The Spare To The Throne

Chapter 9: Escape

I sat on a chair behind my bronze colored dresser and stared at Alice's reflection through the mirror in front of me. She was currently brushing through my curls. It was a beautiful clear morning and everything felt peaceful. It's been three days since Romeo left and today was the day I planned on leaving. Alice hummed a tune quietly as she continued to caress my hair softly.

She sighed, causing me to look up. "You know,"she says. "I never really understood why Romeo brought you here. But with these past few days, its become clear."

I furrow my brows but remain silent.

"He doesn't really bring girls over here," she continues. "Or at least no girls he's ever brought has ever stayed this long."

I purse my lips. "Typical. So he's one of those guys." I bite my lip as a feeling of sadness suddenly comes over me. "I don't know why I'm even surprised." I roll know my eyes not knowing why I'm even feeling this way. Romeo was dangerous, still is. I could never be around someone like that.  Lord knows what he even does for a living. I thought back to how the police officers had saluted him rather than arresting him during the attack at Wellington Corp. My bet is he's a drug lord, or maybe something even worse.

Alice stopped brushing my hair and gave me a look through the mirror. "Oh no dear, that's not what I meant." She placed the brush down on the dresser table. "Forget it. Romeo is different. He's not like that."

"Like what?" I ask.

She waved me off as she walked over to my closet that was now full of clothes. According to her,  Romeo had ordered Alice to go clothes shopping for me which resulted in my closet to now look like a shopping mall. "Oh you know exactly what I mean. He's not one of those play boys as you Americans say it, right?"

I give her a quizzical look. As you Americans say it? I chuckled, getting up and walking over to the bed. A part of me felt bad knowing I would be leaving Alice. It seems like she really enjoyed the company of another female around here.

A few minutes pass of neither of us talking. The only thing audible was the shuffling and moving around of clothes and hangers in the closet.

"He told me he's a man that keeps his promises," I said, breaking the silence. "A man of his word."

The shuffling of clothes stop and suddenly Alice pokes her head out of the closet. She stares at me long and hard as if I was some kind of difficult riddle she couldn't figure out. She steps out of the closet and walks towards me.

"Well," I can't argue with that. "He truly is a man of his word."

I look down at my lap. "It's the reason why he won't let me leave. I don't understand it though, what does it even mean?"

"Do you want to leave?" Alice asked, her voice strained and somewhat hurt.

I couldn't bring my gaze to meet hers.

"If Romeo brought you here for a reason, then it's probably best if you stay,' she smiles. "But no one can stop you from doing what your heart desires." she stops. "Except for him."

She whispered the last part under her breath, and if I hadn't been listening  so intently, I would've missed it.

"Anyway!" she exclaimed, walking back into the closet. "I can't tell you what it means because I don't know what promise he made to you."

I lean back on the bed and close my eyes, ignoring Alice's rants about Edwin's love for her homemade butter pecan pies. For the rest of the day, I spent my hours in Romeo's library reading the book I had found a couple days ago. The new found book kept my mind busy. The story kept me entertained, while being cooped up in the house. I flipped the page, ready to embark on chapter 13, where Ella, the protagonist in the story, get kidnapped by one of her father's enemies which happens to be a young boy that ed up taking an interest in Ella. Ella knows she has no feelings for her kidnapper, but whenever he's around her, she can't but get this feeling of want inside her.