Word Count: 1493
I wander up the stairs, defeated, and thankfully not being escorted by anyone.
That did not go as I expected. Here I was hoping I would be going back to my family, leaving this mess behind me. But now I'm walking to what will be my room for an undetermined amount of time. I refuse to allow it to be awhile, though. Whatever it might take, I'm going to escape this place.
Suddenly a figure appears from around the corner. Pausing, I watch them approach, head down as they stare into a book, oblivious to each step they take before them. A girl, close to my age no doubt.
She's pretty, with deep, coffee coloured brunette hair that hangs dead straight over her shoulders and past her breasts. Although dressed casually, she drips with wealth, from the jewellery strapped around her wrist, to what glitters brilliantly around her neck.
We both stop in our step.
Her eyes find mine for a moment, the brightest green shade I've ever seen. I thought Taius's eyes were green, but his are a much darker, forest like colour, whereas hers are verdant, lighter than meadow grass.
And slowly, inch by inch, her gaze finds its way across the dress I'm wearing, lips forming a grim line. I can practically see the disgust dripping off her once pretty features, which have contorted to what might be anger.
"Is that my gown?" she says slowly.
"I just came from dinner with the King. This was offered to me," I say absently, pawing the pale material of my dress. I feel as though I've been caught stealing, rifling through a girl's closet who is far wealthier than me.
"And who are you?" she growls, her tone frightfully accusatory.
I blink. "A prisoner, I suppose."
Whoever this girl is, she holds a title far more important than mine, yet at the mention of being a prisoner, she doesn't startle. With her chin jutted out, rouge painted lips, she regards me with unnerving precision, as if I'm simply a manakin showing off a beautiful outfit.
"Oh, you're her. I thought the servants gossiping was a bit outlandish. I suppose not," she mutters, bored and unintimidated, twisting a silver ring adorned with scarlet jewels on her index finger.
I rub the back of my neck anxiously. "Words travels quick around here. I'm Akara."
"Vaia. Taius's sister. And yes, I'm a princess," she mutter tiredly. At least she didn't expect me to know he who she was, although clearly being a princess is her most defining feature. Still, I'm fascinated.
Both Taius and Vaia are so common as siblings, yet so different, and I've only just met both of them. They are bred for royalty, manicured for the position, and are clearly entitled for the position. Vaia is evidently uncaring for me, and perhaps anyone below her; which I suppose Taius could be viewed that way also, but it seems ostensible to me, like there's more to him than is being let on.
"I'm sorry about your gown. I didn't know it belonged to anyone," I comment, ready to tear it off my skin. It made me feel confident and powerful in the moment, but now that I'm comparing it to Vaia, I feel meek and demure.
"Whatever, keep it. I've realised from this angle that I suddenly don't like it," Vaia remarks, tucking her book under the arm. She must have endless hours of time to spend reading.
"Oh..."
"But clearly my brother did, for whatever reason," she frowns, tilting her head, the dark cinnamon colour of her hair shimmering under the light above us. I shudder, remembering the way Taius looked at me, like how Marek mentioned. Like he would eat me alive.
"I don't exactly know why I'm here, alive and not thrown into a prisoner either, I admit, as if Vaia will provide me some insight.
She looks me up and down. "You achieved a difficult feat, Akara. You interested my brother."
I should feel disgusted by that, but for whatever reason, I'm not. Taius's attractiveness is dangerously lethal, like a lure that could entrap and kill you. In comparison to Marek, Taius has a more charming, sensuous appearance about him, designed in part by immaculate genetics, and a luxurious lifestyle. The Hunter, however, has an unbeknownst allure about him, a darkness and mystery. It's the devastating nature of his beauty that continues to intimidate me.
"He seems...powerful, like he could see right into my head," I admit, recalling Taius's uncanny ability to determine every lie that came from our mouths.
Yes, he's tiring like that," Vaia sighs. It makes me wondering their age difference. Her youth is present in her filled-out cheeks and perky attitude. "I don't owe you anything, but I will give you a warning."
"You will?"
"If he doesn't bore of you by tomorrow, which is likely, just know that you'll never actually have a chance with him," she comments, her delicate fingers tapping rhythmically against her folded arms.
My throat dries. Perhaps she has gotten this all wrong, assuming I'm here for Tai's affection, due to his position as King. I don't want a chance with him...I can admire his beauty from afar, but the way he has dealt with myself and Marek has made him too dangerous to even think about getting close to.
"I don't...I don't want to be with a King " I admit, folding my arms around myself. Vaia's eyes narrow for the slight moment, her skepticism raining down upon me. She shouldn't have to believe me; I can imagine how it would sound, having a girl show up at her estate, claiming her innocence while managing to gain a position in the court, rather than prison.
She seems to brush it off her pretty features, keeping the neutral. "I love Tai at the best of times, but he's passionate, and overbearing. There's a reason I travel so much."
"You don't rule?" I ask curiously. She would be perfect for it, with the confidence and beauty she naturally exudes.
"Like I said, Tai is overbearing. He never lets me into the business side of nobility, but expects me to be here all summer for all these events of his," she comments, gesturing around herself as if these events would appear around her. I don't believe I've attended any kind of event, aside from when our village would gather for pray. As important and special as those times were to me, I can't imagine they would be anywhere near the spectacle that could occur here.
"Events sound fun."
"Not these events, where his rich friends pour honey in your ear and touch your waist innocently, and think it's okay," she mutters sourly, a darkness creeping into her eyes that has me shivering.
"Tai...the King never stops them?" I ask. He may have prefaced his offer with the promise that I don't owe myself to him, and that I'm not expected to be his mistress, or anything of that nature, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't exactly restricting of his friends desires.
"He tries," Vaia sighs, leaning her shoulder against the walls as she pulls at a loose of cotton from her lavender sundress. "I suppose you can be comforted by the fact that Taius may be attracted to you, for whatever reason, but he won't touch you without you...wanting it."
My cheeks admittedly flush. Taius has taken pity on me and Marek, out of boredom, actual compassion for our situation or perhaps for an additional way to torture us. But not because he is attracted to me...I hardly spared him more than a few glances and the occasional sentence. Vaia is twisting this to embarrass me.
"This is not the conversation I want to be having with his sister," I mutter.
"Right, well you owe me one for all this information about Tai. If you're not thrown into the prisons by tomorrow, you can pay me back. It's going to be a boring summer," she says dismissively, giving me once last glance over before she turns around, strutting off down the hallway, likely to forget about me by the time this night is over.
Whirling around, I quicken my step until I reach my bedroom, clambering up multiple flights of stairs until I reach it. The building is shaped slightly, my bedroom being on the western side of the atrium, whereas it seems the royalty keep to the east.
I'm not sure what Vaia's business was out this way.
Making it to my room, I hastily close the door behind me, pressing my back against it. What has my life turned into?
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If you guys want to read ahead, you can read more of KING'S POSSESSION on Radish! It's chapters ahead of Wattpad (:
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Hope you guys enjoyed Tai's introduction! Let me know what you think (:
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Hope you enjoyed!!!
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