Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Brooke’s POV

I bit back a groan as the lady dabbed the concoction on my wounds, not even sparing me a glance. Digging my fingers into the sheets, I ignored her and kept my gaze on the roof, counting numbers until another jolt of pain spread through me.

It’s been more than a day since the king and I had faced out in that dark room and every single thought I’d had about their marriage shattered right in that room.

The king undoubtedly hated his wife. In fact, it seemed like he was trying to punish her for ever agreeing to marry him and the Queen must have tried her best to take all of it, knowing that she’d never been able to convince him otherwise.

Even though I know that it was just my soul in that body, I couldn’t deny the pain I felt when Jade started to scream and scratch at the walls, looking for a way to get out of her own skin. We haven’t merged and yet, I was in so much pain with her that I thought we never going to escape it.

And the king? He just watched her, puffing out the smoky air from his cigarette as he stared at his wife struggling to breathe and regain her sanity. I had no idea what he’d drugged her with, but it was so painful that it took long hours of smashing her body against a wall before she stopped.

For a moment, I thought we were both dead.

“Stay still.” The healer said, forcing me to look down at her.

She poured a bit of the orange liquid on a piece of wool and applied it to the gash on my shin, her grip on my leg tightening. I paused and then dug my fingers further into the bed until I was sure that I’d torn it. My body buzzed with agonizing pain and a tear slipped from my eyes as I pressed my lips harder together, refusing to make any sound.

Our gaze met and for a second, I thought I saw something that looked like surprise before she looked away. After a few minutes, the ache subsided and she let go of my leg, standing up to her feet. She has been here since the king brought me out of that hideous place and although he’d left immediately, I could still feel his presence in the room.

“Make sure to stay in the room for the time being. I’ll come to check your wounds and heart beats every three hours.” She picked up her box of medicine and shot me a pitiful look before bowing to me and heading for the door.

“Thank you.” I muttered before she made it out of the room.

Immediately the door clicked shut, I allowed my frail body fall into the bed, groaning inwards as the frustration gnawed at me. This wasn’t how I planned for all of this to go. This was the best position for me to get my revenge on Reid and now I’m stuck in this useless body that couldn’t even defend itself.

It was burning up from the wounds and Illness that I couldn’t even move it I wanted to and it was even worse than anything else I could think of. Sighing, I braced myself and stood up from the bed, my vision blurring as I staggered backwards. I hissed with annoyance and steadied myself before walking over to the bedside table, pulling out the drawers to check for anything I could use to communicate with Reid.

As much as I hated to see his face, he was the other person that I or rather, Jade, could confide in. It seemed like his relationship with his sister was very strong but I was going to use that to my own advantage to get to him.

One year was a long time for me to plan my revenge and shatter his life before this body decayed.

The door flew open and I jerked my hand away from the drawer, turning to face the young girl standing in front of the door with her head bowed.

“Your Majesty, The King has asked that you come down to dinner.” She said, almost whispering.

Dinner? I had no idea what the time was but it was sure it was pretty late.

I squinted my eyes and true to my guess, she was shaking lightly and there were little sniffles coming from her.

W-was she crying?

“I’ll be there.” I managed to respond and she nodded, immediately stepping out of the room.

There was a freezing coldness that coated the walls of this palace and it seemed to have affected every single person that lived here. But I wouldn’t pay any heed to that. The only thing I had to do now was to make sure that nobody found out that I wasn’t their queen, at least not until I got what I wanted.

I stood up and stepped out of the room without bothering to change the soiled clothes I had on. As soon as I shut the door behind me, chills ran down my spine and anxiety prickled me, making me halt in my step. I debated if it was a good idea to actually have dinner with him but knowing how callous he was, it was better I did than go through another episode of whatever that was, again with him.

“Your Majesty, is there a problem?”

I turned in the direction of the voice to see a frail woman staring at me with a bit of kindness in her sunken eyes, wrinkles decorating her face. She looked oddly familiar but I couldn’t get the chance to stare at her properly as another young looking servant greeted me and proceeded to lead me downstairs.

He didn’t acknowledge my presence when I got to the dining room, his head slightly bent as he ate with such precision that one might have thought he was examining the food before taking a scoop.

One of the maids pulled out a chair for me and I thanked her before sitting down. She looked a bit surprised and I wondered why. I kept my gaze on him for a few minutes, taking in the features of his face. Despite the danger that loomed over his head in a threatening way, the king was devastatingly handsome in a commanding way and I hated that I thought that.

This was the same man who almost killed his wife hours ago.

“Is the food not to your taste, my Queen?” A gasp escaped my lips at his sudden question.

I cleared my throat and managed a smile even though it felt like my face was going to fall off my head, pulling myself in before shaking my head.

“It is. Thank you for the concern, Your Grace.”

Your only concern right now though, should be making sure that I don’t find the chance to retaliate.

He hummed, never looking up at me.

After eating in silence for what felt like an eternity, he stood up from his seat and walked out without a word, leaving me alone with the trembling servants in the room. I gritted my teeth together and exhaled loudly before rising up, thanking the servants as I followed behind him. I made sure to keep a reasonable distance between us and that’s when I saw Reid walking in his direction, causing me to stop in my tracks.

“Your Grace, I was just coming to see you.” I heard him saying, his jaw tightening.

The King didn't respond, sliding his hands into his pockets and staring down at him. In my lifetime, I’d not seen a man who was taller than Reid with more than an inch but looking at how the king was staring down at him while towering over him, I was every bit of surprised.

“Care to explain why you lured the Queen out of the palace without a notice?” He suddenly asked, rolling his shoulders back and taking a step forward.

“I didn’t lure the Queen out of the palace. She made a complaint and I took care of it.”

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest at the hardness of Reid’s voice. It didn’t look like he was still being polite to the king.

“I see…” The king trailed off and I watched him straighten.

There was an eerily calmness to his tone that scared me. In fact, I found out that I preferred when he got visibly angry than seeing him being almost quiet. His silence could only suggest one thing and that’s danger.

“If you’ll excuse me— Your Majesty?” Reid paused, his gaze settling on me

The king cocked his head over his shoulder to look at me and the warning in them almost made me shriveled away. I was right, he was seething.

Reid took a step towards me but freezes, his lips pressed into a firm line as my own eyes widened.

“One more step, and I’ll kill you.”