Peace Maker - Chapter 208

Claudia stared at him with blank eyes before leaning back onto the wall. “I lost the war?”

Boris glared down at her with a cold stare. “Yes, you did. Surprised?”

Claudia looked up at him and shrugged her thin shoulders. “No… not really. I’ve been in here long enough to lose my sense of caring. Afterall, what good is it to me that you won? Things only get harder for me right?”

Boris cocked his head to the side, peering into Claudia’s eyes. She avoided his gaze uncomfortably. “Really? It’s good you’re well aware of that.”

Claudia rolled her eyes and looked back up to Boris. They locked eyes immediately and simply sat there in silence. “So… is there something you came to say or just to stare me down so this place feels even more unbearable?”

Boris stared for another second. His eyes ran up and down her figure in silence while Claudia did her best not to reach his gaze.

Every time he came down here, he would do the same thing. Talk to her briefly, exchange some time of remarks and then scan her. With those cold golden unreadable eyes, he would run up and down her body, not an emotion going through those eyes as he watched. When he was done he would always say the same thing.

“You’ve grown thinner,” Boris muttered, his eyes forcing Claudia’s to lock with his.

And to that Claudia always replied.

“What do you expect when you’re kept in hell? To grow fatter?”

He always ignored that question and would stare her down once again before standing up and leaving the room. Claudia pressed her head against the wall and looked up at the ceiling as she awaited the small shuffling that signaled her that Boris was leaving.

She didn’t hear it.

She looked back up at Boris, their eyes locking once again.

“You’re still here?” Claudia asked with a slight smirk, “I think this is the first time you’ve stayed since those long years that you’ve come to visit. Did you miss my company? Got tired of waiting for your prince?”

“What’s going to happen next?” Boris asked, ignoring Claudia’s words.

“What?” she replied.

“What’s going to happen next?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What’s going to happen next?”

Claudia sucked in a deep breath, it was small and only seconds later she exhaled a shaky strong breath. It was like the breath she had taken in had rushed back out before she could even take it in. Her lungs were incapable of holding that much air in them. They were weak, as weak as her body was, or maybe even worse.

She looked up at Boris who was staring down at her silently. “I swear you guys are putting something in my food. It gets harder and harder to breathe every day.”

“Answer my question,”

“Always so quick to the point aren’t you?” Claudia teased to which Boris barely responded. “I don’t know, ok? What am I, a shaman? What do you think I can do down in this place? I can barely even get sunlight.”

Boris brushed off her comment. “But you were affiliated with them and well informed of the plan.”

“Yea, the plan that they completely cut me out of the picture. I don’t even know if they remember me anymore, afterall, I wasn’t the real princess that they adored. Just a copy of her,” Claudia shrugged.

“But you remember the plan as you were one of the lead commanders in it, weren’t you?” Boris pressed.

“I was,” Claudia added.

“You weren’t so adamant about this when you tried to kill the prince,” Boris chuckled, “now it seems like you want nothing to do with them.”

“I only respond as I have been treated. I was outcasted, there’s no reason for me to care anymore,” Claudia sighed.

“You don’t seem to,” Boris muttered to which Claudia turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Your attempts to avoid the question won’t work so just go ahead and spill forth the plan and I’ll be out of your…” Boris paused and looked at her nicely combed hair, “…hair.”

“And if I don’t do so?”

“Well you know what’ll come next,” Boris shrugged.

“How are you going to make this place worse than it already is?” Claudia asked.

“Tell me the plan.”

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Claudia replied.

Boris nodded his head to which Claudia let out another shaky breath.

“We had a plan two. That was if I failed and we ended up going to war. In ideal plan two, we won the war and immediately hold down the kingdom. In a not so ideal situation, we lost but we took out most of the team in the battle so they can’t bounce back,” Claudia began.

“So you’re planning on re-attacking?” Boris cut in.

“They were planning to re-attack,” Claudia muttered slightly bitterly. She knew he was doing it on purpose. Adding her in whenever he mentioned them, making her feel hurt as she’s forced to remember when she was in the plan.

He knew she was just a pawn on the chessboard.

She knew it too.

“And when were they going to do that? Right after the battle? Right when everyone is healed and such? Or when they are coming home and are a little more vulnerable?” Boris asked, “Or will they attack us, the kingdom while the army is away or will they attack after they have returned?”

“I-I don’t know,” Claudia muttered despondently.

“What?” Boris cocked his head, “you know. Spit it out.”

“No… I don’t… I didn’t stick around enough to know,” Claudia retorted with slight anger in her voice.

Boris stared down at her for a moment before chuckling slightly. “You were over-confident, weren’t you?” he asked, his eyes digging into Claudia’s gaze, “you thought you were going to win. You thought you were no doubt going to drag Dominic down and that those other plans would never have to take place.” Claudia flinched, a shudder running through her.

“Didn’t you?” Boris pressed, his head tilting to the side as his eyes pierced into hers, stifling her. Breaking her down.

“Faith in myself was all I had,” Claudia whispered with a trembling voice, “do you know how it feels to have people already discussing backup plans while you’re in the room, only a second after you were assigned the job?”

“Nobody trusted you,” Boris commented.

“It’s like they couldn’t trust that I would ever do anything right. That the least I could do is distract him for a little bit before being put down like a rabid dog. I could tell the job they chose for me. A princess to enchant the prince… might as well have just said a doll,” Claudia chortled, “despite knowing how long I practiced, despite knowing how much I wanted to be involved. That was the only job they gave me. To bring heaven to the prince while I lived in hell.”

“Sad truly,” Boris replied with a stoic tone, “but I didn’t come here to hear your pity story.”

“You can’t even fake emotions?” Claudia teased with a smirk on her face.

“At least not for you,” Boris retorted.

“Wow-”

“So bottom-line, they are planning another attack soon and it’s going to be either right now at the camp, while they are coming back home from the battle or after they’ve reached the palace,” Boris stated to which Claudia nodded.

“Sounds about right,” she chuckled, “Is this all you came to ask at this time in the morning?”

“It’s nighttime,”

“You know my sense of time has long been distorted. Hasn’t it been like years since I’ve been down here? I’m surprised you still look the same,” Claudia grinned

“It’s been a year,”

“Yea ok,”

Boris stood up from his seat and looked down at Claudia. “I’ll be taking my leave now,” he informed.

“No!” Claudia screamed, her hand reaching out to him. “What are you going to do with me?”