CHAPTER 6

“What exactly do you want with her?”, the king's voice shot back.

“I want the girl to do with as I please”.

King Malcolm looked him over, “You can’t...”.

“As a pet, she would be my property”, Alessandro interrupted him, “Just like you like to keep your spoils from war, I will like to keep her too", he shot a glance in her direction, “She is my trophy from one of my greatest conquests. It will be her fate to be bound to me as a pet slave forever”

“Aless...”.

“You can not refuse me Father”, Alessandro replied in a quiet voice.

The king thought for a while. Whatever shame Isabella had felt when her dress was ripped off her doubled when Alessandro said she was a spoil from his conquest.

“You can do as you wish", Malcolm finally replied.

“Untie her!”, Alessandro’s loud voice resounded across the yard. The man who had the whip dropped it and moved to untie her.

As soon as she was freed from the restraints, Alessandro turned to the man and clasped his neck with his palm. It was like he weighed nothing because his feet were off the ground as he struggled against Alessandro’s choke hold. She could not pull her gaze from the scene before her neither could she protest...

Kieran and Gwen rushed towards Alessandro, they had considered letting him handle things alone but Kieran had suspected that things might take an ugly turn and he wasn’t far from the truth because before they could react the man’s decapitated head was rolling on the ground, blood splattered everywhere.

Isabella clamped her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

“Alessandro!”, Kieran shouted.

“Why did you do that?”, Malcolm asked.

“He heard our conversation”, Alessandro murmured nonchalantly.

He approached Isabella and she held her breath in fear, without as much as a glance towards her, he hoisted her over his shoulders.

“Gwen please get clothes for me, anything you can find, we recently employed new maids, get one of them for me. Kieran, get someone to clean up this mess” he barked out orders.

Isabella stared at Gwen as she looked at her with so much unconcealed hatred. Malcolm stared at Alessandro with worry in his eyes. Kieran looked at her like he was pondering.

She closed her eyes as she let the tears flow freely down her cheeks, there was nothing she could do against these people.

They were formidable and she was only their toy to play with as they deemed fit. Alessandro had made it clear today that he was not done dealing with her. She could not even being to fathom how he had ripped a man’s head off his neck, shattering bones and tendons with just his bare hands.

She steadied herself on his shoulders as he quickened his pace. Her tears increased, her thoughts were confused, she could not think clearly but one thing she was sure of was that Alessandro was a predator, a very deadly kind and she was his prey...

☆ ☆ ☆

Unlike him, he had been making many spontaneous decisions lately, he didn’t know if it was a good thing. He stared at the girl that sat across from him. She looked thinner than when he had last seen her. She was visibly shaken by the incident she had just witnessed. She was lucky she had passed out when he had attacked her kingdom, he thought to himself.

Shortly afterwards Gwen entered the room. His eyes met hers and he smiled in appreciation, “Thank you so much, Gwen".

She briefly nodded, dropped the clothes she held in her hands on the bed and turned to face him, “The maid you asked for is outside, she is one of the recruits".

“That's nice Gwendoline please let her in".

Gwendoline opened the door and after a short while, a redhead peeped through looking terrified. Gwen glared at her, “Just come in already Cecily!”.

Cecily quickened her pace, and when she was a few yards from them she bowed, “Mi lord, Mi lady'.

Gwen took that as her cue to leave she flashed Alessandro a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes he sighed inwardly as he remembered how their steamy session had been cut short because of Kieran’s news. He had to make it up to her, he thought to himself.

“You’ll be my pet’s help”, he frowned slightly as the words left his mouth, “Usually pets don’t get these favours, but she’s royalty and has little to no knowledge about Isles. She will need some time to get used to her new life".

Cecily nodded in understanding, “What would you like me to do for her sire?”.

“For now all I want is for you to get her cleaned up, I’ll come get her when you’re done", with that he left the room leaving the women alone.

When Alessandro closed the door after him, Isabella turned to Cecily, “How will we know when we are done?”.

Cecily’s eyes darted across the room like she was considering answering the question or not. After a moment she whispered, “They know everything”.

☆ ☆ ☆

Alessandro walked in as soon as Cecily helped Isabella into her sandals, a look of shock was on her face but she masked it immediately. She looked a bit more composed than she was when she first got here.

“I will show you the kitchen”, he spoke first.

She curtly nodded and followed him out quietly, she was still pretty shaken up by the violence she had witnessed. He had no apologies or regrets whatsoever, it was who he was.

They walked through many hallways, and everyone who met them on their way bowed slightly.

“Is it just me or does everyone in your kingdom look pale?”.

Alessandro smiled, she was going back to being the sassy-mouthed person that she was. She was a tough one indeed.

“Is there an epidemic or something like that?”.

He ignored her and pushed open the doors to the Kitchen, “The kitchen Mi lady", he said sarcastically and placed his hand at the low of her back as he gently nudged her forward. He could see her visibly shudder, he smirked to himself.

“Andro my dear”, a plump elderly lady walked up to him and pulled his cheeks. All the other maids In the kitchen chorused their greetings, he waved them off paying attention to the sweet old lady before him.

He was much taller than she was so he leaned down a little allowing her to touch him. She was the only woman who had earned the right to play with him like that apart from his mother.

She also had a knack for giving nicknames hence the name Andro...He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, to say he loved her was an understatement. He could see Isabella’s shocked expression from the corner of her eyes, the other servants continued with their activities oblivious to what was happening around them.

He took Marie’s hand in his, “I want you to meet Isabella...”.

Marie lightly shoved him and pulled Isabella into a hug, “Bella dear...”

Alessandro grinned, she had a very lively personality and it was infectious, Isabella hesitated a moment before returning the hug.

“So I see you already have a nickname for her”.

Marie glared at him, “Of course I do, Bella suits her fine”, she held her chin and gave Isabella a long look, “Isn’t she very pretty?”.

He shrugged in response.

Marie gave him a look that said he had a lot of explaining to do, typical Marie...

“So Marie, I want you to fix something for her to eat”, He looked Isabella over, “ She looks like she hasn’t eaten anything for a while and she needs some meat on her bones".

Marie tapped him lightly on the arm, “Don’t be rude...”.

“A few plates of food and a good rest will fix me but what about you? You don’t have a heart so what are you going to do about it?”, She retorted, anger clear in her voice.

Alessandro froze, he knew she had an attitude but he was not expecting her to openly challenge him in front of everybody. Marie looked visibly shocked and even the other servants who had been doing well in ignoring their conversation stopped in their tracks.

A plate dropped shattering the stillness of the room. Alessandro stalked her like he would prey, she stepped backwards to get away from him, he smirked, he liked her fear. He walked towards her till she was pinned against a wall. He placed his palm on the wall behind her till he had her trapped.

“The least you could do is say thank you that I saved your life!”, he punched the wall behind her making her shake in fear, “That is what normal people do", he shouted.

Her chest was heaving, he liked that she was terrified of him.

“Andro take it easy”, Marie pleaded, “You’re scaring the poor girl...”.

Nothing prepared him for her reply, however, “I’d rather be dead than live this life".