Bound By Chains (BxB) (Old Version)

Chapter Eighteen

I watched in silence as King Alton and Cayden walked off, no doubt going to converse about Cayden's revelation. I was worried about what Alton was going to say to him, but I knew that Cayden was tougher than he looked.

In the meantime, I was ordered to help clean the rooms that had been ransacked by the attack. I scrubbed and I placed things in their proper places, and an hour passed, then two, then three before I began to worry. There seemed to be no sign of Cayden, or even Alton, and I was wondering what was taking so long.

So there I sat in my room, staring absent-mindedly at the wall, the other side of the room picked clean. It seemed that when the attack happened, my roommate had been caught in the fray, and ended up perishing. I was saddened to a small degree, since Grif and I never actually talked to one another, but I was too worried about Cayden to feel saddened for someone I barely knew.
I jumped when I heard a knock on my door, my eyes darting in the direction of it as a small half-fae stumbled in, her dark eyes trained to the floor. "King Alton wishes to see you in his room." After she mumbled that, she scurried away, leaving me sitting there, my heart beating erratically in my chest.

Why did he want me? Did he think that I was the reason Cayden did not want to marry Maryanne? As absurd as the thought of that was? Or did he want me for another reason?

I took in a deep breath before pulling myself to my feet, grudgingly making my way to Alton's room. When I stood in front of the door, my heart was pounding in my chest. The palms of my hands were sweaty as I raised one up and tapped lightly on the wood, waiting for Alton to call me in. When he did, I walked in and saw him sitting by the large intricate fireplace, looking disgruntled with his head in the palm of his hand.

"Come here."

I took a deep breath and stepped to his side, expecting him to be seething with anger, only to be surprised by the calm expression that fell onto his face. "So, you saved my Cayden's life, yes?" Those dark blue eyes turned to me, the man they belonged to standing up. He walked over to me, eyes on my form as he gingerly brushed the ebony hair off of my shoulder. "That was very loyal of you."

"As a slave, it is my duty to put my life on the line in place of my betters," I spoke, quoting what I had been told when I was little. I kept my gaze to the floor, unmoving as Alton slid a bony finger to my cheek.

"Very good." His hand fell from my cheek and trailed down to my waist, fingers grazing the small of my back. "It's rare to find slaves that are loyal, nowadays. I'm glad that I'm in possession of one, and one so...delectable. You know, I'm quite stressed out with trying to get my castle back in order after that blasted attack. I could use some...relaxation."

Knowing what he meant, and knowing that I didn't want to anger him, I let him do what he wanted to me, before he sent me back to help out with some of the cleanup. After that, Cayden found his way towards me, looking like a disgruntled puppy with those saddened chocolate eyes. 

"Are you alright?" I wondered, frowning when the tall man walked over to me and pulled me into his arms. "Cayden-"

"I'm fine. Just a little pissed off at my father." He pulled away and blew out a breath of air, running his fingers through those dark locks of his. "Like, I wanted to yell at him for hurting you when you were just a child, but I figured you wouldn't be happy about that, so I just listened to him ramble on about why I needed to marry Maryanne. I did manage to get him to move the wedding to two months from now, but...I don't want to marry a woman I met only once."

He sighed and took a seat, tugging a hand down his face. He pursed his lips and looked up at me, chocolate eyes boring into my form. "Davian...it was so hard keeping quiet...about...you know. I just...I kept seeing you when you were a child, with light in your eyes. And then I kept seeing you with the light diminished. It was because of my father, wasn't it? Because he hurt you when you were so young."