"Would it be wrong to say congratulations?" Nala asked as I was overcome by the smell of my shampoo.
"Only if it'd be right to summon an executioner for you my dear, Nala," I mumbled into the depths of my pillow.
"I take that as a no... But you did great down there, everyone is excited for the future of Lumen."
"What about mine?" I rolled over to face her as she sat with her tanned legs crisscrossed at the foot of my bed.
"Great question..." Nala and I both jumped at the new voice that spoke out in the room. The voice that never seemed to fail at sending pure, uncut anxiety throughout my entire being. Klein was simply one of those people that you felt that you couldn't trust.
And the more you got to know him, the more you could feel it simmer in your conscience.
He was a dishonest man.
"Surprise surprise, Queen Adeline," Klein smirked from the doorway, in which he didn't announce himself. "What a nice ring to it."
"That was extremely impolite. You are not to enter without acknowledging your presence first," Nala practically hissed.
"My sincerest apologies, advisor." He overemphasized, reminding Nala of her place, knowing quite well how to grow under her skin. "But as the King of Macedon, I wanted to speak personally with the Queen," he cleared the doorway and stepped forward into the room, signaling to Nala specifically.
"Alone," he smiled.
"Of course... Your Highness," she spoke through gritted teeth as she exited the room at an obnoxiously slow pace.
The door was slammed shut before she cleared the path entirely, and then it was us two.
Klein waltzed over with his head too high for his own ego before he sat down on the bed next to me. With his signature smirk printed on his face, he sat back on his hands and his expression became more relaxed as he kept an intense, unshaken eye contact with me.
He won.
"What do you want?" I spat out. The unnerving frustration that burdened my soul came out in those four words, and I didn't know what would happen next... Never had I ever spoken so rudely to anyone, as it was unruly for a princess to be snarky.
And it was clear that the uncertainty of how I just carried myself had spilled out in my demeanor.
Klein's heightened look of amusement proved that he knew everything I was feeling.
"Mind running that by me again, love?" He leaned in close, placing his hand on my inner thigh. Spiked chills shot through my spine.
In close call situations like this, I normally come up with some excuse to slip out of his grasp. But, alerts had been blaring so loudly in my mind that I couldn't formulate a plan. My mind blurred together all the possibilities of what to do and in response...
Nothing came to.
The only thing I could focus on was the racing sound of my pulse gradually increasing as it played louder and louder in my ears.
"Adeline," his face got intense and his grip got stronger... closer. "I want you to take my hand in marriage," even though I knew this was coming—apparently sooner than later—my heart skipped multiple beats, and I couldn't seem to place when it resumed.
"Klein... I don't—" Before I could finish, Klein closed the distance between us, passionately locking lips with me. He smelled like discontent and tasted like mint, stealing my breath as I became lightheaded by the second. He took advantage of my submissiveness, as he aggressively kissed my lips. Shifting and contorting me to his will, slowly taking my breath away while he forced his tongue down my throat. I could feel myself slipping away from the moment, drifting away into the back of my mind finding solace as I forced myself to disappear from the present.
Mom would always call me beautiful before it was time for bed.
Then it was finally was done.
Klein finally let me go and I fell back on the bed, literally breathless, and barely present. "I take that as a yes," he smirked as he placed a gigantic engagement ring onto my slender finger.
"I'll see you tonight, my love..."
And as if none of what took place actually happened, Klein was gone, leaving me alone with empty thoughts in a vacant room.
~-~
I sat on my mother's throne, dreading my existence. I sat accompanied by my 'absolutely stunning' fiancé... An overused term that many of the women attending tonight had used to inflate Klein's ego.
This dress took on the same form of my prior ballroom gown, squeezing my organs together around the waist, but expanding extensively from the hip down. The dress was deep purple and had been covered in different designs of glitter in the body and skirt. The sleeveless dress fell off my shoulders with a thick glittering strap wrapped around them, and I wore transparent silver gloves that ran up my arms, that matched the sparkles in the rest of the outfit.
My hair looked extra thick and golden brown as they dyed and washed it for the event. My loose curls were pinned up in a decorative bun, allowing for two long strands to purposely fall down by my ears. Only a fair bit of makeup had been applied to my eyes, showing off what my makeup artist described as, 'true beauty, a crystal blue gaze and long dark lashes.'
Everything had been topped off with a bold glossy deep red on my pouty lips. But despite how beautiful I felt, I couldn't escape the feeling that clawed at the back of mind.
Though I was quite far from the center, I still felt like the center of it all. I sat at the far end of the ballroom, just past the ballroom floor where people of all kinds danced gracefully, as if their only care in the world was this moment. Their uniform dancing was accompanied with three graceful pianists playing in the background. Past the ballroom floor were round dining room tables that aligned practically perfectly, seating handfuls of people dressed in beautiful attire to celebrate the occasion.
I was away from it all, and yet still the main attraction.
The beautiful orphan.
I was that person and nothing could shake the fact.
I was scared, and wasn't convinced if they knew I hated who I was pretending to be.
I was still looking for answers, and couldn't come to terms with the fact that someone here possibly knew the truth behind my parents disappearance.
"Adeline," Klein's aggressive tone tore through my thoughts so suddenly that I jumped.
"Yes?" I stammered, attempting to empty those wandering thoughts from my mind.
"Get up right now. We're leaving." Klein stood to his feet and grabbed me by the wrist.
"Leaving? Leaving whe—"
A loud scream interrupted my curiosity, erupting from the middle of the ballroom. The initial scream was then immediately followed by more screams and the entire room soon broke out in complete chaos. People had been running, shouting for help, but from my point of view, all I could see was disorder.
Not an actual threat.
"What's happening?" I stood to my feet and scurried next to Klein.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is we need to move. Now." Following Klein's lead, we quickly scurried to the nearest exit.
People had been panicking, running around from left and right, bumping into both Klein and myself. No one had given a single care that they'd just ran into the King and Queen because everyone had the same objective.
Find safety before it was too late.
But then, a thought came to mind as I searched through the sea of bodies for an opening.
Where was security?
All I could see was Klein's tall figure in front of me leading the way, but everywhere else, I could only see disarray and hear terror flood my ears.
"Klein!" I panicked as we continued to run, tears now welling in my eyes.
I was scared.
"Be quiet and run! Where the hell are the guards?!" He had the same question I did.
"I don't— ah!" I screamed as I tumbled to the floor. My face contorted into pain as I held onto my ankle for dear life. "I-I think I twisted it!" I whimpered before turning back to see what I'd slipped on. One of the candlesticks on the dinning table had fallen, which disrupted the smooth ground that I'd been running on.
"Damnit Adeline!" Klein began to reach for me but immediately froze.
"Aren't you going to help me?!" I looked up at him and almost instantly noticed the look of horror that overcame him. I turned to follow his gaze and my eyes landed upon a man who stood tall, wearing all black with majority of his face covered. He wore a long black bandana over his mouth, but his dark beard was so long it extended past that.
However, what Klein happened to be most afraid of wasn't the man, but was the sharp dagger he held onto firmly.
"Hand over the Queen." His voice was deep and twisted, sending goosebumps down my arms.
Through all the commotion that had been taking place, somehow everything seemed to stand still at this current moment in time.
I sat directly between two men, of which whom I didn't know would be safer to run away with.
Yet the silence was quickly interrupted by Klein's shallow, and unforgivingly arrogant tone.
"Sorry, Adeline," was all he said.
And like that, he was gone.
In the blink of an eye. He left me stranded, scared, and defenseless... With no promise to bring help, or with any plan in mind...
He abandoned me.
"He..." I said breathlessly, unable to fully finish my thought or even grasp the situation I was currently in.
"That's some king you've got there," the man chuckled loudly as he quickly approached me.
Grabbing me by the hair, he immediately began dragging me back to the main event room.
"Let go of me you fool!" I screamed out in pain, but was yanked forcefully as a warning. I whimpered in agony as my heels scraped desperately across on the marble floors, attempting to relieve the pressure off my scalp. As he tugged away at my hair, I briefly noticed that the man was also equipped with a sword. His hand was deeply entangled in my long hair as he continued dragging me closer to one of the balcony doors. I fought as hard as I could but eventually knew what I had to do.
I carefully—but hurriedly—undid my heels, sobbing quietly as I fiddled with the strap wrapped around my injured ankle. Eventually I was able to slide off both shoes.
Then, in one quick swoop, I snatched the sword from its holder and brought it down through the hand of my captor, sending a few strands of my beautiful locks to the floor.
"AGH!" The man screamed so loudly it echoed throughout the entire room. I used this opportunity to take off to the best of my ability. As I hobbled away, I could not believe my eyes as I turned and noticed, bleeding and all, the man was still hot on my trail. Though he had the upper hand in relation to speed given my ankle and this ridiculous dress, I had the advantage of knowing the castle.
So I ran until I couldn't run anymore.
Constantly running in and out of doorways that only myself and staff members knew of. But as I attempted to run circles around him, I realized I had been failing horribly. He stayed close, as if he'd been trained for this exact moment. Meanwhile, my dress had been weighing me down and my adrenaline wasn't enough to keep me going. More and more often, I began running out of moves to make, and the intruder had been gradually approaching.
"Help!" I screamed out in pure fear just before I was grabbed at the next corner I turned. The same hand that yanked me by the arm to pull me in the shadows now placed itself over my mouth. Hot tears began rolling down my face as I knew I'd been caught once more.
I'd been betrayed.
I'd be killed.
"If you keep crying like that, you'll attract his attention." A new voice emitted causing me to hiccup. As my eyes shot open, I realized that I was hiding behind one of the columns in the castle corridor, and the intruder had now been running in the complete opposite direction.
"I know your trust is extremely low at this current moment, but if you want to get out of this castle alive, you have to listen to me precisely." He whispered and cautiously released the grip around my mouth.
"I'd have to be an idiot to believe you after my palace has been overthrown by criminals like yourself." I spat and pushed myself from his grip.
He immediately grabbed me once again, this time placing my arm behind my back painfully.
"Any more sudden movements and I'll snap it in half right now."