Winterfall

Theoden met me in the kitchen twenty minutes later with a clean tray and dressed head to toe in his armor. "Good, you listened."

He sighed as he washed off the tray and placed it on the drying rack. "Things have to get back to normal, don't they?"

Roland walked into the kitchen, almost pausing in his tracks, "Well, I will be damned. Maria, do I see a ghost, or is it him?"

Like I said, when I said bed-bound, I meant bed-bound. He only got up to do any rounds I let him do, as he argued with me that he had to do business as usual or his guards would get suspicious, which was fair.

"It's him."

"It's great to see you up and out of bed. When she told me you were bed-bound, I was worried."

"Is that why my portions got bigger?"

"Maybe."

Roland had started serving him almost double the food he initially consumed in fear that something terrible had happened to him. He just wanted to make sure he had all the necessary nutrients in his body. As Roland put it, food heals the soul.

"Well, that can be dialed back down. I may be able to handle a large food intake, but I gained ten pounds in a week.

"Then perhaps we should resume training," I spoke up. As I noted earlier, training was hard to come by. Ten minutes here and there with Quinn, but nothing beyond that. My ring had been fully charged for days, and my emotions had been all over the place, as usual.

"Definitely. We can meet tonight after you meet with The Council. I am sure that they will get under your skin."

I rolled my eyes, "You are not wrong there."

"I want to see what Quinn has taught you in my absence. We will do combat training tonight and magic in the morning."

"Didn't you…"

"I did, but I still want to test your strengths in person."

I knew he watched me closely, as it was really his only source of entertainment. He spent more time in my vision than in his own. Sometimes, I wondered how he could keep track of what was reality and what wasn't during his bed rest.

"Fair enough. I will meet you in the training area tonight after I deal with them. You should practice with Quinn yourself. When was the last time that you trained?"

He rolled his eyes, "Please, I'll do fine. Combat is natural to me at this point."

I didn't hesitate. I wanted to see if he still had his top-notch skills. I swung my fist quickly at his face, and to my surprise, he caught my fist mid-air. He didn't flinch. He didn't hesitate. Damn it.

"Close. But not close enough." He grinned as he held onto my fist tightly. "You've improved, though."

"Not in the kitchen, children," Roland said as he watched this scene unfold. "I don't need you breaking anything in here."

"I had you!"

"Did you?"

He held his stair on me and tightened his grip on my fist; a soft crack was heard as he broke a few of my fingers. Before I could react, he quickly mended the bones and put them back in place. "See? I still got it."

I rolled my eyes and pulled back my fist, "Yeah, we will see about that tonight. You just got lucky."

"Whatever you say, Maria." He smiled at me and reached for my arm just as quickly as I threw my punch at him and pulled me into him. He bent down and kissed my lips firmly. I hope you are ready tonight, Maria. No physical contact is a brutal punishment.

His words echoed in my mind as he deepened his kiss. I felt his hunger through the bond. Damn him. Stop. I ordered through the bond, which caused him to back off. His eyes studied my body. We can't not in here.

A week without you is too damn long.

You can wait ten or so more hours.

He rolled his eyes. "I'll see you later. The sooner I return to my office, the sooner I can get things back to normal."

He left without saying much more. I turned my focus back to Roland, "Sorry about that."

"Hmm? Sorry about what?" He smiled at me, "Don't worry about it, Maria. You know, most of us who know learn to look the other way."

"Thanks, let me help you with that."

I helped Roland finish washing and putting things away before I left. I found myself going up to my father's office, which I did a lot this past week. I hadn't seen much more past the note and the ring my father had left me, but being in his office brought back memories I had forgotten about. There are little things here and there that I should have picked up on but overlooked at the time—things I now realize that Father was trying to hint at about my future.

Things like:

"The ring will protect you." he threw that in during a random conversation about the city's districts and how they were divided into rings. I thought then he was talking about the city, but I now realize he meant the magical ring I was wearing.

Or, "He's always watching you, isn't he?" He was referencing Theo this time as he discussed Theo's guard duty. It should have clicked that he was talking about the bond, hinting that he knew.

One of my personal favorites is, "If a tree falls in the forest, do those around it hear it?" This was about a conversation about how loud some animals in the woods can be during certain activities. His little quirks and riddles were about things about my life. This quote, I honestly thought about the countless times Theo and I were trying to be stealthy and sneak around. Of course, Father knew about those times. I just hoped he was able not to see everything in those damn visions of his. I don't even want to think about him seeing me have sex with Theo.

Regardless of the flashes of memories I got in my father's office, I started to redecorate bits and pieces of it, making it feel more like my office. I figured if I was taking The Royal Head spot on The Council, it was necessary that I had my own office.

I still had a lot of work to do in his office, as a lot of work was necessary to bring it back to life. I spent a good portion of my days here now, at least when I wasn't taking care of Theo. And now that I don't have to take care of him, I can have the majority of my focus here, as I plan to take my role as Royal Head seriously.

As time passed, a familiar knock took me out of focus. "Come in, Fredrick!"

Frederick shut the door and said, "It's time to go."

"Already?"

"Yes, Princess, everyone is waiting on you. And I mean everyone."

Great. That meant Sybil was back and would be in attendance at this meeting.