When vengeance strikes in the form of a bullet out for the princess's blood, Princess Aleia VonAuclair must flee the heart of her country in order to protect the people she loves and take back the pieces of her soul she'd lost to the girl she once l...
Oops! Bu görüntü içerik kurallarımıza uymuyor. Yayımlamaya devam etmek için görüntüyü kaldırmayı ya da başka bir görüntü yüklemeyi deneyin.
"Aleia? Aleia, I know you're in there."
Three muffled knocks bounced off the walls but I barely heard them.
I kept scrubbing my hands raw, the cool water a relief against the burning sensation tearing my skin apart. My hands were red and the nerves underneath my skin burned hot. I felt a faint throbbing, but none of that mattered when all I could see was the blood staining the pale skin. It was all I could do not to fall apart right then and there.
"Aleia, open the door."
The voice sounded far away, distant - like it existed in the frequencies of another world. My nails kept scrubbing. Another broken sob tore free.
"Aleia! Open the door for me. Please. I- I didn't mean to scare you like that."
The blood wouldn't come off. It stained my skin no matter how hard I scrubbed. I cried out in frustration and slammed my hands onto the countertops, the pain a welcome embrace from the despair squeezing my chest.
My heart thundered painfully, but I didn't even feel it - didn't even hear it -when all I could feel was the hot brand of the blood searing into my flesh.
"Aleia, baby, open the door. I'm giving you two minutes. I'm going to break it down if you don't open it by then."
My lungs heaved in pain, and I forcefully pushed my hands back under the water. A faint ringing began buzzing in my ear. It was all I could hear.
Even when a muffled thud echoed through the small confines of the bathroom, nothing else mattered but the red imprints suffusing themself into my soul for all of eternity. Everyone would see it. And then everyone would know, just how evil of a monster lurked beneath the surface.
I didn't think it would ever come off. I let out another sob - this time, more desperate, more distressed.
"Aleia..."
I scrubbed again, my nails buffing away underneath the constant friction in my frenzied state. I vaguely noticed the silhouette standing behind me in the mirror. I vaguely noticed anything at all - not the pair of concerned green eyes, or the sudden cut off of music. I could only see the blood on my hands - setting what I did to Isa set into stone.
Another, much stronger, wave of frustration crashed into me and in a fit of rage, I lifted my hands and went to slam it into the countertops again, but a pair of larger, much gentler ones wrapped around my wrists to stop me.
I thrashed in his hold, but he only tightened his grip and pulled me flush into his chest.
"Aleia, look at me. Come on, just look at me."
I need to wash it off. It's not coming off. Why won't it come off?
"Aleia."
Isa's blood shouldn't be here. It shouldn't be here. She's not even here.
