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The majority of the room is taken up by the longest table that I've ever seen. It looks like it could probably seat at least fifty people, however I see that only two places have been set on the far side. The same blood red fabric as was hanging in the halls earlier makes up a long table runner that stretches the length of the entire table. There's a giant stone fireplace on the opposite wall from where we walked in, with a giant bear head hanging above its flickering flames. Like the rest of the room, the bear gives off a foreboding feeling, its mouth left in a position that looks like the rest of the bear could come barreling out of the rock wall and eat you if you dared to turn away from it.
Gwenny comes scurrying out of a doorway that I hadn't noticed, carrying a tray laden with steaming hot plates giving off the most delicious scent. Aiden leads me to my seat, pulling out my chair politely before taking a seat of his own to the right of me. I randomly happen to notice that he is sitting in the chair at the head of the table while I am seated to his right. I wonder if that was our normal seating arrangement before my disappearance since he has made it seem like I was actually the supreme ruler of the land before, not him. I forget all about my musings when Gwenny scoops a ladle of delicious looking soup into the bowl in front of me. I go to take a sip but I'm haunted by the ghastly image of someone writhing in pain in front of me, just like the image I imagined this morning. I set my spoon down and politely push the soup away.
Gwenny has been watching me nervously and immediately responds to my movement.
"Is the soup not to your liking, Your Majesty?" she frets. I feel bad making demands already, but I can't stomach the thought of eating the soup despite my hunger.
"Could I start with something lighter?" I ask. "Maybe a salad or something like that?"
"Of course," answers Gwenny, swiftly scurrying away to the kitchens and returning barely before I've blinked with a salad. Once she removes the soup I'm able to start eating. I can feel Aiden's questioning stare on me, but he doesn't mention my weirdness thankfully.
We pass the rest of the dinner pleasantly discussing various items of interest in the neighboring town. Aiden promises to show me it tomorrow.
I'm stuffed to the brim as I force myself to eat one more bite of the delicious flan that Gwenny brought out for dessert. She has looked so happy at my enjoyment of the dinner that I've eaten far more than I needed to. I can't help but give a large yawn when we finish.
"Time for bed?" asks Aiden. "I'm sure today has been a lot to take in and your still recovering from the powder."
I nod gratefully and allow him to walk me back to my quarters. We stand there awkwardly by the front door. It feels like a first date and now we're both unsure how we are going to end the night. He finally brushes his lips against my cheek and I bid him goodnight before darting into my room.
Later that night I toss and turn, trying to reach back into the recesses of my brain to see if anything is there. My mind doesn't give anything new up though. It's like I didn't exist prior to waking up this morning. I'm exhausted, but I can't stop thinking about all the revelations of the day. There's a soft knock on my door and I sit up in bed.
"Who is it?" I ask.
"It's Gwenny, Your Majesty. Prince Aiden thought that you might need something to help you sleep tonight with all the excitement of the day, so I've brought you a little sleeping tonic."
I have the feeling that I wouldn't normally take medicine from a stranger, but for some reason I trust Gwenny, and Prince Aiden as well if I'm being honest, and I do desperately want to sleep.
"Come in," I tell her and take the cup of steaming clear liquid from her hand.
"It will just taste like tea, dear," she tells me as I sniff it and tentatively take a sip. It does taste like tea and I've drank it all before I've even realized it.
"Get a good night's rest, Your Majesty. I'll be here in the morning with breakfast same as this morning."
I thank her as she leaves and I'm half asleep before she even makes it out of the room. My last thought before I drift into dreamland is how it seems like I could be happy in this place.
My dreams are filled with nothing but nightmares.
A man in a reverend's uniform stalks me while I run away wearing a ridiculously poofy wedding gown. I'm cold and alone in a dark forest. A couple die gruesomely in front of me, frothing at the mouth while they beg for help. I'm chained in a basement with vomit all over me. I'm trapped in an attic with nothing but beatings and unwanted touches to pass my days. I'm paraded through foster home after foster home where I encounter horror after horror. A litany of sickening images continues to play in front of me until I'm screaming for everything to stop. I tell myself that it's all a dream, but everything seems so real.
I wake up suddenly, covered in a cold sweat, and shivering despite the fact that the covers are pulled up to my chin. Those weren't dreams, those were memories I realize. Tears are streaming down my face. How could that have been my life?
"Eva," comes a voice out of the blue, causing me to yelp from surprise.
A candle is lit on a nearby table, and Aiden's face appears out of the darkness wearing a concerned look.
"What are you doing here?" I all but shriek at him, pulling the covers up even farther up my chin so he can't see me in my nightgown.
"I'm sorry my darling, but I knew you would be getting your memories back, and I didn't want you to be alone."
"How did you know this would happen?" I ask, feeling betrayed that he would force me to go through that without warning.
"It was the drink I had Gwenny give you. It's kind of a mind refresh concoction. We use it to help those of our people who suffer from memory loss. When you can live forever, maladies creep up quite often."
I'm still shaking, going through everything I saw in my dreams.
"I can't believe that was my life," I say softly, a tear falling down my face.
Aiden sits on the bed next to me and captures the tear before it falls off my face. It feels like a very intimate thing to do.
