Ella woke in a panic early one morning, jarred out of sleep by light and a loud whisper.
"Ella, wake up." Erik asked, fully clothed and standing next to her bed. His amber eyes flickered in the candlelight, and she pulled the light coverlet around her quickly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked worriedly, searching for some clue of the present danger.
He crouched down beside the bed, his eyes strangely light and his voice rushed. "Would you like to leave the palace for the day?"
Ella was confused.
"What are you talking about? Has the Sultana come for me?"
He sighed in frustration, one hand raking back his black hair. It stood raggedly on end, adding to the odd early morning scene. He repeated slowly, "Would you like to leave the palace for the day? If you would like to come, I will take you with me to see the new palace, and the bluffs beyond. But we have to leave now – I don't want the Sultana to know." He frowned, evidently unimpressed by her silent, gaping stare. ""Do you want to come or not?"
A few hours out of this cage? "Yes," she replied hurriedly, "I'm coming."
He nodded, satisfied. "Wear something you can walk in."
They crept out of the palace along back halls and staircases Ella had never known existed, much less seen. At one point they slipped through the Sultana's court itself, feet away from her gilded thrown and silk cushions yet concealed behind an elaborately carved false wall. Ella followed him silently out of the palace and down to the stables, feeling uneasy and giddy with the strange journey. She hid in the shadows near the stable yard while Erik slipped the stable boy a good sum of money, and returned with a large black horse hitched to a small cart.
"Are you sure he is safe?" she whispered nervously, eyeing the horse as it danced impatiently, pulling against the harness in irritation.
"It will be fine – he just hates cartwork, so we are not in for any favors. He's mine, and he's really almost exclusively for riding."
He was right – the horse jostled and bounced the cart at every opportunity, seeming to feel that if he was forced to pull it against his will, the least he could do was to make the ride as unpleasant to everyone else as it was to him. Erik's driving style hardly helped - he let the horse careen across the uneven road at a brisk canter.
"Here we are," he announced finally, jumping down from the cart easily. Ella climbed
down, gratefully stretching sore muscles as she walked up to the great marble steps of the palace. In the blue light of the early morning, the marble was cool and serene against the warm sands surrounding it, set off like a jewel by a frame of lush gardens and the stark outline of the mountains in the distance.
"The grand drive will be here," Erik stated, gesturing at a length of the dusty road they had stopped on. "In here," he continued, moving aside the elaborately carved wooden door, "Is the main entrance. The offices of state are will be in the wing to the left, the shah's quarters to the right, and the harem will be beyond the door you see there."
The stonework was beautiful – delicate fretwork tracing intricate patterns across columned doorways, honeycombed ceilings, and grand staircases floating upwards without any seeming support. He pointed out the support beams, describing the careful math and measurements that went into each piece to ensure that the extravagant designs would hold.
"Here is my favorite part," he said abruptly, and led her down a hallway and into an open courtyard in the center of the palace. Carving decorated the stone porches like lace, echoing the delicate vines and flowers starting to grow within the plantings. "I wanted to it echo the Alhambra palace, in Spain, which is known for its beautiful gardens."
Ella, who admittedly knew nothing of architecture, felt that it was grander than anything she had ever seen – a secret oasis, a cool and peaceful haven from the dust and heat outside its thick walls. It's like a dream…
After a while she realized that Erik was shifting from foot to foot, waiting, with growing impatience, for a response.
"It is amazing – it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," she confessed truthfully.
He looked away from her quickly, and was silent for a moment. "I will show you the second floor."
He took her through the entire length of the palace, from the high towers to the pit of the cellars, in and out of the hidden passages the traced between. It was a maze – a secret puzzle, a separate life concealed inside the solid-seaming walls and pillars.
He seemed different here – lighter and comfortable in this kingdom from his imagination. The bitterness seemed to melt away from his voice, and Ella watched him as he animatedly described the different components of the building, pointed out the particularly difficult areas, the ones that had turned out better than expected, and the hidden flaws that irritated him which she never would have seen. The court, the Sultana, the bargain seemed to fade in this pretty world, and she let them slip away under flow of his voice and the rush of this small escape.
A horse rode up with a great clattering across the main drive, unexpectedly breaking the early morning silence and shocking her back to reality. Erik tensed immediately, on guard again as he walked to a window to glance out at the intruder. One hand was on the knife at his belt; he peered out from behind the window from the shadows, careful to keep out of sight.
"Merde," he hissed quietly, "I swear he stalks me."
"Who?"
"The Daroga," he groaned, "as boring a man as possible. Come – the sooner I find out why he is here, the sooner I can tell him to leave."
"Daroga, what a horrible surprise," Erik announced without preamble as the man entered the front door. Erik walked down the steps reluctantly, an angry pause on each one to emphasize his words.
The Daroga was middle aged, his bearing military-straight. On a closer view, Ella thought he looked unexpectedly careworn – not the imposing figure of law she would have expected from his title. When he saw her, he smiled.
"Ah, so this is the girl. It is good to see you, madame. The rumor in the court is that you are a ghost, as seldom as you venture out."
Ella was doubtful the rumor was as benign as this – I have not left the rooms once in months.
"You are looking well - a flower in the desert," he continued. A quaint, polite compliment for a bride. His eyes were tired, but kind. Ella bowed her head in a silent dip to thank him. He turned to Erik, "May I speak with you in private?"
It was not a request.
With a glance at her, Erik shrugged and moved off a small distance. The Daroga went further, stepping around a corner before talking in hushed tones. Ella stayed very quiet, her ears straining to pick up the conversation in the echoing hall.
"…safer? There is not a place… requests your presence…" was all she could make out of the Daroga's muted voice before Erik's irritated curse echoed through the hall.
"C'est des connerie!" He stalked through the door without a backwards glance at the Daroga. "We are leaving," he announced.
"What did the Daroga say?" she asked fearfully. "Why does the Sultana want to see you?"
"She is bored, of course," he bit off.
He was silent on the trip back, curtly ordering the Daroga to return ahead of them. As they neared the palace gates, he spoke reluctantly, "The Daroga is a good man, Ella. If anything ever…happens, try to find him. He will help you if he can."