Page 111 of Fortress of the King

RAYNE

When I wake,the first thing I do is blink my eyes rapidly, and a searing pain shoots through the back of my skull almost immediately.

The Gala.

Music.

His touch.

My betrayal.

Angelo.

My hand flies to my throat as panic washes through me.

Where am I?

I scramble to sit up, and all the blood rushes to my head. I groan, lowering back down as I rub my temples.

Holy shit.I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus.

I glance around the darkened room, and the first thing I notice is the cool of the silk sheets beneath me as I try to grasp what happened and where the hell I am.

The last thing I remember is being herded out of the Gala and Angelo wrapping his arms around me, the back of the limo…That’s how I ended up here…wherever I am.

I look down at myself and see that I still have last night’s clothes on, my shoes have been removed, and there’s a throw blanket over my body.

There’s a stillness in the air that doesn’t feel real, like the calm before the storm. And my instincts are exactly right.

Movement from the far corner of the room has my eyes darting in that direction as I sit up on my elbows.

It’s him.

I swallow hard as I see his silhouette. He’s sitting in an armchair by the window, the gleam of the moon shines through the glass accentuating his body, but it doesn’t quite touch his face, keeping him in the shadows. His hand clutches a crystal tumbler, and if it weren’t for the slight movement of his fingers tapping against the glass, I wouldn’t have known he was there at all.

His voice breaks through the eerie silence. “Sleep well, princess?”

My throat feels like I’ve swallowed razor blades as I scramble to pull myself together, my brain foggy.

“Angelo…”

He raises his hand, and I stop in my tracks.

One thing I do know is, that there’s no way out of this. I’m trapped. He won, and I lost.

I wait for the sob to rise in my throat, thinking about my sister and the fact that I may never see her again, but it never comes. I’m in too much shock for any of this to register properly, or maybe I’ve just been so good at masking my feelings since she got kidnapped that this is who I am now.

It confounds me as much as the alarm bells ringing in my head.

Acceptance replaces sorrow. It feels different from how I thought it would feel. I know this is my fate, there is no point denying it. If I have to fight, I will, even when I know it’s futile, and I can’t win, that doesn’t matter. I will never give up.Never.

My sister is all I have. She’s the only family I have left after the accident that claimed our parents; she’s everything to me, my best friend. And even though my fate is bleak, I won’t stop,I’ll never stop.

So he can do whatever he wants to me; I’ll face it head-on. I’ve come this far, and I’ve no intention of giving up. I doubt I can escape, but I’d try, not that I’ve got anywhere to go or even have my phone to make contact, but I’ll die trying.

This is my new reality, and I have to adapt. Ihaveto try and find a way out. If I don’t, I’m dead anyway.

“I want you to know something first,” I manage when he doesn’t rush to fill the void with words. It unsettles me more than I care to admit.

---