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6
Izzy
Regardless of the soft luxury of the comforter I’d been given, sleeping on the hard ground made my whole body ache. My ribs felt like they’d been punched on both sides. Pulling myself up from the floor, I leaned against the door and tried to breathe against my pained ribs.
I couldn’t hear anyone outside, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there.
I stretched and relaxed my strained body while I looked around the room more closely. The boxes and cabinets were full of nothing but decorations; I saw that much the night before. Table runners, wall hangings, flags. They were all crisp and clean like they’d been laundered heavily before being shoved into the boxes and forgotten. A heavy layer of dust covered the entirety of the room.
Had it been that long since they’d needed to pull any of this out?
The room was larger than most anything I had seen, going back for ages and ages under the soft white light of the overhead lamps. The smell of coffee slipped in through the door, and my stomach rumbled with hunger. When was the last time I’d gone to the bathroom? My body suddenly needed it achingly bad, and there wasn’t even a bucket in this room.
Frustrated by my body’s demands, I cracked the door open a little to see if the coast was clear.
His dark green eyes landed on me, and I shut the door again quickly.
“Good morning,” he greeted me. His voice was smooth and relaxed.
“What time is it?”
“Just past nine,” I could hear his smile in his voice. I hunkered back down against the door. He’d had me as his captive for over half a day, a full thirteen hours. My double shift was supposed to start at eight. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for missing it. How upset would Marie be when she realized I’d vanished? What would she think of me?
I wanted to cry but swallowed it down instead.
There wasn’t any time to feel bad for myself. I had to get out of here.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I explained. It wasn’t a lie. I could get a good look around while I was out.
“Alright, then you’ll stay out here?” he asked.
I bit my tongue, unsure what to say.
Promising him I’d stay out of there meant he’d think he’d won me over. If I was honest and said that I was just planning on leaving after I used the bathroom, he’d probably lock me up somewhere worse than a supply closet. Biting my tongue, I pushed the door open and didn’t answer him.
As he stood up, I was taken aback again by how gorgeous he was.
No matter how many times I saw him, I couldn’t help but be startled by his looks.
Why did he think he needed to kidnap a woman to get her to be his? If he’d just been normal, there was a chance I would have left with him of my own accord. He was the one who’d made it strange and uncomfortable.
“The bathroom is this way.” He led the way through the hall, and I followed. People walked by in beautiful uniforms. Women were dressed almost the same as men, with slightly shorter sleeves and small capes on the back of their blouses.
“Why couldn’t you choose one of these women?” I asked in frustration.
“These women are almost all my sisters and cousins,” he said, chuckling.
Shocked, I looked around.
They were cleaning, delivering, working. These women weren’t acting like princesses or royalty, they were doing the work of servants.
“I thought you said you were a prince?” I tried to remember what he said the night before. I remembered thinking it was a lie the second he’d said it, and now I could call him out on it once and for all.
“I am.” He declared. “There’s only one boy born to every three women here, and most of the women are infertile, so they’re given the manual work. These women are lucky to work in the castle, the fields are far worse.”
Annoyed, I tried to ignore this comment.
How could he be okay with his sisters being his servants? They were born with the same royal blood as him, and yet had to wait on him hand and foot. These women were dragons as well. Did they know how incredible they’d be to the outside world?
