I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 35

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Out Of Turn

My eyes fluttered open, and I groaned against the pounding in my head. I attempted to rub my heavy, stinging eyes, but my arms wouldn't seem to move.

"Scheisse," a masculine voice whispered in the darkness, "she's waking up."

There was a sound of shuffling, and then a blinding pain in the side of my head.

I returned to the dark of unconsciousness.

The next time I awoke, the ache in my head was much worse, but it was the least of my concerns.

I was in an unfamiliar dark room, a dim candle flickering on a small table beside me giving off the only light. I tried to lift a hand to brush the hair from my face, but it didn't move.

I looked down to find my wrists chained to the chair beneath me. My legs were similarly bound. I struggled against the restraints.

"I think you'll find that is of little use," came a familiar voice from the shadows.

I froze and looked to where the voice had come from, unable to discern even the shape of the man in the inky darkness. "W–Who's there?" I hated the unevenness of my voice, the fear.

A humorless chuckle, then he stepped into the light.

A gasp slipped from my lips, dread rapidly replacing the initial shock of the reveal. "Prince Frey?" I asked, incredulous.

His hand shot out to leave a stinging backhand across my cheek. "Keep my name off of your foul lips," he sneered down at me, "you are not worthy of speaking it."

I bit back the whimper as the shock of the blow wore off, leaving behind an aching reminder of the reality of my situation.

He knelt down in front of me, an ugly, sadistic smile twisting his face, a gleam in his pale eyes that sent shivers running down my spine. "You are dirt, do you understand me, little human?"

I didn't answer, and his smile widened before he struck my other cheek, then grabbed my chin in a bruising grip, tilting my face until I had no choice but to meet his cold, blue gaze, "You will answer me when I speak to you. And you will look at me, as you did at the ball. Where has all of that confidence run off to, hmm? You had no problem meeting my gaze then, as if you thought you were somehow an equal."

He leaned in close to my ear to whisper, almost intimately, "Would you like for me to share a secret with you?"

I quickly nodded, afraid another strike would follow if I didn't.

"You will never be an equal," he pulled away to watch me process his words, "Without your little guard dogs, you are nothing. Nothing at all. A bug to be squashed. And, once my brother arrives, we will begin reminding you of your place. Of just how insignificant your puny life is."

"What are you going to do to me?" I couldn't keep the question from spilling out.

His hand lifted sharply in a threatening manner that left me flinching away. He chuckled, slowly bringing that hand down to leave a trailing caress down the side of my face. The moment our skin touched, I felt a sudden exhaustion that was bone deep, "What did I say about speaking out of turn?"

I sucked in a gasping breath at the indescribable sensation of having my very essence leached from me.

Then, another voice rang from the shadows, "Careful brother, if you drain too much from her so early, she won't be nearly as much fun later."