Inferno Royale

42 | one trapped, one escaped

"I don't mind, Lysandra. I like my girls feisty. Either way they are going to end up in my bed, screaming my name."

The blatant disrespect towards women was something she could not take. At that moment, she was glad to have Laurent. He was quite the opposite of Avgustine who was a shallow jerk.

"Your hopes are up too high, King," she sneered. "It would be better if you let reality sink in once in a while. You are not going to lay a finger on me even if I end up dead to prevent you from doing so."

Avgustine's jaw clenched. He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her to a standing position, craning her neck upwards to see him eye to eye. "I believe you still think your little earthen will come and save you. He is out of the castle and not getting in anytime soon. Besides, the ring on your hand is mine. If you provoke me too much, I can and will make him witness while I make you mine."

Lysandra grunted and twitched in his hold, raising her hand to slap him but was stopped by him. His brute strength was making it difficult for her to fight back. 

"You sick fuck," she garbled, curling her lip up in distaste.

"You will know better than to insult me henceforth, I presume?" 

"Fuck you."

"You will," he laughed before pushing her back onto the chair and walking out, locking the door behind him. 

Lysandra sat still, letting her brain shut down for a while. Her lips wobbled and she forced herself not to cry again. Determined to not stay idle and let her overthinking begin again, she shot up to her feet and paced towards the desk, opening up all the drawers and scouring through them. All she found was a couple of fashion magazines, sketch books full of random drawings and art material. Now she knew where she got her sketching talent from but that did not please her one bit. 

She reached for another stack of drawers to find some makeup and a couple of novels. Nothing important was unearthed and she cursed. They had planned this all out. Other offices had important documents and the guest chambers were all occupied by the other kingdom rulers. Her mother's office was barely used from the looks of it so locking her there was the most plausible option. 

"I hate everyone," she screeched loudly and her voice bounced off the walls, echoing in the empty room. The huge gothic windows let in cold air, making Lysandra wince and rush to close them. While she was on her tippy toes, trying to reach the bolt, a vibration jolted her senses awake. 

She gasped and reached for the pocket of her shorts, hoping to find her phone. She could not be more deflated as she found an empty pocket. Wondering where the vibration was from, she looked around and reached towards the file cabinet which the sound might have emanated from. There, in the pocket of one binder was a phone. She fist-bumped into the air and switched it on, to find there was no passcode to the device. 

Her day couldn't get any better. She suddenly recalled that she did not know either of her cousins' numbers by heart. Cursing herself, she looked through the contact list to find random contacts of her mother's governess and others but none of the numbers were useful. All of a sudden, an idea sparked in her head. She remembered Laurent's number for some absurd reason.

Quickly typing in the digits, she waited for him to pick up the call. The door knob rattled and she shoved the phone into her back pocket, grabbing a random magazine off the desk and pretended to flick through it. Avgustine entered the room once again, followed by maids who brought in trays of food and a flask of coffee. Her stomach churned as the smell of foods she had never seen before found her nose. 

"A proper Russian meal for my to-be-bride," the haughty King clipped before giving her a slight nod.

She opened her mouth to reply but gasped as the phone begun vibrating in her pocket, making her feel ticklish. Avgustine's brows furrowed at her expression and his eyes somehow softened and he asked her if she was in some sort of a pain.