“So you are to marry?” Sasha teased as she hurried after Elias.

He was heading out of the castle, steering his way to the big port. Sasha saw no less than five guards standing there. All dressed up in the royal green colours. Elias stopped, turning around.

“I will not take part of the play. I´m done listen to her. It’s a complete nightmare”, he said.

“How long have this been going on?”

Sasha had heard the rumours. The parties were exceptional and even the girls in her little town was dreaming of an invitation. She couldn’t blame them, becoming rich and famous was their way out of boredom, come the mother in law from hell, as an unexpected bonus.

“Seven months, seven parties. I hate it.” Elias looked at her and the guards. “Its a nightmare keeping away from all the wannabe queens. Do you want to eat something a bit meatier?”

“I love meat”, Sasha was still hungry. It took a good while trying to get full of shrimps, and she needed lots of energy. “Will these guys let us out?”

Elias eyes were filled with a sudden light. He smiled widely at her and put an arm around her waist.

“You will be my ticket out of this. I prefer Isaak’s wraths before my mother’s care.”

“Elias”, Sasha scorned him, but he just grabbed her hip tighter.

“Play along Rebel, the dinner is real tasty”, Elias hissed and went with big strides towards the guards. “I guaranty it will be worth it.”

“The queen will be crazy. She wants to marry you off with Ivy”, Sasha slipped. She hesitated. This was probably not going to get well with Ivy. And Isaak would definitely kill her. Then she heard her stomach rumble.

“We´ll do it, but it better be juicy.”

Elias laughed.

“I promise you sweetheart, it will be juicy.”

“Sir”, the head guard looked from Elias to Sasha. “Are you about to run off from another dinner?”

“Yeah, it’s impossible to get some real food in that nut house”, Elias confirmed. “Can’t let my girl be hungry, aye?”

The guard smiled, looking closer at Sasha.

“Haven’t seen you around here before my lady”, he said and bowed slightly. “Have a nice evening.”

“Thank you”, Sasha said and without more fuss the guards stepped aside from the port, letting them pass out into night of the city.

She felt a brief relief. They were outside, she had escaped their clutch. The pain in her stomach had intensified. Sasha didn’t know if she was hungry, or of it was the thought of Isaak. It was not like him to take such time fulfilling a promise. She really should have warned Ivy.

“Not afraid I´m going to run away from you?” she asked Elias.

“No, not really. Not as long as I have all of your magic in a neat little package.”

“Maybe I prefer fighting dirty and need less magic and more weapons?”

“I´m pretty sure you like to play dirty”, he smiled, looking closely at her, ”but remember, I have tasted what the magic feels like. You will be begging on your knees to get this back, orb or not.”

Sasha looked down at the road they were walking. It was wet and slippery and Elias was right. She needed her magic badly. Without her full power the orb was totally useless. And to make matters worse, she was feeling naked. She was as helpless as a child.

“So you have the upper hand, for now.”

“Oh sweetheart, I had the upper hand from the very first moment you saw me. It was your mistake to try and steal from me.”

“I didn’t try”, Sasha corrected with an edgy voice, “I succeeded.”

Elias whistled a tune in the night, steering his way in a small alley. Sasha had been in these quarters before, it was fancy, real class.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To the best pub in this town. And as it happens I´m pretty sure the food would not only be good, it will be free of charge.”

When they came further down the alley, Sasha slowed her steps down and put a frown on her forehead. Elias slowed down as well, following her speed. He leaned closer, steering them away from the passing people. There were not that many more restaurants down this road, and the one that was, looked quite shabby and was more than familiar.

“Would you like to go somewhere else?” he asked. “I thought you wouldn’t mind?”

So he had been there before. Just how much had he known?

“No, you are right”, Sasha agreed and slowly nodded. “I guess I have some things to straighten out with Miss Esmeralda.”

“And as it happens”, Elias said, and his voice was dark, filled with a hint of subtle anger. “I am in just the right mood to set the record right.”

“I need some weapon, or at least a tiny bit of magic”, Sasha said.

“You have me.”

The answer came too quick and Sasha felt a strong urge to burn him with her magic.

“I fight my own battles. Care to let me borrow your dirk?”

“You are pushing the limits of my trust”, Elias said.

“Don’t be a drama queen. If that would be the case, you wouldn’t be here with me.”

“No. You are right. But I need this fight much more badly than you do”, Elias argued.

They stood outside the door to the pub. Elias body was stiff and he had let go of her hip. His hand ruffled through his hair. He actually looked pretty desperate for a good fight. Too bad he couldn’t know exactly how bad she craved it.

“Care of sharing?” Sasha suggested with a wry smile. “Ever hunted with a lady before?”

“No”, Elias smiled. “That would be a first.”

He opened up the door to the pub and they stepped in.

“Let’s rock this place”, Sasha said and took his hand. She was looking for Esmeralda.

She was standing behind the bar, serving a customer. Sasha screened the pub, it was pretty late and it was almost full. But nowhere could she see a short, scarred man in his mid-fifties. At least not the one she was looking for. Maybe a substitute would do for now, there were at least three, four persons having the right charisma and aura, screaming for someone to put their records right.

“Not here”, Elias confirmed.

“No, but the steak and the information are”, Sasha said and caught eye with Esmeralda. “Come.”

“We will have two lambs, medium rare please” Elias said and smiled smugly at Sasha. “I think we have something extra to collect as well, don’t we, dear?”

“Oh my, how good to see you”, Esmeralda twisted her hands and nodded towards the kitchen. “I’ve heard rumours?”

“It went, fine”, Sasha said with a low voice. She thought of the king and shuddered. “At least under the circumstances.”

“The food is on me. Care to enlighten me exactly how you ended up in Elias custody?” Esmeralda put two bears in front of her. “Not that you are not welcomed here my prince”, she added hastily.

“Aiden betrayed me. He sold me off to the queen’s men.”

Sasha clenched her fists, she needed to hurt something. Where was that worm of a man?

Elias put the bear aside and leaned in over the table. He took a good grip of Esmeralda's blouse and hailed her over the bar counter.

“He is your man. It was you who sent him Sasha’s way, wasn’t it?”

“Stop it Elias”, Sasha interrupted.

“Yes. It was me”, Esmeralda hissed. “Couldn’t think of him betraying me. I’ve worked with him for a long time and he has never misused my trust.”

Elias laughed bitterly. His eyes shone in the dark pub, focused solely on Esmeralda. She wriggled under his hands, trying to get away but not being able to get away from his scrutinising gaze.

“You sent one of this country’s best witches in the arms of Aiden, and a young good looking one as well. Don’t play games with me Esmeralda. You know he feeds the queen.”

“I’m truly sorry Sasha”, Esmeralda looked pleadingly at Elias, “really, I’m fond of the chick, I wouldn’t send her to such a fate.

“Where is he?”

His eyes were pure yellow now. Esmeralda looked like she was in pain, and by the heavy magic flowing she probably was.

“I”, Esmeralda wetted her lips. “Let me give you something to eat and then tell me exactly what happened. I´m as pissed off as you are.”

Elias let her go and she crashed down at the floor, her rather heavy body bouncing towards the bar counter, the boobs doing a dance of their own. They hadn’t stopped wobbling before Elias had dragged out the dirk Sasha had asked for before.

He took a good grip of Esmeraldas hand with the other hand, sticking the dirk into the wood just inches beside her.

“Spread your fingers. We are going to play. I haven’t missed one in the last month”, Elias said.

“Please. I didn’t plan on it, I really wasn’t”, Esmeralda pleaded.

Elias smiled, and then he took up the dirk.

“Let us count to one hundred, shall we?”

Esmeralda let out a small cry and spread her fingers as wide as possible. The sound of the dirk making marks in the wood was all that was heard in the suddenly deadly quite pub.

“Count for me”, Elias pressed and increased the speed.

Esmeralda counted. With shivering lips she counted. Sasha wasn’t keen on watching the show. He was making a scene, their chances of catching Aiden with surprise decreasing for each zing of the dirk. She went into the kitchen and started frying the food. Juicy he had said. Well, she sure was going to make the food real juicy. Then she would burn one of the lambs until it tasted charcoal.

“Seventy-five.”

She heard the mob shouting. The potatoes were almost ready, golden crispy. They just needed some extra heat and a lot of molten butter. Suddenly she heard a cry cutting through the air. She hissed under her breath.

“Charcoal, you maniac.”

It was not long after the yelling that she saw two persons entering the kitchen, one of them with blood dripping down at the floor.

“I want the food served in the private corner”, Elias said and threw Esmeralda in front of him. “Make it classic. Then we will talk.”

Sasha took two plates and put them on the small table behind the kitchen. She rolled her eyes and threw a tablecloth to Esmeralda.

“Not my idea”, she said.

“Pumpkin pie”, Esmeralda said and winded the cloth around her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

Elias sat down on the chair, looking at the food in front of him. He sighed.

“Come here” he said and waved at Esmeralda. ”You will need that hand of yours if you are to give me a proper meal.”

Esmeralda looked like a big scared rabbit, but she came closer, laying her stabbed hand in Elias hands. He started muttering something, softly stroking what he had just sliced through.

“The pain will subside, and will start to heal real fast. You will be pretty tired tonight, so I recommend you to close this place early.”

“I, well, I will not say thank you, your highness”, Esmeralda answered.

“Never, ever do something as stupid as that again”, Elias said. “Now, bring me some food.”

Elias cut Sasha’s lamb in two with the dirk and started eating.

“Really juicy”, he said, “just as I predicted.”

Sasha ate in silence. She savoured the dish, preferring it several times over the fine dining at the castle. And as irritated she was to be kept out of the fight, a small part of her approved of Elias punishing.

“What do you got on Aiden?” Sasha asked when Esmeralda came back.

“Not much, he goes his own ways. Haven’t heard of him since you two left last time”, Esmeralda said, “the slippery bastard.”

“What are the rumours then?” Elias sliced the lamb with the dirk. Esmeralda had made him a new one, more rare than medium. Half of it was now on Sasha´s plate. He brushed the dirk towards the linen, and handed the weapon over to Sasha. “It’s your time to play next.”

“We will not catch him after your scene”, Sasha shrugged and picked up the dirk. It was a fine piece and the weight felt precisely perfect in her hand. She could do miracles with this one.

Esmeralda looked towards the bar, the customers were waiting and they weren’t complaining silently.

“He always spends his money fast. Wait a couple of days, and then he will be back here.”

“That would be stupid”, Sasha said.

“No”, Esmeralda and Elias said simultaneously.

“There is nowhere else where they let him drink on credit Sasha. Believe me, he will come.” Esmeralda smiled faintly “And no one would notice the prince company dear. It’s not like it is the first time he has an outburst.”

“He did my mother’s bidding, why would I bother if he did catch you?” Elias clarified.

“Yeah”, Sasha sighed. “Why would you?”

Esmeralda shook her head.

“Come back, I will serve you a real dinner next time”, she said and disappeared.

Elias leaned closer and he took her hand in his.

“You look pretty nice, for a mud wrestler”, Elias said, “and I do care.”