AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He hated to sidestep her issue. He knew she was growing impatient being stuck here. At first, she said she enjoyed having the time to explore and take in everything. But as the days grew into weeks, he knew she was growing irritated with the situation.
She poked at her dinner, and he hated it. He could tell her mind was going a mile a minute. “What’s wrong?”
She looked back up at him. “I feel like I’m trapped.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “It’s like I gave up one jail cell for another.”
His stomach dropped. “Scarlett.” He reached out, grabbing her hand. “No. That’s not what this is.”
“It feels like it,” she admitted. “I feel like you’re holding me here hostage. I can walk around the palace, but I know I’m being watched. I can’t leave. I can’t use the comms. You’re almost never around. It’s a pretty prison, but a prison nonetheless.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I promise you. I’ll get you home. Just not right now. Give it some more time, please.”
She chewed on her lower lip, and he squeezed her hand. “Please. I will get you home. I wouldn’t bring you here just for shits and giggles.”
She seemed to smile at the expression she’d taught him. She gave him a nod before she went back to her dinner.
He needed to get a handle on the situation before it spiraled out of control, but he didn’t know how.
Fuck.
Chapter 7
AfewweekslaterScarlett finally began to crack.
It started with something simple enough—breakfast by herself in the morning in the room she’d been sleeping in ever since she’d gotten to Lorr. She’d see Grux only in the evening, and the constant changing of staff in and out was starting to make her patience wane.
She didn’t want to seem ungrateful that Grux had brought her here and given her a safe haven until he and the king figured out how to get her back to Earth and to her parents. However, the longer she stayed cooped up inside of the castle, the more anxious she felt.
With each passing day, it felt like her residency here was beginning to become permanent. She’d been coaxed into a gilded cage—either unknowingly by herself or with Grux’s help.
She knew he hadn’t done it on purpose. If anything, he’d been more than accommodating and had been trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible. He was the only thing that felt constant through all of this. Her rock that grounded her and kept her from actually going insane.
Scarlett only wished she could see him more than brief dinners at night. She wished she could wake up to him lying next to her in bed or actually have a full day with him without him being called away by his father.
It was all starting to come to a boiling point where she didn’t know how much longer she could take the situation.
She missed her freedom. She missed her stupid little job at the bar. She missed being able to walk around without dozens of eyes following her and making sure she stayed safely within the castle walls.
She felt a sob working its way up her throat and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes stung from holding back her emotions as they rolled along the surface of her control, ready to burst through at any moment.
“Miss Scarlett?” One of the servants walked over, noticing her hunched over her breakfast. “Is everything still to your liking?”
She tried to nod, swallowing back her tears.
She needed to pull it together before everyone started to think she was actually losing it. She didn’t want them to feel the need to lock her up any more than she was already. If they thought she was getting hysterical, it was only a matter of time.
Plus, Grux didn’t need any more on his plate than he already had.
“Miss Scarlett?”
Leaning back from her plate, Scarlett swallowed the bile rising in her throat and pushed her plate back.
“Sorry, I’m not very hungry.”
She tried to ignore the sound of her stomach grumbling. The truth was, she was actually starving. But no matter what she ate lately, it all seemed to want to come up the second she forced it down.
