The Princess and the Rover

Seven

I was speechless and scared. Mostly scared

He just stood there, staring at me in disbelief. I on the other hand was looking at him for help, my eyes were pleading but at the same time, I was scared that he would leave me to bleed to death.

"You never listen, do you?" He finally said after what felt like hours of silence. I stayed quiet waiting for his next move. I was really hoping his next moving wasn't walking away from me.

Thankfully he didn't. He crouched down in front of me, looked at my bleeding thigh before picking me up from the ground, bridal style. He held me tightly in his arms, his cold hands sending chills all over my body. I relaxed my body and rested my head on his hard chest.

"Please take me to a hospital" I said as we made our way back to the cabin.

"It's nice to know that you are capable of saying please" he said. I would have rolled my eyes if it were a different situation.

"You have to take me to a hospital" I said again, maybe he didn't recognize the urgency and fear in my voice.

"You don't need a hospital"

Mortified, I looked up at him. He was looking straight ahead so I only got a glimpse of his jaw, nose, his lashes and his lips.
What did he mean by that? Was he a doctor?

We made it to the cabin and he gently dropped me on the bed, exposing my injured thigh.

"Wait here" he said turning around and heading for the door.

"Are you leaving me?" I asked, frightened.

"Going to get some herbs" I blinked.

"Herbs?" I echoed, shocked, "I need to got to the hospital now, i need to see a doctor" I shouted.

"You know, I admire your energy" he walked up to me, "you still have a lot of it even after you have been injured" he then leaned into my face, his cold eyes boring into mine.
"Running away was what got you here in the first place, so if I were you, I would shut my mouth and sit still unless you want me to throw you out in the woods. There, you will either bleed out or get eaten by whatever creature that lives out there" his tone was stern and his threat definitely got to me because I shut my mouth afterwards.

He turned around and walked out the door after that.

I looked down at my leg and couldn't help but be scared for my life.

He came back a few minutes later with a bunch of leaves in his hand. He dumped them on the floor close to the bed and crouched down in front of me. I watched him as he examined my thigh and then brought his fingers to the small stick in my skin. I flinched away quickly then his eyes met mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked, even though it was already obvious.

"Getting it out, unless you want it as an accessory" he said, his voice holding not even the slightest bit of pity. A part of me was scared that this was going to be the end for me. I couldn't believe I was in this mess. I never thought I would die so soon, especially not from something so small and irrelevant.

"Relax, it's just stick. You're not going to die" he said as if reading my mind. I opened my mouth but closed it again.

"It's going to hurt a little but just trust me" he said and I wanted to laugh at the irony.

"Trust you? You kidnapped me"

"If you didn't try running away, you would have been safe with me" I couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth.
"So are you going to trust me or not?"

I inhaled a deep breath. Only because I didn't want to die.

"Just close your eyes and take a deep breath" he instructed and I did just exactly what he said. I shut my eyes and anticipated the pain, my heart was pounding against my chest. I felt his hand on my thigh and then....

I screamed long and hard as he pulled the stick out, pain shooting right from my thigh to my brain.  Tears slipped past my closed lids. I felt a cloth being pressed on it but I refused to open my eyes. I had no plans of witnessing the horrific situation.

A minute later I felt the cloth being replaced with something that stung like hell on my injured skin. After another few minutes, I felt relief wash over me as the pain and stinging sensation lessened. That was when I opened my eyes.

The leaves that he brought were plastered over my injured skin in bits and pieces joined together, leaving a kind of green liquid residue around it.

I looked up from my thigh and looked at him. I felt relieved that whatever he did worked. I felt like for the first time in my life, I was grateful to someone who helped me but I didn't know how to show my appreciation.

I wanted to say thank you but I couldn't get the words to leave my mouth. I had never said thank you to anyone apart from my parents. Not even Alexander. I never felt like I needed to. The only reason I ever thanked my parents was because my mother forced me to always say it.
Thank you meant showing appreciation and I never showed appreciation to what was my right.

My parents giving me whatever I wanted was my right, they gave birth to me so it was their responsibility to provide whatever I wanted, if they didnt, it meant they were failing. I had never gotten any deep  intention on saying thank you.

But at that moment when I was staring into my kidnapper's eyes,  I could hear my mother's voice echoing in my head.

*Always be grateful for everything  you have, and be grateful to whoever helps you. Appreciation goes a long way fiona. How would you feel if you did something for someone and he/she doesn't appreciate it, would you be happy?*

Maybe she was right, but I was too proud to admit that fact. He might have kidnapped me but he helped me in a way I couldnt have helped myself.

"This will take a couple of days to heal" he said, standing up. I just couldn't understand him, one minute he was mean and the next, he was nice to me. Kidnappers were not normally nice to their victims so what was his deal?

He moved the wooden chair closer to the bed, I thought he was going to sit but he helped me sit on it instead. I was trying to wrap my head around what was going on but before I could do that, he went behind me and suddenly started tying my hands behind the chair.

"No, what are you doing" shocked, I struggled against the ropes but I was too late, he already tied my hands tightly behind me, the ropes hurting my skin. As if that wasn't enough, he rounded the ropes over my chest, successfully pinning my body to the chair. Then he did the same to my legs.

"Why are you doing this?" I didn't realize I was crying again.

"I can't let you run away again" he tightened the ropes on my legs, making my body feel numb.

"I won't run away again, I promise, please don't do this" I begged, feeling totally weak and helpless.

"You made me do this, if you had just listened to what I told you.. " he sighed, he looked to be having an internal battle with himself.

"I hope this teaches you a lesson" he said with an emotionless face before walking away from me.

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