Her Seduction | ✔

Chapter 19

"Let me go out, Mother, please." I begged, following after my mother with the saddest, most pleading expression on my face. When my mother tried to reach for a red apple on a tree, I rushed into grabbing it for her, balancing myself on my toes as I reached for it.

"It's too dangerous out at night, Jewelrina." she muttered. "Reckless boys could be walking around— even from nearby villages, and I don't want my little daughter to be handled badly." she tried to reason, not looking at me as she picked the reddest apples she could find on the tree.

"Mother!" I whined. "Every other girl is roaming around freely. I mean, look at them!" I gestured with my hands at the children and those of my age, playing and laughing. In fact, as I pleaded with my mother, the only things I heard were the laughter and joy they were experiencing. I dislike this village sometimes.

My eyebrows knitted together as I blew out a suffocating breath. "I feel like you're trying to keep me away from the world. Let me be free, please." I was desperate, I wanted to experience the freedom these juniors get. "You can't continue keeping me away and letting Tyler out as he pleases. I'm sixteen and he's twenty winters, for heaven's sake! And I'll be of age soon, please."

She was silent for a while, as though thinking her words through. It wasn't fair. I wasn't the only girl in the village. I wanted to experience what it was like to be out there, I wanted to meet a fierce man and feel what it was like to fall in love. I wanted to experience the gut-wrenching feeling of having my heart broken by my adored. I wanted to experience all these things.

"The world isn't all roses, Jewelrina." she whispered lowly as her eyes glanced at the red rose tucked in my hair. "I don't want my little rose getting lost in the darkness of the world." she turned around, her eyes leaving me and looking somewhere else. I tried to follow her gaze, but I didn't know where she was looking or at what.

"It's not as beautiful as you think it is, believe me."

Blink.

Tyler has been gone for too long. My head twirled around every now and then, my pulse quickening as more time passed. He's been gone for too long. He said it would only take him a short while to get the special herbs father asked him to get, and since then he had left me standing by myself in a corner, near a fruit stand in these busy markets. I was worried— frightened— for this was the first time I had ever left the house. I wanted to go back, I was scared, I was nervous, I was lonely.

"Woah, look at this!" I jumped out of my skin at the unrecognisable voice that startled me and turned my head quickly. There was a boy standing close to me with his two friends walking behind him. I was scared. I've never came in contact with a boy before, I've never stood this close to any boy other than my brother or father.