The Infernal King | 1 ✓

CHAPTER XXIII | NIGHTGOWN HEMS

       SHE HAD FORGOTTEN how to breathe altogether. As Maarit backed deeper and deeper into the headboard, pressing her entire body against the cold wood, she felt her heartbeat everywhere it should not have been—her throat, her arms, her head. A vein in her forehead pulsed, blood rapidly rushing through it.

       The door swung open, creaking on its hinges. Maarit clenched her fists, hoping with inherent desperation that she was being too paranoid and that the person on the other side of the door would just be Picard or a maid.

       It was neither.

       She squinted and made out the figure of a man, framed by the moonlight. Behind him, a second followed closely. They sent her heart into a frenzy and she pressed her back harder against the headboard. She would have hidden, but ice had travelled from her head to her toes—she was nearly paralyzed with shock and trepidation.

       Only when the light of the moon had properly settled onto the faces of the dark figures was the young, trembling witch able to decipher their identities.

       "Think 'is Majesty'd be angry?" the second whispered to the first.

       "Why would he?" the first snapped in a voice that was just a bit louder than the other. "He doesn't care about her in the slightest. She's only his prisoner. She's nothing to him." There was a pause. "Honestly, what do you think he does to her? Probably the same thing."

       Hearing their voices only confirmed what Maarit already knew to be true: these men were the two guards, Sergius and Obed.

       Lifting her hand to her lips, Maarit nearly let out a whimper of fear. Why did valiance have to evade her, just when she needed it most? She bit down on her hand, trying not to make a sound. Her mind was instantly calculating just how she would be able to escape, but there was no way.

       She could not leave her room because of the spell Alexander had placed upon the door earlier.

       She could not use magic to fend them off because of that godawful bracelet on her wrist that would be the cause of her ruination.

       She could not use physical force, and even if she tried, the two guardsmen would have no trouble overpowering her.

       Maarit was powerless.

       "Where are you, girl?" the first guard crooned, his saccharine voice seeping into the air hollowly. "We're gonna have some fun, aren't we? It's been a while since I've had any fun around here."

       It was the same voice that had cooed in her ear on the walk up the mountain days before. It was the same voice that had caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end; the same voice that had made her stomach turn over in disgust.

       He had returned for her.

       And she knew exactly what he wanted.

       Approaching the bed, his hands glided over the rumpled bedsheets and groped the air in front of her. Jagged breaths escaping her lips, she tucked her knees under her chin, hoping desperately to shrink into oblivion. It was impossible, and she had never, never experienced such an acute sense of helpless—not even when she had been trapped in the dungeons, awaiting death.

       This would be death in quite a different sense of the word.

       "Where are you, you little slut?" snapped the guard, this time sounding more abrupt and impatient. "You can't hide from me. You can try, but you can never stay hidden. I'll find you."

       Perhaps he heard her breathing, or could feel her erratic heartbeat thrumming through the air; but whatever the case, he was closer than ever. At last, she felt his fingers skim her leg.

       Knowing that this was the end, she mustered all that remained of her dwindling courage and screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs, allowing her voice to escape along with her exhale. Hoping to alert someone—anyone. Maarit Pheraios hated needing to be saved, but at that very moment, it was what she needed more than anything else. Her bloodcurdling scream shredded through the castle's tranquility, but it was just enough to permit the despicable man to locate her.

       He paused and she could have sworn that her eyes met his dark, soulless orbs before it happened.

       He was on the bed in an instant, dragging her frail body towards him. He pinned her down as she thrashed about while still using her voice as her means of being saved. "Shut up, whore," he said, and his grubby palm suddenly pressed against her mouth, holding her jaw tightly enough to make a mark.

       If she survived the night, she would have bruises blossoming.

       "You're mine tonight."

       That phrase—that disgusting, derogatory phrase—made her question everything she knew about humanity, for this man had none.

       She had not known that evil had a face.

       In one of his large hands, he had both of her wrists grasped tightly above her head. She was panting, struggling to break free. Nose and mouth covered, she could not breathe, let alone scream. Somewhere within herself, she found enough power to bite down as hard as possible on the hand that covered her mouth—it tasted like metal and sweat, and she almost gagged.

       It did not stop the steely, bulky man, for he simply seized her face violently and spat out, "You do that again and I'll break each of those pretty little teeth off."

       He seized her left arm and held it against her mouth, using her own body against her to muffle her screams.

       The more she attempted to fend off his groping hands, the rougher and more aggressive he became. His body was much too heavy on top of hers, which prevented her from moving her legs at all.

       By the time he reached for the hem of her nightgown, Maarit knew she was already gone.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Oh my God, I am so sorry. Holy shit, that is one of the most intense scenes I have ever written, but there's more in the next chapter. I just wanted to leave you all on a cliffhanger. I'm very sorry if that was hard for you to read, but it's very important for the story. If it's too much for you, just don't read the rest in the next chapter.

I'll try to write it as fast as possible, I promise.

Oh, and please let me know your thoughts about this chapter.