The Phantom's Princess.

Ch. 1

"Do you have any injuries or anything you want to tell me?" he asked after gently placing her hands down on her knees.

Silence filled the air aside from the soft sound of Alexis' deep breaths. It seemed even the two thugs were invested in the checks that Ren was performing.

What kind of injury? she questioned herself. I don't have to talk about that, do I?

She gave a staggered shake of her head and looked away.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, tilting his head to catch her gaze.

"No," she answered quickly.

"We have plenty of food ..."

"I don't want any," she said, looking back up to glare at him.

She was terrified if the truth was known, but she was prepared to fight if that's what was needed. She'd decided a while back that she would never allow herself to be vulnerable again, not after what he had done.

Ren's eyebrows dropped into a deep dip as he stared back before his gaze moved over to the doorway.

Alexis followed his gaze to where two more men now stood, one man, with styled black hair, was leaning back against the wall with his hands in his pocket watching Alexis and Ren as another man stood nearby. That other man had lilac hair and seemed to have a calm, yet serious disposition as he watched the two men who had brought her, both of whom had taken to surveying the room.

These two men were just as well kept as Ren, with pristine suits and hair that shined as much as their shoes.

"Is there a problem?" the man with the black hair asked.

There was more silence as Ren went over to him, and the two talked in hushed voices, the third man who had been watching the thugs who had captured Alexis soon became invested in their conversation before eventually walking over and crouching in front of her.

"What's your name, princess?" he asked.

Silently she stared back at him, unable to think of much else other than how pretty he looked, especially on closer inspection where she realised his hair was more two tones of lilac rather than just the one, and the diamond piercing he had in his right eyebrow sparkled playfully above his eyes which were almost the same lilac as his hair.

It wasn't just that. There was something about his smile, just as there was about Ren's. It was soft and lacked any of the ill intent she had come to recognise in other men she'd know - it seemed a pure smile without any crookedness.

"Alexis," she said after she realised she had been staring for too long.

"Well, that's a lovely name. I'm Geoffery," he said, putting his hand out for her to shake. "Or you can call me Geoff if you'd like."

Her gaze dropped to his hand as he waited for her to take it.

He doesn't seem like a bad guy either, but that's probably more reason to be afraid, isn't it? If they're not the bad guys, why have I been taken there?

"You don't want to shake?" he asked after some time had passed. "You don't have to worry, we're not all like those brutes who brought you here. We're real gentlemen," he said with a warm smile. "We would never harm a little girl."

"Brutes, you say?" one of the men who had brought Alexis in said in a rough deep voice. "It's your boss who offered to pay for the girl. What does the head of an organisation like this need a little girl for anyway?"

"I'd mind what I say If I were you," the black-haired man said as he straightened up from where he had been leaning and faced the two men.

"How much longer is this going to take?" the thug continued in a more subdued voice. "We've delivered the girl, just give us our payment so we can go."

"She has bruising to her arms, wrists and face, and she clearly looks traumatised," the black-haired man continued. "Our boss didn't expect her to be in this kind of condition."

Geoffrey smiled and leaned in a little closer to Alexis. "That's Thomas. He's our number two," he whispered.

What's a number two? she wanted to ask but was too entranced by Thomas as he stood completely relaxed, but still exuded an aura that even fanned fear in the eyes of the two thugs that had brought her in.

"We're not responsible for all of that," one of the men said, clearly feigning bravery. "She was fighting like an animal when we got her."

"I'm sorry to hear you couldn't handle a little girl," Thomas said, his voice low and cool. "I'll tell you what we'll do," he continued. "You can have half the payment and sixty seconds to leave the premises."

He took the envelope that Ren had been fiddling through and handed it to the man.

"The agreement was for 1k," the man said, turning as if wanting to square up to Thomas.

Thomas didn't seem the slightest fazed and simply said the words, "fifty-nine," and then gave a small gesture to his watch.

It took two more seconds of glaring for the man to completely change his posture with his hands going up in front of him and him mumbling a quick apology before walking swiftly out of the room.

"What a nuisance," Thomas muttered under his breath as he moved with a measured calmness toward Alexis, his expression unreadable. "Get up off the floor, kid. You're Blackthorn now; our members don't cower."