Fire.
I slept in front of the fireplace because I feared the bed.
I had a reoccurring nightmare that the King- his red eyes and cat-like smile- would slink into it one night while I had my eyes closed to the danger that approached me.
So I curled up, in the smallest ball that I could, in front of the fireplace.
It was there that I laid when the noise of screaming had me raising my head.
I was used to raised voices, but this one was different.
Seconds later, my inner door is open, and a figure is thrown in.
I watch with weary eyes as the King smiles from the doorway.
"Some company for you Little Star," he says, giving me the smallest of winks before slamming the door upon the figures face.
She screams and claws at the frame.
I sigh when I realize it's Saint.
The broken golden lioness.
The former glory stood upon a heap in front of me.
Tangled hair with streaks of red in it, a torn tight dark purple dress and bite marks everywhere.
Bruises accompanied those bites.
I watch from the shadows of the room.
She had not even noticed me.
It takes another day for her to even realize she is not alone.
The venom that Jonaus had spoken of must have left her system because, after a while, her crazed eyes return back to their blue- the black leaving it.
And they are able to take me in.
"Oh."
We stare at each other, cautions of one another.
"So you're still alive."
I feel a tight smile twist my lips at her words.
I don't answer her and instead, curl up into a tighter ball upon my layer of blanket and pillows.
"Don't you want to know why I'm here?"
The loss of the venom has brought back some of her former glory. She tosses back her long mane of golden hair, sighing in frustration when her hand is caught in the middle with strands of snarls and tight tangles.
She ignores her appearances and yanks her hand free from its capture.
"He threw me out."
I have half a mind to throw her out of my own door.
Instead, I sigh and put my head back down.
"What's wrong with you?"
I don't answer her.
I could tell what was coming.
Unlike last time, I was more aware of my body now.
So I could tell that my time was coming again.
A new month, therefore a new cycle.
I didn't want to move from the comfort of the fire.
I didn't want to move at all actually.
I just sat there waiting for my destruction to come.
For the King to smell those first few drops and become sick off the sweetness again.
"I'm bleeding," Saint says, matter of factly.
I raise my head and stare at her.
She smiles and nods.
"That's why he threw me out."
We continue in silence.
On my own part, I'm confused.
I feel questions rise in me as to why the King would throw her out during her time.
Wouldn't he want that?
Wouldn't he enjoy that?
My confusion only rises when Saint and I both ride out our cycle together- and the King never comes.
Neither do the screams.
In fact, after a few days, I've made the conclusion that he is not even on the other side of us.
Saint and I have not spoken.
Aside from the occasional curse words from Saint and insults to the silent staff that bring us food- she has not attempted conversation with me.
But my curiosity grows to be too much and I find myself asking on the third day of our cycle- "Why did he throw you out when he knew you would be bleeding?"
Saint pauses in her eating. She shrugs, "he doesn't like it. The bleeding down there. He finds it gross."
"But-,"
"We know, we know. No need to tell us how special you are. He tells us enough."
Saint's words have me raising an eyebrow in surprise.
She sighs and leans backs, "I knew this wouldn't be a love story."
She pauses and turns to look at the door that leads to the King's room.
"I knew when I came here that there would be no story about falling in love. Of having the King at my feet and promising himself to me."
Her words are whispered now- so much so that I find myself leaning in closer.
"I thought I could handle that. I thought I could handle the darkness. I was confident to think that I didn't need love in my life- just power." She shakes her head, "How wrong was I."
"You could be Queen," I whisper to her. I didn't know if the King wanted it to be a secret but I also didn't care.
"All of them could be Queen," she gestures vaguely outside, "But you." She narrows her eyes at me, "You could be...I don't know. He always talks about you. But it's not love...I actually don't think he can love. I don't think he knows what it means- and he never will. He's too evil."
She sighs, "You...you are like his pet. Exotic. Nice. Something that will always fascinate him."
"I don't want to be," I said.
"No one wants to be," Saint said rolling her eyes.
She moves closer to me and suddenly is rolling onto the blankets with me.
I blink back in surprise as we lay there together.
"I've kept her safe you know. For you."
I know immediately who she is talking about.
I feel all the air leave me as I exhale in relief.
"How?"
"Whenever his eye roams to her...I volunteer...."
"Why would you do that?"
Saints eyes harden, "I want someone to keep that look in their eyes. I want someone to remember what it was like to be innocent."
We stay there in silent thought until I break it, "Saint...if I ask you to help me...would you?"
Her eyes of hatred glare at me.
But I realize then that the hatred is not for me.
"Yes."
"If I ask you to stab someone...would you?"
A wicked grin enters her face, "Someone like the King?"
I laugh at the excitement on her face.
"No," I shake my head, "Let me explain."