A Slave to Love

Chapter 70: Unconditional Love

I woke in 'my' bed. My eyes felt sore and dry, my throat itchy and body stiff. I didn't move from bed since I had no motivation to really do anything. I spent the day there, just lying in silence. There was no doubt in my mind now; Aros didn't see me as a guest. He saw me as an experiment, his own personal lab rat that was ready to be used and disposed of at his pleasure. I was worse than a prisoner.

Prisoners were at least left alone to rot. I was the one who'd be tortured by whatever experiments he had planned.

The door abruptly opened and Loren come in to deposit a tray of food by my bed. He did it slowly, then turned and left. I wondered if he brought me back here.

I didn't really have any desire to eat at the moment. So I stayed in bed until I fell asleep again. Next thing I knew, I was being woken up by Loren, being told that I had to attend dinner tonight.

So I pulled myself out of bed, got out the plainest dress I could find and left. I didn't care if I looked like I just rolled out of bed, which I did. Or if I looked like I'd been crying, which I had.

Loren and I didn't speak as he led me to dinner, and by now I was beginning to vaguely recognize the way. I went inside, seeing Ace and Aros already seated. I took a seat by Aros, seeing as that seemed to be my designated spot.

"Kiana?" Ace asked cautiously, "You okay?"

I nodded and picked up a spoon, stirring the soup I'd just received, but had no intention of actually eating it.

"You need your strength," Aros said, a less than subtle hint.

"I'm not hungry," I muttered, stirring the creamy white soup. Not only was I not hungry, but the smell was making me nauseous. So was the way it looked. It reminded me very much like vomit.

"Just leave her," Ace said gently, and I felt him nudge me under the table with his foot. Any other day this would have resulted in a large footsie war, but tonight I wasn't even in the mood to send him a sharp kick back. I kept my gaze down and struggled not to throw up. The smell, normally appetizing, just really made me want to hurl. I pushed my soup further away and brought my glass of water in front of me. I wrapped my hands around the cold glass goblet, occasionally sipping it.

Dinner was quiet and calm, and it almost felt normal.

What I'd give to have my normal life with Blade back now.

I was soon brought back to my room and returned immediately to bed after stripping off that dress and putting back on my old clothes. I didn't care if it was gross. I wasn't in the right mind to care about good hygiene. I just wanted a small comfort right now.

For a while I lay there, not feeling sleepy, just lacking the energy to do anything, until there was a knock on the door. Ace soon came in, a pair of heels in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other.

I recognized the heels as the ones I'd tossed away yesterday when I was running. He deposited them by the nightstand, put the hot chocolate on the night stand, then came to sit on my bed next to me. He looked at me, his face open and inviting and clearly he was ready to listen to whatever it was I had to say.

But I couldn't say anything.

"Just leave Ace," I whispered, "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm not here to talk. But by all means, if you want to then go ahead." He waited a moment, and when I didn't indulge him, he continued. "I mostly just came to see if you were okay."

"Well, I'm fine. You can go now," I muttered.

"You are not fine, Kiana. Granddad told me about the fight you and Blade had yesterday, and that sounded pretty bad. Worse than usual." He folded his long legs so he was cross legged on my bed, clearly getting comfortable for what seemed like what was going to be a long, painful conversation.