Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
Stubby fingers tugged me closer into cushioned flesh.
“You looked so familiar.” The voice was a hot breath in my ear and caused a shiver of disgust to percolate through me. “But you were a beast in the games. My money was on you.”
What terrified me the most was now that I knew those from here were in Violencia, there was a very high chance wehadcrossed paths.
And if all it took for another man to have a claim on me was to have fucked them, then that would mean anyone I met in my Shadow era could press for that.
I had already decided to remain silent. To not give anything else away. This man clearly had asserted his princely powers for this dance, and I wouldn’t do anything to make it enjoyable.
I hadn’t expressed to Griffin yet my concerns, but I hadn’t exactly had the opportunity either. I had spent the minimal amount of free time once arriving here to find Levi and the others. They were tucked away in rooms on the same floor as Griffin’s but on the complete opposite side of the castle. Levi had advised that he wouldn’t be present tonight, neither would Maverick or Enzo.
After we ate food, I was whisked away and wrapped in this gown.
It was heavy against my skin, pressing me down into the ground, and I hated it.
I despised this country. Everyone I had met. And especially this man before me.
A prince.
His fingers attempted to find my bare skin as they trailed along the back of my gown, and it took everything in me not to stomp on his foot as he spun us.
“The silent type.” The song ended, and I met his eyes.
They were familiar—the same shade of green as Griffin’s, but it was more than that.
He released me, but then his hand came up, pinching my chin under the mask. His bare fingers scratchy against my skin. “My favorite.” He bent forward as if to kiss me, and I froze.
But not out of terror, something waswrong,my insides scrambling uncomfortably as my nerves short-circuited.
We both wore masks that covered our entire face. We wouldn’t be touching, but surely this went against some sort of ethics or law they had.
I need to unfreeze.
Thankfully, I was saved from it by the familiar scent of acrid poison.
And then I was tugged away from the prince’s hold and pulled through the crowd. I expected Oleks to lead us to Griffin, but instead he kept moving us until we were outside of the great hall, further and further on the ground floor to parts I hadn’t yet explored until we were outside in a garden. And then he kept going, leading us towards overgrown hedges, our shoes crunching in the snow. But I wasn’t cold, in fact I was surprisingly hot.
It wasn’t until we were lost in the labyrinth of the garden that he stopped.
He ripped his mask off, panting. His chestnut eyes swirling in rage as he pulled a cloth from his pants and then he was ripping my mask off and rubbing my chin viciously. I didn’t fight him, frozen in shock from the assault. When Oleks was satisfied with whatever he was doing, he brought the cloth to his nose.
“It’s nearly scentless,” Oleks muttered, licking the cloth. He grimaced. “Rotten eggs. That isn’t good.”
I wobbled, my knees buckling as I stumbled back into an icy hedge before me. Oleks jumped forward, securing me in his hold.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my tongue thickening in my mouth.
“He drugged you,” Oleks advised, his attention flashing in all directions. But we were alone, the stars twinkling brightly in the sky.
They were the same ones I looked at back home, yet they appeared different now. “Why?” I asked, blinking blearily. A numb was building in my face, stretching out and leading a path directly to my chest, causing my heart to beat longer and slower.
“That is what they do here,” Oleks growled, he gently lowered us to the ground, readjusting until he leaned against the hedge,and my head was in his lap. “Just like they drugged us in the game. For their preaching of Cherished and their archaic means, they are surprisingly advanced in the chemicals they utilize.”
“I’m not pregnant.” I don’t know why that was what I thought to say. “I was put on birth-control during my days in the Faction.”
