Chapter Eight
Amelia's POV
I looked straight at him, happy that I wanted to win. Or at least I thought I was, but he shook his head at me. "Don't do that. You are going to be in trouble like I said before, and you are going to really regret this in the end of everything."
"Am I now?" I questioned, smiling at him.
"Well, I don't think so. I'm really concerned for you," he said, finally stopping me short all of a sudden. "You should go back there and rectify the situation before it's too late."
I frowned at him, caught up on his earlier words, but I had already made up my mind and there was no turning back now. I had started destroying everything; it would be foolish of me to fix it, especially when I decided to consider why I had destroyed things in the first place. "No, I'm not changing anything. He's going to learn to live with it, going to learn to treat people with more respect."
I found myself being put into a car all of a sudden. How long and how much more, I thought to myself in annoyance, angry at the way they were treating me like I was some kind of object to be whisked away at intervals, like I didn't have a say at all or any real choice of my own. First of all, I was put back in the background, and now I was back in the car. Something told me that I was going back home, that the guard was going to make sure I wouldn't escape until I got there, and something also told me that even after that happened, I would be in terrible trouble.
Okay, now it was getting serious. The suspense of not being handled and taken care of was killing me from the inside out already. He's going to come for me, and he's going to rip my guts out, I thought to myself in fear. The more time I had to spend alone with myself, the more time I had for fear to grapple with. I did my best to force away the feeling, but it hung around my neck like a noose. Even as I entered into the palace and was promptly escorted by the guards to my room where I was locked up immediately—the orders were from Ryker, I knew already without having anybody tell me—things were going south, no doubt, and I was going to be at the receiving end of all the punishments now since I was the cause.
I was kept there, locked in my room for what seemed like forever. It was frustrating and suffocating at the same time to not have any feedback as to what was going on. For all I knew, he was seething all on his way here, imagining terrible things he would do to me. Even I myself could fathom those kinds of thoughts in my mind, and I liked me very much, so it went without saying that he personally wanted to harm me a lot, which was very terrifying for me. Just keep your cool—he needs you and he's not going to kill you, I thought to myself, wanting that to be my comfort in this particular situation.
With that thought in mind, I relaxed and waited patiently. I had chosen my path already. I had started along with this decision and there was no going back anymore. I just had to follow through with it and see where it got me in the end. Hopefully, it was going to get me the respect and freedom that I deserved as a human being. Yes, I was fighting for my independence now, and I was not going to stop until I finally got it.
The door opened after what seemed like forever, and the man I had been waiting for strode in. My breath caught as he held my neck, slamming me into the wall. I cried out, feeling my throbbing head at the violence and the sudden physical action from him. I didn't really think that he would get physical with me, but maybe I was mistaken about how angry he was, and maybe he wasn't in control of himself right now.
"How dare you," he breathed, his voice low and dangerous as he held me in place. I resisted, but this time there was no crowd to stop him from choking me to death, nobody to look at him and pressure him into behaving cautiously. I was alone in my room now, and I knew that he could kill me just as much as he had saved me twice now, and that he had no intention of actually letting me off.
I tapped on his arm like it was some kind of wrestling match. That was about the only thing I could do since my lack of breath stopped me from speaking. My tapping out became more desperate, a silent plea in submission for a break before he actually ended my life. His eyes had fire in them, but he dropped me this time around, releasing me as I caught my breath and panted heavily.
"How long are you going to keep on doing that?" I questioned before realizing that might have been the wrong statement.
"You did that to me," he said. "You went against my orders, and what did I warn you would happen to you the next time you disobeyed me?"
"Huh?" I questioned, wondering at the way he made it sound like a heinous crime. "Excuse me if I don't feel like cooperating with something that you didn't tell me about previously. You didn't arrange anything, and you think you can just bring this up on me all of a sudden and have me do what you say? You think I'm your servant, a helpless bitch that you can use as you please, that you can love me and hate me at the same time? But you are wrong. I'm not the kind of person you will be playing with her feelings and saving on one end and killing on the other. You have to choose one, and until then, don't expect me to—"
"So I hope you are told, you have no idea what you've done," he said, his voice low as he took another step. I cowered a little, feeling a little less bold than before but knowing that I had to continue. This was a power struggle right now, and if I gave in, if I caved, then it was going to be like that for the rest of my life. I was already taking a stand, so I had to take it to the end and make sure that I didn't lose track of my ultimate goal.
I squared up to him, looking straight into his eyes as I spoke my next words as confidently as possible. "You want to kill me? Fine, do it. I'm not supposed to be alive anyway. You're the one that saved me, are you not? And you said you would punish me a lot if I disobeyed you. What are you waiting for now? Kill me if you really want to do so."
He gritted his teeth, and I knew he was considering it. The fact that he thought about it at all made my heart bleed. But I stood right up to him, waiting and leaving myself in his control, letting him kill me if he wanted to. I was feeling a little apprehensive but I stayed there, not backing away even as he approached me with that threatening expression on his face and that melancholy pace he used in his walk this time around.
Finally, he stopped short of me and raised his fist. My eyes widened, but I took in a deep breath, waiting for the punch that would smash my head in. It's been a short life and a terrible one, I thought to myself in evaluation. But at the last moment, he stopped. His hand came up to my head slowly, but he didn't press it in, didn't crush my skull like I thought he would. Instead, he held his hand in the air, shaking and vibrating in rage but controlling himself all the same.
"Just as I thought," I said out loud. "You are not going to kill me now, are you?" I actually felt a huge sense of relief inside me, but outside I pretended to have anticipated it because previously I hadn't exactly known what was going to happen to me the way I was acting. "You are not going to kill me, so you just have to put up with me," I stated again, feeling gleeful. "And before we can walk together, I'm going to need a couple of things from you."
A little voice in my head told me that I would be pushing my luck too far to demand anything, that he was going to react any time from now, but I just couldn't stop myself. I was on a roll now, and I was pretty much hyped on the freedom and the sudden amount of control that I had. I didn't think so, but we were on equal terms with each other now, and I could leverage on that if I was smart enough.