back the debt? A loaf of bread is not worth a lot."
Her response sticks in my mind. I’m not a cruel prince and don’t want my people to starve, but I also can’t have rules broken. “Have you spoken to Warrick in the kitchen about dividing leftovers to staff to take home?”
She almost scoffs as if such a suggestion is ridiculous. “He’s already told us that’s not possible.”
“I will talk to him.”
“No!” her panicked voice comes fast. “Please no. I don’t want to lose my job. I’ll pay back for the bread on my next payment. We’ll just leave it at that.”
Closing the distance between us, I stretch out my hand and brush a lock of hair out of her face. She doesn't move, but gives me an intense stare as if trying to read my mind. It's adorable she thinks she can sway me with a glare.
"I'm told you defeated a hobgoblin last night.”
Her face turns as white as snow, and a muscle in her neck twitches. For a moment, her eyes sweep to the door back in the room where the two guards stand.
She suddenly bursts into mocking laughter, filled with hatred. "Whoever your informant is, they are mistaken. Look at me! I couldn’t even wrestle past you if I tried, but you think I can overpower two monsters? I'd faint if I ever saw one in my presence." She licks her dry lips, her defiant eyes zeroing in on me. "But in all seriousness, are there hobgoblins near our kingdom?" Her chin trembles with fear.
Oh, she's good, I'll give her that. Except, she's given herself away by addressing me boldly, which is a tell-tale sign of someone lying and over-explaining. And then there is her slip of words.
"I never said there were two hobgoblins," I insist.
She huffs. "One, two, a hundred, I wouldn't be standing before you if I faced those monsters."
I admire her resolve to cover her tracks. She's been hiding this most of her life, so it’s a knee-jerk reaction for her. But this gorgeous girl has fire in her eyes, and from the moment she walked into my room, her energy slammed into me as though she’d entered my mind.
"You know what I think?" I say.
She shakes her head, chewing on her lower lip, drawing my attention to how she tugs at the flesh. She puts dirty thoughts into my mind of what her lips would taste like… who the hell is she anyway? Before yesterday she didn’t exist in my life, but now she coils in my mind like a blaze, spreading over me, taking residence like she’s settling in, fusing herself into me. Mine is all I can think as a primal side rises through me.
"You're lying because you’re scared, but you are cursed like me." I try to sound as reasonable as possible, because this isn't something I can drag out of her. I need her to use her power willingly, yet I’m battling the unfamiliar energy inside me that builds and builds at the girl in front of me.
"Like I said." She gives a slight pause before lifting her chin high. "I don't know what you're talking about. I have never encountered hobgoblins, and I'm not cursed. But if you want to punish me, I'll work for you and clean your chamber pot to pay off my debt."
I snatch her arm and signal for the guards to come take her. “Be careful,” I hiss.
She resists my hold, pushing against my arm. And I can't deny that the way she looks at me, imploring me to release her, does something to my insides. Something I don't understand. But her defiance pushes me too far.
The guards arrive, and I nudge her into their arms. "Take her to her room and lock her up."
"Wait, no!" Her blue eyes go wide, and I'll admit they make me pause, except I won't give in to such thoughts and distraction. I won’t let myself do that.
"Take her," I growl and turn away, holding onto the railing on the balcony.
She cries out, and the shuffling sound tells me this spitfire fights the guards.
"I hate you!" she hisses, then their footsteps fade.
I'm used to that... everyone hates me.
Licia
I stumble into the room, my stomach knotted up and tears blurring my eyes. Snapping back around, the door to my room shuts with a thump, so I rush over and push down on the handle. Locked. Of course. I slam a palm against the door over and over.
That goddamn bastard