Chain Mail and Butterfly Wings

Angeline’s Point Of View

I was staring at the mop and bucket sitting outside of the cellblocks of the prison wing. I would need to go in there eventually, and I intended to, of course. However I just needed a few moments to prepare myself. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Surely Aiden would try to talk to me again, but would I comply with any requests to talk? Or would I ignore him? I hadn’t made up my mind yet.

I touched the mop handle lightly just as one of my fellow guards waltzed into the room. He looked thoroughly unhappy to be down with the prisoners, as most of the guards seemed to be. “Angeline?”

“Yes?” I inquired, with a raised eyebrow.

“General Darren has ordered that you don’t go into the cellblocks, I’ll be taking over your duties. You’ll be on patrol of the outer perimeter of the eastern wall,” he informed me, each word rolling off of his tongue like it was covered in poison. Obviously he would have preferred to be on patrol.

“I see…understood,” I affirmed and moved away from the door to the cellblock. “I’ll go immediately.”

The guard grunted a response and then added before I left, “Pick up a weapon before you go, that baton won’t help you.”

I hesitated, considered making snide remark, but thought better of it. “Right,” I said dryly, and ducked out of the room.

Under any other circumstances, I would have been completely thrilled to be on patrol. To be out away from the prisoners and the stench of the cells, and have fresh air in my lungs. It would be a dream come true, to actually be doing real guards work. But, knowing that I was only sent away from my usual work space to be kept away from Aiden was…infuriating. If I was going to go on patrol, I wanted to feel like I had earned the right to do so, not because I was some fragile person that needed to be kept away from the big bad prisoner.

Regardless of my mind ramblings, I trudged to the armory and picked up a short sword and a sheath, strapped the two to my waist and continued on my way to the eastern wall. Patrol would be boring, more than likely, but I would be vigilant, and attempt not to think about Aiden while I kept watch. Although I considered ways to convince General Darren to let me tend to the cellblocks again, something I never thought I would have to do.

___________________________________

After five hours of patrol, I came to realize that the eastern wall must have been the most boring portion of the castle. Not even wildlife seemed to dare come near the eastern wall. I even began to hope for a servant to scurry by, so I wouldn’t feel like I’d fallen into a universe void of life, although it never happened.

That was when another guard came to relieve me of my patrol duties and I was thankful. He informed me that I could return to my room and rest until I was ordered to meet with the General in four hours. So I left the eastern wall and returned to my room, in a slight daze. I was tired too. Perhaps due to the late hour, and maybe it had something to do with the fact that I basically paced back and forth on a wall waiting for nothing to happen for six hours straight.

I collapsed onto my bed, face first into my pillow. Regrettably, I didn’t just drift off into a blissful sleep with dreams reaching out to catch my unconscious mind. Instead, Aiden’s image leapt to meet the back of my eyelids. His eyes boring into mine from behind bars, his blond hair creating a dark veil across his otherwise pleasant face. I jolted upward and clenched my teeth as I rubbed my eyes. I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else as long as he was there at the castle.

Maybe I would go and talk to him…

Despite anything that I felt for him, and any way that I tried to hide those feelings, I wanted to see him again. He was my friend if nothing else, if he even wished to be that anymore. I tried to keep that thought from my mind. Even though it hurt to think about it, I would have to let my guard down around Aiden. I couldn’t keep shutting him out while simultaneously trying to listen to him. If nothing else, I had to get him out of that cell and help him escape. Whether I would get banished or executed didn’t really matter at that point, because living a life without Aiden was turning out to be much harder than I had even dreamed.

My mind buzzed with a resolution to move myself in the direction of the prison wing. So I stood up and left my room, vaguely realizing where my feet were carrying me. I didn’t want to think about what Aiden might have had to say, I didn’t want to think that he hated me. But I did want to see him, because even though I tried not to, I still loved him and I couldn’t keep myself from missing him.

As I descended into the room just before the cellblocks, I came across a guard that I’d never met. Luck was on my side. He jumped as I entered the room and gave me a sharp once over before asking, “What’s your business here?”

“I’m here to take over,” I informed him.

The man looked like he was considering questioning me further, but exhaled deeply and then nodded. “Alright, good. Nice to get away from this smell early,” he said in a disgruntled tone.

I laughed a little, a half-hearted sound, but said nothing else as he exited the room as quickly as I had seen any guard with a weak stomach move.

I stood in front of the door that led into the cellblock and took one deep breath to prepare myself, and then pushed the door inward, walking into the narrow stone aisle. Even as I walked my brain was reeling and trying to come up with something to prepare me for what ever was to come. However, my mind stayed blank, driving me forward on one thought alone, and that thought was that I wanted to see Aiden again. With that blind tugging feeling, I walked straight to Aiden’s cell door and stopped, squinting in between the bars, the dim torchlight cast my shadow into the darkness of the cell.

There was no movement within the cell, which worried me to some degree. Had they moved him without telling me? Had he already been executed? Perhaps he had already escaped? The questions bubbled to the surface of my mind and I swallowed the lump in my throat. Only one way to find out. “Aiden…?” I called in a small voice, letting the whisper carry across the stone walls.

Something shuffled deeper inside the cell, and then a form lumbered out of the darkness. A very groggy looking Aiden blinked against the firelight that poured down the middle of the line of cells. An emotion bubbled to the surface of my subconscious and I managed to pull a barely-there smile from somewhere inside me. Only Aiden would be able to sleep while being stuffed into a cell and possibly awaiting death.

A moment passed, where I was holding my breath and Aiden was staring at me, something registering in his brain. He leaned against the bars, one of his hands half raised in my direction, and then reality seemed to set in and his hand fell to his side again. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his elation deflating as he let out a soft sigh.

“I’m here because…you’re here,” I replied quietly, recalling the words as he had used them on me.

He gave me a skeptical side glance. “What does that mean? You’re here because your hospitable general wants you here?”

I bristled at the insinuation and drew my shoulders up indignantly. “No. He doesn’t want me to see you, actually. And I’ve gone against his orders to do this, so keep the snide remarks to a minimum before I change my mind,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest.

Aiden raised his eyebrows. “Really now?”

I swallowed hard and relaxed ever-so-slightly. “Really.” Without waiting for him to continue to mock me as he had been doing currently, I asked, “Tell me the truth…why did you come here? You’re supposed to be married soon.”

Aiden watched me for a long moment, his expression hard and speculative. “I told you. I came here because of you.”

My heart slammed around inside my chest at the way he looked at me. “What about Nailah?” I inquired in a whisper, afraid to hear the answer.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. “She…she’ll understand, I’m sure. And if not…well she’s young, and has more suitable suitors following her around.” Aiden shrugged his shoulders and gripped the bars in front of him with both hands.

I could feel my face flush at his words. Was he saying that he had left Nailah? To come to find me, and forget the part where he would die if he followed me? It was insane, and stupid and…I couldn’t imagine myself loving him more.

“Now tell me the truth,” Aiden spoke quietly, his eyes boring into mine, “what are you doing here now? If you were ordered to stay away…you don’t strike me as the type to disobey orders.” His eyes flashed in amusement when I bit my lip and looked down at the ground.

“Because…I can’t stay away from you,” I admitted, finding the words much easier to say when I wasn’t looking directly at him.

“Why? I thought I never cared about you?” Aiden threw the words back at me and I flinched as if he’d struck me.

I jerked my gaze back to his. “That’s not fair,” I snapped at him, my eyes narrowed in a glare. But he was smiling, his eyes moving over my face as if he were finally seeing me after years of being away. “I wanted you to leave. I didn’t want you to sit around here being an idiot and waiting for your meeting with the gallows.”

“You didn’t think I had a plan?” Aiden inquired, heaving a sigh and sitting down in front of the cell door.

I snorted. “No. You never do.”

Aiden looked up from his hands and grinned up at me. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

“You should probably go…before they decide what to do to you,” I said on a change of topic. My mind had traveled to darker things in the silence that had expanded between us.

A short bark of laughter left him. “I’m not going anywhere until they find me innocent, or until you’re leaving with me,” Aiden explained, stretching lazily.

I took several steps closer to him and took a deep breath, preparing to yell at him if I had to. “You’re being stupid. Can you take anything seriously? If you stay here and they don’t find you innocent, then they’re going to kill you,” I stated in a rush of breath, my brow furrowed in frustration. “And I don’t want that. I want…” I trailed off, suddenly realizing how foolish I sounded trying to explain myself.

Aiden pulled himself to his feet and leaned into the bars of his cell again. “What do you want Angel? Just tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

My heart started working double time, pounding in my chest so hard I thought it might knock my ribs loose. The answer was easy: I wanted him. I wanted to be with him, I wanted to love him without feeling guilty, and I wanted him to love me as much as I loved him. When I opened my mouth though, the words caught in my throat. I could feel myself tearing up, the back of my throat aching with the words I couldn’t bring myself to say. “I-I c-can’t,” I stammered, turning my head to the side as tears rolled down my cheeks.

There was a soft tug on the sleeve of my shirt, directing me toward Aiden. I hadn’t realized I had moved so close to him until I had stumbled willingly into his embrace. I welcomed the warmth I felt when I was folded in his arms, the way that I seemed to fit perfectly there. A sob finally escaped me and I buried my face in the hollow of his neck, reveling in the simplicity of being in his arms. Aiden whispered reassurances to me, his hand stroking my hair in a soothing manner. It was the safest I had felt in weeks and it was where I felt like I had always belonged.

“I love you, Angel. I always have. From the first time I saw you in this place,” Aiden murmured to me, his arms still encircling my body.

His words only caused me to sob harder. It was actually happening. I had been wallowing in self pity and depression and hating Aiden for what had felt like so long. And yet now, none of that mattered, it was all irrelevant and all of it was leading up to that exact moment. The iron bars lodged between us wasn’t something I had imagined being present, but they were hardly a hindrance.

I pulled myself together as much as I could, willing myself to stop crying like a ridiculous child. When I felt that I had enough control over myself, I pulled away from Aiden slightly so that I could look into his beautiful amber eyes. This was what I had wanted, the whole time I had been missing Aiden, I had just wanted him to be there with me. “Do you remember…when I first met you. And you were going to leave me in the middle of no where?” I asked quietly, my eyes absently trailing along the contours of his face.

Aiden blinked, seeming to recall the moment from the deepest recesses of his mind. “Well, yeah, but I didn’t really leave you there,” he defended with a small laugh.

I smiled at him, happy to hear him laugh, not matter how small the sound. “You said I was going to fall head-over-heels in love with you, before you tried to leave.” Aiden’s smile was wary, wondering where I was going with this memory. I leaned my forehead against the bars and Aiden did the same, desperate to be as close as humanly possible. There was only a centimeter between us, our breath danced and mingled in the small space between our lips. I could feel my face heat up in the slightest embarrassment, but I didn’t pull back.

“Yes. I remember,” Aiden murmured, his breath tickling my face.

“Well, you were right,” I whispered in response and closed the small distance between our lips, pressing mine softly to his, uncertainly. There was only a brief moment in which Aiden didn’t react, the initial shock of the contact between us still setting in. Then his lips moved beneath mine, deepening the kiss carefully, as if he might scare me away otherwise. Our lips fit perfectly together, moving as if they were made only to meet with each other. And then we pulled away at the same moment, both breathing quickly from the intensity of the moment.

Aiden quirked a smile in my direction and with a glint in his eyes he said, “So, I got your first kiss anyway.”

I giggled breathlessly and nodded once. “I guess you did. On my terms though,” I replied cheekily.

“Somehow, I think I can live with that,” Aiden said and leaned forward, placing another soft kiss on my lips. My mouth still tingled from the contact even as he pulled away, as if a jolt of electricity had been sent through them.

Unfortunately, reality came rushing back to me, and pushed the simple joy of being kissed away from me. Aiden was in a prison cell, of which was successfully keeping us apart to a certain degree. Seeming to notice my sudden change in expression, Aiden frowned. “What is it?” he asked quietly, his arms tightening protectively around me on instinct.

“You’re still waiting to be pardoned…if you get pardoned at all,” I said, voicing my inner turmoil.

“Oh, is that it?” Aiden asked with a small laugh, his eyes dancing in amusement.

“What do you mean ‘is that it’?” I snapped, glaring into his lovely amber-colored eyes. How could he take his own death sentence so lightly? He didn’t even have a way to escape if his master plan went awry. “We need to get you out of here. Tonight,” I stated evenly, my mind whirring with possible escape routes.

That was when Aiden hugged me gently, and then pulled away, releasing me from his grasp. The air in the prison wing felt suddenly cool with the absence of his arms around me. I stared at him in wonderment and he just continued to smile. “I’d like to leave your hometown on good terms, Angel. Even if there isn’t much here for you, I’d rather make it possible for you to come back if you want to,” Aiden said as an explanation. Before I could object, he held his hand up and continued, “If they somehow decide I’m still guilty and plan on executing me, then I’ll escape when the opportunity presents itself. Until then though…If you need me, you know where to find me.”

It was like he had taken my heart in his fist and squeezed it until it ached. He was being reckless, and putting so much on the line for me, and yet I hadn’t done anything for him. I hadn’t given up anything, I hadn’t put my life in danger, and I hadn’t changed at all to better suit his needs. All I was doing was standing around watching him do everything, which wasn’t my type of plan. “I don’t like your plan,” I informed him in a quiet tone, turning my eyes to stare at my feet.

Aiden laughed softly. “I didn’t think you would. But what are you going to do? Drag me out of my cell?” he challenged with a wicked grin on his lips.

By that challenge, I was almost tempted to do so, just to wipe that grin off of his perfectly sculpted face. However, I heard a door open just beyond the prison wing and turned my head in the direction I had come from. Someone was coming down to the cells. Whether or not they were coming to change shifts or chase me out of there, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t want to stay and find out. What if it was General Darren? I would have a hell of a time explaining to him what I was doing in the one place he had told me not to be.

I gasped suddenly, remembering quite sharply that I was supposed to be meeting with the general soon. Without knowing my thought process, Aiden said, “You should probably go now. Wouldn’t want to be caught breaking orders now, would you?”

“I’ll come back when I can,” I muttered quickly and backed away from the cell door.

“I’ll be waiting,” he replied, leaning casually against the bars of his door.

With one last smile in his direction, I hurried through the door on the opposite end of the hallway, closing it silently behind me. I found myself in a small room with a single, high window that led onto an overhang. Without hesitation, I hoisted myself up through the window and down onto the rooftop, making my way as quietly as possible across the roof and back to my own room, taking the long way through one of the many gardens.