Hope
It has been a rather boring week for me. No one came to summon me for dinners. No one visited me except the haughty maids who came to serve me food with evident distaste in their eyes, like I had wrong them in some way. The only thing that has been keeping me company is India’s diary.
I read a page in the morning, a page in the afternoon, a page in the evening. I was persistent in savoring it because I had no idea the next time that I would have access to such a thing. The next time might be when I got out of this lockdown and went ahead to secretly visit Amara once again.
Yes, that was my plan. Just because Darius commanded me not to go there again didn’t mean that I would blindly obey him. Without any friends or source of entertainment in this entire castle, I might lose my mind without a doubt.
So, as soon as the ban of my movement was lifted, I would return to my place of comfort. But for now, I would continue to seek my comfort in the pages of someone who was in my position once.
Augustus came into my room last night. He said that the councilmen have been pressuring him for an heir. It’s been almost two months since we’ve gotten married and he hasn’t touched me.
But he did last night.
I wanted to hate it. I wanted to hate it so much but I didn’t. He was nice to me and he was gentle, holding me tight through it all. I hate to admit it but I was scared. He told me not to be scared before he kissed me.
It was our first kiss. My first kiss. I didn’t hate it. I hate the fact that I didn’t hate it. And what I hate more is that I don’t think I hate Augustus as much as I hated him before we got married.
I stared at the page blankly. I didn’t expect that at all. Was she warming up to Augustus because they spent a night together? I shut the book close and hid it underneath my bed.
What if Darius and I were to spend a night together? Would I warm up to him then?
“What? Ew!” I chastised myself the moment that thought crossed my head.
There was nothing that would ever make me warm up to Darius. He wasn’t even mine to begin with. He was Light’s… as well as Annalise’s. But not mine. Never mine.
I was just trying to understand India. Earlier, she had said that she was sick and tired of the castle as well as the people who lived in it but suddenly after Augustus came to her room, she started to have mixed feelings.
Did she fall in love with him? If she did, then why did she kill him? I didn’t understand anything at all. Her words in the diary were always so vaguely written. Like she was in a rush or she was afraid that if someone read it, they would understand her.
I sometimes understood her, and other times, I didn’t. I just hoped by the end of the diary, I’d be able to learn a thing or two from her and free myself from this shackle of a marriage, with or without Light.
I stood up from my bed and decided to take a bath before I settled in for the night. I had gotten used to doing these little things for myself unlike when I was with my family and my maids were the ones to bathe, clothe, and feed me. I wondered how they were faring.
Did they miss me? Did they talk about me? And my parents as well. Since I arrived here I haven’t received a single letter from them. I’ve written dozens but there was no one around to help me send them.
I was hoping to ask Amara one day to help me deliver the letter with her witchy powers. Hopefully, the next time we crossed paths, I would relay that request to her. Once I was done with my bath, I slipped in a white lingerie and its joint robe. I walked over to my dressing mirror to brush my hair.
I noticed that it was getting longer and longer, since there was no one who would offer to trim it for me. Another thing that I would be forced to learn and do for myself. I groaned out loud at the thought.
“He just brought me here to make me suffer,” I told my reflection in the mirror, referring to Darius.
He didn’t ever go out of his way to torment me, he didn’t order cronies to bully me, he just left me alone to my devices. Like I was just a broken toy to take up space in his castle. I hated him.
“Yes, I hate you, King Darius Morati. I hate you more than anything.” I said out loud for no reason.
Just as I was about to stand up from my seat and go to my bed, I heard a sound from the window. Startled, I stood up, placing a hand on my chest.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” I called out, taking slow steps towards the window. No response. I waited for a few seconds before I sighed, giving up and convincing myself that I must have imagined the sound.
About to take a step back, the sound of glass shattering tore through the entire room and provoked a loud scream from my throat. Someone jumped into my room through the broken glass, wearing all black with a scarf tied around their face so I wouldn’t be able to make out their features.
I continued to scream as I resolved to run away but the assailant caught my arm too quickly. I screamed again due to the rough grip. I tried to break away but with no success as the assailant held onto me steadily.
“Let go of me!” I ordered in a panicked, ragged voice.
The person did otherwise and proceeded to drag me out of my room through the window. Oh no, was he going to push me off? Adrenaline caused through my veins as I latched my palm onto the first thing my free hand could find and used the object to whack the back of the assailant’s head.
The glass jar shattered into a million pieces and fell onto the floor. It gave me the opportunity to rip my arm from the assailant’s grip and run but I was not lucky enough to go unscathed because of the little shards on the floor that pricked my heels.
I cried aloud, stopping on my tracks and crouching down to the floor to get the shards out but I only got more hurt in the process since the assailant was already composed and all. He gripped my hair and I cried out for help.
“Help! Somebody! Please!” I cried aloud, only for the assailant to slam his palm against my mouth, shutting me up.
I continued to beg through his palm but it came out muffled. He pulled me to my full height and started to drag me towards the window again. I was in total disarray. Begging, fighting, and crying all at the same time. He was going to kill me and no one in this entire castle was going to save me because they hated me or they were even the ones who hired him.
We were about to get off through the window when the sound of my door being burst open tore through the room. The assailant seemed to stiffen at the intrusion. Through glassy eyes, I saw that my savior was my husband in his nightwear with a large sword in one hand.
Seeing that Darius was ready for battle, the assailant pushed me away and I fell down, hitting my head against a wall. They began to battle, the assailant seemed to have a sword of his own that he pulled out from somewhere. Sword against sword they fought. I was terrified at the sight, so I dug my head between my knees and cried.
I didn’t watch the fight. All I knew was that I heard someone screaming before I felt a shadow loomed over me. I looked up to see my husband with splatters of blood all over his clothes and face.
I dropped all logic in that moment, rose up and threw my arms over him. I sobbed against his chest continuously and I felt his hand on my hair, caressing me softly.
I didn’t stop crying because I knew that once I did, I would drop.