As soon as Liam left the room I grabbed the clothing they gave me, and tried my damnedest to ignore how the sleeve alone could afford my mother's medication for the next few months. I dressed myself in hurry, frantic as my heart was yet to calm down.
It was tight, which made me think that the dress was made for someone with a much smaller body size.
My waist was way too snug, and my chest - not that it was big at all to begin with - felt like they were about to tear the fabric open.
That wasn't what bothered me, though. I couldn't stop scratching at the skin of my neck and hand. I wanted to skin them off, and by the looks of it, I was achieving that.
The skin on my neck started to sting the more I scratched, and as for my other hand, it already began to bleed. The droplets of blood stained the edges of the sleeves.
That didn't just happen. I repeated to myself. That didn't happen.
Perhaps it really didn't happen. Maybe I just imagined it. Maybe the adrenaline pushed me a wee bit too far and made me think of frightening things. Maybe the exhaustion was too much and I was already partly dreaming.
I kept thinking of maybe's just to try and convince myself that nothing happened. The prince never walked in on me as I was getting dressed. He didn't touch me, or force me to touch him. He didn't pin my bare body down on the bed of one of his guards. His guard didn't accuse me of tempting a man I already despised before this day.
None of it happened.
I was sure of it. I had to be sure of it.
There was, of course, that small voice of logic that told me otherwise. I didn't want to listen to it, I didn't want to hear it, and I didn't want to believe it.
It never happened. Nothing happened.
I was already fully dressed as I stood still in the middle of the room.
The skin on my hand still bled, and the skin on my neck felt raw from my nails scratching at it.
I had no clue what to do next at that moment. The sight of the sun outside the window of Liam's room told me it was finally sunset. I knew Christian was probably losing his mind right now. A string of "I told her not to go"'s surely spilled from his mouth.
I was worried on how Lea would react as well. I was always home before senset, even when I first encountered the wolves. I was bleeding and I was tired, but I was back home in time.
I could only assume what kind of things would be causing havoc in their minds right now. I hoped, dearly, that Christian wouldn't be stupid enough to go run into the forests now - at night - and leave Lea and our mother just to look for me.
He knew the woods as well, since he was the one who introduced me to it. But he didn't know much. He didn't know my system of the marks - and even if he did, the marks wouldn't be visible at night time at all - and he hadn't gone far enough into the forests to be able to find this place safely.
As if a switch had been flipped, my head immediately jumped to an old thought.
All of my questions from a earlier today came back like a heavy storm. What were these people doing here? Why is there a huge cabin in the middle of the woods to begin with? Who was Lady Charlotte?
My head was getting lighter and lighter the more I thought, and I felt like I would have collapsed right on the floor if a knock didn't pull me out of my confusing questions in time.
"Liam?" I said, my voice broke halfway through the name, and I cringed at it.
Nothing happened. My voice is merely horse from screaming in the woods. That had to be it.
I pinched my eyes shut for a few seconds, willing myself to believe everything I was thinking.
My body began to feel cold as my pulse raised, the true memory of what happened moments ago, threatened to break through the thin wall of lies that I forcefully fed myself.
Thankfully, another knock came and I was swiftly pulled from my thoughts again.
My eyes opened in a snap and I cleared my throat before I attempted to speak again. "Liam?" I said.
I was fairly sure it was Liam, knocking to make sure he didn't come in while I got dressed. But then the doors opened and I was not met by brown hair nor eyes, but rather brown hair and blue eyes.
I tried my best not to sneer at the man who came in. It was obvious that he was yet another noble guard, judging by the uniform he wore.
He didn't scowl at me nor looked at me with disgust just as Liam and that horrible prince had. He offered a small smile, tried his best, and actually did a decent job not to scan the overly-tight clothing I wore. "I was sent here to come and fetch you for supper, Miss Ella." He said, his voice had a different accent to it, but I didn't take this time to play guessing games.
"Where is Liam?" Was the first thing I said.
I didn't care for the mean guard, but I owed it to him to at least ask where he was.
I knew the he could easily just tell Lady Charlotte what I was really doing in the woods. He could easily just say that we weren't star-crossed lovers who were secretly meeting away from the public eye, which was obviously what Lady Charlotte assumes.
He could easily tell her the truth and I would either be imprisoned or killed.
Possibly even imprisoned then killed,m.
I knew that the fact that I was still alive right now all stemmed from the truth that Liam has kept his mouth shut for the time being.
This was definitely past his debt to me for saving him from the wolves. He had indirectly given me a chance to bathe myself in such a grand way, and also a change of clothes. Though admittedly, I was uncomfortable wearing something worth more than my house.
And now, I had the chance to have food.
"He is," The brunette paused as his eyes left mine for a moment, but then he stared at me again "talking with Prince Harry."
The name triggered my memories once more. My breathing increased slightly, as I took a step back. I felt like I was about to faint as I suddenly felt his lips back at my neck.
His cold lips that were never meant to touch me.
"Miss Ella? Are you okay?" The guard by the door asked. His face showed genuine concern instead of disgust.
I shook my head to clear it.
It didn't happen.
"I'm fine. I am just tired." I tried for a smile. My inner conflict made me momentarily forget my hatred of anyone who was rich but never bothered to help the poor.
The guard by door moved further into the room, and left the door open as he did so.
I was shocked when I felt him hold onto my arm, his grip firm but neither painful nor oppressive in any way. "You seem ill. The food that the servants, have prepared should make you feel better." He said.
I felt sick the my stomach at the word "servants."
Of course they had servants.
I opened my mouth to protest - already so sure that I wasn't going to be able to hold down anything - but he beat me to it as he started to assist me towards the door.
"The prince had also told me that I would be the one handling you for your stay here." He said just as we are by the huge hallway. My head snapped to the side as I quickly turned to him. I was about to question his words when he added up an introduction. "I'm Niall, by the way."
Of course I was quick to brush off the introduction. "What do you mean by my stay here? I will be gone by morning, I assure you that." I said as tough as I could. So much has happened in a span of a few hours but I knew all I had to do was get back to my family and get away from all these, and everything would go back to normal.
It had to.
The guard - Niall, who seemed like the nicest so far, even nicer than Lady Charlottes - raised his eyebrows at my words. "And why would that be? I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. The Prince said that you will be here for quite some time. Do you have a family to go back to higher on the mountain?"
At the mention of the demon, the memory fought for attention again, but I quickly blocked it out.
It was good to have distractions to help me deny the truth. Even just for a bit longer.
His words struck me suddenly. Higher on the mountain. He didn't know I was a low villager. He must not have been informed and of course the dress I wore wouldn't give him the idea that I was from the poorest town. That's why he's being decent to me.
I knew none of them could be this open to someone like me.
I didn't have time to answer, not that I planned to, because after walking through a maze of stairs and hallways, we arrived at a huge dinning hall.
The walls were painted a dark shade of brown, the surface of which gleamed bright even in the soft lighting. A black chandelier hung in the middle of the ceiling, helping the other lanterns on the side with illuminating the room. A polished wooden desk was located at the center of the room, already filled with so much food that I had worried how many nobles would I have to eat with tonight.
In one of the many brown chairs adorned with red cushions, Lady Charlotte sat quietly. Her back was straight and her hands neatly folded on her lap.
She smiled at me as soon as she saw me come in, and Niall finally relieved his grip from my arm, and gave Charlotte a bow.
"Oh, Niall?" She said and gave the guard a confused glance "Why are you assisting Ella? Where's Liam?" She asked.
"Liam is with Prince Harry, My Lady." The way his eyes avoided the blonde's stare made me think there was something he was hiding about Liam's whereabouts, as I briefly remember how he didn't meet my eyes either when I had asked earlier.
"Will they still be joining us for supper?"
Niall nodded in response and Charlotte offered a quick "good" before she waved Niall away.
She returned her eyes to me as she scanned the look of her clothing on my frame. "It's tight on you." She said the obvious, "But I guess it's better than that dirty old dress you were wearing a while ago, isn't it? I mean, I couldn't even tell what color it was."
I didn't get the chance to reply to her at all. "Now, come." She said immediately. Her hand was placed on the small of my back as she lead me to the head of the table, and told me to sit on the chair right across from where she was a while ago.
There were plates in front of me and her, and then one more at the chair on the head of the table, which was directly to my right. I was confused on the fact that it seems like only three of us would be eating - Harry obviously being the other one - but the huge table was filled from one end to the other with plates of different food.
I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning, the food last night and this morning was too limited, and I rather I starve than have Lea be hungry. It was a difficult task not to attack everything in front of me, but seeing as Charlotte had touched none of the food, I assumed we had to wait for Harry.
I swallowed the bile rising up my throat. The questions in my head still blared, but they didn't offer much distraction from the memory I tried to repress.
Thankfully, Charlotte spoke before I could re-live what had happened. "So, tell me how you met Liam?" She said so casually.
A huge grin was on her face as she studied me with her bright brown eyes. The way she slightly leaned in my direction, and the way her hands gripped the edge of the table resembled how the gossipers in our village looked when someone is rumored to be having an affair again.
It was then that I knew she was only being kind to get a good story out of me.
And if that's what's keeping me alive, then I had to give her a show worth her time.
"He was out in one of our pubs." I started, but like the gossiping women in my town, she had to interrupt me with her own comment.
"But you're from the lowest village on this kingdom, right? I mean you had to be if you were in these woods. It's pretty far from other towns." She said, but again, before I can say that I was indeed from that town, she added "I didn't know Liam was into dirty drinking."
I refrained from sneering at her, and just nodded. She waved her hand, gesturing me to go on while her smile was huge. "Well, I was just on my way to find my aunt, you see," I said "And she worked at a small shop near the pub. A bakery.
"Unfortunately, it was night time." I was honestly making all these up on the spot. I was quite desperate to come up with the most thrilling love story that I could in order to entertain the woman enough not to throw me to the wolves. "A couple of drunken men were outside when I had walked by and they had started calling me, making very inappropriate comments."
"Oh, I hate those type of men." Charlotte interrupted again, and I stopped myself from saying that she must hate the prince as well, if that was the case.
"Me too." I said, and she nodded and pushed me to go on. She leaned onto the table so closely now that I could see her breast from the top of her clothing.
"Well, just as one of them was about to make a move, the doors of the pub open and out comes a man in uniform. It was Liam, and he told the men off and even fought them.
"It was love at first sight for me, and with the way he had looked at me I knew it was for him too." I added the last line, knowing it wasn't a love story without those words.
Lady Charlotte squealed in her seat as she fanned herself with her hand. Nothing in the story made the slightest bit of sense, but for some odd reason, she believed it. "So he sort of saved you, didn't he? That is so romantic!" She said, and I wanted to pat myself on the back for a job well done. "And now you guys meet in secret, yeah? Because Liam can't put you in danger or disgrace your name if people start to talk and assume wrong things." She just made up her own ending to mine and Liam's supposed love story, so I just went with it.
"That's correct." I said.
Before she could start bombarding me with more questions, I spoke up again. "Exactly, who is eating with us?" I asked.
"Just Harry."
"Then why is there so much food on the table?" I couldn't help my curiosity.
"We like to eat, I guess." She said, but seeing her little figure made me doubt her words.
Before I could talk even more, or possibly ask the questions that had been bothering me, the doors opened again.
Seven people came in, in total. Six of which are wearing a guard's uniform, and the one in the center is the face of the man that triggered my mind to be frightened once more.
But he didn't acknowledge me. He went straight towards Charlotte, gave her a kiss on the cheek just before he sat down, ungracefully, on his chair.
The six guards stood by the now closed door, I couldn't help but widen my eyes at the sight of one of them.
The one furthest to the right, his head still held as high as the other's, was Liam. But he definitely did not look the same.
His left eye was swelled to almost double the its size, and there was a bruise on his cheek. His lips were cut, and there was a clear wound from his ear to his forehead.
"Wha - " I was about to speak.
"Let's eat." Harry cut me off. He did not spare me a glance as he started to load food onto his plate, and so did Charlotte.
❦
Okay, I'm almost 100% sure that when I described the new guard as "brown hair and blue eyed" that most of you thought it was either Louis or a new character BUT SURPRISE NACHOS.
IT'S BRUNETTE NIALL.
Also, don't tell me she's stupid for trying to forget what literally just happened.
I am a psychology major and I know what I'm talking about here. This is a legit defense mechanism (unhealthy, but not uncommon at all) that helps people cope with bad events.
And I need thoughts here! Give me feedback or give me death!
I'm kidding don't give me death.
I AM ALSO SEEING THE BOYS (minus zayn bc he needs rest and I'm sad but hope he gets better and happier) TOMORROW.
DO YOU HEAR THAT? I THINK MY SOUL JUST HAD A MINI ORGASM.