Chapter 18HopeIt has been a rather boring week for me. No one came to summon me for dinners. No one visited me except the haughty maids who came to serve me food with evident distaste in their eyes, like I had wronged them in some way. The only thing that has been keeping me company was India's diary.I read a page in the morning, a page in the afternoon, a page in the evening. I was persistent in savoring it because I had no idea the next time that I would have access to such a thing. The next time might be when I got out of this lockdown and went ahead to secretly visit Amara once again.Yes, that was my plan. Just because Darius commanded me not to go there again didn't mean that I would blindly obey him. Without any friends or source of entertainment in this entire castle, I might lose my mind without a doubt. So, as soon as the ban of my movement was lifted, I would return to my place of comfort. But for now, I would continue to seek my comfort in the pages of someone who was
Chapter 19HopeI woke up in the arms of someone. When my eyes fluttered open because of the bright sun rays, I felt like I was being cocooned by something strong—someone strong. The person's arms were around me and we were both sitting on the floor. I stared at the sight in front of me and suddenly remembered everything.The assailant, Darius saving me, me crying on his chest. And I was still resting on his chest! His arms were strong around me, I couldn't get him to let go. I tried wiggling out of his hold, but I felt something. Something long and hard."Stop wiggling," a raspy voice breathed down my neck and I stiffened.My goodness, that was his… A strength I didn't know I had coursed through my veins as I ripped his arms away from me and stood up at full force, only for sharp pains in my heels to shoot up. I hissed closed mouth, then plopped down on my bed, facepalming myself internally.I forgot about the shards in my heels and I stood up too quickly. What is wrong with me? Now,
Chapter 20Hope"I don't want to." I said with a slightly shaky voice. After my sentence, it was as though the entire world had come to a standstill because Darius froze up. I gulped down on my saliva, regretting those words immediately."What?" Darius said, sounding flabbergasted that he even had to ask that in the first place.I cleared my throat. "I said I don't want to. I don't want to train for anything. I'm not even going to be here for long. Once you find Light, there'll be no need for any of this."I was going to die for saying such things. I was going to die a slow and painful death after this. The expression on my husband's face said as much. He burned with fury."I- I," I tried to take back my words but I couldn't. Unfortunately, I couldn't form any complete sentences under such a gaze of terror."The choice was not yours to make in the first place. I am ordering you to report for training by tomorrow. I am not suggesting it." Darius gritted out forcefully, like he was try
Chapter 21HopeKyle was no longer by my side. Instead, he was a few feet away, sparring with one of the men. I had taken a seat on a box and grabbed a rag to clean the armory. Thankfully, my heels hurt less since I wasn't standing on them. But all my muscles hurt and my stomach kept on growling at me due to the lack of content in it. I ignored the gnawing pain and did my task. Before this, I had never cleaned weapons but that didn't mean I didn't know how to. Back home, I used to be friends with a couple of guards and I would watch them wipe their weapons. I was just vexed about the fact that I was the one who was going to do such a task.The men around had transitioned from gawking at me brazenly to whispering about me secretly. I wondered what they were thinking. They were probably jeering at my situation. How the mighty Vitalis princess was the one cleaning their stuff. I tried not to let those kinds of negative things get to me, but it was hard not to.As I picked up the next ar
Chapter 22DariusStorming woman. We haven't even been married for long and she has given me more trouble than that useless twin of hers. I walked down to my study with an evident scowl on my face. The council meeting was what put me in a bad mood before I had a conversation with the human princess.All everyone had to say was how less than I was in comparison to the kings before me who had treated the tradition of being married to a human, solemn and sacred. But it wasn't entirely my fault. What else should I do to make the brat happy? Nothing I haven't given to her but she still isn't satisfied and prefers to go back to her family.I stepped into my office and made straight for my leather chair. Not even a second yet, the door flew open and marched in Orion and Talia. Both had the same pissed off expression on their faces as I did."Is she alright?" Orion asked, begrudgingly.I made a triangle with my fingers as I rested my elbows on my desk. "The doctor said that the wounds weren't
Chapter 23HopeI was going back to training today. I loathed it more than anything else in the world. I could still remember the mocking faces of the soldiers weeks ago and it haunted me. I was doing better now, my wounds were roughly healed and I've been eating well.Though there was an incident before I was cleared to come back to training. Darius had wanted to dismiss Kyle and behead him for not paying close attention to me and letting me faint in the middle of the hallway. I had to convince Darius that there was no need to do all that to Kyle and by convince, I mean, stand there and look at him with pleading eyes.It must've worked well because Darius had let go of Kyle and given him one last chance to prove his worth. Because of that sole deed, Kyle became a little less hostile towards me. For example, this morning, he asked if I was alright when I stepped out of my room and before then, instead of banging on my door and demanding that I come out for training, he had sent the thr
Chapter 24HopeBreathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. It'd be fine, Hope. Though I knew that wasn't the case. It has been over a week since I had resumed training with the Commander and horrible wasn't the right word to cover how I felt during and after the long mornings and sometimes late evenings.Yes, I've been on a very tight schedule. Early mornings were for exercises, to strengthen my muscles, while late afternoon and evenings were for actual training. Like dummy sparring and weapon play. I had no skill whatsoever in any of the aforementioned sections. I always felt like dying while running around the field or undergoing torturous exercises.I felt like crawling into a small space and hiding when it came to handling the rods. No one ever told me that a common long stick would be so heavy and hard to wield.I felt like crying when the soldiers around would brazenly sneer at me while the commander pushed me around like a little lost sheep. It was all so infuriating. M
Chapter 25HopeWhy was he mad at me? His onyx eyes were so dark and his nose was flared up. Veins popped on his forehead. "I'm sorry," I looked away from him, only for two fingers to connect with my chin and pull my face back to his view."Why are you apologizing to me?" he asked in an awfully serious tone."Annalise—""Ugh," he cut me off as he made a frustrated sound with his mouth. "Sometimes I don't know if you're pretending to be clueless or if you're just dense inside that round head of yours." He spoke through his teeth and I parted my lips.He just insulted me. I ground my teeth, swallowing down the violent thoughts that crept up my mind."I don't understand." I said.He let go of my chin and took a step back from me. "I don't even know why I try sometimes," he said to himself, then he looked back at me. "You were a princess before you got married to me, act like one, and not some maid." He spoke in an agitated tone with a mix of disinterest in it.What was that supposed to