Something Lost (Original Draft)

Chapter 40: The Gift

•If you sacrifice something for love, can it really be considered a sacrifice?•

The convincing would be harder than I thought. Alexander was a tough nut to crack, every pro I gave, he offered a con. But I was resilient, I kept at him-determined to change his mind. And finally I did. At first I was overjoyed, he had accepted my gift, but deep down I felt the hand of fear tearing away at that happiness, trying to sabotage everything I worked so hard for. Even though I had boldly declared my confidence in the spell working, I wasn't so sure that it would.

If I recited the spell properly the enchanted dagger wouldn't harm me, so there was no real need to worry, right?

A thin layer of snow blanketed the ground. The tall oaks and elms had relieved most of their browning leaves; their once thick branches looked sickly and frail as they buckled under the weight of snow and ice. I was told the winter chill would last for three to four months-if we were lucky and had a short winter. I prayed it would be, even with the beautiful view of snow, I couldn't stand the feel of the frigid wind against my ears, fingers, and nose.

On the plus side, I could now walk down the street without feeling the weight of a hidden stare watching over me, it was liberating. I hadn't won the battle just yet-I still received questioning glares from some of the higher court, but at least I was better off than I was a few days ago. And there were no hidden Knights trailing behind me everywhere I went.

I was free in a sense.

I walked into Barbra's Tavern, it was midday-few men frequented her establishment this time of the day.

It was my hopes James would be there, I had horrible luck finding him. Everywhere I searched it was the same, people had seen him leave minutes before my arrival-it was as if he anticipated my every move. But I was in luck, he was there, sitting alone in a booth that was hidden in the darkest corner of the room. In front of him sat an untouched plate of food, his eyes were lowered as he scraped his silverware across the table-carving random streaks into the polished wood.

I sat across from him, his eyes continued to follow the raking of his fork. I shifted my cloak, the white cloak he had gifted me for my birthday, which was now three days away.

"James," I said wondering if he was going to continue to ignore my presence while I spoke to him.

"What can I do for you, Lady Alanis?" he replied childishly.

"I've been looking for you," I answered watching his hands stop.

He looked up at me and retorted with a deadpan scowl, "I know."

My eyes dropped to his fork, "I gave you two days to cool down, and I gave you space, but this is ridiculous. You've been avoiding me like the plague." I stopped as he cackled. "There's no reason for you to be acting like this-like-like a child."

He leaned back, and fully absorbed the wounded stare I was giving him.

"I wrote to you, did the letter reach you?"

I had written him a letter apologizing for what happened to him. Alexander had kept his word and made sure he wasn't thrown into the dungeon that night; instead his men locked him in one of the guest suites while we finished our meeting. Regardless of his quarters, James felt betrayed. He talked to me briefly after he was released-he was full of fury. At first, it was for my safety, but when I told him I was planning on going through with the ritual that anger shifted to me. He stormed away and I hadn't seen him since-not until today.