“Father, are you okay?” Griselda rushed towards her struggling father, as one of the guards shoved him to the side. “How can you do this to an elderly man? How dare you?”
Griselda snapped and the guard glared down at the girl,
“Eyes down, slave!” He snapped as he smacked her over the ear, and then he turned toward his subordinates who was making jokes.
“You lot are lucky the emperor passed the order to not touch you.” He muttered touching her lovely brown hair, she shuddered stepping away from him, and the grip on her father tightened. “With a face like this, you shouldn’t be working here–a brothel will be a more appropriate place for you.”
“Pardon my daughter,” Izaiah muttered as he stood before the guard, shielding his daughter with his body, he might be old. But he was still going to defend the dignity of his daughter. “She is only being concerned for her father.”
“Yeah right,” the guard shoved him to the ground, “It’s because you are good for nothing, useless father that is the reason your daughter is in this mess.”
They muttered the rest of the insults as they went on, and then Izaiah sighed, they were done with their work for the day, and Izaiah’s back was sore from overworking, and his old bones were not in his favor.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” He muttered as he straightened, trying to crack his back, and Griselda sniffed, as she helped him walk towards their tent. The place was heavily guarded with the emperor’s men, and it doesn’t help that they are hybrids.
They were stronger, faster, and even wiser than their human counterpart, so escaping is pointless, and the dragon hybrids are free to kill anyone that try to run away from their captive space.
“These people are scary…” He advised. “You should be more cautious! These people could kill us at the slightest provocation, I have always raised you to be gentle, did you pick on some of Natalia’s traits?”
Griselda’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Natalia, they had been saved by the very thing their father had always been against. Natalia’s brazenness, she was bold and confident, even picked up a sword and battled the strongest man that had ever walked on earth.
Even though she lost, she had won the lives of her people,
“Speaking about the girl,” Her father heaved as he plopped down on the straw mat they had given them in replacement for a bed. “I wonder how she is doing.”
“She will be fine, no matter what happens.” Cassandra muttered softly, a little offended, she hated feeling like this, but then she just could help herself, because ever since that day she had been robbed of all the dignity and the respect her people had for her.
Even though she was the eldest princess, she ran away, sought her own safety rather than the interest of her people. She wasn’t so sure what she regret the most, was it listening to Natalia and running away from her responsibility, or was it getting caught and being humiliated by her people.
11:09 Tue, Sep 16
Chapter 29
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“No matter what, she is still a baby, and she doesn’t know how the world works yet,” Its been about two weeks since the attack, and her father just keeps talking about her, without even seeing his other daughter beside him. He couldn’t even see how much she was hurting as well. “I don’t even know how she is doing, if she is dead or alive, or how that beast of an emperor is treating her.”
He let out a sharp sigh.
“Chief,” they heard someone calling out from outside the tent and from the sound of it, Josiah was the one calling. Izaiah’s eyes widened, and Griselda got up immediately and then went to get the door.
“Please come in,” She answered softly, in her time of need, he was the one who helped her, just like the kind boy that he was.
“My lord…” he muttered as he bowed his head, but Izaiah waved him.
“There will be no need for that…” Izaiah chuckled. “I am not the village chief anymore, and you are not bounded to me anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Josiah asked with disbelief in his eyes.
“Look at all these… I am not fit to be called chief anymore, we are in captivity.” He was already resigned to fate. “I am sorry, but I don’t deserve your respect anymore.”
“Sire, you don’t have to be like this, no matter what happens the tribe still respects you, and you will still be our chief.” He answered, Griselda rolled her eyes, as she sat in the corner of the tent, waiting for their conversation to end. “I have news on Natalia.”
Griselda’s head suddenly whipped in the direction of the conversation, she didn’t expect to hear anything from Natalia so soon.
Izaiah seemed to be the happiest one, he quickly latched on to Josiah, gripping his hands tightly.
“Where? How is my daughter doing?” He asked curiously, his eyes widened eagerly. “Where is she?”
“I didn’t hear it all, but from the guards in the mine, they said the emperor plans on getting married to her.” He answered and Griselda’s eyes widened, that wasn’t possible. How could the emperor want to marry her? Even though he had seen them both, most of the men she had ever met, never found Natalia attractive.
She was too rough, she was unladylike, and men didn’t like that, they always preferred her, she was more beautiful, she was soft and delicate like a flower.
There was no man who could resist her charms… How could the emperor want to marry Natalia? She even wielded a sword, and fought him.
“What do you mean?” She asked curiously. “The emperor wants to marry Natalia? Why?”
“I don’t know, they didn’t say, but the guards said he was serious about it.” Josiah answered.
“But didn’t the emperor wanted to marry me, he wrote that letter with the intention to get married to me.” she got up. “Why did he choose Natalia and not me?”
11:09 Tue, Sep 16
Chapter 30
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
