47

Confused brown eyes looked back and forth between Camilla and me, watching us curiously as we exhaled in relief and had to smile briefly. It was just a small, petite woman who seemed to be in charge of keeping the hallways clean.

"We have to look for better hiding spots, that could have ended badly." Camilla said as we crept past the little woman who was still staring at us funny. "Are you aware that he can sniff us out anywhere anyway, and that there's no one left that we can trust?" She stopped abruptly and turned to me worried. The fear in her eyes immediately rubbed off on me, and without warning my hands started shaking, as did Camilla's. "What should we do?" she asked me in a desperate sounding voice, and I couldn't give her an answer, just shrugged my shoulders despondently.

The castle seemed bigger to me, or I felt smaller than ever here in the huge corridor. I left Camilla and went to the window to look down on the yard. There were a lot of people buzzing around the market, making or spending money, and briefly I would have traded with any of them.

"We have to find Nero.", Camilla walked slowly next to me. Either she was powerless or she didn't want to accidentally startle me, no matter what it was, she seemed calm and overwhelmed, which wasn't helping me at the moment. I was used to fighting for myself and my life, but this was a size too big for me. It all seemed unrealistic to me, like a bad dream from which I would someday wake up terrified.

"I'll search the castle and you'll go back to the dungeon.", she suggested decisively, but I just looked into her eyes, stunned. "Are you out of your mind?! Do you think I'm going down there again?" I hissed at her blankly. If Aiden was really behind it all, then surely those two giants in front of the prison were too. Who else could have taken Aleks away without attracting attention. Shaking my head, I looked out the window again while she snorted in frustration next to me and leaned her back against the wall.

"Then you suggest something better. As relaxed as you look out of the window, Damien doesn't seem to be important to you at all.", she said annoyed and looked at the floor. Everything was going haywire in my head, and it wasn't just today, and she said again that she should take her stupid talk to me. "You have no idea how important he is to me! But what should I do? You've been living here for so long and you have no better idea than to throw me to the dogs in front of the dungeon!" I retorted angrily. My sympathy for her slowly faded. She was stronger than she looked and in a situation like this even had the nerve to start a discussion about which of us cared more about the prince.

"You know I him-" "Camilla! It doesn't give a shit who deserves who or anything! We're standing here on display screaming to be found by Aiden and you're thinking about such unimportant things after!" I took a few steps back and leaned against the wall across from her, still looking at the window. "I'm going to look for Nero now. Maybe you'll think of something useful too." She replied bitchy and quickly disappeared around the next corner.

As soon as she stopped being heard, I remembered someone else who had probably been here for a long time and might know where I could find Nero, or Aleks, or Emma.

I ran resolutely towards the kitchen and pushed the door open with a bang. The bald guy looked at me in surprise and finally came towards me. "What are you doing here?" he asked, clearly annoyed, but I didn't mind. "Is there somewhere we can talk alone?" I looked at all the helpers rushing around behind him, awkwardly distributing the dishes to different places.

He stared at me curiously for a moment and motioned for me to follow him through a small door into an adjoining room. It was smaller than my bathroom. There was only a table and two chairs in it and even if the employees only took a break here, it was far too small to feel comfortable here for a long time.

After he closed the door behind me, he looked at me questioningly and waited anxiously to see what I would want from him. "I'm looking for Emma and Nero. I thought you'd overhear a lot while the food was being served and I asked myself if you knew where they were?" I whispered to him softly. Camilla's paranoia was slowly rubbing off on me, too. "No! And I don't want to have anything to do with it either!", he said in shock and wanted to reach for the doorknob, but I held his arm back. "Please!" I begged him, trying to get at least a touch of pity from him. "I really don't know anything. I'd like to help you, but they aren't stupid enough to talk about such things in front of me."

His look showed me the regret and sympathy I was hoping for, but it still didn't help me. Despondent, I opened the door and was shocked to see that Aiden was standing right in front of it. "Both of you? I didn't expect that." He winked provocatively and took my hand demandingly. "I've been looking for you Melody." He pulled me with too much strength out of the next room and through the kitchen, where everyone was staring at the floor in awe.

Helplessness and unbridled anger flowed through my body. Just the touch of my hand from his sent a shiver down my spine and, gasping for air, he simply led me down the stairs and into the convertible. Without me moving or showing a reaction, he pulled the keys out of my pocket and slammed the door, then ran to the driver's side. I felt like someone was puncturing my heart, as if fear and anger were deep inside, alternating like night and day.

My last look before we left was up at the window that was once my room, and frozen, I saw Camilla staring at me in horror.

"Aren't you going to buckle up?" Aiden asked, amused. But I didn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction and just stared at my hands, which I wanted to wrap around his neck immediately.

We drove in silence through the small village in front of the castle and on and on until we parked at the side of the road after about an hour. He got out, walked around the car and held the door open for me with a smile. I made no move to get out, crossed my arms and just stared stubbornly through the windshield.

"Don't be so childish!" he roughly yanked my arm out of the car, causing my heart to race. Not out of fear, more out of anger at doing all this to his best friend.

We ran, or rather he pulled me behind him into the dense forest, which was getting darker and darker because the sun was slowly saying goodbye and making room for the night. "Why are you doing this?" I asked him in a trembling voice while he was careful not to fall over obstacles on the ground. He didn't answer me, just smiled at me briefly and then stopped short.

"You would have fit in so well by my side. It's really a shame that you let that weakling tag you. When I saw you lying half-naked in front of Calvin, it was all over me, and then you naked in the bath catch-" He stopped himself with an excited-sounding growl and put his hands on my hips to pin me against a tree. "Maybe I should reconsider my plan and keep you. I mean, what could you do about it?" he moaned in my ear while pressing his strong body against mine.

I felt his heat through my clothes, his warm breath on my neck and his hands slowly made their way under my shirt. "Get your hands off me!" I slapped the blonde hard and, not expecting it, he slapped me back, causing me to fall over immediately.

"Is that how you treat the future king?" he yelled at me, but I just looked up at him with a grin. "You could never be king. You lack that certain something!" I provoked him, but he just laughed and squatted down in front of me.

"Aleks and Emma are as good as dead and once they're dead, Damien won't be a problem for me either. Nero was all too much so he took off, at least that's what I'm going to tell everyone. Who do you think will be king then? crowned?" he smiled at me and licked his lips in amusement. Just the thought of being king made his eyes sparkle, and I could see that clearly even here in the dark forest.

So he was really behind everything, and because he couldn't get rid of his best friend out of cowardice, he let others do his dirty work. "How did you know that Damien would go to the camp with me?" I asked him while I slowly got up and he stood gracefully in front of me again. "Because I was watching you then. Who do you think helped Calvin kidnap you? Who do you think saw you falling in love with the enemy from out of the woods? And who was smart enough to know that you were for him and his sister would do anything? It was so easy to play with you guys." he explained to me smiling and came towards me again to smell my hair which made me close my eyes in disgust.

"Stay by my side Melody. I'll make you the happiest woman. It won't be easy, but we will rule. If you decide for me, I'll be loyal to you.", he grabbed my neck and squeezed tightly again and again , only to then relax. A pure show of power on his part.

"I'd rather die than belong to you!" I gasped at him dismissively and was startled to see how excited he began to open his pants. I threw my arms around me in desperation, but he wasn't impressed, just looked me in the eye without expression and squeezed my neck so hard with every movement I made that I automatically had to put my hands around his hand.

"Actually you should beg to be taken by a man like me. Instead you refuse. Furies like you have to be forced to be happy." As he talked, he put his hand under my shirt and started caressing my breasts, giving me unintentional goosebumps.

"DO SOMETHING!" I mentally yelled at Saphir, but since Damien was on the ground, she hadn't made a sound, leaving me completely alone in this hopeless situation. I tried very hard not to cry and felt transported back to the night Calvin threw me on the floor in our kitchen. But this time, no Damien would come, and no Aleks could save me either. No one was there except Aiden, who kept staring into my eyes as he slowly slipped his hand down my pants.

My throat was so sore it was almost impossible to breathe and swallow, and my whole body felt alien when I suddenly felt his fingers slide inside me, causing me to groan reluctantly. "See, you seem to like it after all!" he growled excitedly and yanked my pants down with all his might, causing him to let go of my neck, and for just a moment, I was able to free myself in great pain breathe.