Always Anyways...

I am unsure of how long I remained in the room alone, blessfully undisturbed. The fire was mere embers and the tiny window had long gone dark when I heard a rattle at the door's lock. I quickly lifted my head to see a shadow lining the doorway. Luckily it was Taggart with a lantern in his hand and what smelled like a bowl of food. He set down the lantern so he could lock the door before heading straight for the fire. He quickly stirred the embers before placing more logs on top. It took some stirring, but eventually they caught, finally filling the room with some firelight. He looked down at me, before handing me the bowl. "Here...you should eat." I took the bowl obligingly, taking the spoon and stirring it slightly. It was little more then watery weak stew with a piece of tough old bread, but the smell awoke my stomach as it started to growl.

Taggart continued to tend to the fire before sitting down in the only chair in the room. "I left you logs for the fire." I blinked back up at him, my cheeks still tear stained. "Why have you brought me here Taggart?" He blinked back at me, unmoving as always. "I needed to bring you somewhere safe." I pulled at my restraints, clanging the ring against the stone, "I am safe...as a prisoner??" He sighed before reaching for his belt and drawing out a dagger, "You have to promise me, not to run away. If you run away it will be worse." He took hold of my wrists and drew me close to him, "Promise me Jane." I looked back into his eyes, and I could not read the look that was there. He was like a stranger to me now, yet oddly there was still a part of me that trusted him. I was beginning to think that perhaps I was just being a foolish girl. "Why do you call me Jane now? Am I no longer your Princess?" He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at me, "My loyalties are not so unwavering." I continued to press him, "Yet you have me bound as your prisoner. Why will you not take me home?" He released my wrists, but placed the dagger back in his belt, leaving me so entangled, "I have already answered you that. I brought you somewhere safe." Still I pursued my answers from the man of few words, "Yet I am here, trapped under your doing!" He stood up somewhat abruptly, "Yes, Yes indeed you are. Alaric believes that what you catch you claim. So I have claimed you." He said when an unusual level of frustration in his voice. Then I watched as he reached for his sword belt, and began to unclasp the buckle. I felt a wash of cold rush over my skin, "Taggart...." I murmured in a mix of fear and pleading. He removed his belt, placing his sword near the fireplace before kneeling down before me. When he reached for me, I shifted away in fear but instead all he did was pick up the bowl of stew, "You need to eat. This is not a castle. This is all you will have until tomorrow." He put the spoon into the mixture before holding it to my lips. I looked at him directly before taking the mouthful. Taggart continued to feed me, perhaps as a way to keep my from asking questions.

Once the bowl was empty, he placed it down and without hesitation lifted me up on his arms. I grabbed onto his tunic, unsure of his motives, but he carefully laid me down in the tiny bed before placing his cloak over top of me. "I will watch over you tonight, so sleep my stubborn Princess." He smiled in the quickest of flashes before turning away from me to sit at the fire. My brother's man, this rogue with mysterious ways, who somehow sees me safer in the hands of captives is my sole protection. I do not know what dangerous game he is playing, and what role I have in all of it. All I know is that tonight I have a warm room, a tiny straw bed and a incredibly impossible but loyal man watching over me. As I closed my eyes, I wished for Nicolito to come bursting through, his gilded armour shining to my rescue. But somehow I thought all that was happening was far bigger then I could realize. All I wanted was to go back home, wherever that still was.