Chapter Seventeen

I woke up with a start. I look around me and notice I’m in a dark brick room. There’s a small rectangle window with steel bars letting in cold air. The door is also made of steel bars. I try to get up from whatever I’m laying on to find myself strapped to the bed. How did I not notice that when I woke up?

What happened? How did I get here? I try to think over the events that happened before this. I was at the mall shopping with King Dante and Sawyer. After the first store, King Dante and Sawyer started arguing.

Ha, that’s what it was. King Dante was saying things about Sawyer that was confusing me. Making me believe Sawyer is faking his feelings for me. My head hurts thinking about it. What happened after that?

Oh yes, I ran away and a guard… or who I thought was a guard led me to the exit of the mall and now I’m here.

My life just loves to throw curveballs. The bar door opens, and a tall lady walks in. Well from laying down and what I’m guessing close to the floor makes her look tall. She looks me up and down with a disgusted look on her face. “So you are the girl that’s claiming to be Dante’s mate,” she says while walking over to me.

Does King Dante have a family? But in the books, they said they were dead. Unless she’s in trouble and has to be kept hidden from the public. That must be it. Oh, I’m finding out family secrets.

Wait, what does she mean by me claiming that I’m his mate? I never claimed that if anything I don’t want to be his mate. Hell no. “Hello, Amber I’m Sierra. I’m instructed to show you how a good Vampire Queen is supposed to act. I don’t know how long you’ll be here for but by the time you go back to the council, you will be a new better version of yourself. You will gladly serve whoever you go to and that’s why Dante brought you here” she tells me with a really weird grin.

This lady freaks me out. “This will be your room for however long it takes for you to be obedient. We don’t want to worry about you escaping. So when it’s bedtime one foot will the chained to the bed and they are heavy chains which means it’ll make a sound so if it falls on the ground. A guard will come and they are allowed to punish you according to what they find fit” she explains.

I now regret running. Why didn’t I stay with Sawyer? Wait! This makes the perfect scene now I can’t believe it took me this long to realize it. King Dante was saying all those things even though they were false so I would get upset with Sawyer and I would run away. He would have one of her personal guards be there and track me down so they can kidnap me bring me here.

“Because we don’t trust you, you will be staying here. A desk and chair will be brought in so you can study. You will always be chained to something so don’t think you’ll get out of that. Today will be the only day off you have so enjoy Princess” she tells me. She turns around and heads towards the door.

“Oh and by the way dinner will be served in an hour. You slept most of the day away” she adds as she closes the door. She gives me one last look up and down “I have no idea what they see in you” then leaves. How rude.

I lay my head back down on a very flat pillow and stare at the ceiling. This is how my life should be. My life with Sawyer was a fairytale. That’s a life a girl would love to have and a more deserving girl should have that with him. I’m just a slave and I’ll be put into my place here.

I was knocked out of my thoughts when I hear hush voices walking over to my door. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” a voice asks. “Shh do you want mom and dad to catch us?” a second more harsh voice asks. “I want to see who’s the girl they keep talking about” the second voice explains to who I’m guessing is the first voice.

I look over towards the bar door to see two little boys looking at me. “Is this the girl? She can’t be. Mom and dad talk about how ugly she is, but this girl is beautiful, ” the first boy says. Kids are cute. “I see nothing ugly about her. She looks miserable, ” the second boy says. I offer them a small smile “hi” I whisper due to my throat being dry.

“She talked to us what do we do? She isn’t supposed to know about us” the first boy says while looking up at the second boy. “Shh. Any louder and we’ll be caught” the second boy tells him. By their interactions with each other, I’m guessing the second boy is the oldest while the first boy is the youngest. “Umm hi lady,” the oldest boy says unsure of himself.

“Are you hurt?” the youngest boy asks I look at him confused what does he mean by hurt? “Of course she is. That’s why she’s here remember mom and dad saying that to us. And that she’s dangerous. We should get going.” The oldest boy says. He takes his brother’s arm and dragged him away.

When the two brothers are gone I turn onto my back and look at the ceiling. The first thing that comes to mind is how spoiled I have become when I lived at the Mansion. How comfy the bed was. How I had free roamed almost the entire place. I was still talked down to and had some slave rules still in place but for the most part, I had freedom.

And now I’m thrown back into the slave life and it’s messing with me. I wonder if they know I’m missing. Is Sawyer worried about me? Or is he happy that I’ve gone missing and doesn’t have to fake anything anymore? To give me peace of mind I’m going to think he knows and is trying to find me. I know that’ll only break my heart even more in the future but for now, I’ll believe that.

There’s no clock in here or any way to tell time except for the sun seeping through the small barred window. To pass by time and forget where I am I allow myself to slip into a daydream about Sawyer and me. Even if it was all a lie I still want to hold onto as much hope as possible.

I slip out of my daydream when I hear voices from a distance walking over to my room. I’m not sure if I’m the only one down here or not. I’m guessing every room is like mine. Bar door that leaves no privacy so anyone and everyone can hear what’s going on in the next room. Unless this room is away from others and I can’t hear anything and no one can hear me. I bet if I scream as loud as I can no one will reply maybe besides the guards but I bet they would either laugh at me to tell me to shut up.

“There’s our favorite slave,” the same lady from before says as she unlocks the door. It swings open and she walks in along with a man in a white outfit pushing a cart. This reminds me of my date with Sawyer the day I got out of the hospital. I doubt the food will be any good but I can imagine it’s the same thing I ate when I was with him.

The man pushes the cart over to me. He goes to the shelf under the food and grabs a wooden tray. He sets it on my lap then grabs a plate and sets that on my lap too and takes the top off. I look down at the food and I’m surprised to see it’s steak. “I see you were expecting less,” the lady tells me.

“Which is a good thing. You are already thinking like a slave. This won’t take as long as I thought it would. Well, the reason why we gave you a steak is that you are a special slave and not because you’re the King’s Mate. No, it’s because you are is a personal slave like I mentioned before. The only special treatment you’ll be getting is through food. Enjoy your meal and have a good night’s sleep because tomorrow training is going to start” she tells me.

“Oh and one more thing tonight I’ll let it slid but from this day forward you only have 5 minutes,” she tells me and walks out. The guy pushes the cart out of my sell but doesn’t leave. No instead he watches me eat. I grab my knife and fork I quickly cut the steak and eat as much as I can so the creepy man can take my plate and leave.

Half of my steak is left but I couldn’t eat anymore. “All done?” He asks. I nod too full to talk. He walks into my room grabs my plate and silverware.

“If I wasn’t a taken man I would be all over you,” he tells me before he shuts the door and locks it. After he leaves I tried to get comfy on this very uncomfortable bed. “Good your done eating. It’s time for bed now. I’ll see you bright and early” the lady tells me after coming out of nowhere and scaring me half to death. Which I don’t think she’s mind. I grab the thing blanket and cover my entire body then I try to get some sleep.