Royal Pain ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Twenty-Five

A feeling that I wished to deny rose within me, and I felt my glare focus on the pair of them. Rose stirred beside me again, and as I turned to look at her, she wore a similar mask of surprise and disappointment that Aiden was definitely not fitting in. I caught Josh's eye from across the circle, his eyebrows drawn down with some emotion that I couldn't decipher.

Before myself or Rose could voice our anger, Lana made another announcement, ''Violetta and Simon.''

It took me a few moments to realise that she had called my name, long enough for this 'Simon' to make his way into the centre of the circle with his eyes zeroed in on me. Slightly panicked, I quickly rushed my way to the centre, not wanting to cause any fuss and stand out amongst the crowd. Though that would be difficult when I was literally centre of attention.

The moment my eyes processed the boy before me, I realised that Lana must really hate me. Or she just wanted to torture me.

Simon was big. Like, wrestler big. His arms were well-muscled; along with every other part of him I could see. He wasn't the type of guy I would consider attractive, but he was the type of guy that I would've thought could kill me with one punch.

Which was great considering that was exactly what his arm was swinging to do.

I barely had time to duck as his fist swung towards me, and in the time it took for me to be pleased with my reactions in dodging it, another came my way. That one I wasn't so lucky with dodging. It caught me square in the jaw, an instant pain stabbing all the way up to my cheek as his fist connected.

My vision went blurred, and I tried to shake my head to clear it. Blindly, I swung my own arm out only to completely miss my target as he seemingly danced around my flailing hand. For the size of the guy, he could definitely move.

I was grabbed from behind in a tight grip, and instinctively I began trying to shake him off, but it was no surprise that I couldn't. He managed to swing my legs from beneath me and I suddenly found myself pinned on the floor, his form towering over me and eclipsing the sun above.

With eyes full of hatred that I couldn't comprehend, Simon raised he meaty fist and punched me in the stomach.

The air rushed out of my lungs in a painful torrent, struggling to take another breath with the weight of him on top of me. I began coughing, trying to get some air so that I could yell out and say that I surrendered.

Dimly, I heard a panicked voice yelling above the thumping of my heart. That was when Rose entered my vision, screaming angrily at the guy above me until he moved away; leaving me sprawled out on the floor in a hopeless mess.

''Violet, Violet! Are you- oh my God.'' Her words trailed off as her eyes searched my face. The constant throbbing of my jaw and cheek told me that she was probably staring at a rather large bruise.

She hoisted me up, her arms supporting my back as she helped me into a sitting position. My breaths were shallow and fast, but I tried to focus and calm them down to stop me from hyperventilating. Rose pushed my hair away from my face, which I could feel was sodden with sweat.

''Give her room.'' Another voice rose above the noise that had started up around us. My bleary eyes made out the new face of Josh amongst a sea of silhouettes that stood above me. He bent down until he was eye level with me, ''Violet, can you speak?''

I managed a small shake of my head as I continued slowing my breaths, my lungs protesting with each inhale. My mind was racing with thoughts, ones of panic and relief that I was finally out from under that thug. I was ashamed at how badly I had fought back, worrying about the thoughts of my weaknesses that must have been going through Aiden's mind.