness." She jumped out the window in a flurry of fabric and hair, her final parting remark barely reaching my ears: "you can keep the shoes."