It had been three days. Amelia sat in her room, facing the window. Dinner had not gone the way she had hoped. Her father still refused to consider letting Joedan out of jail. Amelia wondered how Joedan was doing. As much as they went back and forth on their journey, she found that she actually missed the farm boy. She felt after the journey they had been on together that they had started to grow closer. She hoped he might even consider her a friend.
She made up her mind, she would at least go see him. He deserved that much. Heading for the door to her room, Amelia squared her shoulders and walked down the hallway. Stepping out of the estate, she started to walk towards the jail.
Before she could get too far, two guards stood in her path. "Ma'am, we've been commanded to watch over you. Our orders are to not let you leave the estate," the guards said.
"Well, you can either come with me, or I will find a way to leave myself. I'm not asking your permission. You're my guards, not the other way around," she rebutted. Amelia stepped forward around the guards and started down the cobblestone path towards her destination. The guards, not wanting to get in trouble for abandoning her, quickly fell into step behind her.
Approaching the gate, Amelia told the guard standing in front to let her in. "Ma'am, this is no place for a lady," the guard said to her. Not in the mood at all, she glared, she was not having any more of this nonsense this day. Stepping forward, she pushed open the gate, and went around the guard. The two guards following her simply looked down from the guard at the gate as they followed her in.
Commander Griff was standing at attention when Amelia entered. "Ah, Miss Amelia, what brings you here on this fine day?"
"Can it, Griff. You know why I'm here. Don't play dumb."
Commander Griff was not in the habit of letting people speak to him the way Amelia just had, but being a subordinate under the duke, he had little room to speak, other than a simple nod, as he allowed Amelia past him.
Amelia walked down the narrow cell-lined hallway, her guards in company, and made her way to the end of the hallway. Joedan sat against the side wall, staring off through the little window at the top of the back wall. When she approached, he still didn't turn her way. She waited. Joedan continued to stare, not acknowledging that she was there.
"Are you not going to say anything?" Amelia asked.
It was a few more moments before Joedan finally turned his head and peered over at her. He looked so tired. He had dark circles under his eyes, his stubble had grown thicker in the time since she had last seen him. He still didn't speak, but at least he was looking at her now.
"I know nothing I say will help what's happened, but I did try to get you out of here," she told him.
His voice was dry, and it cracked a little as he said, "You tried? You wanna explain that one to me again, "princess"?"
He was angry, she knew that, and she knew he had reason to be. She knew it wasn't her fault he was in here, but he probably thought it was.
"When I got back, I tried to reason with the Duke, my father, and have you released. He shut me down, and then Count Reginald, his stupid chief advisor, cut in and told me it wasn't my place to argue with the Duke."
"Amelia, regardless of what you tried to do, I'm still in here. It matters little to me that you tried. The fact of the matter is, I risked my neck to bring you home, and your people threw me in a jail cell without any explanation."
Amelia felt terrible, she knew there wasn't anything she could say that would make this situation right. "I am sorry," she said. "I won't bother you again. I won't stop trying to get you out of here either."
She waited to see if Joedan would say anything back, but he turned his head back towards the window. Feeling hurt, Amelia turned away from the cell and started back down the hall towards the entrance.
Amelia approached Commander Griff, on her way out. "Commander, Joedan? Is he being treated well?" she asked him.
"Ma'am, he's a prisoner, we make no special privileges."
"What if I told you, he was innocent, that he doesn't deserve to be in here?" she asked.
"Ma'am, do you know how many people approach me saying the same thing? You're not the first and you won't be the last. This prison runs because we hold the same standard for all. You may not like it, but if I bend for one, I have to bend for another, and I just simply cannot afford to bend. Not on this. I'm sorry, my lady."
Amelia resigned herself and headed for the doorway. Frustrated that she could do nothing to make the situation better for Joedan, she stepped back out into the street. With her guards in tow, she headed back to the estate.
Entering the estate, she was walking across the courtyard, when a door suddenly opened. A man stepped out, he was holding one of his hands, and there was a painful expression on his face as the man turned to walk away from the door he had just come out of. Stopping and crouching down out of the way, Amelia watched the man as he rounded the corner.
Waiting, she watched the door as it again opened and another man stepped out. Across from her, standing in the doorway was Count Reginald. Straightening his collar, Reginald motioned to his driver, and the two stepped forward into the hallway heading back the same way as the man she just saw leaving. "I wonder what that's all about," Amelia thought as she headed back towards her quarters.