COMFORT

Freya's POV:

Lucien had given all the slaves a free day except the pets.

A part of me felt like it had to do with me, but I felt like I was being ahead of myself.

“Can you believe this? I heard it has never happened before,” Amara said with excitement splayed all over her face.

I gave her a little smile, the hair on my back standing when she moved closer to me.

Something was weird about her, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

“You look pretty in it,” she added, showing the stiff guards our pass.

I looked down at the purple dress I was in. It wasn't really my style, but I had nothing to wear, so I had to accept the dress designed in lace from Amara.

She herself had something similar on but hers was white. I would never understand why she thought wearing white on a day like this was a good idea.

“You may go,” the guards said begrudgingly, opening the gate for us.

The moment my feet planted themselves outside the large estate, they refused to move.

Amara, who was far ahead, must have noticed and turned with a frown on her face.

“What's wrong?” she asked with worry, holding my shoulder softly.

“I don't know,” I muttered, barely able to breathe the words out.

I knew.

I knew pretty well.

This was the first time I was stepping outside unsupervised in this world.

It was strange and, for some reason, it made me panic.

I didn't know much about this strange world, so how was I going to be okay? I was scared of what I would come across if I ventured without a guardian.

“You're scared, right?”

The understanding in her voice made me lift my head up. The little smile she gave me made me remember my mother.

My mother.

It was quite strange since she died when I was pretty young.

“Don't worry, I'll protect you,” my new friend said before she pulled me into a hug.

I let the warmth that came from her take over me and closed my eyes, forgetting all my fears.

“Do you think they'll find us if we run away?” I muttered the sudden question into her shoulder.

She let out a chuckle and that was all.

She didn't have to tell me before I figured out why she didn't give a reply.

It was impossible.

Lucien had made sure to invite a witch to place a seal on us so we couldn't go so far.

So much for temporary freedom.

“Maybe we should find another witch to help us,” Amara said before she pulled away.

A panicked look flashed on her face, but it didn't stay for more than a second.

“We have to go shopping before the sun goes down.”

I giggled when I realised what the issue was and let her lead the way. It was so strange that she knew where to go even though she was new to this world like me.

“Where do you think the other maids are at?” I asked her as soon as the market came into view, but there weren't any of the maids in sight.

Amara shrugged, not worried one bit as her eyes went from one store to another.

We didn't have so much money on us, so when a woman selling pretty trinkets called for us, we ignored her.

The town was not so different from what I had imagined.

The stone walls and buildings, then the carriages. Also, the old-fashioned dresses that people had on.

Vampires, witches, werewolves and humans filled the market and everyone seemed too busy to care about one another.

What surprised me the most was that no one tried to harm the humans. It made no sense since I was used to seeing humans as slaves and slaves only.

“Amara, I don't think they're slaves,” I muttered into her ear, my eyes dancing around as I tried to gawk subtly.

“I guess they are pretty good at hiding their status, or maybe they just have that status.”

Her answer left me perplexed, but before I could ask more questions, a person bumped into me.

“Watch it!” I yelled at him before I even realised.

No one spared me a glance, not even the person who had bumped into me, but I still felt embarrassed.

I turned back to Amara to continue our conversation, but she wasn't here anymore.

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

However, there was still no sight of her.

It made no sense since she had just been checking out an artwork a second ago.

I kept staring at the spot where she had been standing in confusion. It was like the spot had always been empty.

“Sir, please what about the lady who was here just now?” I asked the artist, who only glanced at me for a second before he continued painting.

He had heard me and I knew it. I glanced around again, hoping to see her, but her white dress wasn't in the crowd.

“Oh God,” I muttered, trying to calm myself down.

“S-sir, please the lady…” I trailed off, waiting for an answer that never came.

When he finally opened his mouth, he said, “Get away from me, you wacko.”

My body went cold as the blood on my face drained.

No.

It had to be a mistake.

I was sur-

I wasn't

This was it.

I was very familiar with it.

“No,” I muttered to myself, not wanting to believe it.

It wasn't true.

I took a step back.

Then another.

Until I finally bumped into a crowd of people. The judgemental look they gave me made the panic finally set in.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I ran away, hoping I was going in the right direction. I had been so carried away by her company that I didn't bother studying our route.

Our? No, my route.

Everywhere around me blurred like mixed paint as the sounds around me became muffled.

I didn't hold back the tears and let them flow as I tried to figure out my way, but it didn't take long for me to get lost.

People bumped into me, going about their way while I tried to figure out where I was with tears blurring my vision.

No one stopped to ask me what was wrong.

It was like the world didn't care a bit.

Who would care about a human anyway?

“Please,” I said loudly to no one in particular.

My chest hurt a lot, not only from the realisation but from the panic.

It felt so hard to breathe that I had no choice but to cry loudly as I walked through the busy town.

Every new building seemed strange but familiar at the same time as if I had passed it before.

“Help.”

No one answered.

The sun was starting to set at this point and the temperature had dropped to an extent. That alone was enough to make me more agitated.

My soles were hurting, but stopping wasn't an option. Would they think I ran away? Would someone come for me?

My tears had already dried up, but I was sure that it was quite obvious that I had cried. I was tired and the only thing that filled my heart at this moment was regret.

I should have stayed back.

“Freya?”

The familiar voice cut through the market noise as I whipped my head to the side and there he was.

Duncan.

Had he come to look for me? The look of confusion said otherwise.

It didn't matter to me though, because I had finally found a familiar face.

I ran to him as relief flooded my chest, not caring that he could sell me once again.

He stiffened a bit and moved back with his jaw clenched before he asked, “What are you doing here?”

His question was enough to move me to tears as memories of what had happened earlier resurfaced.

“What's wrong?” He asked, but I couldn't answer because I was busy crying.

He didn't try to comfort me. In fact, it looked as if he was going through all phases of confusion and panic.

“She's-”

A hiccup cut me off so I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

“She's not real,” I finally managed to say, bursting into tears again.

Amara was never real.

She was just a fragment of my imagination.