The sun hit Roxanne directly on the face and for the first time in a long time, she had a smile on that face.
"Hey, sit still, will you?"
Roxanne giggled as she sat down more firmly into the chair.
It had already been a few days since she had the encounter with the cursed prince and she was already trying to cast the incident out of her mind.
He had simply helped her out.
Nothing more.
It didn't really matter that he had given her his name and it didn't matter that she couldn't stop thinking about him.
The way his mask had given him an aura of mystery and danger might be the reason she couldn't stop.
That was probably it.
Roxanne sighed looked in the waters of the clear stream she had her feet submerged in. She would have to go into it almost totally later on but that was something she would think of when the time came.
Annabelle had insisted that they come out here to dye her hair.
She said Roxanne could put herself halfway into the small river and she would sit on the riverbank and apply the dyeing paste.
It was a formula Roxanne had developed herself, and it was the only one she was totally sure of that wouldn't leave any part of her hair uncolored.
For some odd reason her hair always seemed to reject normal hair dye. It had been through a series of trial and errors that she had finally managed to get the right formula for a paste potent enough to dye her hair black. It would last for a few days, a week at most, but that would be enough to get her out of the town safely.
No one would be able to recognise her with ebony colored hair.
Annabelle sighed as she ran her fingers through her friend's fiery red locks. They had the softness of silk to them and the thickness of an elegant horse's mane.
"You have such nice hair."
Annabelle's voice sounded wistful but Roxanne only scoffed and tried to keep the lump in her throat down.
"I feel I could have done well without it."
That was true.
They both knew it.
Roxanne's hair was what marked her as the daughter of a traitor.
Lycanos had only two sorts of people.
People with black hair.
And people with blonde hair.
The usual brown could be found here and there but that was about it'.
Hair the color of fire was an anomaly, and everyone else knew that it belonged to the Traitor.
"What do you think he even did anyways?"
Annabelle cocked an eyebrow up.
"Who?"
"My father, the traitor. What do you think his crime was?"
Annabelle's face scrunched up in distaste first. She hated when all they talked about was Roxanne.
The distaste on her face steadily morphed into confusion though and a frown soon replaced it.
That was a valid question.
What did the traitor do anyways to get him and his descendants so hated?
"I think he tried to sleep with the queen."
Roxanne wanted to laugh.
"And so the whole kingdom hates me because my father tried to sleep with the king?"
"The queen."
Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"Right, the queen."
Annabelle worked the paste Roxanne had mixed steadily into her hair. Her hands would be totally black for a while after she did this, a side effect of handling Roxanne's special hair dye with the bare hands, but some alcohol would get it off, besides, Annabelle liked the way Roxanne's hair smelt.
It always had that floral essence to it.
"I don't think that might be the only thing he did though."
Roxanne turned to look at her friend. Annabelle turned her head back so she could have acess to Roxanne's hair.
"He should have done something much worse than sleeping with the queen to be hated so much. Right?"
Roxanne nodded and looked at the sky instead.
Violent and tumultuous feelings roiled in her heart as she did so.
She was hated throughout the land because her father was a traitor.
Her mother had run off with some rich duke and left her and her sister to fend for themselves on the streets.
Some men had kidnapped her younger sister, or maybe she had wandered off and gotten lost, Roxanne didn't know and that fact only made her heart ache even more.
She didn't have the strength for all this.
Tears choked her and she had to take deep breaths to start breathing steadily again.
The thought of her sister being out there alone always hurt her the most.
She was barely surviving herself and she had Lord Alex and Annabelle to protect her. Even with that, they could barely do so without it directly affecting them in one way or the other.
It made her feel like a liability.
Annabelle had been the one to plead for her to stay now, but what would happen when her decision put her and her father in danger?
She was a beacon of trouble.
Wherever she went something bad was bound to happen, and it made her hate herself.
Lord Alex and Annabelle might be used to it already but she would never forgive herself if anything bad was to happen to them because of her.
"There, I'm all done."
Roxanne sighed and let the familiar tingle of her dyeing formula burn its way into her scalp. The tingles meant it was working.
Roxanne could feel Annabelle's eyes on her though and she opened one of her eyes to look at her.
"What?"
Annabelle simply shook her head and averted her eyes from Roxanne's.
'"What do you think made the cursed prince so interested in you?"
Roxanne groaned internally at this.
They had already had this talk countless times now.
"I really don't know Anna. It may have been because i was about to get raped by some men."
Annabelle scoffed at that.
Her mouth was half open and she looked like she had something else she wanted to say, but she had been distracted.
Roxanne followed her friend's eyes and her heart sank at what she saw.
Hi readers. I am sorry for the late uploads, i promise i'll try to upload the book regularly from now on. If you like the book which i'm hoping you do, please remember to leave chapter comments, share to your friends and rate and review. It will make me so happy. Thank you.
Panic filled her as she saw the people walking towards them. It was the same group of men that had tried to rape her that day, and they were coming for her. Roxanne's stomach roiled as she realised she wasn't alone this time. The men were coming for them! She whipped her head around, frantically searching for Annabelle with but Annabelle was nowhere to be found. She had either fled or vanished into thin air. Roxanne would be satisfied with anyone of the two. As long as her friend was out of danger. Panic filled Roxanne as she contemplated her current options. "Oh shit." She was in the river. She hadn't bothered to put on anything except a simple white frock, and it was one that would definitely cling to her body now that it was wet. That would be like giving the men more motivation to come get her. They would take one look at her dress clinging to all her curves, and they would run crazed with lust. Why did they have to appear at this time? Roxanne felt frustrated. The
The water in her lungs was the first thing that urged Roxanne to go above the surface of the water.The water here was ice cold, almost like the forest itself. There was something about the chill that had settled over her that she didn't find natural.Maybe it was the water or maybe it was the fact that she was almost drowning. Roxanne didn't know.She cried out as her leg hit a sharp rock and her toe sent a flare of pain up her body. Dry land was just a few paces away from her. Roxanne could hear the water and smell the flora of the forest. The trees were thick and the sun had retreated into the clouds. Everything looked darker.Roxanne pushed herself to maneuver her way to dry land. The shore was just a few paces away. If she could just use her last remaining bit of strength to get there.Something hit Roxanne on the head again and the sound of laughter was the only thing she heard before the world blacked out.Roxanne dreamed.She was on the beach now. The sun is shining warm on h
Roxanne only looked at her friend as she said those words. She blinked.Ariel had saved her again?Why?"Why would he do that?"Annabelle simply shrugged her shoulders and walked off.Roxanne felt even more confused with Annabelle's reaction.But why did Ariel save her? And what was that nonsense the men had said about her being a witch that had cursed their crops?Roxanne tried to sit up but the headache that lashed at her made it impossible for her to even raise her head up. She didn't feel any cut on her head but she could tell that she had been injured somewhere.Her head ached like someone had hit it with a hammer and that hammer was still lodged in her head.People just loved being cruel and wicked. Why did they all want to kill her?"Are you okay Rox?"Roxanne felt a sensation of relief wash over her as she heard Lord Alex's voice. His tone dripped with concern and his face made it clear that he was definitely worried.He sat down by the side of the couch and touched her head w
The villagers were indeed approaching Lord Alex's house. The only problem though was the fact that they weren't the mob that the stable hand had reported .Roxane couldn't tell if that was a problem or not. It confused her though, it confused her a lot to be honest.They were running actually, approaching Lord Alex's house with a speed that just walking couldn't grant. And according to what she was currently seeing, they probably didn't go up to five in number.Could five people be considered a mob?"I think the stable hand might have misinformed us."Lord Alex only shook his head and looked at the approaching figures. They were running, a few more paces and they would be at the door to his house. He didn't think the stable hand had misinformed them though.The people of this town had managed to convince him of the fact that they weren't inherently good people. They were insecure, cowardly and at the very least, untrustworthy, so there was every possibility that there was a mob coming,
Ariel couldn't understand what was happening to him.He screamed in pain as the shift threatened to force itself on his body again. The pain had become a permanent friend over the past three days."Arghhh!"The sound of a bone cracking sliced through the air and Ariel's pained scream cut through the silence of the castle. The bodies of four men lay on the stone floor, in different positions, intestines leaking out and stomachs torn, the look of pure pain and anguish on their faces still present.They all had their mouths in the shape of half formed screams.Ariel looked at them and he felt a different sort of pain rip through him.He screamed.He could feel his heart ripping apart to let forth the monster. The same monster that had been restless for the past few days now.Ariel felt himself being thrown into the cage at the back of his mind again. He couldn't do anything to fight it. It felt like every part of his body had knives protruding from them.Dangerous and sharp weapons ema
Roxanne woke up to the sun on her face.It's rays hitting her neck and the heat burning the skin slightly."Hell."Roxanne sprang up, her voice sounding groggy as she blinked and rubbed the part of her neck that had taken the full brunt of the fire like heat. It was either the sun was literally shining fire today or something had bit her there and run away.The events of yesterday didn't take any time in coming back to her and she froze.She wasn't at home anymore.She wasn't with Annabelle and she wasn't with Lord Alex too. She was somewhere else.The walls here weren't wooden, they were made of stone. Hard and dark stone.Had she been thrown in the dungeons?Roxanne turned her head to examine the room she was in.It didn't look like a dungeon. It looked like.............. something else. At least it wasn't a dungeon.The sleep she had woken up from just a few minutes ago seemed irrelevant now, forgotten even. Roxanne was fully awake and she was ready to run at the next sound she hea
Ariel gasped in pain, his breath coming in short spurts as he looked at the spike embedded in his chest.Where did he get a spike from in the first place?It hurt like hell!Ariel could feel it touching parts of his innards that weren't supposed to be touched.The spike was in deep.He needed to get it out.He felt her before she even arrived. Like an invisble tug in his stomach.Ariel looked up at the door and there she was.In a short white dress and her hair in a mess."What are you doing in here? Get out."The words came out as a pained groan more than it came out as a growl.Even speaking made intense pain rip through him.Ariel groaned and coughed out blood."You need help."Ariel felt someone come close to him, his eyes had gone glassy with pain and his heart pounded in his ears. He had a splitting headache. and coupled with the fact that his heart probably had a spike through it, Ariel didn't want anyone to be near him."Go away. Leave me alone."Ariel could feel his strength
Ariel woke up to the feeling of bandages on his body.He looked down at his lower chest and saw that someone had taken the time to put strips of cloth on the wounds he had there.He had been too preoccupied with the spike in his chest and passing out from the pain to notice that anyone had been near him.Okay, maybe he had noticed one person near him.And speaking of the spike in his chest, it wasn't there anymore.Someone had pulled it out.But who?The scent of cinnamon and fresh oats wafted into Ariel's nose and he scrunched his face up in confusion.Who could be in his castle?He could feel the presence of someone else nearby, like warmth on the tip of his tongue, or the smell of sunlight on a dreary day.The only problem was that he couldn't actually see this person at the moment.Ariel hissed as pain shot through him. He had shifted slightly and one of the bandages on his side had moved making the wound there open again.It hurt like hell.It always hurt like hell.Every tear,