Red

Four.

The prince stood before me. The literal prince, the son of the king and queen. He stood with me in the cabin deep within the woods offering to rebandage my shoulder.

"It seems that those titles don't even leave me here at times." He smiled at me as he came over and I backed up. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I wouldn't hurt you right now." He watched me with a smile.

"Where am I?" I asked and he looked out the window.

"Where do you think you are?" He asked as he came over.

I looked back out the singular window. Then I looked back over at the prince. "We are in the forest." I murmured and the prince nodded.

"Yes, we are. You're at one of the cabins." The prince smiled as he looked around the room. "You are actually in my room. This is the main cabin we have." The prince smiled.

"We?" I asked. 

He smiled. "Yes, we. I'm assuming you met Lyell. He was supposed to be in here, but it seems he's not." The prince looked back at me as he motioned for me to sit down on the bed. I sat down on the bed as the prince went over to where he had his own bathroom.

He came back out with a wooden box which he set down. "Can you remove your cloak?" He asked and I nodded as I moved it off and set it down next to me. 

He moved my dress and took off the bandages and set it down. I glanced over and looked away right after. 

On my collarbone sat a nasty bite mark. The wolf from last night had attacked me there leaving a bite. The entire imprint of its jaw sat there. "They aren't deep enough to require stitches if you're wondering." He said as he cleaned it off making me jolt away from him.

He grabbed my shoulders and brought me back over. Then he bandaged my shoulder with bandages from the wooden box. I sat there silently as he bandaged my shoulder.

"There, it's all bandaged." He said pulling back.

I looked up at him as he gave me a smile. "I don't have any clothes for girls, but I can let you wear some of mine until I get you some." He told me and I watched him.

"Why am I here?" I asked and he looked up.

"Do you not remember?" He asked.

"Remember what?" I asked.

"Last night. You were there. I mean I could understand if it were frightening and you don't want to remember. But you were one of the sacrifices last night. Why wouldn't you be here?" He asked.

"I'm supposed to be dead." I said.

"But you aren't. We don't like killing females." He said and I watched him unsure.

"We?" I asked.

"I keep forgetting that you guys from the village don't know." He said.

"You're from the village as well." I stated and he smiled. 

"My family isn't like you," He started.

"The king and queen are here?" I asked.

"No Ruby, they aren't here. Those aren't my parents." He said with a small smile as he looked up at me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"The king won't talk about it much, but I'm not theirs. I'm adopted." He said with a smile. I stared at him put into silence by that.

"Lyell is my brother. The people here are my real family. It's a complicated story for another time. But right now, you should just rest." He backed off as I watched him.