What are you thinking?

Draco.

Draco held his hand aloft in the air, his heart pounding against the wall of his chest.

Were his eyes deceiving him? Was the female in front of him the one he once knew?

Draco's hand moved close to the female's face, her round blue eyes sparkling. He wanted to touch her face to confirm his eyes weren't fooling him.

The air felt charged between them.

Draco's hand nearly settled on her face when the female spoke, "What are you doing? Is this how you approach females?" She said.

Upon hearing those words, Draco's mind snapped back. He retracted his hand as if it had been stung.

His heart rate surged as he berated himself inwardly for almost making a mistake. What was he thinking? That he could touch a female without consequence?

Draco made a sound and put a great distance between himself and the female. He schooled his features and looked at her.

She stood poised as if ready to defend herself, which almost made him react. Did she think she could stand against a man as large as him?

"What do you think you were doing, climbing down the ledge and trellis into my balcony?" He asked firmly.

He could have sworn he noticed how his voice sent a shudder down her body. Everyone who encountered him had the same reaction.

"I am trying to leave this place, as you can see," The female said. Her boldness amazed him, making him examine her more closely.

The moment he recalled Alfos' description of his new companion, reality dawned on him. It was the new companion.

"And why do you want to leave? What makes you think you can leave?" He said, putting more distance between them.

The female sighed. The resolve she had! Draco clenched his hands.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to get away from this place before the lord finds me. I was brought here as a companion, but to what end? I'll eventually be in a difficult situation..." She paused briefly and took another sigh. Her eyes glanced up to his, and she blinked. Then she continued. "I'd rather try to leave than stay in a difficult situation."

Draco felt the words like a sting. A muscle twitched in his chin as he looked at her.

"So you plan on leaving through my balcony?" He asked, and the female quickly nodded.

"Alright, I understand. You're a serious man, but can you please help someone in need? Could you maybe lend me your clothing? Disguise me so I can find my way out of this tower? Possibly the kingdom." She clicked her tongue again, placing a hand over her forehead. "I have to hurry back to my parents."

Parents, Draco noted inwardly, mentally noting things about the female. She had parents.

"Hey, serious man, I promise I'm going to repay you. Once I get back to my parents, I'll retrieve my savings. All the money I made while serving in Kalingrad."

So much boldness, Draco shook his head. None of the males in Abbator had the resolve to speak to him in such a manner. Well, except for two people. Alfos and one other man...

But this small figure here thought she could speak endlessly. Soon, all her words would drain from her.

"Are you going to do it?" She asked, growing frustrated when Draco didn't respond. "Oh, I see you're silent now."

Only the twitch of his brows told the female that her words were affecting him. She seemed to notice it.

"You didn't like being called silent?" She said. But suddenly she paused, her eyes returning to him. "I called you silent, and you reacted, but you didn't react when I called you a serious man?" She cocked her head in thought.

"Because I am serious. Something more than serious," Draco answered inwardly. While the female was still trying to understand, the tower bell rang.

Alarm bells, informing the sentinels that someone had left. And that someone was the companion.

She seemed to have noticed, given the groups of sentinels moving about the grounds.

"Find the companion!" Their voices echoed.

Alarmed, Isolde began to panic. She moved past him with speed. Draco stepped back, stunned. She had nearly touched him. Their skin was just this close to coming into contact.

She would have been in danger...

"Please, don't stand there while they look for me. Hide me. Help me leave, please...?"

Draco only turned and watched as she moved around his room, seeking where to hide. This female! What exactly was she thinking, entering his chamber?

Exhaling as the female restlessly moved around, Draco prepared to inform his men that the one they were looking for was in his chamber. But the door to his chambers opened in haste as Alfos and a few sentinels entered.

"Dracolian, the companion has left..." Alfos's words halted mid-speech when he saw the companion in the room.

His hand let go of the door handle, and he marched inside, moving toward the companion. She was visibly shaking, her head turning as if daring Alfos not to come closer.

The beta moved closer. With a firm expression, he took the companion by the arm, holding her firmly as he looked back at Draco.

"How did she get here, Lord Draco?" Alfos asked.

That was when Draco moved from the balcony doorway into his chambers, his hands clasped behind him as he shrugged.

"My lord?" It was the companion who spoke. She cast Draco a shocked look as everything made sense to her. "You're the lord of Abbator?"

Draco's iridescent eyes stared at her, and he nodded. "I wonder what took you so long to figure it out," he said coolly.

A sheen of tears brimmed in her eyes as the dread she felt for him doubled. She had revealed everything to the man who would decide her fate. No more dreaming of going back to her parents.

In Abbator, her path was set. By the male she had spoken to freely.

The tears fell down her cheeks as Alfos asked, "What are we going to do with her?"

Draco ran his eyes down her frame and murmured, "Secure her. Provide her with only one meal a day. That's her consequence for trying to leave. And make sure there are no windows this time that will allow an escape."

"No!" The female struggled in Alfos's hold, trying to get free.

"Stop trying to leave! You'll go nowhere!" Alfos said as he handed her over to his men.

Taking her arms, the sentinels guided her toward the exit. Just before they left, the companion turned back and said, "I dislike you!"

Draco remained still as they took her away. Alfos stared a moment longer at the lord before muttering, "What are you thinking?"

For a while, Draco didn't speak. But he later moved toward Alfos and said, his voice barely above a whisper, "She looked just like her."

Hearing that, Alfos turned, staring at the place the companion once stood, his mind troubled.

"It couldn't be her, Dracolian. It cannot be," Alfos said as his eyes moistened.

Still gazing at the door, Draco muttered, "Find out the truth about this female. I want to know all about her."