Chapter 45

As Avalina headed through the halls to her room, the torches lighting and showing her the way, she couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that she was out of the goblin's presence.

She didn't think she was afraid of him. . .but all the same, he was one she wouldn't dare trust for a single second.

Pushing open her door, she was looking so forward to a bath, some food and some solitude in her room. . .

But there was no food waiting for her at the table.

Avalina frowned, more at her own self than the fact that supper wasn't waiting.

'Was I expecting it?' She thought quizzically.

But there was a small piece of parchment on the table.

Stifling a groan, she stiffly walked over to it and picked it up. The presence around her felt almost apologetic.

The Master will see you.

Avalina rubbed her temples.

"Great. You know, you people should really find another way of writing this out," she said, laying the note back on the table.

"You've written me the exact same sentence every single time. Find something new."

Frustrated, she turned to leave, but a light breeze at her elbow made her turn around to her right.

A bath was drawn for her in the washroom, waiting.

Gratefully, she stepped in, thanking the Invisibles before closing the door.

When she was finished, she went to put her old clothes on, but the Invisible snatched them away just out of reach.

"Not this again!" Avalina cried, exasperated.

The Invisible pushed the door to her main room open and Avalina had no choice but to follow, clad in only her towel.

She gasped.

A dress had been laid out on her bed, obviously meant to change into.

Slowly, she approached.

It was a bright, light green, like the brand new leaves at the start of spring in the forest. Tiny peridots and topaz pieces were sewn into the neckline and into intricate patterns going down the bodice. Gold trim accented the edges of the fabric.

The skirt was full and flowing, reaching to her ankles, the sleeves ended a couple of inches above her elbows, and a pair of delicate looking lace-up boots (also green and gold) sat waiting on the floor.

The design was elaborate, but nothing hideously outlandish. It was beautiful.

Reverently, Avalina reached out and brushed her fingers delicately across the fabric.

It was silk. Real silk.

Too stunned to voice words of any type, she allowed the Invisibles to help her into the dress and fix her hair, before they turned her around and she saw her reflection in the dresser mirror.

Avalina had never worn anything except peasant clothes, not even when she visited the princess. The very idea of ever wearing anything else had just never occurred to her.

Avalina had to stare for a good, long minute before she realized that the beautiful lady gazing back at her, in the dress fit for a princess, was indeed her own reflection.

Her mother had always told her she was beautiful, but she had never taken any notice until now, always laughing and shrugging it off, before teasingly telling her mother, "Only if you compare me with a thornbush!"

". . .Wow."

That was all the stunned girl could manage out.

The Invisibles had taken some hair from either side, and now two braids were pulled back across the sides of her head, almost like a small crown. Turning herself slightly sideways, she saw the two braids joined together at the back in one single braid that went on to its full length, the rest of her hair left loose to tumble around her shoulders.

It was so wild the Invisibles had clearly had some trouble, but they had managed.

"I. . .I don't know what to say."

Avalina whispered, still stricken with that image in the mirror.

"There is no way on this earth that's me. Even the mirrors are enchanted."

She was positive one of the Invisibles gave a huff of indignation.

"Oh, I didn't mean you!"

She corrected, turning to look at the empty air beside her.

"I don't doubt your abilities in the slightest. Its just that. . .I've never seen. . .I didn't know. . .this side of me even existed."

'Maybe it didn't until now.'

The Invisibles gently ushered her out the door and lit the way through the castle.

Avalina was positive she had not been down this hall before, and that thought was confirmed when she stepped through the massive double doors.

She was looking into a dining hall.

A huge table lay stretched out in front of her, its length accented by the shadows and the torchlight, covered with dishes.

And at the other end sat the Horned King.

Avalina shook as she slowly came inside.

'This evening just got a whole lot worse.'

As the door shut, she slowly came to her end of the table and sat down as an Invisible pulled her chair out for her.

Avalina looked uncomfortably across the table, her heart pumping double time in her chest.

The table was long, but small enough that they could speak without shouting and be able to hear each other.

Avalina wished it was much longer.

A sound that sounded like a muffled sneeze echoed through the room, making her jump.

Avalina wondered if he expected her to speak. If he did, she had absolutely no idea what to say in return.

After a silence, her stomach knotted as she heard him speak.

"Enjoy."

After a moment, Avalina gathered that he meant the food.

Casting a nervous glance at him, she stammered out a thank you.

At that, the dishes began to move all on their own around to her end of the table, letting her pick and choose what she did and didn't want.

Most of it looked like stuff she'd never seen before in her life, but she wasn't going to give it much of a second glance.

There were so many dishes, that by the time she had taken only a couple of small spoonfuls from several, she had to hiss under her breath for the Invisibles to stop bringing them round, which, thankfully they did. She didn't want to get out any more than she was certain she would be able to clean up, but she was so hungry!

Although it had been three days, her body had not yet recovered from the fortnight of abuse in the dungeon. She had hidden it from her family, lest they worry too much, but she had had to restrain herself from eating everything in sight the first day home. She could still feel her ribs much more plainly than she should have, and she was now twice as grateful to the Invisibles for making sure the dress wasn't tight enough to show the effects of her being starved so long.

Knowing that if she dared to look up at the Horned King she would lose her appetite completely (She had all *but* lost it when she walked in the door) she did her absolute best to concentrate on her food and nothing else, but she could plainly feel his stare raking her over, watching every move she made.

Every. Single. Move.

Every breath, every twitch of her fingers, every bite she took, he was *staring*.

It was making her increasingly nervous and the wonderful food someone had obviously gone to great pains to make was beginning to taste more and more like a thick, tasteless paste.

Eating had never been such a chore.

She had known the instant she had seen the dress something had been up, but hadn't completely comprehended it until she walked into the dining hall.

She was positive she could hear faint whispers just outside of her hearing, but she did not stop what she was doing to listen.

The Horned King had not taken his eyes off her once, and judging by the silence down at the other end of the table, he wasn't eating anything either. She would sometimes catch flashes of movement out of the corner of her eye down where he sat, and once when she reached for her glass to get a drink, the movement had caught her eye again and she had involuntarily looked up to watch him take a drink from his goblet, his eyes boring into hers over his drink the instant she looked up at him.

Instantly she had gone ice cold, freezing in place like a deer might when seeing a hunter for the first time.

She had stared, completely involuntarily, at the Horned King for several moments, watching him as he had been watching her all evening, before a spoon clinked rather loudly to her left.

All of a sudden she felt her body become flesh once more, and she broke away from his stare, glad to turn her attention somewhere else.

An Invisible was at her elbow, offering something that looked very much like dessert of some type, and it looked absolutely delicious.

She wanted to try some, but instead she reluctantly shook her head no and pushed her plate away, signaling she was through.

She could tell it felt offended, but she could do nothing about that.

"No?"

She very nearly started but choked in her bodily reflexes at the very last second, forcing herself to look at the Horned King at the other end of the table.

She shook her head, willing her voice not to crack on her.

"No sir."

". . .You dislike it?"

"I don't know, sir."

The longer she stared at him, the harder she felt the contents of her stomach push against her throat, which she held down with a massive effort.

It was an odd memory to have about now, but it was disgusting enough to fit this scenario.

When she and her brother had been younger and their mother was busy or they were out where no one could bother them, if they had a disagreement/argument, she and her brother would dare each other to eat things that they knew would make the other sick, and then the longest one to keep it down got the pretty rock or whatever other little trinket they had recently found as a trophy.

It was a wonder they were both still alive.

And she credited those past experiences with her ability to keep her food where it was supposed to be now.

When Mother said her children never argued, that was because she had never known about what went on in the woods behind the barn.

But, as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Sweet, sweet bliss. Much like the bliss the entire country of Prydain was currently living in. And oh, by Orion did she envy them.

Avalina was pulled back to the present as the Horned King gave the faintest of nods.

"Very well. You are dismissed."

Silently thanking the gods, she carefully got up, her weak legs sending signals that she had better hurry before she collapsed, but a soft command at the other end of the table caused her to turn around.

The Horned King lifted his left hand and slowly, beckoned to her to come closer.

Feeling like ice all over again, her shivering resumed as she slowly came nearer to him, not daring to look up at his face.

She stopped the instant she felt the faint wall of his aura press lightly against her, a good ten feet from his chair. Not wanting to get close enough to breathe in his aura by accident like she had last time, she waited, her eyes on the floor near his feet, as she waited for him to do or say whatever it was he was going to.

'Why on earth is he doing this to me?' She thought in despair.

'Can't he just leave me be?'

'No, he can't,' her common sense replied matter-of-factly.

'He is the master here, you are the prisoner. He can do whatever he wants, and you can't do a thing about it.'

Faint movement caught her eyes, and entirely against her will, her eyes flicked upwards again faintly to rest on his hands rather than the floor.

His fingers were longer than Avalina could have ever thought humanely possible, and if If she didn't know better, she might have been fooled into thinking that the Horned King was weak because of his skeletal state, simply by the slow, nearly lulling way he moved.

Underneath that sickening green skin, she could see every little groove and rise of every single bone in his hands as his fingers lightly, almost gently, gripped the arms of his chair, the claws at the ends of his fingers being slowly pulled out of sight under his second knuckle joints as his hands slowly fisted around the chair arm, before the muscles slowly relaxed and his fingers splayed gracefully out to their original position, revealing their true length.

It was almost like watching a spider's slow, nigh-hypnotic crawl as it would walk over its web to its prey. . .

Avalina was snapped roughly from her thoughts as the Horned King's dark, deathly voice softly echoed out in the silence of the chamber and made her jump slightly.

"I did not expect you to bring your horse back."

Startled, Avalina raised her eyes up, immediately wishing she hadn't as his eyes met hers.

Fear for her horse stirred in her stomach and prompted her to speak.

"Will he be safe here? Is he in danger?"

The fear in her voice was audible this time, and she stared back desperately at him, terrified that something might happen to Mitternacht.

She was bursting to ask something else, but the Horned King spoke first, ignoring her questions.

"I did not expect him to come so willingly back through my gates a second time. All of the previous horses that stayed here for too long went mad."

Her heart thudding with fear for her horse, she felt her face pale.

". . .All of them, sire?"

The Horned King stared intently at her face, and she did not look away this time, although her eyes burned with the intensity of his stare. She had to have an answer!

"All of them."

Fighting back her panic, she answered him, her voice shaking.

"I c-can't turn him loose, Sire, if that's what you're i-i-implying that I do."

A pause in the conversation, and Avalina cringed, terrified that she had angered him.

"Explain."

Swallowing hard, Avalina got her sentence out with effort.

"Because he won't leave me."

Another pause, longer than the first, dragged on. Avalina, now that she had said everything she could (She did not dare repeat her questions from earlier) she returned her eyes to the floor.

"You are dismissed."

Not trusting herself to look at his face, she carefully attempted a curtsy before turning to go.

Right before the doors closed, mercifully placing her out of his line of vision, she heard him speak, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Keep him out of the other stable."

Turning again, she bowed from the waist, too shaky by now to curtsy again.

"Y-Yes, S-sire, as you wish."