Chapter 58

She could hear the sound coming up the stairs. Faint footsteps from the distance. At first she wasn't sure if she was mistaken but the noise became louder and louder, closer and closer. Step by step, someone was ascending the long stairwell. Was he returning for her? Her heart skipped a beat as she turned her head from the stone towers window, her blond hair turning with her in the gentle breeze from the small opening, finally realizing it was not a dream and that someone was coming. Someone. Him? She did not know.

Gently raising her hand to her heart, mouth slightly agape, she took a small step away from the window. Her sexy thin-purple robe brushed along her legs and her purple high heels loudly clicked on the stone floor as she took only a few steps forward before coming to a halt. Her mind raced, not sure who it was.

Was he here to rescue her? Her knight in shining armor that she had waited so long for. Or was it him -- the one who had captured her and locked her up in this tower for unknown reasons? He claimed it was for ransom, but she didn't trust him at all so there was no telling why she was imprisoned.

The steps grew louder, he would be here soon. She hoped and prayed it would be her rescuer; many nights were spent by her attempting to open the enormous wooden door, but it was locked and much too strong for her to open.

Her kidnapper -- there was something about him. Looking around the room with a fear in her heart, she so badly wanted to leave this place. The dark tower she was held in was actually very comfortable and the furniture in the room was even more expensive than her room back at the palace, but she was still a prisoner here.

Back at her tower in her own kingdom she could get away with murder. Daddy would let her, and no one would dare defy the king after all. She once even enjoyed being called a bitch by one of the court members (she heard them whisper behind her back, risking severe punishment for such treachery, but still she heard and simply smiled to herself). People envious and hateful of her would reminded her of how special she was; the most important person in the kingdom. But here, she had no freedom. She didn't even have anyone to love OR to hate her. No one, period. Never in her life had she experienced this.

And even though she was captured only a few weeks ago, she considered herself a much changed person. She realized everything that she took for granted and was probably not the most compassionate person. There was plenty of time for the princess to think in this tower, especially knowing her life was in jeopardy and she was facing a very serious situation -- possibly even death.

But her father would pay the ransom; it wasn't a question of that. The question was would the kidnapper or kidnappers let her go? Would they kill her once they received their payment? The thought of that was agony. Swearing to become a different person if her knight came to rescue her, she only hoped for a second chance. She could only hope that a band of the king's knights were on the way to save her as she did not believe the man in black would spare her life. With any luck, maybe they would find him and hunt him down -- bring him swift and severe justice.

Her heart began to race. He would be here within minutes but it felt like an eternity. She turned her eyes back to the door, transfixing her gaze upon it. Wondering who was coming for her. Would she soon taste freedom and run away with her rescuer, or would she suffer a cruel fate at the hands of the stranger in black? Waiting was pure torture.

Still staring at the door, the princess started to think back to when she was first thrown into the tower, and how she was furious and angry. She pounded her fists on the man in black, but her fists bounced off his muscly frame. He had hardly said a word to her, but his eyes seemed to penetrate her own and his smirk held her back from her full ferocity (no one had ever looked at her like that before, especially with such confidence and dominance -- such power). She stopped hitting him. It was almost as if he melted her and broke her will; she still tried to stare him down and appear upset with him, but it was mostly an act. She didn't know what to feel with him. Shortly after he put her into the room, he left, leaving her all alone.

When he left through that large wooden door, her anger returned. She must have spent hours immediately afterwards pounding away on the door, trying to get out and yelling curses at him, but no one came back for her. Exhausted, pounding her last, she gave up.

It was almost at that exact moment that her anger started to turn into a wariness -- even a slight panic. She finally turned around to look at her room, helpless to do anything else. Her room was beautiful, even though she didn't notice it at first. To her it resembled a cold and dark dungeon. All alone, in her dungeon cell, was how she felt.

Her only contact with the outside was a tray of food that had been prepared for her and slid through a small slit underneath the door. Three times a day at exactly the same time; it was the only way she could tell the time of day. And even though it wasn't up to her princess standards, it really was a wonderful meal every time, freshly prepared. She couldn't tell who slid it under, and never seemed to hear anyone approach the door until the loud scraping sound of the slit opening jolted her out of her quiet thoughts and back into reality.

As the days passed, she grew lonely. She had so much time to think. About how she acted in the past, about who she was, and about what would happen to her in the future -- if she would even be blessed with a future.

The strange thing was, only yesterday when the slit under the door opened it was off schedule. In fact, there was much food on the silver tray this time -- much more than normal. And in addition, it was the last time the tray was brought. She didn't understand what was happening. It was at this point she truly felt abandoned -- even her captors left her up here to die. Fear almost overwhelmed her.

And now here she was. Standing halfway in the room, facing the door, hearing someone coming up the stairs to get her. Someone good or someone evil. She trembled, hand to her mouth, blue eyes wide open, waiting, for she could do nothing else. She could hear her heart pounding inside her ears, almost able to hear the blood rushing throughout her body.

The sound of the foot steps grew louder. Step, step, step...in a slow rhythm; whomever it was was almost at the tower's door where she was held. She stood staring at the door, waiting to see who would come through the other side. She kept praying it would be her rescuer or rescuers, both hands in front of her face, almost unable to take the suspense. She could almost envision her hero opening the door and coming to rescue her; sweeping her off her feet and taking her back to the kingdom with such speed. Freedom would soon be at her hand if she had her way.

However, something didn't seem right about that. She couldn't put her finger on it -- was it that she didn't think it was a realistic scenario? Did she think it wasn't possible and no good would come out of this situation? Or did she think this for some other reason? The tower had grown comfortable to her, after all. It was her only exposure over the last several weeks, and in an odd way had become something of a home to her.

Yes she was lonely, but...but the room was becoming...comfortable. That thought alone scared her. Briefly looking around the room which had become home, spinning around frantically, she turned her attention back to the door.

Step, step, step. The footsteps stopped. He Was Here. On the other side of the door she heard keys rattling together. She heard a key enter the door's lock, and twist. A *click* sound echoed throughout her chambers. The handle to the door turned, and the door slowly started to open...
The door was thrown open with tremendous force, swinging open wide to let its master enter the room. Standing in the darkness of the hallways was the Man in Black. He took one step into the room and then stopped, as if sizing her up. A slight smirk crossed his face. Then he started to walk to her.

She was frozen in place, mouth opened wide. It wasn't her knight; it was the man in black.

She couldn't move at first, until he started to walk towards her. Then she took a step back, and then another, and then turned as if she was going to run but only ran a few steps in her high heels, realizing she had no where to go. Her heart jumped into her throat. Finally, the Man in Black spoke.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said softly with a deep voice. She hadn't heard him speak until now. His voice was stern, but not as frightening as she thought it would be. Still, his words seemed to hold her entire body motionless. Moving up to her, he took her arm gently from behind. The heart of the princess seemed to stop, as if frozen in time. She knew deep down it wasn't her knight in shining armor, but wondered if it wasn't too late to be rescued before any harm befell her. But, she thought to herself deep down, she should have been more disappointed her knight didn't arrive to protect her. In fact, part of her was not afraid of this Man in Black. Maybe it was because she was expecting the worst -- for him to come through those doors. Maybe it was because she slowly became used to her prison tower. Maybe it was even because she believed she deserved this punishment since she was so heartless to her people. She did not know. But the moment the man's hand touched her arm just above her elbow, goosebumps shivered throughout her entire body. She weakly tried to pull away, but the mans grip became more firm. Not hurting her, but firm.

"Whh..why did you come back? Am I free to go?" she asked weakly.

For a moment he said nothing. Then he spoke, "There were some...complications. You won't be going anywhere just yet."

She wondered what he meant by that. He quickly spun her around, holding her shoulders. Gasping for air, inhaling sharply, the first thing she saw was his eyes. His deep, beautiful, blue eyes. They seemed to stare deep down insider her, piercing her soul. She was taken back by him, and felt as if a sledgehammer had hit her in her chest -- or her very soul. His eyes were soft, not hard and callous like she thought they would be. She felt weak in his arms. For a moment her eyes broke his only to look towards the door, feebly wondering if her knight would come. But then she looked back, unable to resist his eyes. For the first time, her fear slowly started to fade. And also, for the first time, she could see his hard face soften as he looked back. As a princess, if she knew one thing, it was the look of passion from a man staring at her. For that moment, which probably was only a few seconds, it seemed to feel like an eternity.

His hands, still on her shoulders, relaxed. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, but wasn't about to tell her that. "My princess," he started with a deep voice, as she shivered just by the way he said those two little words, "Come this way." Taking his left hand off her shoulder and with his right hand sliding down to her wrist, he gently escorted her over to the canopy bed in the middle of the room. While he was gentle, he was also forceful and guided her with no question that she was to follow. She followed the man, taking long strides as her legs slipped through the slit of her light purple gown. His hand slipped from her wrist to her fingers, intertwining his fingers with hers.

She suddenly realized from her previous feelings that it was him she was waiting for, and him she wanted to return. It sounded completely silly, falling for her captor, but she didn't want any knight; she wanted him. That feeling of freedom she craved was deceiving; she wasn't wanting to stay here because she felt guilty about what she had done before, or because she felt like she deserved it, or because she was used to this place. It was because she was waiting for the man in black to return. She had such an awe for him, and the moment his fingers intertwined with hers, everything became clear as if a spark of electricity shot throughout her body.