Rashid came back for me and guided me through the myriad of halls until we reached a small living room. For every step I gave, my heart pumped a dozen times, my breath was labored, and I had to admit I was scared. I stopped for a moment at the door of the room, struggling with the sudden despair that clutched me in its claws.
Inside, already waiting for me, there was a man, looking out the window. He turned around when Rashid closed the door behind me.
"Hello, Elizabeth." He greeted me and I almost passed out.
It was him. It was Prince Ali, he was the one behind all this.
He crossed the room towards me and helped me to take a seat on a couch next to him.
"You… but… why? I mean… this doesn’t make any sense…" I mumbled, too aghast to speak coherently, rubbing my forehead, in a senseless effort to clear my thoughts.
"Of course it makes sense, my dear. I believe that when you save a life, you become responsible for that life." His rich, calm voice was as I recalled from the brief encounter we had had a few months ago. "And I've acted according to that belief."
"You did more than enough that night, at risk of your own life…" I protested.
"I'm afraid I don’t share that idea, I'll always feel responsible for you." He corrected me with a warm smile.
"Although I appreciate that you saved me that night, I can't let you feel responsible for me, that's insane. What happened was just fate." I insisted. I had felt terrible when I discovered he was in a coma for saving me.
He smiled broader. "I'm afraid that's not your call. I decided I had to follow fate's mandate to take care of the life I had saved, so I ordered Rashid to keep an eye on you and make sure you were alright."
I looked at him with disbelief. Why would someone do that for a total stranger? "Well, I have to say you acted in the precise moment." I admitted.
"I believe I acted too late. I never expected your master to put you through all you have suffered." He answered, his voice now cold as ice. "Rashid used to send me daily reports and the last few he sent me worried me, so I asked him to dig deeper, and that's why he missed your escape. Otherwise, those policemen would have never laid their hands on you."
I shuddered as I remembered the night of nightmares I had spent in jail.
"What counts is that you finally saved me." I said, with a little smile.
"Why didn’t you escape earlier?" he asked, and that wasn’t an easy question to answer.
I had tried to escape once before, months ago, and though I decided not to escape at the end, because I loved Devlin, and I wanted to stay with him, no matter what, he had found out my intent and that ended up pretty bad for me. After that, I had considered the idea a few times, especially after the most painful beatings, but I never acted on it. Not until this time. I tried to explain it to Prince Ali, my voice losing power as his frown grew deeper.
"How many painful beatings did you suffer?" the question was made in a steely tone that scared me a bit.
"Not many… I don’t remember…" I muttered.
"If you don’t remember how many, that only means they were too many." He concluded.
"Well, but now you saved me, right?" I tried to change the subject.
"I should have asked Rashid to be thorough." He scolded himself.
"All of that is in the past, right?" I said, forcing a cheerful tone.
In that moment, we heard a knock on the door and Prince Ali answered: "Come in."
Rashid entered the room. "Your highness, dinner is served."
"Thank you, Rashid." He dismissed the other man and turned to look at me. "Let's have dinner and continue this conversation later." He suggested to me.
"Yes, of course." He got up and helped me up, leading me to a dining room next to the room we were in.
Throughout the meal he directed the conversation to general topics, and I respected his wishes. There was enough time to get back to our prior conversation.
I took the opportunity to take a good look at him. The first time we met, he had been a surprise. I don’t know what I expected from a prince, but he wasn’t it. He was a tall, handsome, good looking man, with shaggy brown hair and big beautiful brown eyes that made me think of melted chocolate. He emanated warmth and strength, but I knew better now not to trust appearances.
When we finished, he took me back to the room where we had been earlier, and this time I took a seat on an armchair, and he sat on the couch, facing me.
I needed to put some distance between us. He was too overwhelming. The night we met, my eyes had kept looking for him, all the time, like a moth going after the light.
"Will you help me to contact the US embassy here? With the whole ordeal, I lost all my papers." I asked, breaking the thick silence that fell over us.
"I will, in due time." He answered, slowly.
"What do you mean?" My whole body stiffened and my mind started to scold my gullible heart.
"Do you have family, Elizabeth?" he asked instead of answering my question.
"No, my mother, that was my only relative died a few years ago." I answered, puzzled with relevance of the question.
"Good friends? People willing to defend you, to give you shelter?" he insisted.
"No, not really." I answered, after giving it some thought. I had lost all the friends I had from before Devlin kidnapped me and the ones I made after that were his friends, and their loyalty was first for him.
"Then, I'm not letting you go." He concluded.
"What? You can't just keep me here." I jumped up, looking at him, horrified.
"Your ex-master would capture you in the blink of an eye." He replied in a firm tone of voice, slowly getting up.
"He wouldn’t bother…"
"Of course he would. From what I know, he had promised you to Hussein El-Hashem and failed to deliver you to him. His pride must be very hurt and he'll do whatever he can to fix it." He interrupted me.
"Let's say you're right. That he's after me. Even so, that's no reason for you to stop me from leaving." I said, trembling. "I can hide…"
"There aren’t many places where you can hide from him or from Hussein. I won't let you expose yourself to that." He assured.
I held myself tight, as my tiny hope of going back to my old life died, crushed under his words.
He crossed the room towards me, and raised my chin with his hand, making me to look at him in the eyes. "I don’t want you out of my sight again." He whispered.
I stepped away from him, furious. "That's the real reason why you 'saved' me." I ranted, underlining the word saved. "Because you wanted me, for yourself."
He took a deep breath before he answered. "Yes, I do want you. I've wanted you ever since I laid my eyes on you, and I know you felt that attraction as well, I could see it in your eyes. The only reason I didn’t do anything then was because I thought you were happy with your master."
"So you stepped back and just waited for your opportunity." I replied with a self-deprecating smile.
"I was truthful when I explained my reasons to have you followed." He protested, angry.
"Well, I'm afraid that's a bit hard to believe now."
"Believe it, because it's the truth, no one has ever doubted my word. Don’t be the first one." His words seemed to hide a threat and that just pushed me over the edge.
"Or what? You'll beat the crap out of me? Been there, done that. Are you going to kill me? At this point, that might be a damn relief." I shouted, furious at him, at me, at the damn universe.
He closed the distance between us and grabbed me in a tight hug, his hand grabbing my mane, his mouth claiming mine in a furious kiss, meant to mark me, to let me know I was his now. Despite my initial struggle, the minute his lips touched mine, I was on fire. His grip over me was strong, but not painful, and his lips conquered mine with firmness, not force, and never pain. In just a few seconds I was subjugated to the power of the attraction I felt towards him since the first day.
He sensed my surrender and he cradled my face with his hands, d
eepening the kiss, assailing every single inch of my mouth, conquering it all, only stopping when we were both struggling to breathe. "This is why I want you with me: because of this consuming fire that you started with your first smile to me." He whispered in my ear, as he kissed it and nibbled it. "I will never beat you to cause you pain, or to force you. I want to seduce you, I want you to come willingly to me, and to me your life is more precious than mine." He added, sounding so sincere. Too sincere.
I freed myself from his grip and took a few steps away from him. "That's a bit exaggerated, don’t you think? I'm afraid I lost the ability to believe in words."
"I know you've been through too much…" he started, but I interrupted him.
"You have no idea what I've been through ever since I fell into Devlin's hands, how much pain he put me through, how much humiliation, degradation even." As my words came out of my mouth, the images flashed in mind, and I ended up sobbing. He took a step to join me, but he stopped when I raised my hand. "I won't go there again. I rather die." I finished my rant, falling on my knees on the soft rug.
He kneeled in front of me, and cuddled my quivering body in his arms. "You'll never go back there. What you had with that man was a very abusive relationship, one not accepted by most of the people that live in this lifestyle." He said in an appeasing tone, his hand caressing my hair. "I want to show you the beauty in it, I want you to experience the real glory of submitting by your own will, to somebody else."
I shook my head, in disbelief, denying any possible truth in his words. "You were at Lustra, you are like all the men I met there." I accused him.
"I admit I considered achieving a membership there, but that night I was just a guest. And after some of the things I saw there, I decided that place wasn’t for me. So, don’t compare me to them." He explained, maintaining a serene tone of voice.
"I just want to get back to my normal life, to forget all this." I pleaded to him, to all the gods…
"You wouldn’t be happy, my darling, not anymore." He whispered again. "But I promise you I'll make you happy, I'll make sure you only visit paradise from now own."
Chapter 10
He got up with me still in his arms and headed out of the room. I was so tired, so exhausted, I just let him. He took me to my room and put me in bed, lying beside me, cuddling my body against his.
I don’t remember anything else.
When I opened my eyes again, I was alone in bed, but the pillow still held the mark of his head and the sheets next to me, were still warm.
I stayed there, in bed, lying on my back, staring at the ceiling. My mind was still swirling, analyzing all of last night's events, and the truth was I still hadn’t reached a conclusion.
I knew that, if I left I would risk that one day Devlin or Hussein would catch me, and that wouldn’t be nice, I wasn’t bragging when I told Prince Ali, I would rather die. I had nowhere to go, no way to hide myself from them. But staying, meant playing by Prince Ali's rules, and I wasn’t sure I could do that.
I got up and went to the bathroom, enjoying the freedom of walking and not crawling, of peeing whenever I wanted and not when I was told, not having the permanent weight of the collar around my neck… God, it felt so good. I didn’t want to go back to any of that. Not anymore.
When I returned to the bedroom, wearing a bathrobe, he was there. He was wearing a tunic and pants, and was sitting at the small table on the terrace. Over the table, a magnificent breakfast.
"Please, join me for breakfast." He asked me, with an alluring smile, as he got up, and closed the distance between them.
I doubted. Could I trust him? "I should put on some clothes…" I suggested, unsure.
"You are fine as you are, no one can see us here." He said, stretching his hand, asking for mine. I took a few steps and slowly, accepted his hand. He guided me to the table and helped me to take a seat. "How are you feeling this morning, Elizabeth?"
"Better, thank you, your highness." I answered, hiding behind formality.
"Please, just call me Sir. I'm not very fond of other titles." He asked, with a smile, but I could tell it was an order.
"Yes, Sir." I complied, but even so, the title came out with a bitter taste.
"Please enjoy your breakfast. I want to show you around the citadel. I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much." He informed me, still smiling.
"Yes, thank you, Sir." I answered, lowering my head, trying to hide the grimace on my face. I had no desire to walk around town. At least, not today. The lashes from the policemen's whips were hurting today almost as much as the first day.
His hand stretched across the table and lifted my chin. "What's the matter? Don’t you want to go for a walk with me?" he asked me, his eyes piercing mine, making me feel as if he could see deep into my soul.
I got scared, a shiver went down my spine. "Yes, yes, of course I do, Sir." I replied immediately. In my mind, memories of the few times I had said no to Devlin.
"No, you don't." He asseverated. "Why? Can you tell me?"
"I assure you, there's nothing I want more." I insisted, afraid of his reaction.
"Has anyone ever told you, you are a very bad liar?" he asked me in a very soft tone, and I sobbed.
"I'm sorry, Sir."
"For what? For being a bad liar? That makes me happy, girl." He said, his fingers caressing my cheek. "Now, tell me, why you don’t want to go for a walk with me. And I want to hear the truth. If I decide it's a valid reason, then we will find something else to do."
"My back hurts a bit, Sir." I mumbled through gritted teeth, not happy to admit my pain.
"Your back? Why?" he asked, surprised.
"From the lashes."
"Lashes? Who whipped you?" he insisted in knowing more details.
"The policemen." His face changed completely. It no longer was a kind face, it was a mask carved in the hardest stone, and his eyes seemed to be the only living thing, as they shone with pure fury. And I trembled, so scared.
"Please finish your breakfast. We will have to take a look at that after we eat." He asked me, and though my throat seemed to be closed by an iron fist, I did all I could to swallow some of the food, and he did the same.
When we were done, he got up and took me by my hand, helping me up from the chair and dragging me out of the room.
"Please, Sir, can't I get dressed first?" I managed to ask, not thrilled with the idea of walking around the place in a bathrobe.
"The doctor's office is close by, so it's a waste of time." He answered, without stopping, taking me downstairs, and through a narrow corridor, until he stopped in front of a small door.
Inside, it looked like the typical waiting area of a doctor's office, and there was even a nurse, sitting at a desk. Fortunately, there were no patients.
"Good morning, Fatima, is Doctor Samira in?" he asked the nurse.
"Good morning, Sir, yes, she is, and she is alone." The woman answered with a smile.
"Good." He took me through another door and we were at the doctor's office. "Good morning, Samira, I've brought you a patient."
"Good morning, Sir. I'm here to serve." The woman was a beautiful, mid-eastern woman, with black hair, and golden skin, in her early thirties, I would say.
"This is Mary Elizabeth, and she will be my guest for a while. Can you please do a full check up on her?" he asked, with a shadow of his usual broad smile. He was still angry, and that scared me.
"Yes, of course. Do you want me to include the whole battery of blood tests?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, I believe that would be wise." He turned to look at me. "I'll leave you in the capable hands of Samira. She'll call me when you are done. Please trust her with all your doubts and concerns."
"Yes, Sir, I will, thank you." I answered, relieved to know he wasn’t staying.
He left the room, closing the door behind him and I turned to face the doctor.
"Let's start then." The other woman told me.
She submitted me first to a real interrogatory
, as she filled out my medical history, then she withdrew what felt like gallons of blood, and even asked me to pee in a cup, before she took me to an examination room, and asked me to take off the bathrobe.
Underneath it, I was only wearing my panties, and I wasn’t very comfortable being almost naked in front of a total stranger, despite all I had been put through with Devlin.
When the doctor saw my back, she wasn’t able to hide her astonishment. "What have you taken for these wounds?" she asked me.
"Nothing. I've tried to keep them clean, but not much more." I answered.
The doctor removed my hair from my back to get a better look at the lashes. "Some of them are infected. I'll have to put you on antibiotics, but for now, we need to clean them. Please remove your panties and lay on your stomach on the examination table."
I did as I was told, and soon she was cleaning the whole area and applying some medicine. I had to bite down on my lips to stops my whimpers. It hurt like hell.
"This must hurt you a lot." The doctor said, with sympathy in her voice.
"Yes, a bit. Today, it's hurting almost as much as the first day." I admitted.
The doctor finished with my back and asked me to turn around.
"Nice rings." She said examining my nipple piercings. "They are recent too, right?"
"About a week, more or less, I've lost track of time."
"They look very well, so far and the antibiotics will prevent anything." She continued to examine my breasts, looking at the old bruises and making sure there was no hidden damage. Then she asked me to put my legs on the support, for her to proceed to the gynecologist exam. "Uhmm, there's an infection here as well. You'll need some ovules to attack this one." She took a sample for cytology, and proceeded to do an ultrasound. "Other than that, there's no sign of anything else." She concluded, as she helped me up from the table, and I put on the bathrobe.
"Thank you, doctor." We returned to the office, and after picking a couple of bottles from a cabinet, she took a seat on her desk and handed me the bottles.
"Those are the medicines you'll need. They have the instructions on the label, and you must come back tomorrow to clean those wounds again." She warned her.
Dark Romance Novel - Submission + Taken + 1 Mystery books Bundle Set (A Dark Romance Series Novel) Page 47
