5: Married To Misery

Heather's POV

"You can really walk?" I asked him, the words tumbling off my tongue just as the alarms were. I backed up to the wall and he walked up to me, not stopping until he was towering over me and breathing on my face.

"I guess I should be expecting you to swoon over me now?" He said, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"Oh shut up! Do you think I care that you are also a liar and a faker too? Probably have everyone deceived and running after every demand you can conjure. I am not going to swoon over such a man." I said and could have sworn that I saw the blaze come in his eyes. He looked at me, his teeth grating, out of fury.

"You will learn to speak to me with some respect, little girl. I suppose your father did not school you properly on what to do when you are married to a prince?" He asked me angrily.

"Last time I checked, we both don't want this sham of a marriage so what kind of treatment am I supposed to give a royal liar?" I fired back, equally angry myself.

"You will pay for this. I am going to make your life a living hell here." He threatened but I merely laughed. He had no idea what I had to pass through before I finally got here.

"Well, I guess you better show me the room I will be staying then. I can't wait for the misery to start at your end because I can assure you that you are the very least of the miseries I have encountered in my life. So please, spare me all the drama and go be with the woman you love. I don't care." I snapped at him, too tired and the diamonds threatened to slice my ribs open.

"Is that blood?" He suddenly asked me, his eyes darting to my sides where there was now a red patch.

"What?" I asked him, confused, and touched the patch a couple of times to be sure it wasn't one of the designs. My fingers came back wet and I was just about to put them close to my nose to confirm if it was blood or colored sweat when Keith's annoying voice cut through my thoughts.

"It's blood, stupid. Why are you bleeding? Already prepared to shed your blood for me?" He asked with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"This damn dress is tearing into my skin. It's so tight and I can barely breathe right in it." I said and began to fan my face with my hand as I felt faint.

"Why didn't you just remove it? Must you get married in a dress that wants to kill you?" He asked again, annoying me further.

"You know, I wish the dress killed me in the car. Suffocating me early enough or simply bleeding me out so I do not have to put up with your attitude." I retorted hotly, his eyes glinting with anger.

"Well, here's your second chance. Why don't you take it." He fired back at me and stomped off.

"Since you are being such a big oaf, kindly call me my handmaiden, might as well start getting the benefits of being married to you..."

Everything went black and I felt like I was fainting. Suddenly, I felt strong arms circling my waist and pulling me up to his chest. The scent of Keith hit me with full force. And I grabbed his well-tailored suit to steady myself.

"You sure can put up an act too. In another life, we would have been partners in lies and pretense." He said and steadied me on my feet.

He brought out a picket knife from his jacket and flicked the knife open, the sound causing me to jolt with fear. Was he really as cruel as he was rumored to have been? Was he going to kill me and put an end to everything? I asked myself while I closed my eyes as he brought the knife close to my chest.

In one swift movement, I heard the slash of the knife, and the tightness around my chest loosened. Before I could say another word, he ripped the corset from my body and the rest of the dress fell loosely by my sides. My hands flew to my chest to cover my underwear.

"You don't have to worry about that. I don't care. You are not a woman who can ever move me. I will call your handmaiden for you since you can almost kill yourself just to look pleasing to me, then I owe you a little benefit." He said and stomped out, leaving my mouth gaping open at his bluntness.

I went into the bathroom to take a look at the injured area and possibly administer first aid to myself. I opened the dress, seeing that he had slit the entire chest open with the knife too. If not that the dress had been after my life, it didn't make any sense for me to hate the best dress that I had ever gotten from the supposed family I had.

"Princess?" I heard a small female voice beckon at me from the room. Even the name she had called me sounded like thorns in my ear.

"Who is there?" I bellowed, too angry to care about anything else.

"It's Ella. The prince asked me to take care of you. He mentioned something about bleeding, I brought you first aid." She said and I looked at the wound on my side, wincing in pain as I pulled out the diamond that had pierced my skin.

"I will be out, give me a second," I called back to her and washed the surface of the wounds trying to see how deep it went.

"Shit!" I cursed and went back to the room where Ella was waiting for me.

"Princess, do not touch the wound anymore. Let me take it from here." She quickly offered and took me to my seat.

"Thank you, Ella," I said and sat down, facing the mirror.

"This isn't your room. I will be taking you to your room. We have fixed everything for you and soon, you will get a hang of the running of things around here." She assured me and for the first time that day, my heart warmed at the thought of someone thinking to prepare me for something good happening in the future.

"I appreciate you telling me that," I told her genuinely.

"Why don't we just go to my room? I don't want to be here anyway." I said to her and made to get up but blood pooled out of the injury sight.

"My princess, please, let me take care of the wound here. I think this dress was specifically made to hurt whoever wears it." Ella noted and to be fair, I had also thought of the possibility of that fact a couple of times during the day.

My mother and sister had promised to push me off into misery and it looked like they had succeeded quite right, starting with the dress and then being forced to marry my sister's cruel groom. It had been a rollercoaster of the day and the last thing I needed now was to be drained of blood, the only thing supplying me life.

"I can walk. I will just hold it, and try to apply some pressure. I said and ripped the undercoat of the dress, pressing the damp fabric on the wound and walking out of the room. Ella joined me immediately and walked in front of me to lead me to my room.

My room wasn't anything spectacular, it looked like it had not been in use for a while and the only thing there was the great view of the city from there. At least, there was something finally pleasing to the eye to make all the stress and misery worth it, even if it was for one tiny moment.

"We can give your room an updo whenever you want. All the princesses are entitled to that." Ella quickly volunteered when she saw the look on my face.

"Thank you, Ella. The room has everything I need. They might be old and a bit out of date but they are functional and I don't care about enjoying any luxury. I don't want to enjoy any part of this." I said to her and sat down.

Ella immediately got to work, disinfecting my wound and throwing in a few stitches. The pain was unbearable and I wanted to ask for anesthesia but I knew it would be a waste of time and I would probably have bled to death before that came in.

Once she was done, she gave me a pill and told me to have a quick bath, taking care to avoid the bandaged wound. I quickly did that and by the time I was out, there was food and a new set of clothes laid out on the bed, but there was no Ella in sight.