.
.
.
.
.
...4...
BOUND TO YOUR WORDS💌
For days, he kept her confined, in his room, having Hyeera the maid, Xiera her personal guard and Peter the butler take turns watching her, making sure that she never left the left wing, his quarters. She had nothing doing, constantly idle and it well near bored her to an early death. On some days, she would wander around the corridors looking at the portrait on the wall. They were portraits of the Linamine emperors. On other days, she would visit his library. She would read books there, either novels or poems or history books and sometimes the documents that he would keep around, carelessly lying on the library table, documents that she could never ever seem to understand. Yet, curiosity made her always skim through it, trying so hard to understand what was always tabled on it.
Once, he had walked in on her doing so, caught her reading one of the many files that he had arranged on the table, looking as frustrated as hell. He had watched her amused for a moment before he had taken a seat beside her and explained it all to her; only she had not been able to even understand a damn thing. Well, it was not because he was a bad teacher and neither was it that she was a dull student.
However, it was only because his nearness had not allowed her to concentrate on his teachings. His scent, that lovely fragrance -of coconut and lemon which always left her salivating for more- was invading all of her comprehending faculty comprehensively. She had thought that he would be naughty due to their proximity like he always was, but he had not so much as touched her as he had not despite the fact that they slept on the same bed. She was convinced that he had been flirting with her, for fun. Therefore, she was not at all surprised by it.
Well, she should have been extremely pleased at his change in disposition, yet she was not, wanting nothing yet wanting more and it confused her. It baffled her continuously, that confusing emotion. How on earth could one want something and yet not want it? She didn't know, couldn't answer that as she could not answer his questions when he was done with his explanation. He had shaken his head to her and left her to the documents, to the books and the library shelves, more confused than before. She had sighed frustratingly as she had watched him leave, and then put her head on the table, totally exasperated.
It was almost evening now. After a long day, she sat on the round bed, exhausted from having walked around the left wing ceaselessly, looking for something, anything to do. She stared at the combat trousers that Xiera had gotten for her at her request for she had nothing but that beast clothes to wear. A gown would have been preferable to that beast clothes for she never wore gowns, detested them even. They were too much material to bear; a warrior never needed gowns, especially one like her. She went to take a bath, one that Hyeera had prepared for her.
When she was out of the bathroom, Hyeera was there to help her dress. She styled her oxblood hair and held it up with fancy looking pins. She crawled into bed almost instantly, tired as hell but a little refreshed form the bath. She lay on the round bed, staring at the ceiling, admiring the paintings of dragons with silver eyes on the white surface. She was still doing so when the door opened without a knock. She assumed it was Hyeera leaving until she heard her say "My Sovereign Liege" in a calm respectful voice. Her eyes darted the door. Sure enough, the beast was there, standing at the door, his sable eyes fixed on her. She ignored him. Hyeera left as he came into the room, closing the door behind her. It was quiet for but a moment.
'What are you wearing?' he asked her. She did not answer, bent on ignoring him. He had done nothing to her, but she was just not in the mood to entertain him and his questions. 'I asked you a question,' he said to her once more.
'Clothes,' she finally replied, too tired to say more than that to him.
'Oh yes Mine, they are clothes. I'm not blind; I can see what they are.'
'Then why ask?' she snapped at him with angry eyes like an irritated hungry little puppy.
'I'm sorry. It is my fault. What I should be asking you is where you had gotten them from?' he rephrased. 'So?' he pressed.
'Xiera,' was her half hearted reply to him. He was quickly getting cross with her.
'So you now speak in monosyllables?' he questioned her. She ignored him. 'Mine', he stressed.
'Maybe,' she finally murmured her eyes not leaving the ceiling. The room was quiet for a long time and she wondered what he was doing, not wanting to look. She finally did, sitting up on the bed to do so, curiosity getting the best of her. She saw him, seated at his writing table, reviewing some written documents. She watched him for a moment, studying him. He read and then wrote on the papers at intervals.
'How long are you going to keep me here?' she demanded. It was her turn to be ignored for he did not answer her. She groaned loudly in obvious frustration. 'You are treating me like some prisoner you know? What have I done to deserve this? This is very unfair and you know it! I have no freedom. I can't go anywhere I please. I don't even see the sun anymore, confined to this despicable place. It irks me. It is highly annoying and I hate it. I hate this. But, I hate you more! At least if you wish to keep me, make me happy, even a little bit you beast!' she ranted. He said nothing when she was done talking. He gathered the papers and began to stamp them with the royal seal, acting as if she weren't there talking to him. She boiled with her rage, needing desperately to throw a tantrum. She went to him. 'Do you not hear me?!' she demanded angrily. He still didn't answer her or acknowledge her presence. She flew into a rage, scattering the papers on the table with her hands, knocking anything she could off the table with her hand swiping motion. He let her do so. 'You can't be quiet now! I'm speaking! Speaking to you!' she stressed, excessively vexed.
'Do you now know what it feels like to be ignored?' he asked her. She stopped destroying his things and looked at him then. When she saw the victorious smirk on his face, she regretted losing her cool afore him. He made her look stupid for doing so with his expression.
'Beast, devil,' she spat at him with so much venom in her voice. 'I hate you!' she snapped. He chuckled, infuriating her further.
'Does it hurt?' he asked her, thoroughly amused. She fumed monstrously, invisible smoke coming out of the top of her head.
'Like I care!' she snapped staring him down. He stood to his feet and walked around the table to stand afore her. She made to go around him. He caught her and lifted her into his arms in a split second. She wondered how he could always easily do that with a groan of displeasure. 'Why you doggone demented man,' she protested as he looked down at her. 'Let me down now lest I-' he interrupted her then.
'I'll let you go if you promise to never attempt an escape under my watch,' he interrupted. She went quiet, staring at him. 'Do you dare to promise me such?' he asked her knowing her answer already. She said nothing. He didn't press her for an answer, walking to the huge round bed made with white sheets and placing her gently on it. He tucked her under the black covers gently, tenderly. They stared at each other long and hard when he was done until he planted a kiss on her forehead. 'Goodnight mine,' he wished her, 'Have a nice good rest.' She said nothing to him, not knowing what to say. He left the bedroom after that and she sighed softly.
She stared at nothing in particular after he did so, her mind filled with a lot of thoughts. Could she really promise him that, not to escape under his watch, escape the house and the man most especially? She knew that her answer was no, but she chose to sleep over it and answer that question in the morning when she was in a happy stance.
The days turned slowly into weeks and before she knew it, three weeks had gone by. She found herself pondering -on each day that had gone past up till that very day- seriously over his question. He had not asked her a thing on it ever since then. She was sure that he was giving her the time to think and think she was really doing, quite hard. After lots and lots of deliberation in her small but intelligent head, she realized the best thing to do in that situation was to accept whatever he wanted, to tell him yes, answer positively to his question to earn her freedom.
She needed to be free to escape anyways. She was satisfied with her brainstorm and could not wait until his return to tell him her answer. She went to his writing table and wrote him a letter telling him and answer and imploring him to grant her her freedom in his manor and remove her from her confinement. She took it out of the room and found Xiera and Hyeera chatting. She was sorry to interrupt them but handed the piece of paper to Hyeera who took it with confusion written on her face.
'Please, deliver this to the beast,' she said. 'Tell him that I want an instant reply. I can't wait till his return,' she requested.
'Yes my lady,' Hyeera nodded and departed to do as she had requested. She found her master in the palace having a brotherly chat with his brother, the little prince. 'Pardon me My Munificent Grace but permit me to disturb My Sovereign Liege,' she requested.
'Go ahead Hyeera,' the little prince said to her. She did so.
'Greetings to royalty,' she said.
'Oh cut out the formalities Hyeera,' the Emperor said to her. 'There is no one here,' he pointed out to her. She only smiled at him.
'My lady sent me to you,' she said to him presenting the letter her Lady had written to him. 'I bear a written message for you.'
'Read it to me,' he ordered her, leaning back in his seat.
'Yes my lord,' she said before she opened the letter and began to read it. 'I have been thinking for days thanks to you. Anyways, my answer to your question is yes. Yes I'd rather forfeit escape for freedom. Give me a reply this instant or I'll go back on my words,' she read to him. He chuckled when she was done.
'I doubt she really means that, her answer. But, I'll grant her freedom nonetheless. If she doesn't attempt escape again, then she is not the woman I own,' he said.
'I agree with you first,' the little prince said with an amused smile.
'Bring writing materials here to write me a reply Hyeera,' he said. She did as she was told and minutes later, she was back to her lady at her master's bedroom. She knocked on the door of the bedroom.
'If that is you Hyeera, come in and stop keeping me waiting in pure suspense,' she snapped crudely. She smiled in amusement at the impatience in her lady's voice. She went into the room.
'I bear your reply from the master,' she said to the impatient lady the moment she stepped into the room. Her lady came up to her to receive the reply. She smiled as she presented the paper to her. The impatient lady took it from her and bid her leave. Hyeera left after a bow. She hurriedly opened the folded sheet of paper and read it with a small frown. It only read: Bound to your words. She snorted. What sort of reply was that? A knock distracted her.
'Yes?' she snapped at whoever it was. She was being a harridan and she couldn't help it. It was entirely the beast's fault.
'It is I my lady at your service.' She recognized Cora's voice. What did the lady want?
'Come in,' she allowed. She did so. She offered a bow first before looking up at her with a smile. 'What do you want?' she asked her, irritated by the lady's broad smile. What was making her so enviably happy?
'The master has granted thee liberty. We are to escort you to your former quarters,' she delivered smoothly. Joy, hot and sizzling claimed her. He had agreed so soon. Well, she didn't ponder on it for it didn't matter to her. She was free and that was entirely his business.
'When shall we leave?'
''It is your decision to make my lady. Whenever you are ready, we shall escort you. The master also said that if you will prefer to stay in the left wing, you are welcome to do so.'
'Hell no I won't be staying here with that cunning beast. We shall leave this instant. I have missed my room. It feels as if is been ages since I have last seen it,' she said excitedly.
'It is only about a month my lady,' Cora said with a smile. Her lady hurried past her through the door and into the corridors, probably having not heard a word of what she had said. She ran past Xiera on the way out of the left wing.
'My lady, you shouldn't be running,' she cautioned as she flew past her. But her lady didn't care, too happy to do so. She ran all the way to her bedroom and flung the door open.
The room was spotless despite the fact that it had been so long since she had been there. The servants must have been cleaning it. She smiled happily at the sight. She screamed excitedly before she flew on her bed. She rolled on it with a delightful giggle. She was so engross that she didn't notice anyone come into the bedroom through the open doors.
'I'll give everything I have to see you like this, always.' His voice kind of startled her for she had not been expecting his presence. She sat up in bed and turned to it. He was standing few feet away from the entrance, leaning on the wall, watching her. Her breath caught at his rugged masculine appearance. His ebony hair was ruffled, sexily disheveled. As always, he was dressed in a white shirt that had half the buttons from the top undone, showing off his well muscled chest and a glimpse of his tight eight stone abs. His pants were black today instead of white, flaunting his long legs. He was an eyeful. Altogether, he looked sinfully devilishly handsome, undeniably irresistible. Her mouth ran dry, an effect of the desire subduing coursing through her.
'When did you get there?' she asked him when she finally found her voice after half a day of staring at him admiringly. He smirked.
'You practically ran past me you know?' he told her. She groaned inwardly. He had seen her childish display of happiness.
'You should have announced your presence,' she accused him.
'I did so the moment I could,' he said coming into her bedroom. He sat on her bed, looking at her. He took her face in his right palm. 'Mine,' he whispered. She couldn't say anything to him, his touch setting her alight. 'You promise me, don't you?' he asked her caressing her cheek with his thumb. She stared into his melanous eyes, falling deep into its depth, getting lost in them.
'I promise.' He drew closer still staring at her. He angled his head, bringing his lips to her. He skimmed her lips with his tongue, slowly. She inhaled sharply at the sensations that surfaced instantly, stoking her desire. He pressed his lips to hers softly for a second before he kissed her, fully, taking her lips in his. She moaned softly at the heat of the contact. He drove deeper, exploring her mouth with his tongue. He drew back slowly, ending the kiss.
'You are bound to your words,' he said to her and she understood then what his reply had meant. She would be held to her promise.
'I am,' she agreed.
'Mine.'
'Am I?' she asked. He nodded, caressing her face tenderly, leaving heat in its trail.
'You. Are. Mine.'
'Did you purchase me?' she asked with scrunched nostrils wondering if he really had. 'Oh wait!' she said, 'you stole me.' She sneered.
'I-'
'-you abducted me from my home, my family! You keep me here against my will! Yet, you dare to call me yours? I am not yours! You stole me! Do you know that stolen goods do not belong to the thief, do you?!' she was breathing hard in anger when she finished ranting and raving.
'Rest,' he said softly, not reacting to her tirade. He stared at her for a minute or two and she thought she glimpsed pain and hurt in his sable eyes. But, it vanished as soon as it came to the surface that she doubted if she had really seen anything. He stood and walked to the door quietly. Her eyes followed his moving figure. She felt a rush of desire as her eyes raked his body immodestly. She so hated that he was as good as sin. She hated that she wanted this man. She hated that he had taken her away from her family, away from where she truly belonged. He turned to her at the doorway to look at her. She gave him a questioning stare. 'You will not understand it now,' he assured her. 'Anyways, I did it to protect you,' and then he was gone with one last look at her and this time, she was very sure of the pain and hurt evident in his melanous eyes.
.
.
.
.
.
...OmaPhinaPhire🔥