The Cursed Kingdom

NINE

~ HIS QUEEN ~

My eyes fluttered open to the sight of a plain white ceiling.

After a moment of confusion, I realized I was still in the bathroom but had moved in my sleep into a sprawled out position on my back. My legs, specifically my knees, felt stiff and it took a lot of persuasion to get them to finally bend. The joint in my elbow groaned when I unfolded my arm from behind my head, my fingers tingling painfully with sleep, and rubbed my face tiredly with the back of my knuckles.

With my mind growing crisper, I groaned when it registered the culprit for waking me up in the first place.

My mark and the area around it seared and pulsed with a pain unlike anything I had experienced before. My whole body felt like it was on fire.

Like a fool, I automatically reached a shaky hand up to caress the wound. But as soon as my fingers touched the lumpy skin, more pain erupted and I had to bite my lip to keep from shouting out. My pulse quickened and a sheen of sweat broke out over my body as I rose to a sitting position, the pain so bad that it was nauseating.

I stood onto quivering feet and walked to the mirror to inspect my mark, having to discard my robe to get a better look at it. I leaned against the counter when my head began spinning. An angry bite wound, red and swollen, glared back at me. It was hot to the touch and the scabs where there were teeth punctures looked like they were oozing.

I shuddered as I assessed it, realizing just how stupid of myself it had been to not at least treat the bite wound properly with any disinfectants.

The sudden knocking at my bedroom door was equivalent to the sound of nails on a chalkboard to my ears. Panicking when I heard Jerium's muffled voice ask if I was decent, I cursed under my breath and palmed my forehead. I thought about lying and saying no, saying I had eaten something horrible and couldn't be seen again for a very, very long time.

But I didn't.

My shoes thumping against the hardwood floors, I rushed to the door to open it, pulling the door towards me so fast that it caused a gust of wind to blow into my face. "Yes?" I asked as sweetly as I could muster, my voice sounding embarrassingly raspy.

Jerium looked surprised I had answered. His wide gaze bounced between my rumpled clothes I knew he remembered I'd worn the day before, to my inflamed mark, and then up to my hair. I knew from looking in the mirror that the two braids I had worked on so hard yesterday morning were now mere ugly knots against my scalp and the rest of my hair that I had kept loose was no better.

"May I come in?" he questioned slowly after the initial shock of my appearance.

No.

"Of course," I replied with a forced smile and stepped aside so he could walk through. "Could you give me just a moment?" I requested once I shut the door, and Jerium had found a comfortable spot on the small sofa located at the foot of my bed.

Jerium's response was a nod with a tight lipped smile and concerned eyes.

I ran back into the bathroom and quickly scrubbed my teeth and tongue with my toothbrush until I felt confident that my breath smelled of fresh mint. My hair, on the other hand, was a lost cause.

The red mark above my collarbone stood out greatly against my pale skin, making it impossible for me to not stare at it when I took my final glance in the mirror. It looked absolutely monstrous and I realized how much U hated Henrik for it, calling him every insult I could think of under my breath.