Four

“Do you know you’re very pretty?”

This was the first word Lucy said to me. That day, I had been sulking in a corner after a senior slave ordered me to hand over my food. 

Knowing I couldn’t refuse, I gave it to him, went to a corner and tried not to cry. I saw heard someone talking and when I looked around, I saw it was Lucy, all alone, talking to herself as usual. 

“What do you mean? I am skinny, pale and starving. There’s nothing pretty about me.” I had retorted, angered by her words. 

“It don’t change the fact that the aura around you is pure. You’re glowing and anyone with eyes can see that.”

I smiled, warmed by her kind words and from there, we became friends. She was the only one who treated me like human. The only one who was truly happy in this hellhole, unlike the rest of us that was always miserable. Even though she was mentally unstable, she was a breath of fresh air. 

Seeing her fall limp to the floor with life draining out of her, I couldn’t stop screaming. I tried to run to her but I was held back by Matt, who had a firm hold on my arm. 

“Shut up if you don’t want to end up like that crazy girl.” Matt spat, shaking me hard as master Kieran began walking towards us. 

I stopped screaming and broke into hot tears, pained by the fact that I couldn’t do anything.

Master Kieran walked to Matt, cleaned off the stain of blood on the knife on his cloth, before redirecting his cold gaze to me. There was so much hatred in his eyes, even though it wasn’t directed at me but it was there. It wasn’t directed at Lucy either, so why did he have to kill her?

I met his gaze with all the rage and hatred I felt towards him at the moment. I hated him so much, his presence repulsed me. He arched his eyebrow at my expression, suprised that a lowly slave like me would dare look him in the eye but I didn’t care. 

Earlier, I had hoped he wouldn’t recognize me but right now, I didn’t care anymore. 

“Don’t tell me you killed her just to get back at me for losing the hunting game.” Damien called out, breaking the silence and oblivious to the tension between Kieran and I.

“You got him really bad.” Viktor laughed.

With a groan, Kieran finally turned away from me and headed for his horse. “Fuck off.” He cursed his brothers, making them laugh. 

The fact that they didn’t even bat an eyelash at the death of a slave was unnerving to me. It wasn’t unheard of for masters to kill who defiled them but this was the first time I experienced it. 

As they rode away. Matt yelled for us to begin work and so we did. Everyone worked as if they hadn’t just lost one of our own. A friend. 

When we were done, we returned to our camp and nightfall came not long after. I found it hard to sleep as I was restless. The scene kept replaying in my head. I turned to the side but the woman beside me wouldn’t stop talking in her sleep. I decided to take some air.

Rising up, I tiptoed out of the chamber. I took a deep breath when I got outside, relaxing my tense muscles but my relief was short lived as a guard suddenly stopped in front of me. 

“W-what is it, did I do s-something?” I asked, fear evident in my tone. 

“Master Kieran sent for you.” He said in a whisper, looking around to make sure we are alone.

Immediately he mentioned Kieran, my fear diminished and I became furious. I did not want to have anything to do with that devil. But damn it, I was bounded by my status- a slave. 

Unshed tears burned my eyes as I followed the guard. 

“You can go.” Master Kieran said to the guard when we got to his room. The guards bowed and left immediately, leaving just the two of us. 

I kept my gaze fixed on the floor, while he remained silent. He he got off the bed, walked past me but I still didn’t look at him. When I didn’t hear any noise from him for a while, I turned and was suprised to see him staring at me. 

He smiled, seeing my suprised look but it only angered me. I glared hard at him, wishing looks could kill. 

“Come on, don’t be all cold and mysterious towards me. Show me some fire.” He laughed, walking close to me.

“Go to hell.” I spat.

“Easy there, you don’t want me to lose my temper, do you?” He asked, a frown crossing his eyes. 

I scoffed loudly. “Why? You think I’m scared you will kill me too?” I spat and stepped closer to him with a boldness I couldn’t feel. 

“Death is too easy. Is that all you think I could do to you?” He asked with a smirk, seeing I was right in front of him. He placed his hands on my waist but I pushed him off. 

“Stay away from me, bloody murderer!” I yelled, fighting my tears. I could remember clearly, how those hands struck a knife in Lucy’s heart and twisted it without remorse.

I watched as his eyes became dark with anger and I silently hoped for him to lose it and kill me too. Perhaps then, I would be finally free from this miserable world. 

I expected him to strike me by daring to speak to him in such manner. He raised his hand and I flinched, covering my face as I waited for the assault. A moment passed by, yet the pain didn’t come.

I slowly dropped my hands and dared to look at him. Instead of the angry look I was expecting to see, he had on an expression i had never seen before. 

Before I could react, he pulled me close and his lips descended on mine, making me freeze.