Chapter 13 Chapter 13
LENORE
To understand was to comprehend, and though I comprehended what Diane had just said, I didn't understand.
“I don’t understand.”
Diane swallowed, blinking rapidly. She seemed like she felt awful. Either because she was the one delivering this message or because of the message. But despite replaying the message in my head, I still didn’t understand.
“Gifted me? I don’t…” I shook my head sideways, letting go of the dress I was holding. “Like property?”
She didn’t respond and just averted her gaze from me instead.
“I don’t understand, Diane.” My voice came out lower this time, the reality of the situation starting to sink in.
“...I’m sorry, miss.”
I shook my head again, squeezing my eyes shut. My chest grew tight. “Wait, wait—”
“We’ll be moving you to the first prince’s palace in the morning,” she said and my eyes flew open. She was already walking away.
I took a step forward. “Diane—”
“Good night, miss.”
After hearing the room’s door shut behind her, I didn’t know how long I stood there—a minute or ten—just staring at the closet’s doorway and replaying her words in my head.
Why… Why would the KIng…Did the first prince ask for this?
My breaths began to come out in short spurts and I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart. But calming down in a situation like this was impossible.
The thought of what the first prince had done to me when I first met him, and what he might do if things went according to their plan made my heart race even faster. I couldn’t stay here.
I rushed out of the closet, almost tripping over one of my bags in the process, and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. The first person I thought to call was one of my siblings, but they’d just panic too and wouldn’t really be able to do anything to help, so I considered calling my father. He was the one that kept me in this situation and he was the one with the power to get me out. But he and I only had a whisper of a father-daughter relationship, so I didn’t have his number.
The next person that came to mind was the one closest to him and he answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Lenore.”
“William.” My voice came out shaky and I realized I was trembling.
“Is everything okay?” he asked immediately, his voice laced with concern. “What happened?”
“I don’t know– I–”
“Lenore, are you in danger?” His tone was urgent now and I sucked in a breath, glancing at the door. Diane had said they’d be moving me to the first prince’s palace, but it felt like they were going to barge in any second now to drag me to him.
“The King. He uh…” My stomach churned. “They’re saying he gave me to the first prince.”
Willian didn’t respond immediately and I figured he was wondering if he heard me right. I wasn’t even sure if I’d heard me right.
“...Excuse me?”
“I don’t know what’s happening. They said I’m no longer participating in the diplomatic gathering. They’ll be moving me to the prince’s palace in the morning.” I was pretty sure I sounded hysterical now.
“What?” His voice was tight with disbelief and anger. “This isn’t happening,” he muttered to himself and I could hear movement on his end of the line. “Listen to me, Lenore. Stay in your room. I have to go speak to your father, but I’ll call you right back. Do you understand?”
“Okay,” was the only thing I could say before the call ended.
I was still hyperventilating and I kept my phone in a tight grip, waiting for it to ring as I paced. The fear bouncing around in my chest grew even more intense as what felt like hours passed without my phone ringing.
As I lifted my phone to call William back—only two minutes had passed—voices filtered in from the hallway and I immediately tensed. I slowly moved backwards as the voices drew closer and when they paused in front of my room, my heart threatened to stop.
I couldn’t clearly hear what they were saying, but I was pretty sure I heard the word ‘prince’ and that was enough to send my mind spinning. Moments later, the people speaking moved away from the door, continuing down the hallway, but that didn’t calm me.
I needed to get the fuck out of here.
I headed for the door, pausing in front of it for a moment to make sure no one else was in the hallway. When I heard no voices or footsteps, I quietly slipped out of the room and took the way Cate and I had used to get to the yard yesterday.
Thankfully, I didn’t run into anyone on my way out of the building and I figured it was because of the event happening soon. If I did run into someone, I could just tell them I was going to take a look at the city; some pack representatives had done that last night and they’d even been given cars to get around in. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to drive, so I couldn’t request one.
By the time I got to the beginning of the long drive that led to the gate, the sun had dipped lower, William still hadn’t called, and I started to question if this was a good idea. Even if I managed to get out of the palace with no one stopping me—no one that I’d come across after leaving the building had tried to so far—I’d find myself walking through a city filled with vampires at night. And even if I somehow managed to get out of the city, William had driven through miles of forest to get us here two days ago. I’d be stranded in the middle of nowhere.
I mean, I could call William or one of my siblings once I got out, but—
“Where are you headed, witch?”