Chapter One

♕—Delilah

Looking at myself in the mirror, I clutched the sides of my dress. The nervousness crept up, and a shiver ghosted underneath my skin. My nipples were visible through the thin, silky fabric; my eyes dropped down and anyone could easily see every single dent and curve of my body through this dress.

Rita—my chambermaid—slapped at my hands. "Stop it! You will ruin the dress, come on, let's take you to your father's wing"

She placed a hand on the small of my back as she led me out of my chambers. I clasped my clammy hands together in front of me and walked with her.

We entered our father's wing and a loud clatter followed by the howling laughter of men fell on my ears.

"Does papá have guests over?" I asked

"I suppose..." she answered vaguely.

I frowned, papa never has guests over this late at night.

We stopped outside papa's door and Rita nodded at the king's guard. The guard looked me up and down, I noticed how he swallowed and diverted his gaze. I felt naked, completely bare. This was humiliating, I wanted to cry, I wanted to run away from here, I wanted to crawl underneath a rock but instead, I kept standing with my head held high.

My father has asked to dress me in such a manner and he had strictly ordered Rita not to let me wear any undergarments.

My father is the King Octavius Stark Gutenberg of the Kingdom of Onteros and whatever he says becomes the law.

The door opened once more and the guard appeared in my view again. I peeked inside as the guard was stepping out and saw the room filled with men I have never seen before.

"You may enter now, princess"

I nodded and held Rita's hand but the guard put forward his arm between me and the door. I gave him a skeptical look not understanding what he wanted.

"Only the princess is allowed inside"

My lips parted with surprise as Rita pulled her hand out of my grip. I took two small steps backward. A feeling of dread crept up from my stomach as Rita turned and walked the other way leaving me alone outside the chamber doors. I could no longer control my hands; they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm.

The guard gestured for me to enter and I heaved a sigh before I took a step forward and the guard pushed the door open.

The loud chatter died down immediately, I kept looking at the floor but I could feel eyes on me, multiple burning gazes turned my way. I could feel that they all were undressing me with their eyes.

"There she is, my beautiful daughter Delilah, and Delilah meet your husband-to-be, hopefully,"

The floor shook beneath my feet as my head shot up. My eyes met with two wicked eyes belonging to the cruelest man I have ever read about.

King Alexander.

His face was hard and cold, with no trace of mercy in them. His eyes drank me up; he stood up taking a few steps in my direction.

I glanced at my father, my eyes wounded. Papa had a wicked grin plastered over his face, his chamber was filled with almost thirty men not a single woman in sight. They all were big, bulky, savage warriors. They were King Alexander's warriors, his army.

My eyes cut back to the man who was standing too close for comfort, my nostrils filled with his scent—he reeked of whiskey and cigarettes.

Papa stood up from his chair, approaching us. He placed a hand over my head, stroking my hair. "My oldest, Princess Delilah Regina Gutenberg, she just turned twenty-three last month, a virgin and magnificently beautiful as you can see"

A virgin? Does he have to mention that?

"Hm," King Alexander made a deep humming sound that rumbled through his chest.

Alexander was forty-two-year-old, I know because we had been invited to his birthday a few months back. He had been married three times before and surprisingly all of his wives had died under unknown circumstances. His reputation was worse than my papa but his wealth was his strong suit, his immense wealth was the reason he was still standing.

He raised his hand and I flinched, taking an involuntary step back. He smiled at that and took another step my way before he walked around me in circles.

He was pleased by the fact that I was afraid of him but I knew what men like him liked to see.

My eyes went back to my father for a mere second, all anyone could see was the smile but only I could see the burning fury in his eyes that was directed towards me. A warning to do as King Alexander pleases, to let him do anything he pleases in this room full of men.

My honor meant nothing to my father.

He stopped right behind me, I could feel his warm breath on the nape of my neck. He slightly tugged at the strings, my eyes shot to my father in alarm but he was busy staring at Alexander.

"You are free to inspect her as you like, Alexander"

Inspect me?

With a harsh tug, the dress got released from its strings and fell to the ground, pooling around my feet.

A strangled cry escaped me as I covered my bare breast from the view of hungry, wolfish eyes present in the room. Tears stung my eyes, my gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I squeezed my thighs, my hand covering my breasts.

Two large calloused hands came from behind me and he pulled my hands away from my body.

"Keep them to your sides, princess, let me see how beautiful my wife is," his rough voice resounded in my ears.

His words made me go still, I felt as though something has walked through me and left me numb and shaking.

I hoped he'd reject me.

He circled back to my front. His hands slightly caressed the sides of my breasts before trailing down to my stomach and dropping to the side of my hips.

"Have you been touched before?" he asked

I gave my head a slight shake. "No..."

Except, I had been... many, many times consensually.

He grazed my cheek with the back of his hand. "It's okay, you can tell me. Perhaps by a king's guard or by one of the servants"

I again shook my head. "No..."

I wasn't stupid.

"Hmm..." he nodded before turning away from me.

"I accept your daughter's hand, Octavius. I shall marry her by the end of this week"

Papa laughed with exhilaration. "Alexander, I'm glad you deem her worthy to make your wife"

Was he not going to ask me if I deem him worthy? Was he not going to ask me if I wanted to inspect him?

"Yes, but I will pay you after she bleeds on our wedding night, no blood, no money," he said it so casually like he had done this kind of thing a thousand times before, and given his record of dead wives I won't be surprised.

Bleed on our wedding night?

I bit my lower lip to stop it from quivering because I didn't even bleed when I had my first time.

The thought that if I failed to get out of this marriage—which is highly possible—then he will find out about it and it's gonna not going to end well for me.

I wanted to drop to my knees and wail until the walls of this palace shook with force but I stood upright. My eyes glared at nothing in particular.

"Oh, she will, my daughter is as pure as the day she was born"

Oh, but I'm not, papa...

Alexander nodded at his men and they all stood up, "I will be back by the end of this week to take her"

"And she will be ready, right, Delilah?"

My neck tensed as I bowed my head. "Yes, my king"

Alexander smiled before he walked past me and his men followed behind. They all stepped out of the room including my father and the second they went out, I grabbed the dress from the floor and covered myself.

"Delilah..."

My father's voice made me stiffen my muscles. I thought he left... I faced him in hopes that for a mere second he will remember that I am his daughter and realize how ridiculous and cruel all this is but instead all I could see on his face was indifference and coldness.

"Papa, please... I do not want this"

He lifted a shoulder. "Doesn't matter what you want, Delilah. It's done"

"Papa, I will die..."

"I'm neck deep in debt, Delilah, you think I care if I lost a daughter to get my kingdom back on its feet? I'll kill thousands of Delilahs to get my power back, do you understand me?"

"But you have power—"

He cut me off. "WHAT POWER?! Our gold mines ran dry years ago, WE HAVE NOTHING! This is my only chance to get my power back and I will not let you ruin that for me or my kingdom!"

I tried again, one last pathetic attempt. "He is cruel, papa, he is a savage—"

"It's all hearsay, King Alexander is a noble and honorable King, and you should feel lucky to be his wife, his queen"

"Papa..."

"Get out before I give you a good lashing, Delilah!"

I shook my head unbelievably, my heart beating so loud in my ears that I couldn't hear anything else.

"Guards!" he shouted and two of the guards entered immediately. "Take the princess back to her chambers"

The guard came toward me but I raised my hand and glared at my father. "I can escort myself out."

Holding the dress up on my body, I ran out of his wing and down the stairs. I stepped out of the palace's doors and glanced at the guards who came to me in alarm.

"I need to be alone right now!" I ordered.

They stilled, stepping back in their positions. I sniffled as I walked to where I wanted to go.

The stables.

I burst open the door and closed them behind me, locking the padlock. The stables were the only place in the palace that feels like home; it was smelly but I didn't mind the smell because he was there.

King Alexander asked if I had been touched by a servant or a king's guard but he forgot to ask about the stable boy.

"Delilah?" he came out from behind, shock written all over his face as he noticed my tears.

"Jack..." I breathed out and ran into his arms.

"What happened, what's wrong?"

I nuzzled my face into his neck, losing myself in his comforting touch. I pulled away from him, looking deeply into his eyes. Without another thought, I pressed our lips together.

My dress fell to the ground once more but this time I didn't feel humiliated.

Jack took me to his bed and laid me down.

I spread my legs for him, wide open as I have done many times before.

He settled between my thighs and he took me with love and tenderness.

I had been in love with Jack since I was sixteen years old and he was seventeen.

I gave myself to him when I was twenty and he was twenty-one.

We had been each other's comfort for the last two years and I won't let anyone take this away from us.

As he reached his high, he pulled himself out of me and spilled it on the floor next to me before he slumped his body over me and inhaled deeply to catch his breath.

"Jake..." I whispered.

"Hm?"

"King Alexander had accepted papa's proposal"

He placed his palms on either side of my head and pulled himself up, frowning. "About about?"

"For my hand in marriage..." I whispered ever so slightly, my chest heavy with overwhelming emotions.

"What?"

"I am supposed to get married to him this Saturday," I told him, emotionlessly. "But I'm not going to..."

He got off me and pulled his trousers up. He ran a hand through his hair and asked. "What are you going to do?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What am I going to do? Jack, we are going to do this together. We'll run away, we still have three days, we can devise a plan and run away together—"

"Are you crazy, Delilah? You think we stand a chance in front of your father and King Alexander?!"

The sudden shock from his word made me go still, it took me a minute to understand what he had just said. The sudden change in his demeanor made me rubbed me off the wrong way.

What did he mean by that? Did our love mean nothing to him?

"We'll run away, we'll run out of this country—"

"You're being an idiot!" he snapped. "If we get caught your father won't let anything happen to you but he will give me the most gruesome death that this kingdom has ever seen!"

Anger whooshed through my body, I got up and picked up that flimsy dress from the floor and put it on. "I'm such a fool, such a pathetic little fool, who thought that you loved me!"

"Delilah!" Jack grabbed me from behind and hugged me, his arms wrapping around my body. "I love you, I do, alright but this is a big step," he heaved a sigh and kissed the side of my head. "Give me some time, I'll figure something out"

Tears stung my eyes once more as I melted in his arms, he was my only way out of this. "Promise?"

He nodded. "I promise"