A TALE OF DARK LUST

3

ISABELLE'S POV

"Wake up! Wake up, Isabelle! Is this time for you to sleep? I will not tolerate this behavior of yours. You are in the palace not in your home". An angry voice brings me out of my sleep. Who is shouting at me at this time? I open my eyes and wince immediately at the sharp headache that I am feeling. My head feels as if someone has struck it with some heavy thing.

I blink my eyes to see clearly because my vision was blurry. I sit up in my bed and upon looking around Lillian's angry face comes into my view. I put my hand on my head. It is paining so much. Why?

"Why are you sleeping at this time? Don't you know about the rules here? You should have woken hours ago". She says angrily. I close my eyes at the sharp wave of pain that strikes my head and an involuntary wince escape from my mouth.

"Isabelle, what happened? Are you fine? Are you in pain? Did something happen to you?" The angry voice of Lillian suddenly turns into a worried one. What a change of emotions! I open my eyes and look at her worried face. Is she really worried or is she feigning it?

"My head. It is paining so much. I don't know why but there is too much pain". I tell her. In her eyes, I can see genuine worry but I see something else too and that is fear. Why is she scared?

"Why did not you tell me before? You should have told me before. I will call the palace physician immediately. Here, have some water and just lie down. I will be back with the physician". She says worriedly and helps me lie down. It feels like my head is spinning. She carefully sets the pillows around me.

"If the king returns and gets to know that I did not take care of her properly then I would spend my whole life in dungeons". She whispers frantically while leaving my room. Why would the king worry about me so much? What is so special about me? I don't think anything like this even exists.

Why would he care if one of his slaves die? He has numerous other slaves to exchange for the one which died. Well, I have no strength to think any of this right now. I am mentally drained.

I was looking at the ceiling and felt my eyes getting close. I let sleep come over me.

NEXT MORNING

I am combing my hair with a wooden comb. The wooden comb smoothly passes through my long wavy brown hair. My long wavy hair reminds me of my grandmother. She had the same hair as me. My parents always used to say that I am the exact copy of my grandmother. They used to say that I have her features and my hair is like her too.

I don't remember much about her though because I was only eight years old when she passed away. The day she passed was one of the most sorrowful days. It felt like everything was soaked in sadness and grief. She would play with me and tell me stories of kings and queens.

In her stories, the kings were not like the ones which I have seen with my own eyes. In her stories, the kings were generous and merciful, not like King Leonor. Sometimes I wonder, do kings like those even exist in this cruel world. If yes, then why did I come across the most merciless one?

I look towards my reflection in the mirror. I can see visible changes in my physique. I have changed so much in my one year of stay here. I have gotten weak and I have not seen the sun for a long time. Yes, I have not stepped in sunlight for months. It is not like I did not want to but because I was never allowed to.

My headache has gone away thanks to God. I am feeling much better than yesterday because it felt like I would die from a headache. When Lillian came with the physician, she woke me up. She was quite worried about me. She did not leave me alone with her for even a second.

The physician thoroughly checked me and told me that I am completely fine. She gave me a liquid made with some herbs which according to her were effective for headaches. After drinking that liquid, I slept and then woke up today. Thank God! No one disturbed me the whole day after that. Not much time has passed since I woke up.