Evangeline

Chapter 13

"I don't know why you're so shy now," Jonathan taunted. "You certainly didn't mind before."

I'm sure he felt confident that I was completely at his mercy, but his mockery helped me to regain my anger and I remembered that I was far from being the helpless princess he believed me to be. Aunt Keira made sure of that.

Glad that I wasn't wearing a skirt at the moment, I pulled my knee up into him as hard as I could, stopping him cold with a shocked and pained expression, and making him release my arms. Not satisfied that I'd incapacitated him enough or with my own revenge, I punched him in the nose before turning and elbowing him in the ribs. With the final blow of stomping on his foot, I turned to the other man who wasn't wearing that amused leer any longer. He looked surprised and angry that I had dared to fight back.

Even though I wasn't helpless, I wasn't stupid either, and I was no match for the large man coming at me. I'd managed to gain the advantage with Jonathan because he hadn't been expecting it, but I really wasn't a fighter. And so I quickly ran to the other side of the room before I began throwing anything and everything I could grab, at the man to keep him away from me.

I got a few decent hits in but mostly, I only succeeded in irritating him. He threw his arm up to block the bowl I'd just thrown and advanced the rest of the way, grabbing my arms the way Jonathan had. I tried to knee him the same way, but he anticipated the hit and blocked me easily. I fought to free my arms, but he held tight. I began kicking him and stomping on his foot, but my efforts did little to deter him.

When he lifted my feet from the floor, I screamed and thrashed, but he didn't let go any sooner than he intended. In the next second, he threw me onto the bed.

Quickly righting myself, I watched him, panting hard from the exertion and began to feel hopeless. I hadn't been able to do a thing to stop him and Jonathan was recovering. There was no way I could fight off the two of them. And now, they were really angry.

Desperately, I looked around for anything to throw at them when my eyes landed on a sword that was leaning against the wall next to me. Not thinking about what I was doing, I grabbed the sword and jabbed it at the man who had just reached the edge of the bed.

He made a choking sound and, shocked and sickened, I realized that I'd stabbed him in the stomach. Horrified as I was, I pulled the sword back, ready to use it on Jonathan if he came near me.

Before anyone got the chance to do anything more, the door burst open and four large guards from the castle flooded the room. They wasted no time pouncing on Jonathan and his friend, who was clutching his bleeding stomach. Utterly relieved, I dropped the sword and nearly collapsed onto the bed.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" the guard I recognized, asked, quickly coming to help me up.

Feeling like I might throw up, I nodded and took his offered hand to stand.

"How did you know?" Grateful as I was that they were here, I didn't understand it.

"Your father makes it a priority to ensure your safety at all times," he answered. "Someone is usually not very far from you. I apologize for taking so long to reach you. It was difficult to track you quickly enough through the kingdom."

"You mean...I'm being watched all the time?" Obviously, I'd always been aware of the hoards of guards stationed around the castle, but I hadn't realized any were actually following me.

"Yes, My Lady."

Under the circumstances, I was glad for it, but otherwise it was semi-horrifying. If they knew I left, they probably knew about everything else I'd been positive that no one knew about.

Did that mean Papa knew too? Did he know I was having secret meetings with Jonathan this past week?

"You're going to tell my father, aren't you?" I asked, though I really didn't need to.

"Yes, My Lady," he answered. "But only the details of what has happened here. He is already aware that you are missing."

"He is?" I swallowed thickly, thinking about what was going to be waiting for me at the castle.

The guard inclined his head.

I sighed, anticipating a long night. "Let's go." As nervous as I was to actually see my parents, I wanted to leave this place.

"Yes, My Lady."

The guards were waiting for me to move to leave, but there was something I wanted to do first. Glaring at Jonathan, who I was glad to note, no longer looked remotely cocky, I walked the few steps between us and cracked my hand across his face. Satisfied that he would receive worse when we reached the castle, I turned to leave the small room, glad to be going home.