Chapter 35

I wasn't really tired to begin with. After all, my only exercise of the day was going to the dinner hall and back. Despite that, I woke up way earlier than usual. My eyes shot open and the first thing I thought of was to check if my painting was still there. As I jumped off the bed, I realized that something was different. I stopped and looked down at my ankle before jumping on it. That woke Bob up and he looked at me with sleepy eyes, trying to find out what I was doing.

"It doesn't hurt anymore!"

The next jump made me grimace:

"Well, it doesn't hurt that bad at least."

Bob started stretching:

"You're right Bob, this means that we'll soon be able to leave this place."

Bob laid back down which made me shake my head:

"I know Bob, it's comfortable here but we can't stay. Ephraim is being weirdly nice for now but it's just a question of time before he kills us. We have to leave before that day comes."

Bob didn't seem to care:

"Well I care. I don't want to die if it's avoidable. And being murdered by that grin's possessor is just embarrassing."

I laid down next to Bob and started petting him:

"You, Pissarro, Arora and I will leave as soon as possible. We could leave Arora with a close family member or a nice family and go visit her a lot. I am far from ready to take care of a child."

I suddenly stopped in my explanation and frowned:

"Bob, you became very fat."

He didn't seem to like that and immediately jumped off the bed:

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. There is nothing wrong with being fat. It just makes you cuter."

But looking at him, he did seem way bigger than he should be. In a matter of days, Bob was already adult size. Was that normal? Or were cats different in this world? Maybe I gave him too many sweets But that wasn't important for now. He would get way less food once we ran away anyway. He could eat for now and I would come up with the plan. But what was the plan? I didn't really have time to think about it because Ephraim took up all my time. He would show up out of nowhere and give me never ending gifts, not giving me space to even breathe. Speaking of the devil, I heard someone knock. I had no idea how but Ephraim always sensed when I woke up.

I walked up to the door pleading for it to be anyone but Ephraim but the first thing I saw behind was his grin:

"Good morning wife!"

I tried closing the door in his face but Ephraim was faster and blocked it with his foot. He started talking nonsense but I didn't listen and walked back to my bed, already exhausted. Seeing Ephraim all the time was torture at that point.

"I see that my wife's ankle is all better. What a relief."

I flinched. Ephraim would lower his guard if he thought I was weak and hurt. That would make it way easier to escape. I had to pretend.

"No... It still hurts very bad. Terribly in fact but I'm not one to complain."

Ephraim didn't seem to believe me. I was used to him ignoring my words at that point which was pretty sad.

"Now that you are better, we could have family activities together.

-No thanks.

-But you said that I should spend more time with my family.

-I said with Arora. Not with me. I am not your family.

-I think you will change your mind once you hear where we are going.

-I don't care."

I laid down on my bed but what Ephraim said next made me immediately jump off:

"There is an Artemisia Gentileschi exposition in the Capital.

-What?"

Ephraim looked at my leg with a smirk:

"You really seem to be all better now.

-What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Ephraim didn't move and I started pushing him towards the door. Who cared about running away? I could run away any time I wanted.

"Is my dear wife going dressed like that?"

I looked down and realized that I was wearing pajamas. Seeing Ephraim's smile made me angry:

"Don't look at me like that. I don't always wear pajamas. I just forgot.

-If you say so."

I didn't have time to fight him and rushed to get changed:

"Do you need help?

-Don't even dream of it."

I got changed in two minutes and joined Ephraim outside. Arora and Eulisses were waiting for me next to Ephraim and they seemed relieved to finally see me appear. I couldn't blame them. Who would want to stay alone with Ephraim? It was weird to see all of them together but I had other things to care about.

"I'm here! Let's go!"

Seeing me run made Ephraim raise his eyebrows. I was in such a rush that I even accepted Ephraim's hand to help me on the carriage. I was so excited that I couldn't stay in place and seeing me do so made both Ephraim and Arora smile:

"Are you excited, dad?

-Of course I am excited! It's an exposition! You will see, Arora. Gentileschi really has something more. Usually I hate Baroque paintings but she is so incredible. You have to remember this day."

Arora quickly nodded, taking my words very seriously. She turned towards the window and started looking at everything, as if she was trying to imprint the scenery on her retina. Seeing her share my excitement made me laugh.

Ephraim didn't interact with Arora for the whole ride and neither did she. The other way around would have been surprising but it felt as if there were two different worlds passing each other in that carriage. Despite her excitement, Arora would flinch every second their gazes met and she would quickly turn back towards the window. She would look at me from time to time, looking for support and once I smiled at her, she would relax a tiny bit. The thickness of the air was killing me at that point and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it.

Fortunately we arrived rather fast to the domain of the exposition and I jumped out of the carriage as soon as it stopped. It seemed it wasn't something that I was supposed to do because everyone started staring at me and whispering. The next moment I noticed Eulisses who had come to open the carriage door for me. He just stared at me with round eyes, his hand already raised in the air. I laughed:

"I couldn't wait to get out."

Eulisses smiled:

"I am sorry, I should have been faster.

-No! It's not your fault! Don't worry."

I ignored the glares and grabbed Arora's hand, dragging her towards what looked like the entrance. We didn't get very far however because someone suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Where are you going, darling?"

Ephraim linked our fingers and I thought my stomach would jump out of my body:

"What are you doing?

-There are people around us, my wife. We should behave accordingly."

I looked around the unfamiliar faces and shrugged:

"I don't care about what others say.

-How surprising. My dear wife was always the first to care about such things.

-I told you, I changed."

Arora started playing with her dress, unable to ignore the stares. Epraim never brought his family with him on outings before and I didn't think Sliske did either. Now that I thought about it, it must have been Arora's first outing ever. That hurt my heart. Just how badly was that child treated in the past? It made sense if she was stressed but I really wanted her to have a good time. I wanted her to remember this first outing forever.

"Let's go!"

I pressed her hand and Arora finally looked up.

"We will have a great time."

She started smiling and the two of us ran to the exhibition together.