“Bea, please,” Elias pleaded, blocking the path to the door. “Talk to us first. Don’t hide away again.”
Hide away?Was that how they saw this? I did have a reputation as a recluse for six years, so it made sense they’d assume I was trying to hide. In a way, maybe I was.
“Let’s be for real for a second,” I sighed, letting my knights go and facing the rest of them. “I barely know most of you. Some of you I only met last week. I amnobody. I’m a baron’s daughter, studying mandatory magic in a city far away from my hometown. That’s all I’m here for. Not involved with Champions, or my personal knights punished, or fucking kidnapped! So, can Ipleasego home?”
The silence that followed was palpable.
“My lady, you were kidnapped?” Reuben asked almost in a whimper. Both he and Robin looked so devastated that I immediately regretted blurting out the truth without thinking how it would affect them.
“It’s no one’s fault,” I reassured them, but the damage was done. They both crumpled to the floor. If they already felt guilty for my disappearance, I could only imagine their torment knowing someone had taken me without their knowledge.
“Kidnapped?” Uriel spoke for the first time since I got here. “While at school?”
I gestured to my uniform. “Where else?”
“That’s why you were wandering around and didn’t know where you were when I found you,” Derrick gulped, shock stricken on his face. “You escaped by yourself.”
“They were stupid,” I mumbled under my breath, but no doubt they heard it.
“You escaped while they’re still around?” Vincent asked with concern mixed with respect. “That could’ve gone wrong in so many ways.”
“How did you escape? Do you recognize any of them? Did they do anything to you?” Claude’s questions coincided with Theodore’s, who asked, “Did you take them out?”
The last bit made me chuckle, despite my annoyance. “I didn’t know them, but I knew they were following orders.” I sat on the floor with my knights as I relayed to the others a few vague details of the kidnapping. Telling it made my knights flinch, so I held their heads and rested them on my shoulders. They didn’t resist.
Amos stepped closer, crouching. In silence, he pulled up the long sleeves of my uniform, revealing rope burns on my wrist. He cursed out loud while walking away, hands on his head.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Ela.” Elias knelt in front of me, crying. “I could’ve done something. Used my senses to find you. I stupidly thought you only wanted time for yourself, as you used to do.”
“There is a history of me disappearing for long periods of time, I know,” I said, moving one of my hands from Robin to Eli, holding his. “But again, it’s nobody’s fault. I’m not angry about the kidnapping, to be honest. You know what my first thought was when I woke up in that dingy brothel? ‘Really, shouldn’t have I expected to get kidnapped one of these days as a noble daughter?’
“Okay, technically, that was my second thought. The first was, ‘My head hurts like a bitch’. I’m mad that my knights are hurt. I’m mad about my knights getting punished withoutmyinput. They were mine. It’s my decision what to do with them, and that’s not for them to get hurt.”
While my anger stayed within me, I understood this, whatever the hellthiswas, would be an excellent learning experience for the men here, including the twins. “Consider this your first Bea lesson — I really, reallydislikegetting my autonomy taken away. Getting controlled. Making a huge decision for me without my knowledge, without knowingmevery well, is a great example of that.
“Forcing a mind reading while I’m asleep is another. I know, I get it, it’s for my sake, you’re doing it out of kindness for me, you’re only concerned about me — thank you, I appreciate it, even if it’s fucked up. Maybe you’re used to controlling women in this world, and I’m telling you tostop. It’s only sexy when in the bedroom, consensually, but not in real life.
“I will occasionally get input from any of you when deciding, or maybe I will outright ask someone else to decide for me. The point is, it has my consent, my knowledge, my awareness or whatever word you want to use for it. There is communication, another important thing for me. I don’t care if you’re the Prince, or a professor, or a noble heir, or the Hero of the Kingdom, you don’t get to control me.Icontrol me. Okay?”
I huffed out a breath after my long explanation, waiting for the backlash. If they didn’t like what I had to say, then it would be better to cut each other off so we could all move on with our lives. I needed to find out who kidnapped me so they could be sent to prison and never do that to another girl again. I had the magic block to research, plus Teleportation magic, and my escape from this universe.
Why the hell was I putting so much effort into fixing these men when I had my own problems? I was the one kidnapped. I wanted to laugh again at the absurdity.
They all stared at me in various states of surprise, admiration, confusion and even offense. Until Amos knelt beside Elias in front of me, grabbing my other hand.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” he rasped, tightening his hold. “I’m glad you know we only have your well-being at heart, even if we went about it the wrong way. I don’t know about these idiots, but I will be better.” He paused for a second, and I saw the exact moment where he steeled himself for what he was about to say … but ultimately hesitated.
Vincent combed his hair again but looked me straight in the eyes. “And I’m sorry for even suggesting a memory read on you. I was so concerned about gathering intel that I didn’t consider how you would feel about it. It’s not right at all.”
“I apologize for not noticing your condition sooner,” Derrick bowed. “I failed as a physician in that regard. Getting you medical care should have been the top priority.”
“My mistake is informing others about something intimate to you without your approval.” It was Uriel, looking as serious as ever. “I thought I was helping, like what I did for you with your professors — academically, but I realize this situation is personal instead. Forgive me.”
“And my mistake is I sat back and did nothing,” Claude stated. “Inaction is just as bad as committing the act itself. Especially when I had the power to speak up. I am sorry, baby girl.” His nuanced take surprised me, since he was the wild card of this group.
“I amnotapologizing for my comments, because I still hold on to them,” Theodore grumbled from his corner. “However, I understand we can all learn from this situation. Not just for us, but for you as well, Bea.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Me?”
