Light shined in her face and she whimpered, not wanting to wake up. Hearing her whimper, Luca rushed out of the bathroom and instantly moved to block the sun from her face, his body protecting her face with a shadow. Her face relaxed from the scrunched up position it had made, and it melted his heart. He would do anything to see her relaxed face, a small smile toying on her lips. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, careful to not make noise or any motions that would remove his shadow from her and texted Liam, who was standing outside. He had to go to a meeting, despite his strong desire to stay at her side.
I want four slaves in here. NOW. Tell them not to make a sound. One of them should be as tall as me.
His phone buzzed almost instantly, Yes, My King.
Putting his phone back into his pocket, he continued to gaze longing at her face, waiting for the day that he could kiss that soft skin. Those plump beautiful lips, the long lashes that hid her beautiful black eyes, her long black hair in wild curls on the bed behind her.
The door slowly opened and the summoned four moved in, not daring to make a sound. Motioning them closer with his hands, they continued to slowly sneak closer to him, terrified of both making a sound and his order to come close.
When they reached close enough, Luca reached for the guard that was sent in as he was as tall and big as he was. Grabbing him by the shirt, he shoved him in front of him so that he was standing, casting a blocking shadow on the Queen. Hissing into his ear so she wouldn't wake, "She will sleep as long as she wishes- you are not to disturb her. You are to stand here. You are permitted to look at the Queen only to ensure that your shadow adequately protects her face. You will not touch her, you will not move a muscle unless she or the sun moves. If she awakens from you failing to do your job, I will kill you." The guard gulped and nodded.
Leaving the guard to stand in his place, Luca walked over to the other three slaves, that stood, shaking. One by one, he grabbed them and hissed his commands in their ear, while continuously looking back at the guard and his love to ensure that she was sleeping comfortably.
"She will sleep as long as she wishes- you are not to disturb her. You will arrange a breakfast for her. The chef knows what she wants and it best be prepared before she awakens. She is need of sustenance. Also, arrange for a bath and assist her in bathing."
"She will sleep as long as she wishes- you are not to disturb her. You will remain here, kneeling at her bedside. Whatever she wishes, you will arrange for. You will assist her in bathing as well."
"She will sleep as long as she wishes- you are not to disturb her. You will bring me updates of her, every 5 minutes and report them to Liam. Even if she remains asleep, I wish to know."
He stepped back and stared at them, his look enough for them to know. Failure to abide by his commands would result in death. They all nodded, keeping their eyes cast down.
Looking longingly back at his Queen once more, Luca strode out of the room and down the hall into the office. As much as he wanted to bring Alia with him, the world could not know of her, not yet. He had too many enemies, and people that wanted him dead, and he trusted no one.
Other than Liam his personal slave and most trusted guard, Viraj, his second, and now, Alia.
Forty minutes after he left, Alia began to stir, even though the guard was doing his job perfectly and standing as a block to the sun. He could feel a sunburn developing on the back of his neck, but he didn't dare move. His Queen was sleeping and his movement would cause her discomfort. The King would kill him and even if he didn't, he knew that his weakness would be shameful. His pain was dirt compared to the Queen's discomfort.
The two permitted to move about to fulfill their King's commands stilled, hoping that their movements hadn't disturbed the Queen. The kneeling woman, hoping that her breathing hadn't woken her up, held her breath.
Stretching her arms, Alia awoke, feeling barely rested. Wondering about the weird dream that she had last night about being kidnapped, she woke up and her eyes widened in shock as she took in the room, she thought she had dreamed of last night. Looking down, she saw herself wrapped in a dark blue velvet blanket, same as her dream.
"My Queen, how may we serve you?" She looked over, to see a woman kneeling next to her bed. Behind her, one other woman was kneeling while one man stood with his head bowed, his body casting a shadow over her pillow. As she moved up to sit in the bed, the sunlight hit her eyes and she squinted in response.
"Apologies, your Highness." The man said as he moved so that he was blocking her eyes from the sun again. As she was about to respond, Alia noticed a man quietly standing at the front door.
"My Queen?" The kneeling woman called out. As the woman moved forward, Alia scrambled backwards so that she was on the other edge of the bed.
"Please, don't be afraid, my Queen. You will hurt yourself, be careful. The King would never forgive us if you were hurt." The kneeling woman said, standing, but not moving forward. She knew how terrified the Queen was. The King was a man to be terrified of, her instincts were correct. But in that moment, the woman knew that she was nothing more than a slave and could not protect the Queen from the King. She could barely save herself.
Alia began to silently sob. She was terrified. Where was she? Why was she here? She wanted to go home. As the women approached her and even when they stilled, she moved back, inch by inch. She didn't want to be here and she was going to run away.
Thud.
She fell off the other edge of the bed, hitting her bottom on the floor and her head on the nightstand. Her right arm knocked into the glass of water sitting on the nightstand and it broke into pieces. One of the pieces pierced into her left hand that broke her fall and she cried out in pain. She laid there, her right hand holding her throbbing head, her left hand curled over her stomach in pain. Her left side screamed in pain as another piece of glass had pierced her side, so she curled onto her right side into a fetal position, sobbing and praying. Praying for some kind of miracle.
---
Luca sat impatiently, watching the men bicker before him over 2 acres of land. It was a foolhardy battle as he already knew both of them wouldn't be getting the land, but he had to let them "present" their case. He looked up anxiously at the clock, another 2 minutes, 30 seconds until he received another update about his Queen. He regretted only saying every 5 minutes, he should have demanded updates every 2 minutes.
To his left, the door burst open and Liam walked in, briskly, ignoring all of protocol to be summoned in and to bow, to lean over and whisper into the King's ear. The men bickering before him stilled in silence and the rest of the council watched in silence. This slave had broken every law of this land and he was standing alive, next to the King, no doubt. They knew he was a favorite, but to this extent, they had never expected it before.
Without a word, Luca arose, his hands in fists at this side, and walked out, Liam following behind him closely. The council bowed and wondered in confusion at his sudden departure. Moments later, Viraj, the King's second, walked in and announced that council was dismissed for the day. Wondering, the council was left with only questions and no answers.
In the hall, Luca angrily ran over to his room, thinking only of the words Liam had whispered in his ear, "My King, the Queen has been injured. She is bleeding and she is crying. The physician is there now." How useless were these pathetic slaves! They only had one job, feed and bathe his Queen. How stupid was he- he didn't have to go to council- he was the KING for crying out loud! Anger rushed through him, anger at his slaves, anger at himself.
Reaching the door, he grabbed the door handle to throw it open, but stilled at hearing the sobbing inside. His Queen. She was inside and she was terrified. He needed to make sure that he didn't scare her more. He didn't understand why she was so scared, he would never hurt her. But nonetheless, she was.
He threw the door open and stormed in. Glaring at the slaves he had left to tend to his Queen, his anger only grew. Her sobs forced him to break away his glare, and he saw Alia curled into a corner, her hand bleeding, blood all over her shirt. His anger came back as blind fury- why hadn't the doctor arrived yet, what was she doing on the floor.
Red in anger, he grabbed the neck of the guard left to stand in his presence and closed his hand around it. Lifting him off the ground, "YOU HAD ONE JOB! YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR QUEEN HAPPY FOR FIVE MINUTES!!! ALL OF YOU ARE WORTHLESS AND A NUISANCE! YOUR SOLE LIFE PURPOSE IS TO KEEP HER HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND YOU CAN'T EVEN MANAGE THAT! WHAT GOOD ARE YOU ALL? LIAM, I WANT THEM ALL PUNISHED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He wanted to kill them, but he knew Alia wouldn't like that.
Hearing his roar, she knew it was the man from last night.
Luca.
The man who said no one would hurt her.
Even though he roared at other people, he was soft with her. She didn't know why, but her heart told her to trust him.
"Luca?"
Hearing his name on her lips, he instantly dropped the guard, and looked over at his delicate flower. She was staring at him, wide-eyes, clutching her wounded hand. "Yes, my heart?" He called out, softly.
"Where am I? I want to go home." She began to cry harder at the mention of the word, home.
"My sweet, you are home." He called to her, slowly stepping towards her, his hands in front of him, indicating that he was no threat.
She kept her eyes trained on him, but allowed him to slowly approach her. She knew him, but she didn't completely trust him.
"This is not my home," she whispered. His heart broke hearing her, but he knew that she needed time to truly accept this as her home.
"Oh, my love, it is. This will always be your home, with me." He kneeled down next to her, gently taking her in his arms. She let out a small yelp as he touched her side, and he wondered. Moments later, he felt the blood gushing into his hand, and he grew worried.
"My love, where are you hurt?" She remained quiet. "MY LOVE, I need to know." He said a little more forcefully. She flinched back, but remained silent.
"Can you point to it?" He questioned, exasperated but concerned. He was growing frustrated with her silence. She silently lifted her left hand and motioned towards her side, where she yelped. "Is that it?" She motioned to her head. "The back of your head?" She began to nod, but whimpered in pain.
"Sorry, my love. Liam, where's the doctor?"
"Right here, my King." Luca turned to see a young man, no older than thirty, with brown curly hair and thick black glasses, standing silently in a white coat. He glowered in anger. No man would be permitted near her.
"Apologies, your Highness, but the female doctor is delivering a baby and a doctor was summoned to come immediately."
"What baby is more important the Queen, slave?" He flashed over to Liam, who stood fearfully, his head bowed in shame.
"She's delivering her own baby, your Highness. She is with child." The doctor came to Liam's rescue.
Luca's eyes lightened. While he was angry that she didn't come, he couldn't be angry if she was literally in labor. He was a king, not a monster.
"Very well, you may treat her. If she is in pain or discomfort, you will lose your head. If your eyes linger anywhere they shouldn't, you will lose them." Luca snarled back at the doctor.
"Yes, my King." The doctor moved to examine the Queen and she continued to flash back to Luca and the doctor, only allowing him to touch her after Luca gave her a gentle nod. Upon her exclamation of pain, the doctor gave her an injection of sleep and pain medicine to help her rest. After 20 minutes, he finished bandaging the last injury and moved to stand by the King who had been standing at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, staring intently at Alia.
"Your Highness, I have finished treating her physical wounds. Doctor Kira will be in tomorrow to check on her. My King, I suggest you stay near her at this time. It seems that she only trusts you." Luca grunted at the doctor as he gathered his things and left.
Staring back at his sleeping beauty, Luca settled into a chair next to her bed, summoning for his work. Looking at the first packet, he realized that it was the information he had requested about Alia. Good, he would get to learn about her.
Name: Alia Kaur Garewal
(he wasn't happy she lied about her last name, but maybe there was a reason?)
Age: 27
(He was 29, this made him happy)
Address: 213 56th St, Baltimore, MD
(What was she doing living in such a terrible part of town? He texted Liam to go look at her home and bring back anything that may be of value to her. She would never return, of this he was certain.)
Job: Physician
Background-
Ethnicity: American Punjabi, Indian
Religion: Sikh
Family:
Father: Gurnam Singh Garewal (unknown)
Mother: Shabnam Kaur Garewal (deceased)
Brother: Asees Singh Garewal (deceased)
Sister: Anmol Kaur Dhillon nee Garewal (Lives in Mississauga, ON)
Relationships:
Mason James: 2018-2019 (non-consensual ending, broke up after she filed a domestic violence claim)
(How dare this man hurt her! And where was her father? He texted Liam to track these two men down as well)
Miss Alia lives alone and works as a physician at a local clinic. She is known to volunteer her time at a local orphanage, reading to children and teaching older children/ young adults life skills as well as holding her own free clinic multiple nights a week.
Medical History:
Depression- not treated
Anxiety- not treated
Asthma- not treated
Hobbies:
Reading
Listening to music
Learning new languages
Writing stories on wattpad
Watching crime tv and movies
(Perfect, he would build her a library and a music studio in the room next to his office. That was normally Viraj's office, but it had a one-way mirror that was connected to his office so he could check in on her and she could see him whenever she wished.)
Luca studied every page in detail, noting exactly what he needed to do to transform his castle into the perfect world for his Queen. This slave tracker had done well and would be rewarded.
After going through the remainder of the documents present in the stack, he returned them to a nearby slave, instructing him to place them back on his desk. Keeping the docket in his hand, he began to pour over it again, noting things he may have originally missed. Looking up every so often to gaze at her, he felt happy and content, knowing that she had wanted him here.
If she needed him, he would remain always.