*KINDLE'S PoV*

I really never thought I was the type to watch a girl while they slept. That's weird. That's creepy. And while Faye has called me both of those things more times than I care to count, I'm really not. 

And yet there I was, watching Blondie sleep for the second time since I brought her here. Not in a pervy way, of course. I was supposed to be monitoring her to make sure she didn't try and escape. Although, I doubted she could even escape if she wanted to. She was kind of pathetic.

This sleep seemed more disturbed than the first time, even though this time she wasn't chained up. She tossed around a lot, and murmured things I wasn't close enough to pick up on. Her facial expressions changed as well. She would go from frowning to smiling and back again. It was actually quite funny, and I had to hold myself back from laughing at her so that she wouldn't wake up. 

With a tired sigh I turned my attention to the candle on the table next to the chair I was occupying. The flame flickered calmly, arching toward me. I pinched it between my index finger and thumb, transferring the tiny flame to my hand. I moved the fire from finger to finger before setting it loose to dance around the room. 

I leaned my head on my hand, the other hand controlling the tiny flame with bored motions. In my boredom I started to think. Thinking was dangerous for me, it never worked out well. I thought about the last thing Blondie said before she fell asleep. 

"I'm not a slave."

What caused her to say that? Had she heard me talking to Lydia in the hall? I sincerely hoped not... that would be horrible to try and explain. But then again, that would explain why she was crying. Perfect. I'd be lucky if she ever spoke to me again. 

The smell of something burning caught my attention and I looked up to see that my little flame I'd left unattended in my distraction had found itself a home on Blondie's blankets. 

"Crap!" I hissed, leaping out of my seat to extinguish the fire that had already started to spread. Here I was, supposed to be keeping an eye on Blondie and I'd almost let her be cooked. She continued to sleep soundly, although her blankets were a bit singed. At least she didn't get burned. With a yawn I walked back over to my chair and settled down with my head on my arms. I highly doubted she would wake up and try to escape as I slept, so I figured it was safe. 

It was late, everyone else was probably asleep or falling asleep. With the exception of Faye, who I was pretty sure has never slept a night in her life, at least that I've seen. Lydia was most likely cuddled up with Seraphim, assuring him that she would "always be his queen" and Seraphim, blinded by her as he was, probably took that as an expression of love for him, instead of what it really was: A love for the power being queen provided her. I was nearly positive that given the chance Lydia would kill her husband without a second thought, or even a hint of remorse. 

That's what he gets for thinking he could trust a fairy. But then again... the same could be said for me. I was a slave to her, pure and simple. I was nearly as blinded as Seraphim, though obviously for different reasons. And whether I trusted her or not-- which I didn't --I couldn't get around that fact. But there was one thing I had to make sure of: Lydia could not gain power over Blondie. She had it hard enough here already, add into that the effects of a trickster fairy and the poor girl would shatter. 

I made a silent vow to myself to keep Lydia away from Blondie, and then I allowed myself to sink into the dark, poisonous, painful slumber that came with fairy venom.

The next morning, I found that it was I who was being watched. Blondie was sitting up in bed, staring at me with wide eyes. 

"Good morning, Sunshine!" I exclaimed, my words somewhat muddled by a yawn. "Hm, Sunshine, I like that. Goes with your hair. I think I'll add that to your list of nicknames." I figured maybe if I talked more and acted like nothing was wrong, she would forget what she heard yesterday. The things I'd said about her to please Lydia. 

Blondie's expression morphed into a hard glare. Well, if you could actually call it a glare. She looked more like a child who just got her teddy bear taken from her. 

Still, I kept trying. Because I'm stubborn. ...And stupid. "Now now now, if you want to keep the name Sunshine, you'll have to earn it. At this rate I'll have to call you Pouty instead." I pointed out, letting a smile slip onto my face. 

"I'd prefer to be called Maggie, actually." She stated, her glare/pout not fading. "You screamed."

"What?" I replied, caught off guard by her statement. 

"Last night," She continued. "I woke up in the middle of the night because you were screaming." 

Oh. I shrugged, trying to pass the situation off as nothing, "Must've had a nightmare or something." 

Stubborn like me, Blondie refused to drop the subject. "But you didn't scream like you were afraid. You screamed like you were in pain. One long, agonized scream and then you were quiet." 

Desperate to change the subject, I put on my signature smirk, "Aw, that's cute, Blondie. You were worried about me." 

"You wish." She snapped, but a hint of a blush tinged her cheeks, catching me off guard. She actually was worried about me? 

I opened my mouth to continue the banter, but a loud rumbling from her stomach made me shut it again. Her slight blush deepened, flushing her entire face in scarlet. Well, I suck. The entire time she'd been there, I completely forgot to ask if she was hungry! "I guess it's breakfast time then!" I said, rising from the chair and rubbing a hand over the back of my neck. Sleeping in a chair two nights in a row. Not fun. 

"Okay." She agreed, though reluctantly, climbing out of bed to follow me out the door. She didn't talk the whole way to the kitchen, and she didn't walk next to me like before either. She walked silently, at least five paces behind me.

"I don't bite, you know," I said, glancing over my shoulder at her. "You can't get too far away from me or I might have to put you back on your leash." I regretted the words immediately, and her flinch only made it worse.

"Letting her off her leash, like she actually has freedom here." Lydia's words. And Blondie's reaction was proof. She had heard everything. 

"I'm sorry." I said. It was an open apology. One that could be applied to everything I'd done to her in the brief time I'd known her. "I'm not going to put the chain back on you, I promise." 

She still didn't say anything. Her eyes were glued to the floor.

"Here we are," I announced when we reached the kitchen. I swung open the wooden door and gestured grandly to the small room beyond it. "Ta da!"

I let her walk past me into the kitchen before I shut the door behind us. "I know we have cereal, but the milk might be old since it's Faye's job to grocery shop and she usually forgets. I'm pretty sure we have bread, so I could make toast or something?" I offered, looking through the cupboards.

"You have cereal in this world?" Blondie asked, her tone shocked.

"It's a breakfast staple." I replied seriously. I pulled a box out of the cabinet and waved it at her. 

"Oh my god! Luck Charms!" She squealed, practically ripping the box out of my hands. "Well... apparently here they're called Casimir Candy Crisps. But they're definitely Lucky Charms." I handed her a bowl, struggling to keep a straight face, and she excitedly poured herself some cereal. Who knew a girl could get so happy over food? 

"Yep, just like I thought. No milk." I said, staring at the nearly empty refrigerator. 

"Oh that's fine." Blondie shrugged, carrying her bowl over to the table and sitting down with it. "I can eat this dry. I mostly only like the marshmallows anyway." 

I grabbed myself a bowl and sat in the chair across from her, watching her in fascination as she stared at the cereal.

"Casimir is the prince of this place, right?" 

"Yes," I answered, though I was surprised she knew that. 

"Even so... don't you think it's a bit much that he has a cereal named after him... with his face as the marshmallows?" She asked, holding up a tiny blue replica of the prince. 

"His subjects adore him," I replied with a roll of my eyes. I let her finish eating, the whole time wondering how long it would take her to notice that her hair looked like a rats nest. It was hard to think that she was the same age as Lydia. In some ways, Blondie seemed older than her, but in others she seemed much younger. It was a refreshing change to say the least. 

"I think there's a difference between adoration and obsession," She pointed out, flicking another marshmallow Casimir into her mouth.

"Well, when you're done eating we can begin training." I said. I was eager to start. The sooner I got her ready to go to a ball, the sooner she could safely go back home. 

"Yeah, I was going to ask about that before we ran into..." She trailed off, averting her eyes to the table. "The um... Queen. In the hall yesterday." 

Abort, Abort! Unwanted subject area! "Seraphim wants you ready for a ball so that we can use you to find out information about the prince's plans." I said quickly, maybe a little too quickly. I didn't really want to talk about Lydia. 

"So I'll be going undercover? Like a spy?" Blondie asked, looking back up at me, her eyes lighting with interest. 

"Not like a spy. You'll be a spy." I said, "So let's get started. Your goal will be to get on the prince's good side. Make him accept you as one of his own. You must become his confidant if you want to be able to go home." 

She nodded slowly, taking it all in. "Okay, so how are you going to train me for this?" 

"Role play." I suggested, "I'll pretend to be the prince, and you be yourself-- well, not yourself yourself, but a more... dignified yourself." That sounded much more insulting coming out of my mouth than it had in my head. "Not that I don't think your dignified now, you're just..."

"It's fine." Blondie sighed, a tiny smile teasing at her expression, "Let's just get this show on the road." 

I stood up and moved to the other side of the kitchen, standing tall and making myself look more regal, I guess. "Alright, so I'm the stuck up little prince. The first thing you should do is approach me and make small talk." 

"Okay." She nodded, before rising from her chair and walking-- very stiffly-- over to me. "Hello, Your Majesty. My name is Maggie. Lovely weather we are having, is it not?" She said in a horrible accent.

I burst out laughing. 

"What?" She cried defensively. 

I held up a finger, trying to catch my breath between fits of laughter. "What..." I gasped, "In the name... of all that's good... was that?" 

"I was trying to be formal!" She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Why were you talking like a robot? And what was that ridiculous accent for?" I asked, still laughing, though not as much as before. 

"I just didn't use contractions... it seemed more fancy. And I was talking in a British accent because that's the first thing that pops into my head when I think of princes." She glared at me, but her whiny tone made it hard to take serious. 

"Relax, Pouty. Don't be so rigid." I chuckled, grabbing her stiff shoulders and shaking them lightly until she stood in more natural posture. "And please, please don't ever speak in that god awful accent again." 

"Fine. Let's try again." She sighed, walking back to the other side of the room. 

I pretended to occupy myself with one of the cabinets while waiting for her.

She walked up to me again and performed a wobbly curtsy. "Good afternoon, Prince. I'm Maggie, lovely weather we're having today." She stood up straight again and looked at me hopefully, "Better?"

"Well, it was an improvement from the robot." I admitted. But not much of one... "First of all, remind me to work on curtsying with you at some point. Second, talking about the weather is probably the quickest way to lose his attention. Your goal is to make him want to dance with you, not put him to sleep. Haven't you ever flirted before?" I questioned.

Blondie raised an eyebrow. "You want me to flirt with you?" 

"Yes." I replied quickly, but then realized how awkward that sounded. "Well, not really me. Me pretending to be the prince. So you'll be flirting with me but it will actually be the prince..." I trailed off when Blondie pressed a finger to my lips, a playful smirk lighting her face as she locked eyes with me.

"Stop talking." She whispered, leaning in close to me.

I stared blankly at her, my heart pounding. 

"How was that for flirting?" She giggled, removing her finger. 

"Good." I replied, clearing my throat and looking back at the highly interesting cabinet. "That was good. Well done." 

"You seem to be very mumbly today." Blondie pointed out. 

"Must be the lack of sleep," I shrugged, "Bad dream, remember?" I turned back to her, praying that I wasn't blushing. 

"Okay, so do you want to run that again?" She asked, making her way back to the other side of the room. "I can be flirtier this time." 

"No!" I replied, louder than I meant it to be. Blondie froze, turning to look at me in confusion. "No, that won't be necessary. We have other things to work on." 

"Okay, like what?" She questioned. 

Like something that won't involve you touching me again? "We need to find you a new name." I replied. Yes, that was good. She could sit at one end of the table and I could sit at the other. No contact, no confusion, no... whatever that was. 

"Why do I need a new name? Doesn't Maggie work? Or even Magdalyn?" Blondie questioned, taking a seat at the table. 

"Because you're going undercover. What kind of spy uses their real name?" I scoffed, taking the seat across from her. As my heart rate settled to normal I put on my usual smirk. 

"Okay then... how about Dahlia? It's a flower. That sounds royal-ish, right?" She suggested. 

"No good." I shook my head, "We don't have that flower here." 

"Okay, um..." She began listing names, none of them seemed to fit her. I studied her as she continued coming up with names. The downward curve of her lips when she was thinking seriously, and her dreadful hair that she still hadn't noticed. 

"Jacintha." I murmured, more to myself than to her. "Lady Jacintha." Yes, that name fit her well.

"What was that?" She asked. Apparently I'd talked louder than I thought. 

"Jacintha. What do you think?" I offered. 

"Jacintha. I like it." Blondie smiled, a real smile for the first time since she arrived here, and I couldn't help but smile back.