Make Your Request
1416 Words
The doctors said she was healing just fine. Physical injuries could heal, but the psychological ones were the most difficult to erase. Alaric had come to see her, but Sabrina suspected it might have been only because she wasn’t eating. Perhaps he feared what others might think if they found out she had starved to death at one point. Sabrina wished, more than anything, that she could just close her eyes and never have to open them again.
“Eat something,” he’d said. Two maids trailed behind him, both balancing trays of fruits and plain porridges—something easy on her stomach. “I have a gift for you, but you have to eat first.”
A gift? She wondered what that could be. If he wasn’t bringing her Rosaline’s head on a silver platter, Sabrina wouldn’t want anything from this horrible man who had single-handedly made her life a living hell. For the second time now, she had endured so much torture that she wouldn’t wish it on her worst enemy. She felt hollow, as though the last of her pride and dignity had been stripped away.
“Sabrina.” She hated the way he called out her name with concern and guilt, as if he truly cared about her. If he did, Rosaline wouldn’t be roaming the palace, spreading lies about Sabrina to anyone who would listen. According to Rosaline, she was doing them all a favor by getting rid of the “dirty werewolf,” claiming that Sabrina was broken and would bring bad luck to the palace sooner or later.
Leyla said Rose was free from all punishment. The maid was the only one who felt resentment on Sabrina’s behalf. To do something so horrible and still get away with it scot-free showed just how unfair and cruel the Dragon King could be. And now here he was, trying to get her to talk, to eat, to live.
“Leave me alone.” Her voice was hoarse from lack of use.
The King appeared thoughtful for a moment, then gestured for a servant to hand him the bowl of porridge. He tried to feed it to her himself. Sabrina slapped the bowl right out of his grasp. The sound of shattering ceramics echoed through the room. She saw the moment his eyes dilated, and the way the maids shuffled back, fearful of the King’s wrath.
He didn’t snap like she expected. He had no reason to, not when his guilt was likely eating him alive. Instead, he sighed and reached out to hold her hand. Sabrina had to resist the urge to sink her teeth into the offending hand.
“I am sorry,” he said, as if his apologies would make her feel any better. “I should have protected you better. I am... to blame for this.”
“No, you’re not,” Sabrina replied, and she wasn’t just saying this to make him feel better. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “If you want to make amends, Your Majesty, you need to be fair. You have to—she… you can’t just let her get away with this.”
“She won’t hurt you again.”
“Of course I won’t let her hurt me again! I’d rather kill myself than allow myself to go through that experience again. I don’t want your protection; I… I just need you to defend me. Not because you love me, but because it is what you should do! You need to be fair!”
“Rose is…” Alaric didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t need to. Sabrina could already tell from the look in his eyes exactly what he intended to say. Rose was everything to him, and Sabrina was merely another woman he kept around for entertainment. Why would he punish his lover for the sake of a commoner? It wasn’t funny, but Sabrina found herself laughing bitterly.
She wrenched her arm away from the King’s grasp, and he didn’t try to linger. He exited the room after instructing the maids to ensure she ate, even if it meant forcing the food down her throat. Sabrina gulped down the porridge in one go just so the women would leave her alone. She crawled under the sheets and stared into the dark corner of the room, silent.
---
When Alaric came to see her next, the so-called present he brought her was the severed head of her abuser. She stared at the unseeing eyes of the man who had raped her for days. The head was presented to her on a velvet cushion, as though it were some kind of treasure. Rose stood by his side. Sabrina wished it were her head being presented instead.
“I was wrong,” Rose whimpered. She lowered herself to her knees and begged, but her eyes betrayed deep resentment and mockery. “Please forgive me.”
What could Sabrina say to that? It was unheard of for a woman of Rosaline’s stature to bow to a commoner like her. To everyone else, the King was already being just. Sabrina was expected to accept the apology and move on as though nothing had happened. Instead, she ignored the princess.
“Ellen. What did you do to her?”
“She remains in the dungeons. She will be executed accordingly for conspiring against a member of my harem.”
Sabrina scoffed. Alaric’s hypocrisy was staggering—letting Rose go scot-free while sentencing Ellen, who was only an accomplice, to death. It was unfair. “Don’t kill her.”
“I won’t. If you wish it, I will set her free.” He seemed eager to please her.
“Get out.”
Rose scowled with disdain. She rose to her feet and marched out of the room, her servants hurrying after her. Only Alaric and the servant holding the severed head remained. With a wave of his hand, Alaric dismissed the servant. For several minutes, the room was filled with silence.
“I can’t harm Rose,” the King said, stepping closer to her bed. “I owe her my life. So no matter how bad I feel about what she’s done to you, I can’t hurt her. You must understand.”
“I don’t.”
“Make a request—anything—and I will grant it. It is no compensation for your suffering, but you have my word that no further harm shall come to you.”
“I want to leave the palace.”
“Very well. There are other pleasant places in the kingdom. I have estates where you might stay for as long as you need. We can return once—”
“No, I mean I want to leave. I want to be on my own. You will let me go.”
“That… I can’t do.”
“Why not?!” Anger bubbled inside her. Sabrina couldn’t understand this man. Just what the hell did he want? “I don’t want to be here! Just let me go, please. If you won’t help me, then let me go! I’ll find help elsewhere.”
“No one in their right mind would help you. It’s a suicide mission.”
“It has nothing to do with you!”
Alaric frowned at her outburst. He straightened, his expression turning dismissive. “Rest now. We’ll continue this conversation some other time.”
“You can’t just—” He walked out before she could finish her sentence. Sabrina glared at the closed door with hateful eyes.
---
The King’s right-hand man was an old Dragon Lord who had served the former king before Alaric’s ascension. Alaric respected him, and at the moment, Lord Eric was the only person Alaric could trust. “Get me information on the Moonshine Pack—everything I need to know about the new Alpha and his Luna.”
“Your Majesty, we have a treaty with the werewolves. Getting involved with them now would violate the laws set by our ancestors.”
“This is important, Lord Eric. I wouldn’t have summoned you if it weren’t. I trust you with this.”
“I understand.” The man bowed and prepared to leave.
“Lord Eric?”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“It’s a full moon tomorrow. I wish to hold a small coming-of-age ceremony for one of my women.”
“The Luna?”
“Yes.”
“Consider it done, Your Majesty.”
- Writer
