The Princess and the Guard (Book 1)

Six

Juliette stepped from the shower, shaking a towel through her damp hair. Her eyes caught the bruise blooming on the inside of her elbow. It had turned into an ugly purple and ached anytime she touched it.

Running a comb through her hair, Juliette pulled a night-slip over her head and then braided her hair to keep it from getting tangled. She studied her reflection in the mirror, but a sharp knock startled her. Standing up, Juliette tugged a sweatshirt over her head as she twisted the doorknob. The door was shoved the rest of the way open, and two figures pushed their way in.

"What are you doing?" Juliette asked, involuntarily taking a step back, her heart leaping to her throat. She opened her mouth to order them back out, but one of them locked a damp rag around her face, the other pushing her down to the ground. Something sharp pricked her side, and blackness swallowed her whole.

Juliette blinked her eyes open. Her eyelids were heavy, and blinking was difficult. The lights on the ceiling were blinding, and her eyes filled with tears. When she blinked, the dripped down the sides of her face. She swallowed, a dull ache spreading through her entire body.

"What's happening?" she asked, the words thick in her mouth. She tried to move, but her entire body was weighed down. There were restraints around her wrists and ankles. She could hear people moving around her, talking. Something sharp pricked the inside of her arm and she winced, struggling to break away.

"Leave me alone!" She thought to yell, but she couldn't even feel the words in her throat and was afraid she didn't say anything at all.

"You're fine, try and hold still. We're almost finished."

Who was that? A woman, it sounded like, but Juliette couldn't place the voice.

"Trust me, Highness, you won't remember any of this. It'll be easier for everyone if you're out of it."

"Any of what?" Juliette coughed; her throat parched. Her lips were dry and cracked, and her head felt like it was packed with cotton. Something else pricked her, this time in her neck. The sensation seemed to wake her brain up, at least a little. Her vision started to clear, and she was vaguely aware of three people in the room. One of them was clearly the one in charge, as the other two were clothes from head to toe in scrubs.

The third, a woman, was wearing a white lab coat and had hair cropped short. A perpetual scowl seemed to be frozen on her face. She locked eyes with Juliette.

"You're not going to give us any trouble, are you?"

"What's happening?" Juliette asked again.

"Nothing too bad. Her Majesty found a use of you, and we're starting the preliminary testing tonight. Mostly just monitoring how your body reacts to different solutions."

Juliette couldn't wrap her mind around the words, but she knew whatever was going on couldn't be good. "Solutions?"

"Don't worry about it. We're almost finished and then you can leave."

Juliette reluctantly dropped her head back down. Paper crinkled beneath her, and she realized she was still wearing her thin nightdress, but her sweatshirt had been removed. Panic momentarily flared, until she saw it wadded up in a corner on the floor. It had been Noah's at one point. He gave it to her when she was cold, and she never gave it back. She didn't often think of herself as sentimental, but she loved that sweatshirt.

One of the clothed figures felt the pulse in Juliette's neck. The woman in the white lab coat stabbed a hypodermic needle into a small jar with a clear solution in it. She mumbled something to one of the other two with her, before taking Juliette's arm.

Juliette resisted, but the restraint kept her hand in place. Another needle was pressed into the crook of her elbow and the solution emptied into her bloodstream.

"What...? What are you doing? What's... what's happening?"

Blackness once again crept into the corners of her vision. Emptiness overtook her, but only for a second. Her eyes flew back open, and she scrambled to get up, the blankets of her own bed tangling around her legs. She fell to the carpeted ground of her bedroom, scrambling to get to her feet.

Her eyes scanned the area around her, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. She yanked the hoodie off, snapping the light on and examining her arms. She already had a bruise from the other day, but it was darker. Bigger.

Juliette pressed a hand to her forehead, crossing the room and yanking her door open. The hallway was dark, empty, and quiet. No signs of life. It may as well have been a tomb for how still it was.

Stepping back inside, she slammed her door shut and turned the bolt, then leaned her body weight against it and tilted her head toward the ceiling. Hot tears trickled down her face, anger coming to life inside her and making her squirm.

She hated that everyone so willingly did anything Odette told them, regardless of what it was. She hated that she was smaller, that she had no power, no real way to fight back. She'd endured countless beatings and slaps at the hands of Odette, for no reason. As she'd gotten older, the beatings were becoming closer together. Now, to add to that, a whole new kind of torture appeared to be starting.

She hated Odette. Hated her.