Light Eyes; DarK Eyes

Two days later, he was still asleep. After the first day, she moved him to her bedroom, so that she could use her study privately. After all, she used her bedroom only for sleeping. And the gods knew that her bed was far too big for four people, much less one. Aurora realized it was a bit of a risky thing to do, but she didn’t expect him to wake within another three days anyway. She would be rather surprised if he did.

On the third night, she climbed into the other side of the gigantic bed and was asleep immediately. The reason behind her exhaustion was that the remains of a troop had come into the city in terrible shape; and being one of the strongest magic users in the city, Aurora had helped heal them. She thanked the gods that none of them were as singularly injured as the Darric that was currently sleeping off three days of iron in her room.
After that, she had to go and explain to her father why he was sleeping off three days of iron in her room. It was fortunate that her father had always said that experience was the best teacher. This particular bought of learning seriously tried this philosophy. He loved his daughter, after all. But she had insisted that she knew what she was doing, so he allowed it…with a few limits, of course. The Darric’s magic had to be bound immediately. Other than that, she could pretty much do whatever, as long as she didn’t get hurt and as long as he didn’t hurt anyone. Aurora agreed.
Going to her room, she used the remains of her magic to create a bind. A thin collar formed, and she slipped it around his neck, trying to avoid the bruises, before she crawled onto the other side of the bed, and was asleep before her head touched the pillow.
It was after midnight when she was woken up by a gentle hand on her shoulder. Dark eyes met her own light ones, making her jump. A dagger materialized from beneath her pillow, and directed itself at his jugular. The man moved his hands, leaving them where she could see them, and raised his chin, showing he meant no harm by giving her a clear shot at his throat.
“Easy. I’m not going to hurt you.” He stated soothingly. “You had a…nighttime visitor.” he asked, indicating a person lying on the floor. It was the young messenger from a few days ago. “I rather thought you liked living, so I knocked him out,” he added. She blinked, and climbed out of bed, leaving the dagger on the bedside table. Once again, he truly astounded her. Not only was he awake, but standing and apparently taking out assassins as well.
She realized suddenly how stupid she’d been, and whirled around. He was leaning on the closest wall, pointedly ignoring the dagger on the table.
“I told you, I’m not going to hurt you. It would be kind of counter-intuitive at this point.” Aurora relaxed a bit, and nudged the unconscious man onto his back with her foot. Something wasn’t right…his aura was wrong…he had been under outside control.
“He wasn’t himself, was he?” the Darric said, walking over, to crouch on the man’s other side. “I wasn’t sure. I’m no expert on Celestine mind control, and it doesn’t look Darric…whoever did this is strong, and uses foreign magic, I think. I, personally have no gift for mind control.” He said, answering an unspoken question blandly.
It appeared he had noticed the bind around his throat. Trying to gauge how much magic he could use, he attempted to form a ball of it in his hand. It flickered, and died after a moment. He smirked humorlessly. He hated magic binds.
“Wonderful…” he looked at the Princess, who was watching him like he had grown another head. “Have I got something on my face?” he questioned, an eyebrow disappearing into his long hair.
“How are you even awake?” she asked in shock.
“Am I not supposed to be?” He answered her question with another question. The princess shook her head vigorously.
“Three days in iron shackles would have killed any other prisoner…I expected you to be unconscious for at least a week.” She informed him. He looked mildly surprised.
“How long have I been out?” He inquired.
“Three days.”
“Oh. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel like I’ve been run over by an elephant….with spikes on its feet.” He said, standing up from his crouch a bit unsteadily. “Three days…yeah, I guess that’s about right.” He muttered, not intending to be heard. She looked inquiringly at the Darric.
“What do you mean?”
He glanced warily at her, trying to judge how much he could tell her. “Iron doesn’t affect people of my…bloodline…as strongly as it does others.” He told her hesitantly, after a moment. His eyes narrowed, as though daring her to tell someone. The room was silent for a while, the silence both speculative and uncomfortable.
“Why didn’t you let him assassinate me?” Aurora asked, unsuccessful at breaking the oppressive feeling in the room.
“Because; first of all, I’d be blamed, and I rather like my head where it is. Second of all, it seemed a poor way to repay you for your healing me.” He looked at her sideways. “I assume it was you, because I don’t know of anyone else that would bother… and…nah, never mind.” He stopped the thought. It instantly grated against her curiosity, which was already whetted by this odd man.
“And…?” she prompted. He looked at her, an eyebrow arched.
“Curiosity killed the cat, Princess.” He chided. Completely unabashed, she continued to stare at him. He sighed. “Let me guess, I’ll get no peace from you until I tell you, right? Not that I’m likely to get any peace anyway…” Aurora smiled grimly and nodded, agreeing with his first statement. He observed her face for a minute, drawing out the seconds. “Fine…I had a sister your age. You are…quite similar. It rubs me completely the wrong way to stand by and let a girl the same age as her die in front of me when I can prevent it.” He admitted to the ceiling.
“Oh…” was all the princess could think to say. If it had been her in that situation, she would not have told anyone…the Darric was very trusting. ‘If course he is,’ she told herself. ‘He just told you that he reminded you of his sister’. Something occurred to her.
“You had a sister?” She asked without thinking.
“She died.” He said shortly, with an undercurrent to his voice.
“I—I’m sorry.” Aurora said, mentally hitting herself for asking.
“You didn’t kill her.” He said, having not expected that. “I have no grudge against you.” He said barely emphasizing ‘you’. Aurora caught the emphasis, though, and knew that he had cared deeply about his sister. She almost felt sorry for whoever had killed his sister, because they were going to die, if he ever got his hands on them. She could tell just by looking at him. It suddenly struck her. She still didn’t know his name.
“Um,” She said, not sure how to ask. Names were powerful, and in certain hands, they could be turned against their owners, and used to force them into dangerous situations.
“More questions?” He kidded, “Well, go on. I’ll likely answer you.”
“Err, your name.” She said, looking sheepish. He glanced at her. “Or, a name, at least.” She amended quickly.
“My name is Aiden.” He told her. Well, there was another check for the book of surprises. No hesitation and he hadn’t given himself enough time to think up another name, so logically it was his real name. She cast her memory back for any princes named Aiden…
“You won’t have heard of me.” He’d grown more than used to people trying to remember if they had heard his name after a ‘Your Majesty’. “I’m illegitimate.” Aiden told her, unconcerned about her reaction. “I’m not the most popular person to be seen with.”
“Oh.” The messenger stirred. A blow to the side of his head sent him back to dreamland. Aiden looked back at her.
“What would you like to do with him?” he asked. “I mean, I can stick him in the closet, if you like…” He said with a shrug. She laughed, relaxing a bit. Aurora had jumped almost a foot in the air when he moved.
“My father will probably want to see him…” she said, more to herself than to him. She stooped, to grab the unconscious man’s arm, preparing to take him to her father. Aiden stepped forward.
“Here.” He took the man, picking him up easily. “I’ll take him, you lead.”