Chapter 3

John Chase took me back to the hall he had previously prevented me from entering. Anger was boiling inside me, my blood burning.

Just before the doors to the Great Hall opened, he pulled me possessively by the waist in front of everyone. His touch against me, even through the thick fabric of my dress, sent an electric current through my entire body. I felt my legs trembling beneath my dress, and my heart began racing again.

As we walked through the hall with everyone's eyes on us, I tried to pull away from him, but he pressed me more firmly against his body.

Then, suddenly, with a smile, he released me, leaving me bewildered by his behavior.

With a bow, he stepped away, but not before smiling as though amused by some private joke.

What an odious man!

When he left, I took a deep breath, still feeling his touch on my waist.

That distraction kept me from noticing another man approaching me in time. By the time I did, it was already too late.

The man was Dimitri Sidorov, the other unfortunate man competing for my hand.

I smiled politely at him.

Dimitri was tall, though not as tall as John Chase. He had broad shoulders, and his hair was a translucent shade of blond. His skin was extremely pale, a characteristic of his homeland, Mihan, where it was almost always winter. His eyes were icy blue.

He was an attractive man, but his beauty was overshadowed by his actions. He was a nobleman from Mihan who had heard about the tournament for the princess's hand in the kingdom of Shivia. His actions in the battles had been brutal, and I couldn't even imagine myself marrying him and leaving my country for the frozen lands of Mihan.

He bowed to me, his eyes lingering on my breasts for far too long, making me uncomfortable.

"It is an honor to finally introduce myself to the princess. My name is Dimitri Sidorov, your faithful servant."

His kind words didn't match what I could see in his eyes. Besides, that perception of people that had accompanied me all my life was warning me again.

Because even if I had been blindfolded, that energy he emanated...

It was like a mist, as if his entire being were shrouded in fog, trying to conceal his true feelings. And I could sense hostility radiating from him.

It made me sick.

And that was why, for many years, I had preferred to remain in my chambers. Whenever I encountered soldiers who had taken part in wars, I was struck by their dark energies, and I had never been able to reveal this to anyone.

Princess or not, I could be accused of witchcraft.

And in Shivia, witches were burned at the stake.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Sidorov," I said.

Before I could escape, he grabbed me and suddenly pulled me toward him.

I tried to protest, but before I could alert the guards, he whispered words into my ear, and suddenly, I froze.

A wave of energy began coursing through my entire body the moment his fingers touched the back of my neck. I felt him prick me with the sharp tip of his fingernail, and then his command reverberated inside me:

"Be quiet and listen."

His voice...

Inside my head...

"Walk to your chambers in a few minutes. Say that you're feeling unwell if anyone questions why you're leaving. Once you reach your chambers, there will be two guards at the door. Call them inside, keeping their backs to the door. After that, follow me without a word and obey me."

As he said these things inside my mind, he led me through a dance as though nothing were wrong.

Dimitri danced with me twice, and I had absolutely no control over my own will. Every time I thought about screaming and calling for help, a terrible headache struck me, making me want to writhe on the floor.

"Stop trying to resist my commands. You're only going to make this more painful for yourself," he whispered in my ear.

He released me and stepped away with a brief bow.

I stood completely paralyzed, watching him walk away. I tried to scream, run, or have any appropriate reaction to what had just happened, but to my horror, my body wouldn't obey me.

It was as though there were another will inside me, and it was controlling my every step.

I walked through the hall and greeted people, drank wine, and after some time, said goodbye to everyone.

I walked back to my chambers with my guards, and once inside, I imagined I would be able to act normally.

But I couldn't.

I was still under his invisible command.

I watched helplessly as I myself called my guards, drawing their attention into the room and pointing toward a nonexistent rat beneath my bed.

When they entered, worried, they turned their backs to the door.

I watched in horror as a figure suddenly attacked them from behind.

The man knocked them out quickly and silently, then looked at me.

"Write a letter now."

Then he dictated every word of the letter to me.

In it, I wrote in my own handwriting that I was in love with Sidorov and that I was running away with him to marry him because I couldn't bear the uncertainty of the tournament and the possibility of him dying.

"Now let's go."

My body obeyed him immediately, and I followed him out of the room, silently sneaking through the corridors.

Until we stopped in front of a painting depicting the former King Carlos I, my father in his youth.

Dimitri approached the painting and ran his fingers over it. Then he pushed it aside, revealing a small door.

He inserted a key into the old lock and turned it.

With a creak, it opened, revealing a staircase descending into complete darkness.

He took a torch from the wall and grabbed me by the arm.

Then we plunged into the darkness.