CHAPTER 2

“Princess Isabella?”

The accent was nothing as she had heard before and she was sure he was not from the parts, it was rich and sultry but she wasn’t going to give in easily...

She rolled her eyes and without sparing him a glance, “Yes I am her, No I don’t want a dance, no I have no plans of getting married to you".

The man behind chuckled and she could have sworn her heart stopped at that moment, how could his voice sound so good, she spun abruptly and looked at him and she knew immediately that she shouldn’t have.

He was built like a god and he towered above her, what was he 6.6? She quickly released the breath she didn’t know she was holding, his tunic sleeves were rolled up and the muscles in his arms were rippling and...

He cleared his throat loudly, and she slowly brought her face up to his, with his other hand that wasn’t holding a glass, he pointed towards his face, “Just in case you do not know, my face is up here", he said in an amused manner.

For the first time in her life Isabella could not come up with any smartass reply, not only was she tongue-tied but she was sure her brains had gone on a vacation because she could not make out any rational thought in her head.

His skin was slightly paler than normal and his hair was black and long, he tied it at his back, chiselled jaw, and finely cut cheekbones. How was he so perfect she thought. His face was perfect but she was not prepared for what she saw when she stared into his eyes.

They were grey, only a much lighter shade, it was almost like he was blind or soulless, these were the most beautiful pairs of eyes she had seen, they held depth she wanted to uncover...

“I’m going to give you more time to admire me but please make it less creepy, we have an audience", his beautiful voice rang out again jolting her from her train of thought. She downed the contents of the glass in one gulp as she cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure.

“Do not flatter yourself", she retorted, her voice sounding hoarse, she needed to get a grip on herself, all those years of training to be a princess couldn’t have been for nothing, she mentally chided herself.

“That was not princess-like”, he replied. Isabella snorted, she had heard that before.

“Like I earlier said, I do not want to dance neither do...”

“Princess you should learn to take your advice", he interrupted her, he dropped his glass in the tray of the waiter that was passing and quickly took another glass, “ Do not flatter yourself, I have not asked you to dance with me".

Isabella was mortified, for a moment she prayed the ground will open up and swallow her.

“Good”, she quickly masked her expression, “I think we are done here”, she moved away from him. “Such an ass!”, she muttered under her breath.

A performance by a certain dance group was announced and some men and women in clown attire began juggling knives and performing acrobatic moves, most of their moves were dangerous and this earned them applause from the crowd. Isabella had no idea that something of this sort was planned for the day, she looked in the direction of her father and he had a puzzled look on his face...

Her attention was drawn from her father when the dancers moved towards her and began to give her a personal show, she tried to hide the squeals and screams that threatened to come out of her mouth as almost every eye in the room was trained on her.

In a matter of seconds, she could not fathom the exact moment when the knife was thrown towards her. All those years of sneaking around to play in the armoury, watching Louis and the soldiers practice did not prepare her for what was coming, it was fast, and she did not have the time to duck, just when she thought she was going to die.

She found herself in the large arms of a man as she heard a glass shatter where the knife had pierced through it. There was a collective gasp in the room...

“Isabella my child...”, Queen Violet shouted as she ran towards her.

Isabella stared into the eyes of the man that had caught her, he still held her pressed against him, He was the same man from earlier.

“Thank you”, she murmured, “I’m indebted to you.

He smirked and whispered, “Of course you are and you will repay your debt". She didn’t have much time to process his words or the fact that he spoke without moving his lips much when there was a loud bang and an uproar in the crowd.

Everybody was thrown into a frenzy but she was still rooted to the ground staring into his soulless eyes, only something was wrong, he still had the smirk on his lips and the chaos around him did not bother him in the least. She turned to run away when she felt a blow to the back of her head.

In a quick stride, he was in front of her, the last information her brain could register was when she was hoisted and placed on his shoulders, however even in her unconscious state she could not get over the ear-splitting screams of the people around her.

The loud banging noise of iron gates was a rude awakening that reminded her of what she was now, a prisoner and brought her back to her agonising reality. She could hear the footsteps of someone approaching.

They were agonizingly slow and she feared for what might become of her if she came face to face with her assailant. Not much longer those familiar set of grey eyes pierced into hers through the iron bars of the prison, of course, he was in a crouching position like the predator that he was...

☆ ☆ ☆

Alessandro took his time to study her expressions, he liked how she avoided his gaze and cowered in his presence. It was of utmost importance that she feared him.

It was never in the plan for her to be alive, it was a spontaneous decision he had made when he attacked the royal family, her brother, of course, had fled unhurt, he sighed inwardly, he had not been in the ballroom when the attack was made, a reminder that he had other important duties to attend to.

“I believe you have learnt your lesson”, he growled, he had to use everything he could to scare her.

She slowly brought her gaze to meet his, a fierce look in her eyes, “The moment you let me out of here, I’d make sure the only thing left of you is your carcass!”.

Alessandro smirked, for someone who was deathly terrified, she did have a mouth on her. She had already attempted an escape before and although her attempts were futile, he was not going to take any chances, he would not rest until he had dealt with every single one of them.

He stood erect with a smirk on his face, “In as much as I’d like to indulge you, much more important duties demand my attention". He rubbed his palms together, “I still haven’t had your brother's head", and he gave a mock bow.

She had her mouth agape as she watched him leave. “You wouldn’t dare, you monster!”, he heard her scream as he locked the doors.