Slave To The Vengeful Alpha King

The Stripped Princess

Twelve years later

Reina’s POV

"Twelve years. That’s how long I rotted in your father’s dungeon. Do you know what that does to a man?”He let out a low and humorless laugh that made my blood run cold.

“I should kill you.” The words were bitter, but the hatred beneath them struck me like a dagger. I forced my head up, and the moment our eyes met, ice poured through my veins.

This wasn’t the same man who used to sneak sweets into my hands when my father wasn’t looking. Not the boy who sat beside my brother at the training grounds, stealing glances at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice, not the boy I fell head over heels in love with.

Gone was my brother's best friend and my childhood crush. Who stood before me was now someone else—a damaged monster who would destroy me.What did my father ever do to make him hate us this much?

I swallowed hard, forcing my chin up despite the tremor in my limbs. “Then do it.” I was so tired, and I wanted this pain to be over.

“No, Princess. Death would be a mercy. And mercy is not something your father showed me.” His golden eyes darkened, his lips curling in disdain. “Nor did he show my people.”

Memories flooded my mind and tears stung my eyes at the harsh mockery with which he now called me princess. Raw pain pulsed through me, but the hunger was worse. My stomach twisted violently, a deep, hollow ache clawing at my insides. The bindings around my wrists burned, the coarse rope biting into my bruised flesh. I had fought at first—lashed out, screamed, and begged for mercy as they cuffed me and put me in the cage.

His eyes roamed over my body, and I felt panic zing through my body like a weight. Then, a cruel smirk ghosted his lips. Covering the distance between us, he crouched down to my level, tilting his head as if amused, and that was when I noticed the jagged scar running down from his forehead to his chin. A sharp intake of breath escaped me.

“Did my father do that to you?” I whispered as shock registered through me.

“Do you know what I have become, Reina? A damaged monster.” He ignored my question, regarding me with disgust and anger.

A sharp exhale escaped my slightly parted lips as I shifted on the cold, hard floor in discomfort.

“And there is only one thing a monster does, Princess.” His voice was a whisper of steel, laced with something dark. “It destroys.”

A chill slithered down my spine as I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palm, and my vision blurred with exhaustion.

“Look at you,” he murmured. “Stripped of your title. Your dignity. Nothing but filth on the floor.”Golden eyes, empty and dead, burning with pure hatred glared back at me as his hands curled around my neck, choking my airflow. He wasn’t looking at me—he was assessing me like a predator would his prey.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared into his beautiful dead golden eyes. Pity pierced my heart, making me wonder if he would ever smile again.

“Ple-please,I-I–” I swallowed the remaining words when he yanked my hair hard. Pain seared through me, and my heart thudded in fear.

"Don’t you beg me! I want you to see exactly who you belong to now. The monster your father created." My stomach clenched.

Belong to him? Never. The words sent a shiver of something dark down my spine. His gaze swept over me, slow and deliberate, making my skin crawl. I felt bare and exposed in a way that had nothing to do with my torn dress.

I turned my face away, unable to stand his scrutiny.

Big mistake. His fingers gripped my chin, forcing me back to him. He released my jaw, his thumb dragging along my lower lip roughly, and I let out a strangled sob.

“How does it feel?” He whispered, “to be nothing? To be at my mercy?”

He leaned into me, his warm breath fanning against my cheek.

“Tell me, Princess…” His voice dropped to a whisper, dark and cruel “does my touch burn? Knowing that these same hands your father battered are the same ones that would tear you apart?” Spreading his palms open, a gasp slid through my lips when I saw burn scars.

Tears burned my eyes, and my throat constricted in fear. I wanted to scream, to fight—but I knew better.

I clenched my fist, my nails digging into my palm so hard that it hurt. My body trembled, betraying me, but I refused to let the sob building in my throat escape.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cower.

"You belong to me now. Every breath you take, every sound you make, and there is no escape from this hell your father plunged me into.”

But then, his fingers brushed my cheek, and my body betrayed me—a shiver wracked through me before I could stop it. He saw it, and his eyes darkened.

I braced myself for pain, for cruelty. But instead, he leaned in, his breath warm against my skin as he whispered, “Tell me, do you even know why you’re still alive?”

I swallowed hard, shaking my head.

His fingers gripped my chin in a bruising hold. “Of course, you don’t. You were the pampered little princess, weren’t you?”

"By the time I’m done with you, you will wish you never bore your father’s name.”

“And, Reina?” His voice sliced through the thick air, and I flinched at how my name sounded more like a curse, a death sentence. “No one would save you. Not now. Not ever.”

A sob tore through my throat before I could stop it. I tried to stifle the sound of my tears, but my chest felt heavy. Hot tears wracked my exhausted body, and shivers of fear coursed through me, but I refused to let them fall. I clenched my teeth, forcing back the sob that threatened to escape. Showing weakness to him would only fuel his cruelty.

He crouched lower, his lips mere inches from my ear. “Ah, there it is,” he murmured, his voice almost gentle. “That look in your eyes. The same look my child had before he died.”

A sharp gasp left my lips, my heart pounding against my ribs.

He smiled, slow and sinister. “You don’t get to break yet, Princess. That would be too easy.”

I flinched as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His touch wasn’t bruising, but it was enough to make my skin crawl. “You’re going to feel everything I felt, Reina. Every pain. Every anger. Every torture your father put us through. You’re going to lose everything. And when there’s nothing left—when you’re begging for death—I won’t grant you that mercy either.”

He stood, towering over me like a vengeful god. “Sleep well, Princess,” he taunted, stepping back into the shadows. “Tomorrow, your suffering begins.”

I realized that there was no mercy left in this man's heart—only hatred, carved deep into his soul like a wound that refused to heal.What had he endured? What horrors had my father inflicted on him to turn him into this?

‘Oh Papa, what did you do?’

“Throw her back into the dungeon until I summon her.” And with that, he turned away from me. Almost immediately, tears trickled down my cheeks. I was doomed.

“And do not give her food or water until I say so, Agatha.” He turned to the middle-aged woman who I assumed was the head maiden.

“Yes, my king.” She curtsied before him.

There and then, I knew my fate had been sealed. I was no longer a princess but a property of my father's enemy. And for the first time in a while, true terror settled in my bones.

Anguish ripped through me as I sucked in a sharp breath, my body begging me to beg. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. However, deep down, I knew—I would break. Because the worst was yet to come.Tomorrow, it would begin. And I had no idea if I would survive it.

Chants of victory thundered through the courtyard, a deafening roar of celebration that drowned out the pounding in my skull.

"Long live King William!”

A low gasp slid through my lips as a sharp sting exploded against my cheek.

Then another.

The metallic scent of crushed tomatoes filled my nostrils as they splattered against my skin. Rotten fruit. Waste. Spit. The people of Eldoria,my father’s enemies, hurled their hatred at me with their hands, leaving me to wonder what my father ever did to these people?

“You’ll remain nothing more than a slave until your monster of a father comes out of hiding and comes to get you,” one of the guards spat as he dragged me along.

I froze in shock. My father… was alive.

My breath hitched as hope sparked in me desperately. But immediately, doubt crept in. If he was truly alive, why had he not come for me yet? Why did he leave me to suffer? Was he okay? Where was my brother? So many questions plagued my mind. What could my father have done to make King William hate us this much?