Page 12 of Somber Prince

“What do you think they’ll do to us?” I asked instead.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Melanie scoffed. “They’re going to rape us all and make us their sex slaves.”

Elaine sucked in a breath in horror, her eyes growing wide. A woman behind us giggled, obviously overhearing us. Melanie hadn’t tried to be quiet, speaking as loud as what was left of her voice would allow her.

I glanced at the woman behind us. Her copper-red hair was pulled up into a messy bun. Freckles generously sprinkled her nose and cheekbones. She looked about Melanie’s age, a few years older than me.

“What are you looking at?” She met my eyes straight on, hiking her chin up in defiance. “They won’t need to ‘rape’ me. I’ll fuck them myself.”

Elaine gasped again, and Melanie huffed, rolling her eyes.

The woman slid her gaze down the back of the guard walking in front of us.

“A nice ass like that? Why not?” She shrugged.

The three of us followed her in eyeing the guard’s backside. It was a nice one, I had to agree. The fabric of the guard’s skirt streamed down his hips, highlighting the curves of his muscles in a rather appealing way as he walked.

All our captors looked conventionally attractive. Tall and lean, they stepped softly, moving gracefully like shadows along the street. But they were still our captors. And at least one of them was a murderer who slit my dad’s throat.

“You.” A guard grabbed my arm suddenly. “You come with me.”

My heart leaped to my throat. “Just me? Why?”

“Me too!” Elaine lunged after me. “Take me with her. We’re together.”

“No.” The guard stopped her by extending his arm between us. “Prince Rha ordered to put her in a separate room. Alone.”

Assaulting royalty had its consequences. The question was, how dire?

I fisted my hands in my pajama pants, frozen in place.

Elaine clung to the guard’s arm, pleading. “We can’t be separated. We have to stay together.”

She couldn’t move his arm even by a hairbreadth. The man was as strong as a steel fixture, and just as unfeeling.

“Do you wish to join her in her punishment?” he asked.

“No!” I blurted, finding my voice at last. “She had nothing to do with it. Leave her alone. I’ll go.”

I couldn’t let them hurt Elaine for what I had done. Another guard dragged her away.

“Dawn!” she screamed before the guard shoved her into the crowd that quickly absorbed her and moved away.

“Come.” My guard tugged my arm, leading me through an arched door in the wall to our right.

“When will I get to see my friend again?” I asked, hating how small my voice sounded.

“Will I ever see her again?” was what I wanted to ask but was too scared to hear the answer.

“If you wanted to stay with your friends, you should’ve thought about it before raising your hand to His Highness Prince Rha.”

The prince deserved it and more. A slap wasn’t nearly enough for everything his people had done to us. But I kept my mouth shut, fearing the consequences.

The guard took me down a narrow corridor with mosaic floors and yellow clay walls.

“You’ll stay here.” He stopped in front of the door with a long, narrow opening on the bottom.

“What’s this? A jail cell?”

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