First, the playground, now this? What is happening to me?
Princess Gray sat with her head downcast, chin nearly touching her chest, as she succumbed to her fate. She exhaled a heavy breath, working to keep the panic under control, but failing. The evidence was in front of her. There was no getting out of this one. Not that her father would believe her anyway. She’d truly messed up, and she would have to pay the consequences.
The metal door clicked open before squealing the arrival of new visitors. Her father strode in first, followed by the presence of several stoic guards.
The last thing Gray saw before her vision winked out was the king’s victorious sneer.
Gray’s heart picked up in pace, fluttering in her ribcage like a terrified butterfly. “Father…” she whimpered, tears rising to the surface.
“It’s someone with light magic controlling your sight,” he brushed off. “You’ll gain your vision back shortly.”
The pitch darkness ratcheted up Gray’s panic, her fingertips digging into the chair’s metal arm. It bit into her tender skin, but she paid it no mind. She wanted out. Out of this room, of this punishment. Out of her role in life.
“Bring him in,” King Forest intoned to the other men in the room.
Boot-clad footsteps sounded toward the door. The beeping of the electronic code rang in time with the beat of Gray’s racing heart, signaling a bad omen of what was to come. Another pair of footsteps entered the room; although, this pair was unusual and different from the others. Not as clunky.
Gray’s breaths sharpened, her back pressing against the chair as if that would save her. She had no idea what to expect, but she hated going into this situation blind more than anything. “Father, please…I’m sorry. I–I don’t know what–” Her shaking hands clutched the thin arm of the chair, rattling the bracelets against it.
“Shut up, child. You’ve done enough damage,” the king cut her off, his voice leaving no room for argument. “You’ve proven you’re too dangerous to have running freely around here with your awakened magic. I think it’s best we forgot it ever happened.”
The foreign presence approached the princess’s side, and she sensed the otherworldliness buried just beneath the surface. Whoever it was remained silent, prompting Gray’s fight-or-flight instinct to kick in that much more. This was it.
My father is going to kill me.
“You know what to do,” King Forest said to the foreign presence. “Don’t make me remind you what’s at stake.”
The princess wanted to scream, flail, kick, and swing at anyone who got near. Her sense of self-preservation had latched onto her soul. Maybe whatever presence had protected her before would rise up again and keep her safe from what was about to happen this time.
“Be still,” a gruff voice grumbled beside her. “I’ll have to hold you down, otherwise.”
In Gray’s frenzied state, she couldn’t determine if it was the newcomer or a guard as she continued to thrash in her seat. She wanted nothing to do with it. All she wanted was to goback to her room and sleep, forgetting that this day had ever happened.
“Do it,” her father urged.
Despite being in the dark about the punishment Gray faced, she wasn’t going to make it easy for either of them. She would fight until she couldn’t anymore.
“Hold her down!”
Strong, calloused hands clasped around the princess’s wrists, pinning them to the armchairs like shackles.
“No! I’m sorry. I won’t disobey again!” she pleaded. “I’ll be perfect, Father!”
A snort sounded, deflating Gray’s fight. “You’ll never be perfect. The sooner you learn that you were a mistake, the easier your existence will be.”
Gray’s will fled her spirit like the shattered heart she wore on her sleeve, carried away by the wind and scattered to the cruel world.
The young princess slumped in the chair, her energy zapped and chest heaving. “I’ll be good,” she whispered in a hopeless attempt to appease her father. Anything would be better than what was about to happen with this stranger. Everything within her soul told her it would be a harrowing experience that she’d be forever altered from.
Surrendering to her fate, she sank further into the chair. Forceful hands shoved her shoulders back into the metal seat, wrenching a whimper from her throat, while seconds later, cold, clammy hands covered in hardened skin began to prod at her temples.
The hands jerked away from Gray’s head before she could put much thought into determining who they could have belonged to.
With no warning, a presence invaded the princess’s mind, sifting and forcing its way through her thoughts. Invisiblefingers probed through them, retrieving memories and pushing them aside carelessly.
Gray had never felt so violated in her short life. All her personal thoughts were no longer private to this stranger. Whoever it was got quite the glimpse into her past, present, and even her hopeful future. Not that she ever expected to give her consent to anything ordered by the king, but once again, she felt robbed of having a voice. Of being her own person.
The natural instinct to regain control took over. Again, Gray began to thrash in her chair, but the hands pinning her shoulders back were too strong. “No!” she wailed. “Make them stop!”
