Hope
I woke up in the arms of someone. When my eyes fluttered open because of the bright sun rays, I felt like I was being cocooned by something strong-someone strong. The person’s arms were around me and we were both sitting on the floor. I stared at the sight in front of me and suddenly remembered everything.
The assailant, Darius saving me, me crying on his chest. And I was still resting on his chest! His arms were strong around me, I couldn’t get him to let go. I tried wiggling out of his hold, but I felt something. Something long and hard.
“Stop wiggling,” a raspy voice breathed down my neck and I stiffened.
My goodness, that was his… A strength I didn’t know I had coursed through my veins and I ripped his arms away from me and stood up at full force, only for sharp pains in my heels to shoot up. I hissed closed mouth, then plopped down on my bed, facepalming myself internally.
I forgot about the shards in my heels and I stood up too quickly. What is wrong with me? Now, my entire body hurts. Most especially my eyes. I knew it was because I cried so hard that I eventually fell asleep.
Darius stood up from the floor himself and I stared up at him. There were several slashes on his nightshirt, like someone had torn through them with a sword. But he didn’t seem to be injured in any way. He must’ve healed himself.
Lycans had the ability to heal themselves among other things. Specks of dried blood were cluttered on his face and clothes. I remembered flinging my arms around him last night and taking him to be my hero. My cheeks grew hot at the thought.
Why did I have to behave so recklessly last night? Why did I have him hold onto me throughout the night? Was he going to punish me for doing so? I bet he would.
I sucked in a sharp breath through my mouth, ready to apologize but he beat me to it.
“I’m sorry about what happened last night. This has to be the first time in a long time that anyone has ever dared to break into this castle. I also want to apologize to you for not being here earlier. This will never happen again. I’ll be assigning a guard to you as soon as possible. You won’t need to worry about your safety anymore.” He spoke in an awfully monotonous voice, like he had practiced the words in his head earlier and was delivering them.
He didn’t even let me get a “thank you” in before he trotted out of the room with his hands behind his back. Once he was gone, I took the time to stare at the room better. There were shards and pools of blood everywhere but the assailant was nowhere around. Maybe someone had taken him away while I was sleeping.
I let out a sigh, then suddenly remembered the pain in my leg. I hissed as I pulled my legs upward and slowly removed the tiny shards of broken glass from the back of my foot, crying softly as I didn’t want to call any attention to myself. I did everything alone without a single noise.
When I was done with that, I tore through a light dress and wrapped the cloth around my legs. After that was done with, I began cleaning up the room since I doubted that anyone else would do it for me. I only took a break when my room was as spotless as it always was.
I dropped down on my bed and reminisced about everything that had happened in the span of half of the day. Something didn’t click in my head as I thought deeper. Why would someone try to kill me? I doubted that the Lycans in the castle saw me as any kind of threat to any of their positions. Humans as well. So who would try to kill me?
Go through the risk of breaking into the Lycan king’s castle, just to kill me. Something was not right somewhere.
I dismissed that train of thought as I stood up to take a bath. I was extra careful, it seemed that my heels were still hurt as well as my arms and head. I remembered the assailant pulling on my hair last night. That should have been the cause of this severe headache of mine.
Once I was done with my bath, I changed into my clothes for the day and decided not to brush my hair because of my headache. I only ran my hand through them to lessen the tangles by an inch. As I resigned to my bed to take a little nap, a knock on my door had all the hair in my body stand out.
The person didn’t wait for me to grant them permission to come in before they waltzed in. I stood up from my bed-ignoring the pain in my leg-to see that it was the particular set of maids who always came in to dress me up whenever Darius summoned me. I instantly frowned, already predicting the cause of their presence.
“Yes?” I said, trying not to sound irritated.
The head one spoke up, as she always did. “The king requires your presence in the garden for breakfast,”
Her eyes swept my appearance with distaste. “Would you like us to prepare you?”
I could tell that she wanted anything but that. “No, I’m already dressed.” I waved off her offer, and I didn’t miss the relieved expression that flashed her features.
She and her cronies left the room after that, and I forced myself to do the same as I put on slippers. Everything hurt as I limped to the garden. I wondered if I’d be forced to sit through another awful breakfast with Darius and Annalise. I knew I would.
When I got to the garden, I saw that Darius wasn’t alone. But instead of Annalise, I saw a man standing beside him. One that I hadn’t come across since I started staying in the castle. He seemed like a soldier with broad muscles and a stern face. His eyes were the color of the night, tilting between blue and black. His brown hair was long enough to be packed in a messy top bun. His lips were full and red. He was quite the looker. I wondered who he was.
“Your Majesty,” I greeted Darius when I got to him, bowing a little. “Sir,” I greeted the man next to him.
Darius gestured for me to settle down and I did. My eyes strayed around the place, searching for Annalise as I knew that she would pop up soon. It seemed like I wasn’t discreet in my actions because Darius called my attention with a cough.
“Are you searching for something in particular?” he asked with an irritated voice.
I quickly shook my head. “I was only wondering when the lady Annalise would join us,” I said politely.
“She will not be joining us today,” he said dismissively.
My jaw hung open. She won’t be coming? I couldn’t even remember what sharing a meal with Darius was before Annalise came into the picture. Has it been that long? I quickly corrected the expression on my face and nodded my head.
“Eat,” Darius instructed, and I did as he commanded, taking in bites of the pancakes and berries.
It took a while before Darius spoke up again. “This is Kyle Arsen. Your new personal guard. He will be with you at all times in order to prevent a repeat of last night’s events.” He gestured to the large man and my jaw hung open once again.
“Wh-what?” I stuttered.
“Also, you’ll begin training tomorrow with the Commander and the army. It’s ridiculous to think that the wife of the Lycan King wasn’t able to protect herself in a severe situation.” He spoke in finality and my shoulders dropped, only for me to push them back.
“I don’t want to.”