Hope
“What do you want?” I asked Darius, pushing out my chest to seem unafraid of him. Unfortunately, I was actually afraid but I hoped that he couldn’t tell.
His eyes darted to Kyle, who suddenly became alert and wanted to stand up. I pressed my hand on one of his shoulder, holding him down from standing up.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the training grounds?” Darius asked Kyle with an agitated tone, totally ignoring me.
I frowned. “He’s not going back there,” I said to Darius.
Darius didn’t even glance my way as he marched into the room and attempted to pull Kyle up. “Get to the training grounds, right now.” Darius ordered.
I took a step in front of Kyle, blocking him. “I said, he’s not going back there. And what are you even doing here? Nobody invited you in.” I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for being able to stand my ground against Darius like this.
For the first time since he walked into the room, he met my eyes. “Are you fucking him?” Darius asked with an impatient tone.
My mouth fell open as I tried to register his words inside my head. “Excuse me?”
“Answer the question, princess. Are you fucking him? Because if you are it would make more sense to me. Who do you even think you are to override my orders? And to protect him? You must really be enjoying your time with him to do such a thing.
“And all this was after you told me not to touch you. It hasn’t even been that long since I assigned him as your guard. And you’re already spreading your legs for him like a whore-”
Paa!
The harsh sound of a palm striking against flesh resounded inside the room. My chest heaved up and down as I retracted my hand to my side. One side of Darius’ face turned red almost immediately. Time came to a standstill in that moment.
The only thing which I could hear just happened to be my heartbeat that raced at an unnaturally rate. As Darius slowly turned his neck to stare at me, my heart thumped louder and louder.
“How dare you?” he spat at me, slowly.
“How dare me? How dare you?” I turned his question around. “I have swallowed down every single insult you’ve ever said to me, but I will not stand while you call me a whore and drag my chastity down to the mud!”
“You will not raise your voice at me, princess!” he barked.
“Why not? Why shouldn’t I raise my voice at you? What have you done to warrant me not to raise my voice at you? I don’t care anymore. If you want to kill me, go for it!” I was not going to be afraid of him any longer.
Killing me was the worst thing that he could do. But I knew that he couldn’t do that because of the councilmen. He could only threaten to do that.
“You dare raise your voice at me after whoring yourself out to this common guard,” Darius’ eyes flashed a different color. Bright amber.
All of a sudden, Kyle jumped in front of me. “My lord, it is not what you think. I would never-” Darius flung Kyle away and caused him to hit his back on a wall, triggering a loud hiss from his throat.
“Kyle!” I called out in concern, reaching for him.
Before I could do that, I noticed that Darius started to grow in size. My heart skipped a beat in fear. He was turning into his wolf. I started to take slow steps backward, watching him with an opened mouth.
I didn’t know if it was fear that made me stop moving when my back hit a wall. But I knew that all my senses became frozen as fur started to grow out from Darius’ skin. He was changing into his wolf rapidly and frighteningly.
“My lady, you need to run,” I looked to my side to see Kyle straining to stand up. “He’s not his right mind now. He might hurt you.” He referred to Darius.
I nodded my head, understanding what he meant perfectly. But I was not going to leave Kyle to deal with a beastly Darius all by himself. I recovered myself and moved over to where Kyle was barely standing to lift him up and lead him out of the room.
As I lifted him up, the doors to my room flew open and came in Orion with a squad of soldiers. He marched over to where I was and pulled me away from Kyle forcefully.
“Ow! What are you-”
“Leave.” He commanded. Darius growled loudly. My head spun as I looked to Kyle.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured, wheezing. I bit my lips, confused. “I promise. You’re not safe here. Please go.” Kyle emphasized.
I jammed my lips together and turned back to him. As I raced out the room, Darius howled. I didn’t have the courage to look at what he had turned into so I ran. I ran nonstop till I found myself in front of the library’s door. I didn’t think twice before I went inside and locked the door.
I glanced at shelf leading to Amara’s room. Our last conversation spun inside my head but I pushed it away. My safety was more important than a fight with her. I trotted to the shelf and pushed it open.
When I looked inside the room, Amara stood at the center, staring at me. My chest was still heaving up and down because of my run. Sweat trickled down my forehead, my back, my chest, and my arms. I probably looked like a mess and she still offered for me to sit on her bed.
I did so without a word and she dropped down on the space next to me.
“Rest, child.” She said with a soothing tone and I found myself letting go of my inhibitions and placing my head on her lap. “It’ll be alright.” She consoled me. I didn’t say anything. I just laid there till sleep came.
*****
Amara didn’t say anything to me when I woke up. I didn’t say anything either. I just left quietly and went into the library. It was already dawn by that time, Darius would’ve already calmed down by now.
I left the library and made the way to my room. When I got to the hallway where people were, I could feel their eyes on me. I could hear what they were saying. They weren’t even discreet about it.
Everyone thought that I was sleeping with Kyle.
I simmered in anger till I got to my room. Kyle was standing by my door when I got there. He looked well enough. I reached for him on instinct.
“Are you alright?” I asked, running my hand down the sleeve of his uniform.
He smiled sadly. “I’m fine, thank you.”
My brows furrowed. “Did something happen?” I moved closer to him. “Did he hurt you?”
Knowing exactly who I was talking about without any name, Kyle shook his head. “I left right after you did. Everything got under control very quickly.” Kyle assured me.
I smiled, believing him. “In that case, do you want to come in? Standing here doesn’t seem ideal.” I glanced at the walls which seemed to have ears.
It was only after I said those words that I realized something. I was putting Kyle in a very tight situation. He looked like someone who was very important and he got stuck being my guard. Since it was my only friend, he got dragged into everything that had to do with me.
I hoped he wouldn’t resent me for the rumors that were spreading about us. I started to fiddle with my fingers, thinking of the worst things that could happen.
“Of course, my lady,” Kyle said.
I opened the door wide enough for the two of us to enter. The act was so shocking to the people who pretended to be walking around but were actually listening in to mine and Kyle’s conversation.
But I ignored them. Like I planned to do from now on. No one was going to tell me what to do and what not to do in the place. I would make sure of it.