Janelle woke up when she heard footsteps coming her way, and pretended to be asleep.
"Awww, so sweet! Our sleeping beauty is waiting for a prince to wake her up. Guess what, the evil fairy found her first. Open the gate!" a woman ordered, and the warden rushed to unlock the gate. "Get me some water. Very chilled water" the woman continued. A maid hurriedly fetched water for the woman and stood at the entrance as the woman walked into the cell with two warriors.
The woman poured the water on Janelle who rose at once due to the temperature of the water, but the woman kept pouring the water until the container was empty. Janelle who felt so thirsty and weak, murmured;
"Water"
"Water? Did I hear you say water?" the woman asked
"I'm thirsty" said Janelle in almost a whisper.
"Oh! Too bad. The only water in here, is spilled on the floor. You can take a sip or two from the floor" the woman said as she grinned.
Janelle slowly raised her head to look at the woman, but it was too dark for her to make anything out of her appearance.
"How dare you look at me that way?!" the woman said as she slapped Janelle hardly on her face, and Janelle winced. "You were a princess yesterday, but today, you're only a captive whose fate isn't even decided yet! You have no right to look at me that way"
Janelle knew the woman was going to take up any opportunity to humiliate and inflict pain on her. She had no strength to retaliate, moreover it was unwise to do so.
"Stand up!" the woman shouted angrily at Janelle.
Janelle tried to stand up but she felt so weak in her knees, because she's been starved and kept in the dark for only who knows how long, and fell when she tried to stand. This earned her harsh beatings from the woman she didn't even know anything about except her being an absolute abuser.
"Drag her out!" the woman said when she was satisfied with how much she's tortured Janelle.
"Yes, ma'am" two maids responded chorally and walked towards Janelle. The warden unchained Janelle's feet, the two maids dragged her out of the darkness and the woman followed closely behind them.
Light hit Janelle's eyes and she shut her eyes tightly. She slowly opened her eyes, took a look at her surroundings and concluded she wasn't at any simple place though she couldn't identify her location.
"Hurry up! We can't waste time anymore. We must make haste!" the woman said and the maids began to drag her harshly.
Janelle fought the urge to cry as she felt a lot of pain but didn't even have the energy to complain. When they reached the end of what seemed like a long corridor to Janelle, two guards came in sight and that was exactly when Janelle saw the large closed door.
"Kindly inform His Majesty of our presence" the woman said politely.
Then the guard entered the room, crossed his hand on his chest, bowed his head and said;
"Your majesty, the head maid has arrived"
"Let them in" the King said and the door was suddenly swung opened to reveal two maids, weak Janelle and the woman who was now identified as head maid.
The moment the door was opened, the fragrance she hated the most hit her senses and her nostrils flared. It was him, the man she hated with everyone once of skin, flesh, blood and soul.
The maids dragged her to the center of the room, dropped her and walked away.