The King's Rejected Lady

Tori Behind Prison Cells

ROWAN WAS uncomfortable with the obvious curiosity of the Duke. He was sitting in front of Rowan while the latter was sitting beside Tori. Silence engulfed the carriage, but Rowan knew that there was turmoil inside Tori's blank eyes.

"Since when did you become a loyal knight of the Rozenreff Duchy?" The Duke finally broke the silence. Rowan snapped his attention to the Duke while Tori was still looking outside the carriage windows.

"I am not a loyal knight in the Rozenreff Duchy. I am a loyal subject of Lady Victoria Rozenreff, Your Grace."

Cackling with the newly found respect of Rowan, the Duke's grin could not be wiped from his old face. His attention turned to Tori. "What did you do Lady Victoria to earn such a loyal knight?"

Looking at him, Tori answered sweetly with a wintry smile that could quench any magma. "I offered him a new life as I picked him up from the slums, Duke Castaña. Isn't he the rawest of gems? Sadly, my father could not see this talent."

Her eyes told the Duke that she knew about Rowan's actual identity before she picked him up. The Duke was about to answer her when Rowan's serious voice interrupted him.

"I will talk to you and will take you seriously if you grant me another request, Your Grace."

"What is it?"

"Call for a noble trial. That way, I will forget that you abandoned me as a child."

The sly smile from Tori did not go unnoticed by the Duke.

THE MEMORIES from the original Victoria flooded like a dam into Tori. The entire time since she came in this prison cell wherein only those who awaited the trials stayed. It was not as dark and smelly as the one that Mia and Allistair were staying in before. But like any other cell, it was devoid of any telltale sign of luxury or window to let the air flow freely. All in all, it was pretty clean for Tori. Though she knew that Sabina tried to ask to let her stay in an isolated space, Rowan's bargain changed the Duke of Castaña's mind.

Tori was still wearing her indoor dress even when Lily brought her a much more comfortable one. Along with it, the chair she was sitting on and the table where the tea set was placed with her favorite chamomile tea were the things that Lily brought by Rowan's command by the power of the bargain he made with the Duke.

The steel bars of the prison cell surrounded the calm Tori as she sipped her favorite tea. With her eyes closed, she only heard the door open which meant there was a visitor for her first day in the cell.

"Where's your loyal dog?" The mocking voice of a very familiar person made Tori smile. Setting her teacup down, she opened her red eyes just to serve herself more tea while not even acknowledging the presence of the newly arrived visitor.

"Have you become mute now, Victoria?" Her mocking voice made Tori finally turn her head.

"I can't understand your nonstop barking, dearest sister. After all, we will never be on the same level. This cell? This won't change anything at all." It was now Tori's turn to mock.

Sabina, who was busy gripping the cold steel bars. "Never forget, Sabina. You may become the Duchess, but the very fact that you're a common whore's daughter will never change. It's in your blood, dearest sister."

Her angry sapphire eyes blazed with fury for Tori, which was equally returned by the latter with a smiling face. "Never forget who's behind these bars, Victoria!"

Shrugging like it was nothing at all, Tori pouted like a child. "Trust me. I know. Thanks to this cell, you can't reach me with your barbaric claws though. Are you sure you're not the one who's supposed to be here?"