Tiny Crown

Chapter 8

It was almost one o’clock when the pain finally disappeared. And even though the pain was gone, there was still a vaguely uncomfortable feeling. Evan hadn’t left the room opposite the living room.

Not sure what she should do, she stood up again and made her way to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t feel particularly hungry and she didn’t exactly have anything to do.

Walking around the kitchen, she realised it was clean again. There was no trace of the crumbs from their breakfast. It was odd. Out of the corner of her eye, Emilia thought that she could see something move. Turning, she realised it was just the trees outside. Feeling a little stupid, she watched the branches and leaves sway in the wind.

She stood there for a while, wishing she could stand outside, even just for a minute or two. Emilia wanted to feel the cool air on her skin and the wind messing up her hair. Feeling like she could stare out of the window forever, Emilia climbed up onto the counter and sat down. The surface was hard and not that comfortable but she could deal with it.

“What are you doing?”

Emilia flinched and turned to look at Evan. Her eyes were wide, was he going to yell at her?
“I…”
“It doesn’t look very comfortable,” he said as he walked over to the fridge. He opened the door and stared inside.
“I was looking out of the window,” she admitted quietly.
“The window?” he repeated. Evan faced her as he unwrapped his chocolate bar and shut the fridge with his shoulder.
“Well, I don’t have anything else to do.”

Evan seemed to have realised something as he stared at her for a moment.
“I didn’t realise that would be a thing,” he said before biting into his chocolate.
“Didn’t realise what would be a thing?” asked Emilia with a furrowed brow.
“All of this, really,” he said. “I didn’t exactly plan to bring you here.”
“There’s a lock on the bedroom door that would disagree with that,” she said.
“That’s been there for years,” he said quickly. Before she could think too much about it, he spoke again. “But, anyway, I… I probably should find something for you to do.”

He nodded to himself as he threw the wrapper in the bin. “What would you want to do?”
Emilia shrugged. “I… I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I could read or something. I’ve never not liked reading, unless it was for school which doesn’t really count.”
“I have a lot of books. You’re welcome to read any of them.”

Emilia’s eyebrows raised in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to say that. Evan was a strange man.

“There’s some books in the living room and more on the landing upstairs,” he said. Emilia nodded, reluctant to thank the man. He was still her kidnapper.
“Are you going back to work then?” she asked, feeling rather eager about exploring whatever books he had in his possession.
“Not yet,” he said. “I’ve been working for three hours, I need a break. Apparently, it’s unhealthy to sit down for that long too.”
“But you still do it?” asked Emilia with a small smile.
Evan smiled a little and nodded. “Yes, I still do it.”

“What is ‘work’?” asked Emilia. She knew that she might not get an answer but she was curious about how much Evan would tell her.
“I’m sure you remember that.”
“No, I mean, what is your work?”
“It depends,” he said. Emilia couldn’t tell if he was being purposefully vague or just lying to her like she had heard him lie to his brother.
“Oh,” she said. It was probably better to just leave it at that.

Emilia ended up picking up a fantasy book from the shelf in the living room. She hadn’t heard of it before but it sounded interesting with two neighbouring kingdoms at war. She sipped the water again before getting comfortable on the couch and reading the book.

Several hours later, Evan left his office and stood in the doorway to the living room.
“What food do you want?” he asked.
Emilia looked up from her book at him and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Is chicken alright?” he asked. Emilia hummed and then nodded. “I’ll order us something chicken from somewhere.”

Emilia couldn’t help but smile at him and Evan smiled back. As soon as he disappeared from view, she realised she was smiling and it immediately morphed into a frown. She shouldn’t be smiling at him. She was stuck here, he had trapped her here. She shouldn’t be smiling, not at him.

With a sigh, Emilia looked back at the book. She had reached a part where the King was holding court. Except, it wasn’t like the medieval court she thought it would be, it was closer to a modern day court with a judge and a jury. A young woman was trying to convince the king that a man was innocent of some of the murders he had been accused of.

Now that Evan had left the room, which Emilia presumed was an office, Emilia decided to put the book away. She would never remember the page number, she was never good at that, and she didn’t want to ask for a bookmark so she supposed she’d have to fold the page corner. It wasn’t like Evan would be able to know anyway. Folding the top right corner of page 159, Emilia put the book away.

Grabbing the almost empty bottle of water, Emilia headed to the kitchen. Evan was leaning against a kitchen counter, tapping and scrolling through his phone. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Emilia.
“Are you alright with fries and stuff?”
“Sure,” she said slowly. He just nodded. Emilia finished the last of the water in the bottle. “What do I do with the empty bottle?”

Evan turned to look at her properly. He held his hand out and Emilia handed him the bottle. He muttered a thanks before opening a cupboard underneath the sink. It had a plastic tub with a few other empty bottles and cans in it. He threw the bottle into the tub before shutting the cupboard door. After moving back to where he was standing, he unlocked his phone and continued tapping on it.

Less than a minute later, Evan spoke. “Food should be here in about half an hour.”

Emilia decided not to ask him about his cracked phone.