Shea’s POV

Ellen ended up taking me to her room, it was much smaller than what I had expected.

She closed the door behind us, my heart started to beat a little faster for some reason. Her room, just the two of us, in the middle of the night…

“You aren’t thinking anything weird are you?”

Her stern voice pulled me away from the thoughts I was having, and I couldn’t help but blush after realizing what I was thinking in such a situation. I cleared my throat, to recollect my thoughts, but before I could even start speaking she put forth a cup of water that was about half full.

“I don’t have anything better to offer you right now”

I tried to contain a smile from forming as I noticed how her cheeks were flushed a slight pink, but it was too strong. I took the cup with both my hands and sat on her bed.

Even if her room was small she was still a noble, her bed was much softer than the ones we have in the employees' room. There was a desk filled with books and a few other possessions scattered throughout the place.

I fought my curiosity as I slowly sipped the water she gave me, she was staring intently at me. Wait a second… She never allows anyone to clean her room or see what’s inside. Does she trust me that much?

“Why do you look so happy all of a sudden…”

I gulped down the rest of the water to avoid answering her, but some of it went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing a lot.

“Wha- what’s wrong!”

She lost her composure and almost fell on top of me.

“I- I am a- alright”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, gi- give me a second”

She was looking at me anxiously while I coughed until I could breathe right again.

I gave her the cup and she put it back on top of the desk, we both stole glances at each other every once in a while but no one spoke a word.

The silence was going on for too long, I couldn’t even look at Ellen anymore, everything that had just happened was so embarrassing and I was here to ask her a favor.

What I was going to ask her wasn’t an easy thing for the both of us. Even if she acted all tough around everyone, when we were alone she smiled softly, and to help me do something so dangerous…

I took a deep breath, we couldn’t waste the whole night. I was going to start by explaining what I wanted to do, putting forward all my strength I raised my head and looked her in the eyes.

“So-”

“Wha-”

We ended up talking at the same time, she got flustered but I wouldn’t stop.

“I WANT TO RESCUE ORI MYSELF AND MAKE EVERYTHING GO BACK TO HOW IT USED TO-”

I ended up screaming it, but before I could finish my sentence and hopefully before anyone could hear it Ellen put her hands on top of my mouth.

She looked scared, and her face was so close…

It took me a few seconds to realize she was on top of me, when trying to make me quiet I fell back on the bed and we ended up in this position.

I could feel the heat from her body on mine, and could feel her heart pumping fast, or was it mine?

I felt like I would faint, but Ellen didn’t move, instead, she quietly listened to her surroundings.

I lost track of how much time we spent in that position, all I could do was try to control my breathing and not lose control of myself any more than I already had.

But what could I do when she got so close to me all of a sudden?

Her hands loosened, and she got up, fixing her dress.

Did what just happened not affect her?

Was she unbothered by being so close to me?

I felt my heart sting a bit, but looking at her as she got herself together I noticed she was blushing a bit, if it were true maybe I could feel a bit better, but it could be just my eyes playing tricks on me.

I couldn’t control my curiosity so I tried to get up and closer to her but she hid her face by looking the other way. It almost made me want to tease her.

But this was not the time to do such a thing. I needed to take action.

“Come with me”

I spoke in a low voice and grabbed her hand, I couldn’t waste any more time.

“Wait what-”

I was being a bit forceful at the beginning but she quickly started to pull her along, we were walking through the hallways I had already memorized from years of working there.

“I know an easy way out, no one is going to see us leaving”

And so I pulled her along the ghostly quiet hallways, making my way to the servant's side of the castle. No guards were patrolling most of the way.

But when we were passing by the hallway where I bumped into her earlier, passing by those same statues I heard steps, strong steps followed by the sound of metal clunking, a guard?

I suddenly pulled Ellen along with me behind one of the bigger statues and pulled her close to me, she understood the situation and we stood there quietly and hide from the incoming guards and listened to their conversation.  

“… will leave as soon as the sunrises by the north gate, and we should… ”

They were going to the north? But the witch flew to the south, what were they planning?

 My brain was working at full capacity trying to understand what they were doing, but my concentration was interrupted by Ellen.

“Yo- you can le- let go of me now…”

I didn’t notice how tightly I was holding her. It was hard to see anything clearly due to how faint the lighting was, but she looked as red as a tomato…

“Are yo-”

She pulled away from me suddenly but didn’t let go of my hand.

“Let’s just go”

She looked down, it wasn’t the best time to delve into this any further, so I continued to pull her along as we made our way through the castle.

topoko

Tomorrow April 26th it's gonna make a whole year since I started writing, I didn't write much to be honest, but the support I received from everyone has been amazing, and it is the only reason I have been writing for so long.

So I want to say my thanks to everyone that read my previous work and also thanks to everyone that is reading this one. Your favorites and comments always make my day a little bit better. 

On another note, it has been a while since the last chapter huh... I am sorry about that... Anyways, thanks for reading and hope see you on the next one!