The Bald Princess

~Twenty Four~

My scars are an inseparable part of me, Sire. They made me what I am today and they are the base of what I'll do tomorrow.

Atarah

The air was filled with hushed whispers, disgusted and scared glances. The people were not even being discreet about their cruel, judgmental gazes. Everything felt awfully familiar. The day I was summoned in front of the village, whipped for bringing bad omen to the Kingdom. I very well remember the day, I lost my pride, my self esteem and the people of the Kingdom just watched me get beat until I couldn't hold my consciousness anymore. People were more merciless than the system. They were unforgiving, cruel and savage. The fear of the day was still fresh in my heart, spiking up my heartbeat.

"Bow down, cursed lady, his highness is arriving." The guard barked his order at me and I was made to bow down on my knees with force by his guards.

My knees hit the muddy ground with force, making me hiss. But the pain of my legs were not comparable with the pain of humiliation. Tears burned my eyes when one of the guard kept his harsh grip on the back of my neck to keep my face down. I was sure his grip would leave a bruise later. For once, I didn't knew what I was getting punished for. But then again, whenever I was punished, I never knew my crime. I still don't know.

And then with slow, deliberate steps the King walked in the market of poor. I could see his well polished shoe, now getting muddy due to the soil. I could see his expensive, shiny pants and his sword hanging around his waist. A tremor passed down my body when I dared to lift my gaze to meet King's light eyes. They were filled with rage and anger. He was disgusted, I could tell as his nose scrunched up in distaste.

"Release her." The King commanded in his rough voice and the pressure from my neck was released. I could feel the pain where his fingers were holding my neck. "And you, bald lady, stay on your knees. Know your place. Below our shoes!"

'You're the crown of my head. You're meant to reign me.' Ansel's voice from last night echoed in my head. They all were so different. When King told me, I was not even worthy to stand at the level of his shoe, Ansel Duncan told me, my place is above his head, where a crown reigns. When King Alfred made me feel like a servant, Ansel made me feel like a human— a Queen.

"Cast your gaze down, lady!" One of the guards barked before I was again made to look in the ground forcefully.

"Do you know why you are summoned here, bald lady? Do you have any idea why I had to walk into your filthy lanes to look at your macabre and hideous face?" King Alfred asked like he was talking to a dog. My eyes burned with tears as one rolled down in humiliation. My throat burned as I felt the urge to cry. My fingers kept digging in my palm, painfully but the pain felt good. I deserved this. The bitter feeling of self-hatred returned with force. The urge to hurt myself increased.

"Answer me when I ask you a question, lady!" He growled angrily and I looked up, my eyes falling on the man standing behind the crowd, wearing his red, stone studded overcoat. His hold on his sabre was fearfully tight and his eyes— they looked blood thirsty. If I had never seen Warrior Ansel Duncan's demonic form before, I did now. And it was terrifying.

"I don't know." I mumbled in humiliation. My eyes were not gazing down, nor were they looking at the King anymore. I didn't care if I would get punished for not looking down like a criminal should; because my eyes were focused on my soulmate— Ansel. My only hope.

Only he mattered to me in the crowd. They all were a bunch of strangers to me. Strangers who inflicted pain but only him— only he felt like a family who made me feel affection, I had been deprived of. But much to my disappointment, he stood there silent, not saying anything as they treated me like an animal.

"My guards saw you roaming in the city! Not once, not twice but everyday like you're allowed to! Weren't you ordered to stay locked up like a b***h you are? How dare you defy my direct orders! Poor kids who saw you, must have got nightmares from how ugly you look. Not to mention the bad luck you bring to the kingdom. No wonder we're suffering from a famine!"

King glowered in anger and Ansel's fingers clenched, his eyes burned red, like blood would start dripping from his eyes any moment now. The veins down his eyes were getting pitch dark. His skin had turned paler than before but his eyes— they screamed of m******e that awaited from them. But he stood silent. Not uttering a single word to intervene.

And none of King Alfred's words hurt me as much as Ansel's silence did. It's always the silence that burns a person deeper than the words. It's always the silence of that person, we thought will stand up for us. A single tear rolled down my eyes at his lack of empathy. Were his words of care and love, a blatant lie? Was I a fool enough to believe that someone could even like somone as ugly as me? King Alfred wasn't lying but that didn't mean, it hurt any less.

'Don't my tears break your heart, Ansel? Will you just watch me get humiliated like I don't belong to your heart?' I asked in my mind, knowing he could hear me. And I saw his breathing getting uneven. He was losing his composure but it felt the real slap to my face.

"Answer the King, you wench!" The slap resonated much before I felt it. My face jerked to the side but my eyes were still focused on him. This wasn't the slap for not responding to King Alfred's questions but to trust Warrior Duncan for loving me. I came back to where I was standing a few months before, if not, I was pulled even more back.

'Does my pain really mean nothing to you, Ansel? Or are you too ashamed to accept me as your soulmate in public?' I again thought, my lips trembling from the sob that racked my body but I held myself.

'You need to stand up for yourself, Atarah. If I fight your battles today, you'll forever depend on me to fight against your abuses. You're stronger than this.' His voice echoed in my head. It was not above a whisper, if anything it was deeper and more demonic than his usual voice. Was this his demon?

'Aren't mates supposed to stand up for each other?' I again asked and was answered with another loud, stinging slap on the same cheek, making me hit the ground with a hiss. f*****g hell!

'Soulmates do support each other, Atarah. But this is abuse, torture. Stand up against them. Raise your voice and I'll handle the rest.' He growled angrily yet his voice soothed me and I chuckled sadly, not once touching my sore cheek. I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this. My mind kept chanting.

'You deserve none of this, my love. Do not think nonsense!" He again growled and I scoffed, looking at him with my betrayed gaze.

'I must deserve some of this, Sir Duncan for you're not even stopping any of this. Atleast tell me my crime. Why am I getting punished?'

"Are you trying to deliberately disrespect me, wench?" I heard the King growl as he held me by the base of my neck and jerked me up, making me wince at the pressure on my neck. I was not a wench. I had never gazed at any man other than Warrior Duncan.

My eyes were unwavering, I didn't care for the King's anger. His actions weren't new to me. But Warrior Duncan's silence was. His indifferent stance made my heart to crumble. Ny expectations were from my soulmate and not from the King who often pulled me out in public to whip me.

'Do not let him step over you, Atarah. This is your battle and I can't fight it until you don't start it. Have faith in me, my love, I won't let those slaps, you endured go wasted.'

'I can't.' I whimpered.

'You will. Amen.'

"Look at me! Who are you looking for in the crowd!" The King growled in raw anger. "I'm the royal one here!"

"Or maybe you're just a descendant of a bunch of thieves who robbed this territory from their rightful owners with deceit." I said, finally gazing at the King standing in front of me. This bravery was new to me. This courage was like an infant. Newly born.

The crowd gasped in shock and horror. But for some reason, I didn't feel any fear. Ansel did this. I knew. This sudden bravery, this sudden surge of anger was injected in me by him— Ansel. He wanted me to fight. He made me brave.

"Do not be in the paradise of fool, Alfred that I don't know how you and you great great great grandmothers took this kingdom from the vampires." I spoke, leaning forward as I whispered the very last of the words into his ears, making him tensed. His body stiffened before his eyes narrowed with raw, unadulterated hatred.

"I'm such a curse right, King Alfred that you want to lock me up? Then let me touch you once and then I'll see if you turn bald or not. Let's test if my touch brings your death early or your catastrophe. I'm the cursed one right, then I'll wipe the biggest curse of this Kingdom. Let me touch you and I'll see how fear really feels like." I said with a bitter smile and his face turned red with anger.

"I'll see if you still have the courage to talk back to me when I done with you!" He growled and then I saw him rasing his sword to hit me with. It was still in its scabbard. My eyes widened as I realized what I had just said to him. Foolish, Atarah! You're so damn foolish! But then my eyes clenched shut, waiting for the hit to burn me.

But the pain never came. I slowly opened my eyes, looking from the gaps of my fingers to see that Warrior Ansel Duncan was holding the King's sword before it could've hit me. I felt relieved before the hurt again coursed up my heart.

"I would like to see you try, Alfred." Ansel growled in rage.

His eyes glanced at me, tilting his face just a bit and I saw his eyes were back to normal— just a little darker than before. His jaw was clenched in raw anger. He jerked the sword out of King's grip before throwing it to the ground. And throwing King's sword to the ground was another level of challenge to him.

Ansel took small steps towards me. His rough, calloused fingers gingerly brushing my bruised cheek and I flinched back in pain. He reluctantly retracted his hand hand, resting it on my good cheek before he pulled me closer to him.

Suddenly everyone had turned quiet. There was no hushed whispers, only the rustling of the wind. His eyes kept staring at my freshly hit cheek before they shifted down to my neck where the guard had held me. Something very dangerous flashed in his eyes and then it was gone. In a flick of a second.

I shivered at his cold, chilly eyes. They promised a thousand deaths and rivers of blood. Mistaking my shivering for cold, he shrugged his jacket out and wrapped it around my shoulder before helping me put my hand through the sleeve holes. I wasn't cold but the warmth his coat gave me made my heart to stutter. It even smelled like him. Soothing.

"You're hurt, Atarah." He whispered, almost like a whimper and I realized, this wasn't him. This was his demon. I gulped when he again touched my bruised cheek with his feathery touch, making me suck a breath in. Damn him.

"I am angry with you, Ansel. You let them hurt me." I whispered against his touch, hot tears rolling down my cheeks and he shook his head. His eyes flashing his helplessness as he gently pulled me against his chest in one swift motion and I cried out the tears of my humiliation against his shirt. "You let the history repeat itself, Ansel. They hurt me again. They humiliated me again!"

He rubbed my back to calm my sobbing frame but I was too shameful and humiliated to stop. Suddenly the kingdom, the citizens, the appalled King seemed distant to my sight. His warm embrace and cold touch seemed clearer to me. My eyes only saw him in that moment.

"I had to. You wouldn't have spoken against the abuse if I would've stopped it. You have came out stronger now. You shown Alfred his place and you also shown the village that you won't accept the abuses in the future. Your job ends here, my crown. And my job starts here. These slaps you took, my Atarah— they will echo in the vicinity of this kingdom, until it becomes the nightmare of every person who quietly watched you getting humiliated and enjoyed it." He murmured in my ears and I could feel the sudden fear in the surrounding.

The kingdom and its citizens were scared.

"You sit down, my crown. I'll be back in thirty minutes, hm? Ice your cheeks until then, okay?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Let this pain be a reminder to me, Ansel that I fought against the abuse for the very first time."