Beasts Of Blackcastle

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four: When everything is never as it seems and there are multiple sides to everything plain to the eyes

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When she finally faced her fate, carried away by trepidations she stood, feeble and timid but mostly bewildered. As far as she knew, the princess had to be convinced of one thing; that the darkness will come to her in the form of a monster and she would have to look it in the eyes. Once she gazed into the eyes of a monster, she was bewitched by the complexities of its soul. Not only was it surprisingly beautiful within its hideousness, it was also not anything she expected it to be. Indeed the princess got to know that even a monster plain to the eyes and plain to the imagination was far from simple. The princess thought all she would see was a monster and have no doubt about its nature, but the very monster that was her fate was much more than meets the eye, hence her fate was bound to be far more complicated than she could ever imagine. If not taunt and devour her, what else could a monster do with her? What else could it need her for?

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Venia had never been more convinced that somewhere in the skies a god or goddess was deeply angry at her or at worse, resented her with the fury of a million scorned women.

That was simply the only thing that would explain why everything that was happening to her was happening to her; some high entity out there had something against her and surely she was not going to win this war that it had waged on her. A war is what it was, at this point she was beyond the believe that everything that was happening was just a mere stroke of bad luck. This was not just misfortune, it was the consequences of a curse. She had been unfairly thrown into this war without any defences and she was the least capable person when it comes to any type of warfare. Perhaps the entity just sought out to destroy her for whatever reason and that was an end she would have accepted a long time ago if it was offered to her soon enough. She could not continue to suffer like this, she was not strong enough.

Even in her world she was pathetic, weak and insignificant and her body was as frail as a rail. In her world she did not even have the advantage of pretty privilege, she was close to hideous and those around her constantly reminded her of just how unsightly and worthless she was. So given her history and basically whole life story, no high entity should have expected her to put up a fight. She did not have it in her, there was not a single ounce of fighting spirit in her. For many years in her own body she had wished for death and just when she thought she was close to overcoming her longing for an end to her existence; this had to happen. The moment that she awakened in the body that was not hers and a hulking, giant of a guard man- handled her, tossed her around in order to apprehend her, she knew that she was going to revert back to the self- loathing, pitiful, pathetic existence that she was.

For the seven weeks that she had been here in this strange world, the best thing she had done was to stop crying all the f*****g time and to get used to the hunger and the sleepless nights. This feat of perseverance she had achieved after five weeks. She still weeped and yelled in agony when being given the whip or other forms of physical punishment, but she had stopped trying to waste her energy putting up useless resistance against men five times her size and she had for now permanently relented in her even more useless pleas for mercy. The guards followed the king's commands no matter the circumstances so under no circumstances could they be reasoned with or could they not act according to their orders out of sympathy for her, if anything they extracted heaps of pleasure from every sob or whimper that came out of her at their doing- so she stopped begging for mercy, she stopped begging them to take it easy on her. Most importantly she stopped pleading her innocence, she stopped telling them that she was not princess Venia and she had not killed their king. Her just quietly accepting the accusations made things slightly better and it appeared it made them hate her less. She could not count the amount of times she had been brutally beaten for “having the audacity” or how many times she had endured psychological torture in their attempts to extract the truth out of her. More like to get admission of their truth out of her. The truth was only their own, her conscience could not possibly handle having the burden of taking a life on it. She was never going to waver from her stance; she was not capable of murdering anyone in cold blood and she had never held a sword in her hands at all. The body was not her own but her soul was hers, she was still the same insecure, anxious, self- loathing person, she still had an inferior mind and only a tiny speck of fortitude even the most cowardly man has. Over the last few weeks, she had learned that she could earn a tiny bit of mercy if she showed herself to be remorseful or to have no interest in the throne, which was fairly easy for her to do since she indeed had no interest in becoming queen of a kingdom she had never heard of or even known existed until less than two months ago.

Still, one thing remained; she was quite infamous in this world and it appeared before the former king's death she lived a life most will only ever dream of. She was the only child of the king and she was adored by her parents and her people, so how could the golden daughter who lacks nothing just one night decide to ruthlessly murder her father? According to princess Iyene, Bess and Vye, princess Venia had a very mild- temper, she was gracious and kind and she had the most infectious, cheerful spirit. Nothing about to or related to this murder made any sense, just as much as the events of this throne room meeting did not make any sense whatsoever.

Venia did not know much about the beast king demanding her as a gift, she only had the rumours and facts she had heard about him to build her perception of him and that is why she was utterly confused. Here she was; in a dirty, blood- stained gown, with a demeanour that told anyone with a good pair of eyes of the weakness of her soul, here she was clearly outing herself as a fraud, as a person who has never had a taste of royalty and HE STILL CHOSE HER. Make it make sense. Wasn't it said that the beast king only had and wanted the finest things? Why would he even be interested in her over Bess, Vye and Iyene? If her slovenly appearance did not turn him off, then her reputation as a cold- hearted murderer and prisoner of the palace surely should have earned his contempt and surely done the trick. Because of her “mad ramblings” a rumour had began to spread across the kingdom that “princess Venia” had been possessed by the spirit of a wicked witch who had placed a curse on her and that is why she slew her own father without any motive at all.

So why would a king of his calibre want a murderous, possibly cursed slave over the actual princesses?

That is exactly the question King Ian was asking himself. He had not been a king for long at all, but he had worked beside kings all his life and he understood them and the workings of their mind. There was a greater agenda the beast king had in mind and now King Ian could finally envision why the beast king could need a lowly existence like Venia. He conjured up his reasons and spoke with confidence as he was immediately convinced of them.

“Forgive me, king Arsix, I did not understand you at first but I do now.” King Ian began and Venia became the most alert and attentive she has ever been as she awaited him to seal her fate. She prayed that king Ian would not agree hence she was not prepared for what she heard next,

“A king such as yourself require the best possessions only. The girl is a beautiful slave, obedient and timid too. Her body is quite something as well. She will make an excellent s*x slave, servant or pet, hell, she can even be all of those at once. I had spared her life hoping that she will be of special use to me and that is why I made sure that she remains pure. She is untouched, you will train her as you please without any difficulties at all and once you're done using her body you could just auction her off to the next king, I guarantee you, untouched or touched, with her beauty you will never be at a loss. Oh, again I apologise, I would have never dared to try to sway you from your selection if I had been made aware from the very beginning that those are your intentions for her-”

“You prove yourself to be an i***t yet again, Ian,” the beast king Arsix cut in viciously, his tone as sharp as honed blades. The way he addressed king Ian was incredibly withering, “those are not my intentions for her. I intend to make her my wife and queen.”

The entire room gasped at his words and the colour was bleached from Venia's already pallid face if that was even possible. Venia descended into a fit of panic and her breathing became more and more laboured. She was one word away from fully becoming a panting mess.

Dread overwhelmed princess Vye's features but she did not dare say anything to the beast king. If she was to speak she would only insult him and earn the brunt of his wrath.

“King Arsix, your highness, you wish to take a girl of her value as your wife?!” King Ian exclaimed in shock. Again, the beast king had proven to be far more unfathomable than he had ever imagined. King Ian was flabbergasted at this point, he just could not understand what would make him so adamant on being given the girl. Venia was no longer a princess and she was a slave. As much as he wanted to be rid of her, he did not imagine it would happen under such conditions.

Was he really going to give her up without fully understanding what his biggest enemy stands to gain by taking the girl as his? His train of thought was ruptured in half by that minacious, darkly deep voice that suited a beast of his eminence far too well.

“I did not come here to answer your questions. Do not act like you have any choice in the matter, Ian. Give me the girl or you can forget about the peace you are so desperate for me to grant you. I was lenient on you but if I do not get what I want, I promise I will destory you and bring upon an era of terror and blood shed on your kingdom.”

The princesses coiled into themselves and shrunk at his threats. More like promises. It was quite known that the beast king did not just make threats, he carried out the evil he promises without even batting an eye. The three princesses knew that their father was not going to deny the beast king what he wants for the greater good and that is exactly why their shoulders slumped in defeat and they did not propose a single counter against the threat.

The sick bastard king had won this round and he had done so with no shame or any effort whatsoever. Princess Bess felt so sorry for princess Venia and it hurt her deeply that she could not go over to her and wrap her arms around her and tell her that she is going to work night and day to get her back from the beast king. That should have been the least bit of comfort she can afford.

But the princess knew that despite his very irritable, hot- tempered royal guest, her father would not hesitate to engrage himself, to blow a fuse and brutally punish Venia if she was to receive any comfort from her. She was tired of Venia always getting punished for actions that are not her own.

Even before he sat on the throne, king Ian was all about asserting his dominance and authority through barbaric means, which is why princess Bess was very happy that her father had finally met his match.

The Beast king was a million times worse than her father could ever be, that's why on the greatest downside of things; he was not going to be Venia's saviour, he was going to be her new, even worse nightmare. She was so unfortunate that it didn't make sense.