The Bell of Freedom (King and human romance)✔

Chapter Fifteen

I place my book to the side as the door knocks, I wasn't really paying attention to it anyway. The events of yesterday have been swirling around in my head all night and I hardly slept. Christian has already brought me my breakfast and it's hours until lunch so I brace myself for it to be Cain. I have no idea what to say to him, I don't even know if I can look at him. My palms are sweaty as I call for the person to enter.

I squint in confusion as Christian stands in the doorway, juggling the key in his hand with a large smile.

"What's going on?" I say.

"Come on," he says, tilting his head towards the hallway behind him. "Put a jacket and some shoes on. It's cold out."

I stand up excitedly. "Seriously?"

He nods. "He's cleared all the guards out. Sent them all to the east perimeter. I've been sent to escort you outside."

I grin widely and almost trip over my feet rushing to the wardrobe. I move through the jackets quickly, my fingers tingling around a soft, black fleece. I place it over my body and tie my hair up, grabbing some white sneakers that fit my feet perfectly.

"How do I look?" I say.

"Homeless," he laughs.

"I was going for that. Will the other girls be there? I'm nervous, I've not spent a lot of time around them."

"No," he whispers. "It's just for you."

"What is?"

"Come on."

I steal a last glance around the room and then I walk straight by him, there's a spring to my step that I've missed. As he takes me down through the palace, I notice a bruise on the side of his cheek, and other bruises imprinted to his wrists.

"You look well," he says. "I'm glad it was a twenty-four-hour virus."

"What happened to you?" I question. "Your face."

He sighs. "A guard fed on me this morning after I left your room. Slaves are not owned so it can happen at any time, by any of them. I've been used to that so far but he was rougher than the others. Usually we're invisible to them, he must have been too hungry. I fell unconscious after."

"He hit you?" I say, stopping in the hallway to get a better look. I reach my hand out but he flinches his face away.

"There's no law against hitting us if we resist feeding," he says. "They only need the King's permission to kill slaves so he can sort out a replacement. And that guard was very close to wanting to kill me."

"I'll talk to Cain," I say.

Christian laughs to himself and continues down the hallway. I narrow my eyes for a moment before I jog to catch up. "What?" I say.

"You seem confident that your opinion will make a difference."

"He listens to me," I say. "He cares about things that I care about. That's why he's bringing Jackson here."

Christian stops and turns to look at me. "You care about me?"

"Of course I do," I say, confused as to why he would even question that. "You made yourself get out of bed to make me breakfast when you were recovering from a virus, how could I not care about you?" I smile and playfully hit his shoulder.

"I care about you too, Aurora," he whispers, his words becoming a tad more serious as he stares into my eyes. "But I don't want you to be the cause of me receiving special treatment. The other slaves will resent me for that. How is that fair?"

"I guess it's not," I whisper.

"I can handle it," he says. "Don't worry about me."

It won't stop me from worrying, but I accept that it's his choice and I let it go. We walk down the grand staircase and I hear noise coming from a corner that is inhabited by Bella and three other girls. They sit on some soft couches drinking from cups, their voices drown out when they see me.