Chapter 22

When it came down to being hard headed and obstinate, Alixandre believed that no one came close to him. He had lived long enough to continuously witness the cycle of monotony, involving royals who were ready to grovel at the feet of their enemy, abandoning all form of human pride.

But this witch...

"You can't be serious..." Alixandre muttered under his breath, before diving head first to break Elena's fall, caging her with both his arms, moments before she hit the ground.

He slowed down the movement of his wings, and landed left foot first on the ground, in the middle of the castle grounds. The wind from his wings furiously pushed away the baskets of wheat and grains gathered by his servants, headed for the royal storeroom.

When Alixandre was certain that her feet had touched the ground, he abruptly gripped her shoulders, lowering his head to meet her line of sight.

"What kind of stunt were you trying to pull just know?! Did you jump knowing fully well I would dive in and save you? If so, you've got some nerve..." Alixandre's harsh scolding was put to an end, the moment his crimson eyes fixed it's gaze on Elena's quivering lips.

Instinctively, he noticed how her entire body trembled under his touch, she had barely even lifted her eyelids properly out of fright.

"You there! Escort her back to my tower, and do not take your eyes of her for a second." Alixandre ordered, not referring to anyone in particular.

Elena's senses were gradually returning to her, not only did she realize that she was alive and well, but that Alixandre's hands were placed on her shoulders.

She took a step back from him, shaking off his grip then quietly followed the servant girls, who could barely look her in the eye.

The servant girls did not utter a single word to the princess while they escorted her back to her chambers. Instead, they merely observed Elena, just as conflicted as everyone else about her role in the castle.

As they reached the tower entrance, the princess noticed first, that the door was left slightly open, despite being closed before. She bit her lower lip as one of the servant girls offered to clean the chamber.

"It's not a problem really, it's the master's tower, so it's only natural that we servants take care of it." The young woman retorted, earning supportive nods from her cohorts.

Elena stood directly in front of the door, using her body as a shield to hide the fact that there was an intruder inside the tower.

"I said it's unneeded, if my living quarters is untidy, then I'll handle it myself, or I'll ask Jareth to do it." Elena swiftly asserted, refusing to back down.

The servant girls knitted their brows and curled their lips into distasteful frowns. It was their secret agenda to use this opportunity to finally get a look at the inside of the infamous tower. Just like most things surroundings Reeves and how it came to be, the Master's Tower, was another skull cracking mystery.

'Why does someone like her get to live in the same chamber as Master? Isn't she just a servant like the rest of us?' The lanky servant girl, whose right hand had a severe burn mark, located at her inner elbow.

'If anything she's just a slave...she even has a leash!' the lowly servant assumed, flattening her lips into a content smile.

She exchanged all knowing glances with her three other cohorts then charged forward towards the chamber door, with her lackeys following closely behind.

"If you are not going to step aside, then you must be hiding something. Master said never to let you out of our sight, which means that our actions are justified." She announced, standing directly in front of Elena, with both hands rested on her sides.

Elena scoffed at the woman's brash attitude, then casually crossed her arms across her chest, intensifying her unforgiving glare.

"If I'm not mistaken, almost no one is allowed inside of this tower, wasn't it your master's orders? So why should a low ranked servant girl like you have such a privilege? Something's definitely not right here." She chided, making sure to set the boundaries between the both of them.

To Elena, despite being captured and held hostage against her will, she was still very much a woman raised under royal tutelage. Which could only mean, that when it came to sniffing out Ill intent, she wasn't a step behind.

Feeling insulted by Elena's words, the servant girl did the unthinkable and reached out for her perfectly balanced chains!

Her cohorts all gasped in shock as they subconsciously took a step back, their natural instincts compelled them to back down discreetly.

"What are you doing?!" Elena demanded with fiery eyes, the cheeky servant girl flicked her short brown hair back and narrowed her gaze at the princess.

With a twisted smile drawn back fully, she yanked hard on the chains, pulling Elena's neck down as her long fingers wrapped themselves around the heavy chains.

"Stop that..." The princess struggled to protest, using both hands try and peel off the servant's grip on the chains. Tears formed in Elena's eyes, as she contemplated the idea of moving away from the door, allowing the nosey servants to pass through.

'I can't possibly allow them to find out about his existence.' she concluded, referring to the secret knight sent by her mother to retrieve her from Reeves.

"Look at how obedient you are, master must think you to be a dog, which is why he placed a collar around your neck. You're far beneath us..." The cocky woman pompously announced, pulling even harder on the chains, making it difficult for Elena to breathe properly.

"Kneel!" She cried and yanked her hardest, with the intention of forcing a princess to her knees!

Her cohorts were fully convinced that a worthless woman like Elena whom the master could so easily toss out of his tower, wouldn't be able to fight back. To them, a delicate princess, abandoned by her kingdom was bound to suffer in a foreign land.

"I can't breathe..." Elena said with gritted teeth, struggling against the servant's tight grip. Her neck flushed bright pink, as the collar continued to weigh her down, till she was finally on both knees!

"This is far much better, stay on your knees like the dog you are." She gloated, going as far as to place her right foot on Elena's shoulders, applying all of her strength. The more the princess struggled to get on her feet, the harder the servant girl pressed her down.

"You will pay for treating a princess like this!" Elena spoke with venom in her words, glaring hard at all their faces, burning them into her memory.

"How dare she!" Cried one out of the three spectators, with added confidence, she stepped forward and awarded Elena a tight slap across the face, grinning from ear to ear.

Elena clenched her eyelids shut to endure the sting she felt on the side of her face. She had never once been slapped by a servant before at her kingdom, this realization forced her tears to fall on her cheeks.

"Who gave you the right to act so high and mighty? You two, hold her down by the shoulders, the master ordered us not to let her get away." The ring leader ordered, withdrawing her leg from Elena's shoulders.

The servant girls spared no second to roughly grip Elena's sides, keeping her in check, whilst their ring leader waltzed into the tower, uninvited.

Elena watched with mortified eyes, as her only hope of escape would soon be reduced to Zero. She had tried her best to break free from their grip, but found it impossible.

Roughly twenty minutes after the ring leader stepped out of the tower chamber, wearing a satisfied grin on her face. She fixed her gaze on the princess, whose knees hurt so much that she could barely maintain her position.

She lowered herself to meet Elena's puffy eyes, then cupped her face with her sharp fingernails, Elena winced in pain.

"You said I would pay for my actions right? Whose going to defend you? A slave captured and bound in chains?" She asked while slapping Elena's cheeks repeatedly, till her cheeks had turned beet red.

The servant girl gripped her by her blonde locks of hair, then tossed her aside furiously, not caring where Elena landed.

"Let's go, we shouldn't waste our time on a forsaken princess." Announced the leader, her cohorts all smiled in unison and turned to leave, satisfied with the lesson they taught Elena.

Elena crawled over to the tower door and rested her back against it, hugging both knees tightly to her chest. She stayed in that position for a while, with her shoulders jerking up and down as she cried softly.

The sound of calculated footsteps approaching her caused her to slowly raise her head up and cast a glance at just who was next in line to torment her.

However, what she gazed on was not a pair of taunting eyes, but instead warm green eyes, smiling down at her and an outstretched hand directed to her.

"You mustn't waste those tears princess, they're so precious they could buy an entire kingdom." Declared the golden haired, green eyed knight, baring a thin lipped smile and compassionate eyes.