Eighty: Farting in bed

Aylissa looked me over and snorted.

"True. You don't look too good. I don't want to kill you. I'm not a murderer. I just want you away from Kiran."

"Believe me," I told her. "If I could walk, I'd have tried to escape long ago and who cares if they shot me dead? I barely care anymore. You want Kiran, that's fine with me. You're very welcome to him. Like you said, you're a heaven made match. I won't interrupt or disturb you. I only sleep beside him, because he insists. That way if I try to get up to go to the toilet during the night, he can take me. Do you know how humiliating it is to need him to take me to the toilet or to wait for him to bring me even a cup of water or a mouthful of food? He's used me as bait to lure my government into a position he wants and my government has done exactly the same thing with me. I have the trigger for a bomb attached to my wrist. Does that sound like something someone would do to the girl he really loves?"

Aylissa nodded her understanding.

"All right," her mood brightened. "You really can't walk?"

"I had a roof fall on me and almost lost all my blood. I can't walk further than the chair you're sitting on without crutches and I get tired easily, because I'm still recovering all that blood I lost. I can barely sit up without getting dizzy," I paused to catch my breath and closed my eyes, feeling drained and like the world was swirling in strange directions around me again.

"Are you all right?" a hesitant hand touched me.

"Not really," I sighed, not wanting to open my eyes. "When Kiran gets back, you can ask him to move me into the next room. I should be all right, so long there's a bedpan within reach. Then, there's one way you can really get me out of your hair.

"You can arrange for me to be sent back home. Once I'm home with my parents, I should be relatively safe and Kiran can stop worrying about me so much. He promised to send me once the roads are safe. That way, I'll be completely out of your hair."

"You know," Aylissa tilted her head and her golden hair shone in the sunlight. I envied her health and good looks, "you're very reasonable and a good sort, Jean. I didn't think you'd be anything like this. I thought you were just a pretender that had latched onto Kiran."

"Kiran doesn't like pretenders and he takes loyalty very seriously. I've already betrayed him once. I don't want to be put in that sort of situation again. He also hates people who throw tantrums. You might want to work on that a bit. You're a future queen. You can't afford to ever lose control."

"Now you sound like my mother," Aylissa pouted. "I'm working on it. I really am."

A child. She was still as immature as a child. Protected and cosseted as she was, I hoped she would mature fast enough to capture Kiran's heart, because I had a feeling her beauty wouldn't be enough for him. Maybe the war had made me cynical and made me feel aged beyond my years. In reality, I was probably only a few years older. I felt way older than that though. Maybe she was what he liked after all. Someone who made him be able to forget that the war had ever happened.

"Once I'm gone," I said, "you'll take good care of Kiran, won't you? He's been overworking himself to try and end the war. He hardly has time to get a good night's rest and he doesn't sleep for long. He gets nightmares and things."

"Don't tell me you've fallen for him," she scowled, and then developed a far away look in her starry eyes. "Although, what is there not to fall in love with?"

"Farting in bed," I quipped, and she laughed.

"Really?"

"Forgets to brush his teeth and wash his face in the morning. You can see the eye poo as big crusty things sometimes in the morning. If you don't help him or remind him, he'll go out like that. His breath stinks if you don't remind him to brush."

Aylissa clapped her hands together, giggling.

"Ohhh. Tell me more. Tell me everything."