Sold (complete)

7

Donny took me back downstairs and through a maze of hallways. This part of the castle was not nearly as extravagant as the main area but it was still nice. He brought me to a quaint room with two beds and a bathroom. There was nothing wrong with the room; it was very basic.

"It's Donny, right?" I asked.

"Yes, miss."

"I'm Anna," I said. I held out my hand to him which made him smile.

"Nice to meet you, Anna. Don't get too many friendly ones through here."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, what's the point in being rude to everyone?"

"Glad to see a positive spin on your situation. Now, the prince gave you a couple weeks to get acquainted with everything so enjoy it."

"Hey, do you know what happened? Why he was like that?"

He seemed a little uneasy but he looked around. "The prince found them about half way to Cain's, dead."

"Dead?"

"Yeah. He's king now."

"Is he okay?"

"Concerned, are we?"

"Of course. He just lost his parents."

"He seemed kinda out of it on the way back but Liam's tough. He'll get through it."

I nodded absently.

"Get some sleep. I'm sure you're tired."

"Yeah. Thanks," I said.

"No problem. Have a good one."

Donny left and closed the door. I sat on one of the beds and glanced around the barren room. It hadn't hit me yet that this would be my home for eternity. I would always live here, always share a room. I would never be anything more than this.

I tossed myself back on the pillows. The bed was surprisingly comfortable. I expected some dark, dingy, room with a hay mattress and rag clothing but everything seemed very typical of a middle income family. Of course the royals hadn't dumped an extravagant amount of money into their servant's living quarters but they were by no means degrading.

Just as I started to close my eyes, the door was thrown open and Bridget rushed at me, crying hysterically. She threw her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder.

I tried to relax her but she was inconsolable. The more I tried, the worse she got. I stroked her hair and rubbed her back to try to calm her down.

"Liam's lying! He said my parents are dead! Make him stop, Anna," she cried.

"Look at me, Bridget," I said softly.

I pulled away from her for a moment and wiped her tears from her cheeks. Her wide red eyes broke my heart. She wanted Liam to be lying. She wanted it to be a nightmare but it wasn't. There was no use in trying to convince her it was fake. There was no use in shielding her from the truth.

"He's not lying. He wouldn't do that to you. Your brother loves you, okay?"

"But I don't want them to be dead," she wailed.

"I know it hurts, Bridget. Remember how I told you about my brother?"

She nodded.

"Remember I talked about how sad and how angry I was?"

"But why would they leave me?"

"Remember, God needs them more than we do. He knows we love them but He needs them for something better."