Chapter 5

SABINA

Being locked up was harder than I thought. I had no clue what time it was, and the loneliness was crushing me.

The walls were becoming my only companions, pushing me further into despair. I wanted to escape, but the only exit was always locked.

The door only opened when a maid brought me food. The arrival of meals was my only way of knowing if a new day had started or if it was still the same one.

For breakfast, I got a piece of bread, a small cup of water, and tea. Lunch was two pieces of bread, some vegetables, and a glass of water.

Dinner was soup, more like broth really, since it had no vegetables or chicken, and a small cup of milk.

That was it. That was my daily menu. And since I’ve had these meals six times, I knew I’d been here for six days.

If Aboloft wanted me to lose weight, it was working. I was losing energy, and the cold cell was getting colder each day.

I could barely stop my teeth from chattering as I ate the bread. At least there was some light in my cell now.

This happened the day after Aboloft visited me. A few guards came in with a man carrying tools. At first, I was scared, thinking they were going to hurt me.

But they ignored me, letting the man install some torches. After a while—no idea how long—my dark cell was lit up with eight bright torches.

The light should’ve made me happy. The flames, which lit up my cell and provided some warmth, should’ve made me happy.

But they didn’t. The dancing flames only brought back memories of how deadly they could be if they got out of control.

I tried to tell the guards I didn’t need the light, that I was okay in the dark, but they ignored me, just like the people of Wilsden had for the past eight years.

They didn’t listen to me. Instead, they let the man install the torches.

And when the door slammed shut again, my fears turned into tears, and I cried again.

Since that day, I stayed in the corner farthest from the torches, which wasn’t very far because the man had put them on all four walls—two on each, equally spaced.

I mean, I had some light before, but it wasn’t very bright. For some reason, my cell was a little less dark every time I woke up after forcing myself to sleep.

I stopped asking for a bucket of cold water and tried to sleep, which didn’t always work.

But whenever I woke up, my cell was brighter, and I wondered how sunlight could get through the brick walls.

But in all this time, I didn’t see or hear from Aboloft. He only visited me that one day, and since then I was left alone.

I wasn’t sure if Aboloft’s absence was good or bad, or what he planned to do with me.

If the fire in his eyes was any indication, his plans for me were not good, and that was enough to make me shake.

When the door to my cell opened, I was confused. The door only opened three times a day, when the maid brought me food, and since I’d just had breakfast, this was unusual.

My confusion turned to fear when King Aboloft walked in. His eyes found me, and what I saw in them made me bite my lip to keep from screaming.

He was wearing black robes that flowed around him like dark water. Not wanting to make him mad, I knelt in front of him, trying to pull my dress over my legs, but it was too short.

A few guards came in with him, carrying what looked like a throne. They put the throne against the wall and stepped back.

Once the throne was in place, King Aboloft sat down, ignoring me kneeling in front of him, or maybe not. I wasn’t sure.

After King Aboloft sat down, more men came in, carrying a sack made of some strange material. With a nod from the king, the men untied the sack and let the contents spill out.

Fear gripped me as I watched glass pour out of the sack like water. The men walked, letting the glass fall in a path.

They started at the king’s throne and continued until they reached where I was kneeling at the other end of the cell.

The glass sparkled dangerously under the torchlight. I could see the sharp points that could kill just waiting for someone to step on them.

Looking at the shards of glass filled me with dread, which was the last thing I needed when facing my past.

After the men were done, they looked to the king for further instructions. I knew this because I was watching them, hoping the king didn’t notice.

“Leave us!” Aboloft ordered.

The men left immediately. Within a second of Aboloft’s command, they were gone, leaving only two men behind.

It was only when the door slammed shut that Aboloft finally looked at me. I felt his gaze like a physical weight on me, one I couldn’t shake off.

“Stand up.” His command snapped me out of my thoughts.

Trying to stop shaking, I forced myself to stand. Once I was up, I waited for his next words. But nothing could have prepared me for what he said next.

“You are going to walk on this glass. And you will not stop until you reach me.”

His words froze the blood in my veins. My heart pounded, and I felt dizzy as the weight of his words hit me. No, please, this couldn’t be real. He wouldn’t do this to me. He couldn’t be this cruel.

The moment our eyes met, I could tell he meant business. His dark eyes were cold, like polished black stones.

“Please, your highness, don’t do this,” I begged, my body shaking uncontrollably.

“Didn’t you hear me? Walk!”

One of the guards started to approach me, but Aboloft held him back with a hand.

His words hit me hard, and I knew I had to obey. I didn’t want to stoke the fire already raging inside him. So, with every fiber of my being trembling in fear, I walked towards the path of glass.

I hesitated, my foot hovering over the sharp shards of glass. I took a deep breath, praying for strength, and stepped onto the glass.

At first, I didn’t feel anything. No pain. But then, suddenly, glass cut into my skin, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

Taking another deep breath, I took the first step forward, the sound of crunching glass echoing around the room.

“Don’t stop. Keep walking,” King Aboloft commanded.

His words were unnecessary. I had no choice but to keep walking. And now, I couldn’t even take deep breaths because the pain in my feet was too intense.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn’t bother to wipe them away. I was too focused on the path of broken glass in front of me.

I looked at the distance between me and the king, and it seemed like it would take forever to reach him—he seemed so far away.

I nearly fell when the glass cut into my toes. The scream that escaped my lips was so raw, so desperate, I wished for death. But Aboloft just sat there, ignoring my cries, waiting for me to come to him.

The pain grew with each step I took. The agony seeped into every bone in my body as shards of glass embedded themselves in my feet. Tears fell, whimpers escaped, but no one heard, no one cared.

I had no choice but to close the distance between me and Aboloft, the man who was now a stranger to me. He was no longer my best friend, and with each step I took towards him, that fact became more and more clear.

With each shard of glass that entered my body, a memory of my past with Aboloft shattered.

And I knew that by the time I reached him, I would have no memories left of my best friend. I would’ve forgotten him, just like I’d been trying to do for the past eight years.

A scream tore from my throat when I fell, my legs landing on the sharp edges of the glass. I tried to get up, but there was too much glass in my feet, making it impossible to regain my balance.

Now, my hands were suffering the same fate as my feet and legs, reluctantly accepting the deadly shards.

“Get up!” Aboloft commanded. His words sent chills down my spine, shaking me to my core.

“Please, my lord. Have mercy, please, I beg you,” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face.

“Stand up and come to me. Now.” His voice echoed around the room, hitting me like a physical blow.

“I can’t. Too much pain.” My voice was barely a whisper.

Glass dug into my skin, but I was powerless to stop it. Suddenly, the room started to spin, and the pain in my hands and legs was the only thing keeping me grounded in reality.

I wished for darkness to take me, for the pain to just stop, even if it was only for a little while.

But it didn’t. The world kept spinning, and the pain kept growing. Maybe I would die right here. Maybe that would be for the best. Everyone would be happy, and I would finally be with my mother.

Suddenly, strong arms lifted me up. I screamed as pain shot through every nerve in my body. I struggled, but it was useless. Whoever was holding me was taking me away.

I didn’t know who it was, and I didn’t care. I felt a sense of relief when I was no longer being cut by the glass, but my hands and legs still throbbed with pain.

The next thing I knew, I was in someone else’s arms. I forced my eyes open and saw Aboloft looking down at me.

A sob escaped my lips, but he just pulled me closer, until I could hear the steady beat of his heart. The pain was still there, but his heartbeat gave me a strange sense of peace.

“Get the healer,” Aboloft ordered, and I heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

“Do you understand now?” He gently stroked my cheek with his thumb.

I looked at him, confused. What was he talking about? What was I supposed to understand after he’d made me walk on broken glass? He must’ve seen the confusion in my eyes, because he continued speaking.

“Every step was agony. Forcing myself to keep walking was so hard. All I wanted was to walk with you. I wanted to hold your hand and walk with you around the kingdom.

“But you didn’t give me the chance. You pushed me away, and I had to walk alone for eight years.

“I wanted to hold your hand, to take each step with you by my side, but you never gave me the chance.

“And the pain I felt was a thousand times worse than what you felt walking on glass for a few minutes,” he said.

His words filled me with guilt. I knew the reason behind all of this, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I stayed silent, trying to hold back my sobs.

“Why did you do it?” Aboloft asked softly.

I shook my head. I couldn’t tell him. I’d promised myself that I would never tell him why I left him, and I wasn’t going to break that promise.

“Tell me, and I’ll stop. Tell me, and you won’t have to suffer anymore,” he said.

“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry,” I stammered, pain shooting up my leg.

“Tell me,” Aboloft ordered.

“No.” I shook my head.

“You’re my slave. You don’t have the right to refuse my orders,” he said.

Again, I shook my head. I would rather suffer for refusing a direct order than tell him the truth.

“You really want to go through all this pain instead of just telling me why you pushed me away?” His voice was filled with confusion.

“I-I won’t...I can’t tell you,” I managed to stutter out.

Aboloft let out a sigh, a sound that made me brace myself for what was coming next. I knew that whatever he was about to say would be his final word on the matter.

“Alright then. If you’d rather suffer than tell me the truth, that’s your choice. But know this, Bluebell, I will get the truth out of you. I’ll make you hurt so much that you’ll crack, and then you’ll spill everything I need to know.”

With that, Aboloft leaned down and captured my lips with his.