The Criswell's Curse

Hurriedly, I headed towards the front gate, where Jade and a handful of maids patiently waited. The women chatted among themselves, laughing and gossiping without a doubt, however, the same couldn’t be said about the slave whose gaze fell onto the palace, to the direction where he’d last seen me.

“Master!” Seeing me run through the garden, without caring about appearances or anything else, his expression turned stern.

Noticing how two men were hurrying behind me, hoping to catch me before reaching the entrance gates, he dashed through the guards, stopping only when embracing me. The sound of armor clacking away rung through my ears and caused Jade’s figure to place some distance between us, his hands resting on my arms.

“What happened?”

Noticing the stationed men, securing the palace entrance were about to imprison the slave, my hand rose. “Let them in, they are all part of my entourage.”

Both men looked at each other, confused. As the maids entered, one by one, the tall guard with a thick, coffee-colored mustache spoke. “Have you been inside alone, milady?”

“Indeed.” With my words, they traded glances and then nodded, as if agreeing to something only they knew of.

“Please forgive our rudeness, but may we know the time of your arrival?” The second guard intervened. He was thinner, but his bright blue eyes and short hair made him quite charming.

“About two, three hours ago.”

“I see. I’m sorry for any inconvenience, milady.” They bowed down, as if their souls were to blame for such a wicked incident. “We’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

Delivering them a cordial smile, the men left back to their stations. It seemed like the corrupted guards were indeed in for quite a treat in the upcoming future.

“Milady, what happened to you?” A maid questioned; eyes widened in shock.

“Are you alright?” Jade’s eyes traveled through my body, seeing the several minor yet bloody cuts on my skin. Noticing the intense bruise on my arms he rapidly removed his touch, fearful of hurting me accidentally. His knuckles paled as they tightened. “Did he do this to you?”

“Calm down Jade, remember where we are.” At my words, he snapped back to reality.

We were no longer in a secluded area anymore, being right at the entrance of the building where far too many people passed by, meaning far too many eyes observed, hoping to attain some information to distort into gossip. I refused to make a scene, to give them leverage to attack me with.

“Can we go back?” He questioned, placing his cloak on top of my shoulders, hoping to hide me from further embarrassment. But my head simply shook, knowing far too well what such action implied.

Rumors were bound to appear and, even if I didn’t look like a mere woman from the slums, a prostitute or a lowly farmer who had just returned from the fields, such reality wouldn’t change.

As we walked towards the central area of the palace, where several waiting rooms stood, Terrel appeared. Drops fell from his sweaty skin as he ran around like a maniac, hoping to find me hidden in a secluded corner, trembling away in fear. Once our eyes connected, his expression turned sour. He was furious.

With a perfectly crafted façade, he swung his arms high in the sky, his voice a pitch higher than usual. “Ophelia, my dear! I’m so glad to finally meet you!”

“The pleasure is all mine, My Lord.” I bobbed my head slightly.

“You are a mess...” His body rapidly approached mine. Reactively, I hid my hands behind my back, clenching them tightly to prevent him from seeing the wild trembles spreading like a sickening disease. “What on God happened to you?”

“I simply got lost in the garden, My Lord. This place is so grand, I am ashamed to say, but I was overwhelmed.”

His dark brown eyes were nothing like his father’s. They were evil, suspicious of my words as he observed every nook and cranny of my being, of my expression, analyzing everything to the utmost detail, hoping to find a lie somewhere between my words.

Now he’d grown far closer, being a mere two steps apart from me. In a pitiful attempt to conceal the fear lurking within the depths of my soul, my lips popped a cordial smile as my lungs took planned and controlled soft breaths.

Don’t come any closer... Terrel’s arm rose, finding its way into my cheek. Please... don’t...

My thoughts turned darker as the possibility of his touch became eminent. Once his hand connected to my skin, everything went astray. I wanted to throw up, to run away and never be found again, to cry in the deepest pit of the farthest land.

His touch felt terrifying.

His voice was monstrous.

His stare simply horrifying.

I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t move... I felt disgustingly alive to witness his evil yet again.

But nothing left my mouth, even when my lungs yearned to yell, to scream for help. I thought myself to be strong enough to be able to handle this, to handle him, but his scars still ran far too deep, far too real.

His lustful eyes cared not for my well-being. He simply wished to satisfy his greed, to feel me, to touch me. His hands wanted to choke all the sins out of my soul, his mouth yearned to taste pieces of my flesh, his soul dreamed of consuming me whole, to keep me locked for its exclusive appreciation.

“Don’t...” I mumbled but couldn’t even finish the sentence. The horror was far too great, far too intense.

Disgusting.

Filthy.

Whore.

Those were the words he whispered to me, every single damn night. They always made me feel like the most useless and ugly person in the entire world and, even though I bore with it in the past such couldn’t succeed again.

I couldn’t. I simply knew I couldn’t.

As his finger moved towards my bare neck, my body reactively backed away, stumbling. Jade quickly moved forward, placing his figure between us, luring him away, but my soul was far too weak and my strength nowhere to be found. I was about to fall.

But such impact and striking pain never came. Instead, the warmth of someone’s hand strongly grabbing my waist, pulling me upwards and helping me stand firmly on my own two feet, took its place.

“Are you alright?” A rather familiar voice said.

Taking a deep breath in relief, my eyes peeked. Two deeply blue eyes, bright bloodstained hair and a stunning sun kissed skin caused me to immediately snap back to reality. The maids looked horrified, their complexions pale as chunks of snow and Jade simply stood there, taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of the crown prince.

“Your fiancée seems to be unwell.” Blake’s hand touched my forehead, causing the young maids to gasp. “She seems to have a fever. Surely it would be wise for her to return another day, wouldn’t you agree... Terrel?”

He gritted his teeth, annoyed with the prince’s lack of respect and impertinence. Even then, he swallowed his pride and took the hit. “Of course, I wouldn’t want my sweet fiancée to come down with a cold. You should return home, dear.”

Terrel’s eyes glanced at me from the corner, forcing me to shudder. He was more than upset; he was utterly pissed, not caring about hiding his true intentions. Everyone could see it, the wicked grin on his lips filled with his inhuman desires, of his rooted obsession.

“I will take my leave then.” He bobbed his head and rapidly disappeared, becoming nothing more than a horrifying nightmare.

Almost instantly, I moved away from Blake and sunk my body onto the floor, head hitting the golden carpet. The servants followed my lead, promptly waiting for any intervention.

“Glory upon the royal family who guides and provides. Ophelia Criswell greets His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“You may rise.” After hearing these words, my figure slowly raised yet my head still lowered, eyes hoping to avert themselves from the man before me, hoping to hide themselves from his pressuring gaze.

“Thank you for your help, Your Royal Highness. I am eternally grateful for your kindness.”

The environment was awkward as Blake’s attention was on me, looking far too attentively, far too curiously. In the meantime, my soul was merely uncomfortable, wishing to crawl inside a hole that was able to swallow me alive.

“Have a fast recovery.” Was all he stated before passing through me.

His red cape flew along the wind, and, for some reason, I thought it resembled the wildfire in his hair. The golden buttons in his pearly suit glimmered, as if they were proud to belong to royalty. Then, just like that, he was gone.

As we headed back home, a thought kept on haunting me, almost like an alarming omen. I knew Blake Virden. I’d seen him once before; however, our encounter had left much to be desired, as he simply greeted me with the coldness of a man who knew only the cost of bloodshed and the mercy of a frozen river.