Chapter 5
"You'll stay inside the room day and night, and you won't come out, I'll put a lookout on your door, and you won't be alone for a second, I won't measure any effort to make you as miserable as you deserve Aaryn.
The way he spoke was worse than thunder, the animalistic way he gestured to wish me unhappiness made me too petrified to react.
I was on fire, and at the same time, I felt a terrible chill run down my spine.
"You're already good enough at this Lycan, you don't need any help with this!"
I teased him as best I could since my position was one of fear and disadvantage.
"I hate you! Get out of my face, I can't even look at your face!"
Petros said even more annoyed, he was possessed of the will to finish me off, and his brown eyes were darker. In the few times I had seen him I couldn't see as much anger as I could at that moment.
"Amalia!"
He shouted avoiding looking into my eyes, it seemed to be too heavy a burden for him.
"The feeling is mutual, so I say, this marriage will not happen! We have rules for our people for a reason Petros and neither you nor the clans camped helping you defend yourself from mine, are going to override that."
I was counting on disloyal people, of course, nothing I said made any sense, because I had no one. If my father didn't send his thousands to my rescue I would be Petros' forever.
He laughed again "Amalia, get that woman out of my sight.
And she led me back to my golden cage, just as gently as before.
A wedding, a bloody wedding!
I can only begin my thoughts by having a terrible psychotic break inside the room. I screamed at the top of my lungs as if my life was going to end in fact, that marriage was a tragedy.
I would be every part of my body on fire, every part of me slipping away from my soul.
I was alone, I couldn't count on anything but my wits to get out of there as fast as possible.
I went to the door and opened it, as promised he had put every possible mangy dog guard on it to keep an eye on every step I took.
The only person who came in and out of my room was that damned Amelia.
By the third day I was there she was walking into my room and exchanging a few words.
"You need to eat Aaryn because if you don't, you'll end up dying before the big day"
She had such a disgusting note of disappointment that I felt like beating her to death.
"I don't care about this ridiculous wedding; I just want to go to my territory and stay there"
She laughed and I added
"Do you think a marriage like this is something advantageous for me?"
"If I had the opportunity to marry"
"Never mind! This is infernal"
She interrupted her thought on the spot and turned to the window, she was scolding herself for speaking. And it all became crystal clear to me. How could I have missed something that was right in front of my face?
"Oh my God Amalia, you like him don't you?"
I was determined to gauge the reactions of that crazy woman, I wanted to understand how she with her dresses frayed with time, and on account of her servant's work, dared to look over me, as if I were just some person and not a princess. It was true that she was beautiful, beautiful that I could not understand why Petros insisted on this failed marriage when he could simply take her as his wife at once.
There lay all the solutions to my problem.
She didn't answer, just started stretching the bed as usual as if I were a five-year-old child and didn't deserve access to any information.
"Tell me! Amalia, do you like Petros?"
I insisted and held her arm and the reaction surprised me. Her eyes filled with tears, and she remained inert as if I had discovered the most amazing thing in the world.
"I don't have to like anyone I'm a servant, and he made his decision! But if I had the chance to marry him, I wouldn't look bad for it!"
She was my glimmer of hope.
"If you love him, why don't you help me escape from here? Help me please, he doesn't care about me, the marriage is just revenge, no one should marry for that reason."
I appealed to her conscience, to her broken heart for loving someone who didn't love her in the same way. Was I trying to be good? No, I was trying to get rid of Petros.
"I agree with you, but it's not like I can get rid of you and it's not for lack of will"
She let her will slip, I just needed to touch the right spot to get some help for my escape.
"I want to get rid of this place, Amalia, help me, I need to get rid of it!"
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything"
She said walking out the door, I couldn't blindly trust her, but I was out of options now.
If she could help me I would want that help, there was no way I could waste the chance to get out of that marriage, and there were only less than twenty-four hours left.
The white dress adorned with jewels was hanging in the room by the time I woke up, and so was the crown full of precious stones, and it was causing me such deep, dry distress that it was hard to draw breath.