Chapter 5. Danger

Chantel Raven

Even though my dreams are getting better, I don't get much sleep, so I'm always tired. Also, my throat hurts and I'm thirsty. I get up to go to the bathroom and drink some water, and then I realize something.

"Where are the blinds?"

What the heck? There are no curtains on my balcony, so anyone on there can see everything I do inside. Since my balcony is linked to his, well, that's a scary thought.

That doesn't seem right.

I've never turned around so quickly in my life. I burst through the door right away.

"Why do I-"

The sight in front of me makes me forget what I was saying. I'm not impressed, just shocked. The King is naked and sitting on his huge bed with a woman on his lap. He is rubbing her back with his fingers, leaving red marks all over her. She is kissing his neck and pulling him closer to her.

He sees me over her shoulder and smirks. He then lowers his head and softly bites the woman's shoulder. It's clear from the way he looks at me what he's thinking. I don't leave, blush, or show any other kind of embarrassment. I do what I came here to do.

"I don't have any blinds. Why?" I ask.

He looks at me like, "Really? Now? I'm quite busy, Chantel," with an annoyed expression.

I get mad when he says my name, and he knows it because he keeps smiling. The woman kisses him and undresses, ignoring our talk. But the king pays attention; he's interested in what we're saying.

"I see what you mean. I need drapes. Put them in order," I instruct.

I turn to leave when I hear the king speak again. "You know you can always join-"

"Do not finish that line. Have fun with it. That's it, dude," I interrupt with a stern tone. I hear a low but loud laugh pass through the room.

I hear him yell one last time right before I leave.

"Dinner takes more than an hour. Your dress is in the closet!"

After getting dressed, Sorana helps with my hair. The clothes in the closet are beautiful but not my style—mostly neutral-colored ball gowns and very long nightgowns. That's why I choose one of my own dresses; mine are always exciting. Veronica loves classics, but sometimes she copies my style. Her dress from yesterday was a bit more daring and looked great on her. There are some loose golden strings on the back of my dress, risky for court, but I don't think anyone will stop me.

The king or queen has left, so I can exit the room without seeing him again. Thank goodness. To be trendy, I slowly walk down the stairs. Everyone looks at me when I enter the dining room. Veronica notices me first, giving a small thumbs-up. Laurence comes in second, frowning at me and then looking away.

"Finally, I'm starving," my brother says.

My sweet brother always makes me feel welcome. The smaller table is set up for us, and there are only two seats left: one next to the king and one at the end of the table. I always choose the end seat. On the other side of the table, across from me is the king. He smiles at me in one of those fake ways, and I smile back. I can tell that he is looking at my dress, and he doesn't try to hide it.

"I guess our dresses didn't suit you?" he says, keeping his eyes on me while cutting his food into little bits. He lifts his knife to his mouth in a seductive way to lick it clean.

Was this meant to make me feel something? It's not working.

I lean forward and rest my arms on the table. My low-cut dress shows a lot more cleavage now. As I expected, he looks down at my chest for a moment before quickly looking back up. That makes me smile, and he sees it too.

"No, I'd rather have more color. Feeling of excitement."

After giving him a quick look over, I turn my attention to my brother, who is kicking me hard from under the table. I think my whole leg is hurt.

"What?" I whisper.

"Being excited? Hello, Chantel—"

"Didn't dad want me to flirt with him?"

He rolls his eyes and says, "Father also wants you to marry him. That's not going to happen either, is it?"

"Don't worry, bro. I'm just having fun. It's not fun to be a good girl, right?"

He throws up his hands and grins while shaking his head. He takes a big gulp of his favorite drink, whiskey. Veronica is sitting next to me and eating her food quietly.

"Hey, are you all right?" I ask Veronica.

"Yeah. It's just that I hate it here," she says, and everyone can hear her. That wasn't what she meant, though.

The king laughs and looks at us. He looks into my eyes as if they hold something for him.

"Yes, me too," I tell him, "But we won't be here for long." I keep my eyes on him.

Veronica's eyes get bigger, and I see the king smirk. He's also loving this, even finding it funny. God, I hate him.

As I'm about to start eating, I notice something funny. It makes me laugh, and the king looks up at me when I do.

"If I don't have a knife, how am I going to cut my food?" I ask.

"You didn't think we were going to give you a knife, did you? We're not that stupid," the king responds.

After a short pause, Veronica joins in with a laugh. I try not to laugh, but I can't. Everyone in the room laughs out loud, almost too loud to be pleasant. Zave hits his knees with his hands to try to calm down. I'm almost crying. They must be amazed by this sight.

Veronica is the first one of us to calm down again. She stands up straight and takes her long hair off her shoulder.

"You think she can't kill him because you took away a simple knife? That's cute, but she can kill him with just her hands."

"In fact, any of us could," Z says with a grin.

The dress goes up as I reach down and slide my hand up my leg. "I think it's charming," I say. I reach for my knife with my hand between my legs. Everyone is looking at me, even the kings.

I raise the blade and say, "How naive of you."

As soon as I draw my knife, all of the guards point their guns at me. Z looks at me with pride in his eyes.

"Calm down, boys. No need for weapons. A girl has got to eat, right?"

On my plate, I start cutting the meat. My sword does a great job, so sharp that I accidentally cut myself twelve times while putting it on my thigh. When I eat, I wink at the head guard. It would be gross to eat with this knife, so I'm glad I clean it every time. The guards put their guns down when the king tells them to.

"Everyone here is clearly afraid of me. Or at least intimidated. So I think it would be good if you stopped treating me like your inferior. It's pissing me off."

The king puts down his food and drinks and looks straight at me. Laurence raises an eyebrow, Veronica and Z keep eating, clearly not bothered by what's being said.

"Do you think I'm afraid of you, Chantel?" The king's small accent makes my name sound different. It's not that it sounds bad; I just hate that it sounds better.

"You should be."

"Same goes out to you, darling," he replies.

His green eyes shine and get darker. Under these lights, his dark black hair shines.

"What did you just call my sister?" Zave asks, annoyed.

I just laugh about it and eat. I'm really hungry after a long day. Even though I can't pay full attention to my food. The eyes that are on me are too much of a distraction. Another thing I must say about this house is how amazing the baths are. The water looks like it's made of diamonds. I was the first one to leave the dining room. Going into this room with him was not something I had planned to do.

I don't expect to hear the king's door slam shut so hard. He bangs on my door again in less than a minute. I don't pay attention to him. If I keep ignoring him, he might go away.

"Open up before I break the door down."

"I mean you could do that. It's your castle after all, but you'll suffer the consequences."

I get out of the tub and dry off with a towel slowly. The beating keeps going. "Did you miss me, is that it?"

He doesn't answer.

A nightgown is neatly laid out on the bed. Quickly, I put it on, thinking the king might come. His presence fades, and I focus on getting ready. My dress sticks to my back from damp hair. I quickly tie up my hair with a clip. A sudden feeling of being watched makes me choose a different tie. When my hair is up, I feel relieved; the wetness was annoying.

Facing the balcony, I see the king's angry gaze. Without a word, he gestures towards the glass door. Smirking, I go and open it as he impatiently signals. I'm curious about why he's so mad.

"To what do I owe this plea-"

I can't finish when suddenly his hand is so tightly around my neck. As he walks inside, he slides the door back shut and puts his hand around my neck.

He pushes me into the room even more, and my back hits the wall next to the bed. When he droops his head to talk, his hand gets tighter.

"You think you can keep undermining my authority? I am your king!"

The pressure is making me cry. The way his body is pressed against mine and his leg in between mine makes it hard for me to move. I don't like how close he feels to me.

"I was going to wait to do this but you're impossible to keep around."

He holds something in his other hand while putting pressure on my throat with the other. What he's doing is so important to him that he doesn't notice what I'm doing. He wraps his left hand around my throat. I put my hands around his, and that seems to make him pay attention.

It's hard for me to swallow and I'm getting dizzy. It's crazy how strong he is. Standing there with a knife in his hand, he has his eyes on me. My soft thumb strokes his hand, making him feel safe when he isn't.

"You need to try harder than that to kill me."

Before he can respond, I quickly move my hand up into my hair. When I stab him just above his neck, close to his throat, his eyes get big.

These little daggers are truly amazing. For fun, I often wear them in my hair.

"Fuck," he moans.

I quickly push him away as his grip on my neck loosens. He gets stronger faster than I thought, and before I can get my other knife, he pulls me to him roughly.

On the bed, the King tries to hold my arms down. I can feel his blood on my chest. Even though I kick him over and over, he is stronger now. My hair is too loose and gets in the way. I shake my head to try to push it from my mind. I can finally see him again, and all I can see is a smile on his face as he looks down at me.

"That was good. But it won't happen again."

I yell, "Fuck you!" and swing my fist.

"I don't think you'll live long enough for that."

I wipe the blood off my face and retort, "You're very cocky. You're the only one who's bleeding."

He needs to let go of my hands so he can get his knife. He decides to finish the job without guns, though.

He puts both of his hands around my throat and squeezes it much harder than before. I tighten up right away. My hands are now free, so I put my finger on his cut with my free hand.

"You fucking-"

He can't finish his sentence, it seems like he’s hurt, but I keep going. The more I press my nails into his cut, the more he bleeds. He has to let me go. There's no doubt that his pain is worse than mine. Under my nails, I can almost feel his collarbone.

Again, his hands get weak, and I kick him off. I get up from the bed and grab his knife. His hand is still on his shoulder when I turn around. He can't keep up with how fast I am.

I use the knife to cut the back of his knee, making him fall to his knees.

"Any last words?"

I draw the sword and get ready to kill him.

"Your Highness?"

Fuck.

Fuck!

I hear several footsteps. They were guards.

They are in his room. Trying to find him. They will definitely catch me if I kill him now. I can beat them, but it will take too long for me to get to Veronica or Z. I can't put them in danger for this jerk.

Fuck.

He smiles at me and says, "Come on, finish it." During the whole fight, he hasn't taken his smile off once.

I tell him in a whisper, "You're lucky. You get to live another day."

One of the guards is on the balcony, so I quickly duck out of the way before he can see me. I and the King are both lying on the floor and looking at each other.

They will be able to see us if they move any further because there are no shades.

I tell the guards, "The King is with me!"

"Will you open the door, my lady?"

"Lady, it's not her! And I can't open the door!" I roll my eyes.

It makes the king laugh now. "Even now, you correct them? Does it bother you that much?"

"Fuck you! Shut the fuck up."

The guard sounds shocked and says, "Excuse me."

"No, not you!"

"I need you to open the door or we'll enter."

"I can't open the door."

"Why?"

He laughs even though it's clear he is in pain, "Yeah, why? Tell them, Chantel."

I'm biting my lip and trying to think of a reason. But then he suddenly speaks up, "I'll be out in a few minutes. You shouldn't see a lady like this, if you understand what I mean."

I make fun of him and tell him, "You would love that."

He says in a whisper, "I wasn't the one yelling fuck you. You were."

He is too close to my neck with his face on it. His deep breaths feel like they're on my skin. He's really hurting. Good.

"Yes, your majesty. We'll wait outside."

I feel the steps moving away slowly, and I'm brave enough to look up. The guards who were on the roof are no longer there.

"Okay, you can go now."

He pulls me back down by my hand when I try to get up. As soon as I see movement again, I get scared. The excitement of the fight has worn off. I think he didn't notice. I sit down again, and suddenly he grabs my hand. "Don't touch me," I say, pulling away.

He looks up at me, and the smile is gone.

"You need to help me clean up or you'll be dead. You don't want that right?"

I let out a sigh and choose to help him get up. He holds himself up by putting his hands around my arms. I go to the bathroom to get some things that might help while the King lies down on the bed. He has his hand on the edge of the bed when I get back.

"Does it hurt?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"You sound way too happy," he grumbles. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Me neither," I reply with a smirk, crossing my arms.

He takes off his shirt before I can stop him. I give him the things and leave.

Angry, he glares at me and says, "I might need some help."

"A few minutes ago, I almost killed you. What makes you think I'll help now?" I make a joke, smirking.

"You have no other choice," he insists. "If the guards see me injured, you and your siblings would be dead in a second. And frankly, I want to kill you myself."

"Fine," I agree, rolling my eyes.

Rubber booze was in the bathroom, so I brought it with me. I don't care about him when I press the towel with alcohol against his shoulder. I can't help but grab him. At the touch of his hand, I close my eyes and stop moving.

"I'm not helping if you can't keep your hands to yourself," I warn.

Taking his hands off my thigh, he grabs the edge of the bed again. I quickly put something else I found on his shoulder to cover it.

"Done. Now leave," I instruct.

When he stands up, he grins again. His shirt is still off, but I don't look at his body. Not once, not even. I need him to leave the room right now.

"Thank you for your service, miss. We'll finish this soon. I'm saddened that we had to cut it short."

"Don't worry, we'll finish this," I assert.

He walks around the room and over to the bed just before he walks out the door. He gets his knife from the bed and walks back to the door. I could feel his green eyes looking right through me. He puts out his hand like he wants to do something, but he doesn't.

He points at my thigh and says, "I'd take care of that wound if I were you." I frown as I look down. Oh, crap.

It looks like I was stabbed, but I hadn't noticed during our fight. Good job! How pretty.

It hurts me to see it now. I make a soft groan. He laughs and almost skips out the door.

"Nice to have officially met you, Chantel," he says with a grin.

"Don't get too excited, your majesty," I reply, rolling my eyes.

I slam the door in his face and can still hear his obnoxious laughter from the other side. I can't believe he almost killed me. Eventually, I had the upper hand, but he came pretty close.

My wound isn't as bad as his, but I need to stop the bleeding and clean it before it gets infected.

I'll make him pay for this.