Astrid

This room is empty.

The more the twilight settles, the more the flowers and silky sheets and intricate designs carved into the furniture blend into the darkness.

My stomach growls, but I cannot bring myself to move anything but my forefinger as it traces unintelligible signs on the wooden floor. For some time, a sharp pain lingers in my abdomen, but it subsides a little after I determinedly ignore the knocks and gentle voices outside my door.

All I can think of is my father. And my life – the end of it as I know it.

When I wake, it is because the sunlight has intruded upon my face through the blinds I did not pull. I stretch my numb limbs and pick myself up.

My feet only make it to the bed. I pick the petals off the sheets, one by one, before I crawl onto the mattress. It sinks beneath my weight, soft and relenting.

I read the book I brought from home for a while. I read for hours, because it distracts me from the stabbing hunger. When the sky grows dark again, my eyelids grow heavy. I do not remember where the words in the book end and when my dreamless sleep begins.

Kieran

“Does she plan to starve herself to death?”

Imogen’s gaze trails away from Bayorn to me as I pace restlessly up and down one of the kitchens. It is another new morning, and still the girl upstairs persists on her rebellion.

“I am afraid so,” Imogen says gravely.

They all watch me pace some more. Nervous silence befalls the room, interrupted only by the sound of my bare soles sliding against the floor and Eli’s noisy chewing. I can tell my irritation unnerves them all, but I cannot help it.

“Shall…shall we just send some food up to the poor girl’s room?” Imogen offers meekly.

“No!” I snap. She flinches at the sudden volume my voice has taken.

I suck in a deep breath and try to regain my cool.

“She will come down soon enough,” I say, forcing a new calm into my tone.

Bayorn folds his arms across the table from the boy. “Perhaps she might. And then she will only flee to her chambers again. If I may, it would be wiser to give her a purpose in this place. Perhaps it may convince her of her safety in the meantime.”

Imogen nods. “You mentioned having met her previously, sire. Is there anything you know she likes?”

My feet halt in their tracks. I try to recall our past, brief conversations.

Besides her opinions on the book she read to me, there is not much else she’d volunteered about her person. She was probably being careful enough not to reveal private information to a mere stranger. Which is smart, I guess.

“She…likes to read?” I offer uncertainly.

Out of the corner of my eye, Eli scrunches his nose in silent disapproval at my lack of knowledge.

Imogen and Bayorn exchange a glance.

“Then showing her the library might be a start,” Bayorn shrugs.

“Sure,” I say. “If she doesn’t collapse from hunger before then.”