Reject the Food.

I turned away, rejecting anything he fed me by hand, and he sighed.

"The King will get rid of you if he thinks I'm too soft on you. By law, I inherit the crown in less than a year. For a while now, he's been poisoning my food and sending me to the front lines of battles. You're another way he's trying to kill me, and if he thinks that you won't, then he'll kill you."

I nodded.

"They wanted you gone too, right? That's why they sent you here."

I nodded again.

"They want nothing to do with you, and have you constantly training, and every free moment you have, you'd rather be training than with them, right?"

I shrugged.

"And since you're so well trained they have a good excuse to send you into battle. I know the feeling. But whatever happens, you won't be stuck here for more than a year."

I looked down at my outfit and bit my lip.

"That is, unless you end up liking it here."

"I can kill the King for you," I muttered.

He shook his head, and then reached out...brushing my cheek. "He killed my older brother when he got too old, and everyone knows it. When I take the kingdom, I want to avoid starting it off on a bad note like that. I'm gathering some evidence of his attempts on my life, and I'll present it to the court once I'm King, and he'll be executed."

"The ends justify the means," I insisted. He pulled me in for a hug. Surprised, I remained still.

"No little thing, my one goal in life is to be not my father

"No little thing, my one goal in life is to be not my father. I'm going to do everything I can to follow that. Hopefully I don't change my mind when it's too late," he said breathily.

"Will you set me free?"

"When I'm King? Probably. You're a feeling, thinking, living person. And hopefully you can help me set things right with your Kingdom too."

I nodded.

"Sound like a good plan?" he asked.

I nodded, again.

"Good. So don't kill me. But if you do, don't forget the King is up the keep."

I nodded, taking that information into consideration.

"And the regent is in the tower to the right of the keep, he hates elves. Get him too."

I chuckled a little.

He brightened up."See? You do have a sense of humor. It's about killing people, but I mean, it's there. Unless that's some sort of evil chuckle or something."

I wiped my eyes, my laugh fading to a slight smile.

"You look pretty when you smile," he complemented. "You should do it more. But in all seriousness...the King has started locking my chambers from the outside at night. So unless you can break down that door, killing me in my sleep will get you nowhere."

"Got it."

"But if you do it, do it fast."

"Got it," I said, smiling again a bit.

After a pause he asked, "Can you speak English?"

I nodded. It was nice of him to always speak Elvish to me.

"Can you read it?"

"Sort of."

"Well, you can help yourself to the books on the shelf," he said, switching over to English.

I gave him a nod.

I picked a book, and he locked me back in my cage for the night.