by T. S. Ryder
Popping back up only when her lungs began to scream, she wiped the water from her eyes and looked at Lindsey, who was sitting on a chair by the sink. She didn’t seem to be interested at all in the witch in the tub. In fact, she seemed far more intrigued by her own fingernails.
“How long have you been here?” Alice asked, scrubbing some soap into her hair as she spoke. Lindsey looked up from her nails with a confused look on her face, as if she hadn’t been expecting the woman to acknowledge her presence.
“Me?” she asked. When Alice nodded, she blushed and ran her fingers through her short hair. “About a year now. Madam found me when I was working in the fields of my parents’ farm. She took me back here and when Mat – I mean, King Lindgern rejected me, I just became another one of his concubines.”
“Does he, you know, sleep with you?” Alice asked, raising her eyebrow at the girl, who flushed and shook her head.
“I’ve slept with him a couple of times, but not more than that. He usually only sleeps with his favorite, Veronica. She sort of runs this place because she shares his bed. I don’t like her,” Lindsey admitted, looking up at Alice with a grimace. “Just keep out of her way and she’ll leave you alone. If you don’t, you’ll wind up working the bad jobs or worse.” She sighed, reaching up to run her fingers through her short hair again.
“Your hair, did she cut it?” Alice asked, rinsing the soap from her hair before glancing up at Lindsey, who nodded slowly.
“Yes, she cut it when I didn’t do something she told me to do.” Lindsey sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Matheus might be the king, but she’s the head bitch in the harem. Matheus is too busy to notice what’s going on.” Frowning, Alice let the last of the soap run out of her hair as she sat up in the water.
“Well, I can promise you at least one thing, I’m not going to let anyone boss me around. Not Matheus, not this girl who thinks that she’s some big thing. She’s going to learn quickly that I’ve been alive long enough to learn a few things about her type,” Alice muttered, earning a shy little smile from Lindsey.
“If you could do something about her, anything at all, I would be so happy,” Lindsey laughed, an excited look on her face. “She’s been bullying the rest of us for too long.”
“Well, as long as I’m here, that isn’t going to happen,” Alice decided, chuckling when Lindsey’s face lit up with a beaming smile.
Lindsey reminded her of the girls back in her own town. She was sweet and country bred. She could swallow her pride and keep her chin up even in the worst situations. When Alice escaped, she would have to take the girl with her.
Sliding out of the water, Alice accepted the towel that Lindsey offered her and dried off her dripping skin. She had no desire to meet with the king, but it would be better to get it over with so that she could get back to planning her escape.
“Here, you can wear this until we can get you fitted for more clothes,” Lindsey said, handing Alice a lavender dress that hung a little loose around her shoulders but still managed to hug her hips a bit too snugly. It would have to do.
Trailing her fingers over the front of the dress to smooth out any wrinkles, Alice regarded herself in the mirror as Lindsey helped her brush out the tangled mess that her hair had become. It took a while to tame her unruly mane, but eventually they managed to get it to look presentable.
“I’m impressed. I can’t get it to behave most of the time.” Alice ran her fingers through her hair, marveling at the softness that Lindsey had managed to coax out. “Thanks. Now I’ll look good when I chew out the king.” She smiled, earning a soft sigh from Lindsey.
“He’s really not a bad man,” Lindsey said, helping Alice stand and smiling softly. “I think you might actually like him if you get to know him.” She shrugged, chuckling when Alice pulled a face.
“You know, I tend not to fall head over heels in love with people who kidnap me,” Alice pointed out firmly, hugging Lindsey gratefully before sliding out into the main room where the other members of Matheus’ harem were.
Moving up to Matheus’ door, she took a deep breath. She would not allow the man to seduce her. She would not allow him to flirt. She would make it very clear that she did not belong to him, and he was going to have to deal with it.
Closing her eyes, she knocked on the heavy wooden door, putting a stern look on her face as she waited for it to open. She was about to find herself face to face again with the same forest green eyes that had made her heart flutter before. Matheus’ smile might look innocent, but she knew that he was far from the sweet, gentle man he’d like her to believe he was.
When a call sounded for her, granting her access into the room, Alice sighed. Pressing inside, she braced herself for whatever it was that the king had planned for her.
Chapter Five
The king’s room was beautiful and far more conservative than the gaudy main hall. Draped in rich, warm crimson and gold, the bed at the center of the room drew her eye. The dark oak panels were carved with handsome designs of deer, bears, and wolves.
The rest of the room was warm and plain. It was simply furnished with bookshelves, a table and a large wooden desk that was carved to match the bed. Only the soft gold trimming on the curtains and rugs held any sort of glamour.
Matheus himself was seated at a small table in the corner. On the table was a vase filled with tiny yellow and pink roses not much larger than Alice’s thumbnail. Bread, wine, fresh fruit, and cheeses were resting on silver platters, spread out in an appetizing fashion.
“Come on in, Alice. Make yourself comfortable,” Matheus smiled, gesturing to the table she assumed he had set up for her. “You know, you didn’t tell me your last name if you’d prefer for me to refer to you that way.” He gestured for her to sit down on a couch and crossed the room to a bar in the corner. “Anything to drink?”
“No, thank you.” Alice shook her head, her hands resting on her knees as she sat down. “And I don’t have a last name. Last names give power to other witches and wizards. I haven’t used my last name since I was a child. There’s nobody alive who knows my last name, and I’d like to keep it that way.” She hummed, trailing her fingers through her hair.
“Very cryptic,” Matheus chuckled, pouring himself a glass of what appeared to be blood before sitting down at the table across from her. Noting her tense position, he smiled. “Relax, I won’t try anything, I promise. I just want to get to know you.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Alice said, her eyes focused on his face. The man didn’t seem bothered by her aggression at all, and instead seemed to be genuinely enjoying her company. “I’ve met men like you. Men of your status tend to do whatever they can to get what they want,” she pointed out firmly.
“I admire your resolve, but I promise that I mean you no harm,” Matheus insisted, holding up his hands in a submissive manner before smiling back at her again, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
She wasn’t sure what was going on, but as she watched him take a sip from his drink and wink playfully at her, she realized that she might be in trouble. The man was actually flirtatious and charming and seemed to be intelligent too. She would have to keep her guard up if she was going to keep herself out of his grasp. She knew how vampires worked and she didn’t trust him farther than she could throw him.
He might play a good guy, but deep down, he was a man whose only desires were power and status. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into his carefully laid trap. Trusting people had never been her strong suit and she wasn’t planning to trust the man whose mother had ripped her away from her home.
“I know that you don’t trust me, but I’d like you to know that I am not my father,” Matheus began, when he realized she wasn’t going to willingly take part in a conversation with him. “My father was not so much a king as he was a warlord whose goal was to conquer and destroy. It has ruined our civilization and left us on the brink of destruction. Our species were mistrusted before, and now,
after so many years of war, we are seen only as monsters.”
Alice nodded, agreeing with the man. The creatures of the dark had been fighting with the beings of the light for centuries under the leadership of men like Matheus’ father. She had never tangled with Matheus’ father herself, but she had heard of him. Alexander Lindgern had been one of the last of the vampire kings attempting to take over the races around them. A stubborn and ruthless man, there had only been one way to stop his rampage.
His assassination had marked the beginning of the end of the war. With one of the most powerful heads of the Vampire Empire gone, the others began to crumble at the feet of the opposing kingdoms. The end of the war had been bloody on both sides, but the light had won. She was proud to have served in it.
“I never met your father. I would be a poor judge of whether or not you are like him,” Alice noted, taking a sip from a glass of wine before relaxing a little.
“I understand. I suppose that means that I have a clean slate?” Matheus asked, chuckling when she raised a well-groomed eyebrow at him. “I’m not a monster. I think that you’d actually like me if you got to know me,” he insisted, his gaze wandering over her body slowly.
“You just want to add me to your list of conquered women,” she said, not willing to let the other woo her. “I’m not a prize to be won.” She glared at him, lifting a piece of bread up to her lips and chewing pointedly.
“I never said that you were. None of the women in my harem fascinate me as much as you do. You’re different. You’re callous, independent, and powerful,” Matheus explained, his hand reaching out to touch her slender fingers. Lifting them up to his lips, he pressed a fleeting kiss to her knuckles. “I want a woman like you as my queen. Someone who will rule and not just passively allow herself to become a figurehead.” Alice’s lips pursed at this and she looked up at the man through her lashes.
“You expect me to agree to marry you after you kidnapped me?” she asked, her nails tapping against the table slowly.
“No, I expect you to agree to marry me once I’ve won your heart,” Matheus hummed, reaching out and trailing his fingers over her cheek.
She didn’t know why, but she didn’t pull away from his touch. Whether it was to preserve her pride and show she had no fear of the man, or because she was legitimately curious about the man’s intentions, she remained still and allowed him to trail his fingers over her cheeks and lips. What she did not expect was the fleeting kiss that he pressed to her lips. His pale lips were cold, but soft and pliant against her own.
She pulled away before he could deepen the kiss, but made no move to scold him for the gesture. It was a sweet, innocent kiss and responding would just give him what he wanted. Instead, she merely continued to pick at her food, allowing herself to be dragged into his stories about life growing up in the vampire coven.
Despite her best attempts to keep her heart hard, Alice could feel a few cracks forming as she listened to the king speak. Deep down, she could feel an unfamiliar warmth flood through her each time his hand moved closer to hers. She wasn’t sure how to explain the deep longing she felt when his eyes locked with hers, but she did know that whatever was causing it was something far stronger than any magic she had ever known.
Maybe he wasn’t a monster after all.
Chapter Six
Moving into the dorm room where the rest of the girls were kept later that night, Alice looked relieved when Lindsey rushed up to greet her.
“Your bed is over here! Did you like him? He’s sweet, right?” Lindsey beamed, taking the other woman’s hand and leading her over to a bed in the corner, by a small window that looked out over the manicured yards. “Are you going to marry him?” she asked softly, glancing over at a group of women in the corner.
“It’s a little early for me to make a decision about something like that,” Alice smiled softly, sitting down on the bed with a sigh and freeing her hair from the tail that Lindsey had trapped it in. “He was not the monster I expected him to be, though, so I have no reason to hate him except for my kidnapping.”
Pouting, Lindsey sighed and nodded, looking disappointed that Alice hadn’t agreed to marry the king on the spot. Sitting next to Alice, she leaned against her side lightly, much to the surprise of the witch. She didn’t push the blonde away, though, instead gently wrapping her arm around Lindsey’s too thin shoulders.
“You must be the new girl,” a silky voice said and a slender form slid into Alice’s peripheral vision. Glancing up with a sigh, Alice regarded the new speaker with a frown.
A vampire with alabaster skin, dark curls of black hair that cascaded down her face and curves that most women would kill for stood in front of her. Based on the small pack of humans, Fae, and vampires standing behind her, it was easy enough for Alice to determine that this was the woman giving poor Lindsey grief. She would have to make sure it was understood that the childish antics were done with as long as she was living in the coven.
“Alice, and you are?” Alice asked, moving to her feet and calmly regarding the woman in front of her. She made no move to shake hands, waiting to see if the woman wanted to be friendly or not. She was not going to play their little game.
“Veronica,” the woman said, eyeing Alice slowly and pursing her lips. “I didn’t think that the prince would be interested in a portly little thing like you.” She smirked, earning a chuckle from Alice.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know the prince well enough to know his type. Certainly, though, if he were into women without a little meat on their bones, it seems he would have already selected a mate.” Alice smiled back at the woman, retaining her nonchalant stance.
She had dealt with women like Veronica for years and she had learned that the best way to get under their skin was to stand firm and not give them any power. Veronica was clearly a young vampire and had none of the experience that the women at the witching academy had had. There was very little she could say or do that would get a rise out of Alice.
“And you think that he’s going to choose you?” Veronica demanded, her lips twitching in obvious irritation. Alice shrugged, sitting down on the bed once more and glancing out of the window.
“Whether or not he chooses me, it’s my decision. He’s already made it pretty clear that he’s interested in pursuing me,” Alice pointed out, glaring back when the woman in front of her glared and seemed to bristle with anger.
“Why would he ever want to marry someone like you? You’re a peasant; you’re useless,” Veronica spat, trembling as she glared at Alice, her companions tittering nervously behind her.
“Useless? Well, I don’t believe I’m useless.” Alice smiled, her hands on her knees. “Then again, you do not know who I am, so it makes sense you would make assumptions in order to make you feel better about yourself.” She sighed, looking up at the woman with a knowing grin.
Veronica’s eyes flashed crimson as she moved closer to Alice. Since her verbal taunts appeared to be having little to no effect, she was growing more and more aggravated. That was exactly what Alice wanted. The best way to conquer any society was to go for the head, and she was going to take Veronica down now before she ever had the chance to try to gain power over her.
“You aren’t welcome here,” Veronica glared, grabbing Alice and pulling her off the bed. Her fangs flashed dangerously, her mouth opening to bite down on Alice’s shoulder dominantly.
“Consto.” Alice couldn’t do much magic with the repressor around her neck, but she had enough power to do basic spells and put the brat in her place.
Instantly, Veronica froze, her body going rigid as Alice moved to her feet and pressed her finger to the terrified vampire’s forehead. Smiling as Veronica let out a muffled, terrified noise, Alice leaned in close to the woman.
“Now you listen to me,” Alice began, her silver eyes locked onto Veronica’s. “Your reign of terror is over. From here on out, I don’t want to hear about you speaking unkindly to any of the other women here. If you
do decide to cross me and speak ill of any of the women here, I will make sure that you remember who is in charge.” She growled before pulling her finger away from the other’s forehead. “Eximo.” She pulled away as the woman slumped back with a gasp, the spell dissipating at her command.
“Y-you’re a witch!” the woman squeaked, letting her followers pull her back. Alice nodded, crossing her arms over her chest with a smile.
“That I am,” she agreed, moving over to the bed again and sitting down. “Now, I’ve had a long day. I would appreciate being left alone so that I can rest.” She smiled up at the terrified looking women.
“Of-of course!” Veronica gasped, rushing away from the bed and leaving Alice and Lindsey sitting alone in the corner.
“That was amazing!” Lindsey gasped, holding onto Alice’s arms. “How did you do that? I’ve heard about witches, but I didn’t realize how powerful they were!” Alice chuckled at the girl’s excitement, leaning back against the bed with a sigh.
“That was nothing. A quick spell like that is easy to use and maintain even with my powers as low as they are,” she explained with a chuckle. “One of these days, maybe I’ll teach you a thing or two. Magic is inside everyone; it’s just a matter of learning how to harness it.” Lindsey seemed thrilled at the idea and beamed as she hugged Alice tightly.
“I’d love that!” Lindsey said, pulling away from Alice before moving into the bed just across from her. “You should get some sleep. I’m sure the prince has something fun planned tomorrow to win you over.” She grinned, pulling off her dress before slipping into some silky pajamas.
Alice nodded, sighing at the idea of the prince going out of his way to woo her. She would give him one thing: he was persistent. Despite her misgivings after being kidnapped, she decided that she would give the man a chance. It wasn’t his fault that his mother was trying to find him a mate. She hadn’t been out on a date in years and it might actually be a nice change of pace to have someone attempting to win her over.