Page 57 of Enchanted Kingdom
* * *
“Here, my dear,”Silvia said as she finished with my hair. As she had three times already, she opened up the little jar of healing ointment.
I turned my wrist outward for her. My wrist had bruised in only two circular spots. But the fact that they were bruises from the king’s fingerprints had me more than ready for these bruises to fade. I wanted no reminder of what his grip had felt like.
I could have put the stuff on myself, but Silvia demanded she do it. I think she was just worried.
“Thank you,” I smiled at her as she finished.
She gave me a half a smile. “I bet by tomorrow they are even lighter.”
I shrugged. Just because they were fading from view didn’t mean I wasn’t always going to carry those marks with me.
She leaned over and hugged me without prompting. “Please be careful.”
I hugged her back.
“I worked for the queen for years,” she whispered into my ear while still hugging me. “I was one of six or seven of us that did. That was the same place her bruises started as well.”
My stomach recoiled with that bit of information.
Silvia pulled back and wiped at her eyes. “Thankfully,youdon’t have to marry the king though.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “How either prince turned out decent is beyond me.”
Silvia smiled and looked at the ceiling. “They are half Katarina, you know. And they lived through enough of the king’s ...manipulations... to never want to become like him, I think.”
I thought on that a moment. While Keir didn’t seem at all like his father, I knew firsthand sometimes Prince Krewan could be cruel just like his father. Or at least in the way in which he treated the lower levels of the kingdom.
Silvia turned the music on while she got to work on my hair. Tonight, our color was red. And though this dress actually had straps, it also had a slit that showed more leg than I was used to. I almost wanted to wear gloves or one of the jackets or wraps in my closet to cover up my bruises but decided against it. If the king truly liked hurting others, he was only going to enjoy my trying to cover up those marks. And I would not allow him an ounce more of satisfaction than was required.
After a few hours with the women and some time with Silvia, I was prepared to head to evening dinner and face the king once again. Hopefully I could avoid him the entire night this time.
* * *
“Walk with me?”Prince Keiran asked, as was our ritual after the evening meal. He didn’t get to me until almost the end of the night. It was later than usual, but I wasn’t going to complain after the special privileges I had received the day before.
I took his arm and he headed us toward our spot outside on the balcony. I knew I wasn’t the only one he took out there, but I tried not to think too much on it.
“How was your day yesterday?” he asked.
I sighed. “Lovely. Absolutely lovely. Yours?”
“Monotonous and dull.”
The look on his face had me trying not to laugh. “I’m sorry.”
He smirked. “Do not be. While I was miserable, it brought me a little joy to know that you were at least somewhere you wished to be.”
I turned to see that he looked quite tired. “Are you all right?”
He gave me a nod. “Yes. I’ve been staying up late with Krew so I’m exhausted, and yesterday was hell, otherwise fine. Not to worry though, we only have to keep up these evening dinners for another week or two. Then the balls start up.”
My eyes went wide. “Balls?”
He gave a nod. “Yes. These evening dinners were supposed to help us...” he trailed off as if not knowing what to say.
“Weed us out?” I offered, disgust clear on my voice.
