Captured Witch

XVII. Engagement night

Running through the woods was a nice break from my current reality, even if I saw a guard stationed every quarter mile. Daniel kept urging me that we had run enough, which led to me teasing him about being out of shape. We had left before the sun had come up, but by the time we started to head back, the sun was well above the horizon. We ran back and I slowed before we reached the edge of the woods. I was slightly sweaty but not even close to being out of breath. Daniel, on the other hand, looked like he would keel over any minute.

            “Come on old man! That was just a light warm-up! You got to get in better shape if you’re going to be chasing me around.” I teased.

            “Now I know why my men found it impossible to catch you. That,” He said pointing back to the woods, “was unlike anything any of them ever trained for.” I smiled as he caught his breath, struggling to speak.

            “Maybe you need a new trainer.” I laughed. “Too bad I would rather die than help your men catch more witches,” I yelled as I ran back to the castle. I waited at the door for Daniel to basically crawl over to the castle entrance. “Breakfast?” I asked.

            “In that?” I shrugged my shoulders and headed in.

            “Why not? I feel like I could run again after breakfast.” Daniel sighed.

            “You never stop do you?” I laughed and shook my head.

            “I’ve spent the last week pretty much stuck without much exercise. I could run all day if I wanted to.”

            Daniel rolled his eyes as we headed in for breakfast. My attire earned more than one glance at the breakfast table. I ate quickly, and silently as Daniel reminded me. Once we were done, I looked at Daniel.

            “Round two? Or are you afraid to get outrun by a girl?” I teased, running off into the woods.

            “Oh no, you don’t!” He said chasing after me. We ran for about an hour before I noticed the clouds gathering in the sky.

            “We should head back,” I said stopping as Daniel slowed down behind me. “It looks like rain is coming in.” We walked back, Daniel too out of breath to run. We ended up getting caught in the rain anyway. Daniel wanted to make a run for it, but I enjoyed the rain. When we finally got back to the castle, we were both drenched to the bone. My hair hung in tight, wet ringlets down to my waist. We were both greeted with a towel at the castle entrance as we headed back to the room to change. As we walked, I attempted to towel dry my hair. When we got back, I grabbed a knee-length slip and headed to the bathroom to change. I walked, apparently at the wrong time because Daniel was still naked.

            “Oh, my gods,” I said, quickly covering my eyes. “Ever heard of clothes? Or even just a towel?” I said, throwing mine at him. He laughed as I waited a bit of time before peeking through my fingers. I saw that he was at least covered and removed my hands from my face. I walked over to the closet in attempts to pick out an outfit from these clothes. It was hard getting a taste of my old clothing to go back to these. Daniel came in, fully dressed, and raised an eyebrow at me.

            “Can we not relive old arguments?”

            “I can’t even wear pants?” Daniel shook his head, walking over to grab a blush pink shirt. I made a face at him as he handed it to me with a white blouse.

            “I’ll have someone come and pick out your outfits in the morning before we’re back from our runs.” He said whispering in my ear from behind me. Pulling my waist toward him. He kissed down my neck and onto my shoulder. I stifled back a moan as I attempted to pull from his grasp. His grip was tight, but after a few moments of struggle, he let me go. I quickly threw on the clothes and grabbed some socks and boots and went to the couch to put them on. Once my boots were laced up and my hair was someone tame a lunch tray was brought in. Daniel came over and grabbed a sandwich and sat on the couch across from me. I settled for the bowl of tomato soup and quickly scarfing it down. I somehow managed to not spill any on me, although I wish I would have.

 The rest of the day was rather boring. Daniel made me sit in his office again while he did his paperwork and criticized my sitting and walking skills. After a while, we decided to have tea brought to us outside, as the rain had cleared up and the sun came back out. I was glad that I was able to take off my boots and walk across the wet grass. I wanted to be here all day. I dramatically fell down on my back and closed my eyes. I laughed when I heard Daniel rush over to see if I was okay. “What are you doing down there?” He asked, his tone somewhere between concerned and unamused. I opened my eyes to look at him standing over me, blocking the sunlight. He lifted me up and brushed the grass off of my back. “The women who do the clothes are going to love you with these grass stains on your clothes.” I rolled my eyes and stared off.

“I want to stay out here forever. I love the feeling of the sun on my face and the grass on my feet.” I said, running across the yard. Daniel, unamused watched me.

“Adalaide it’s almost time for dinner, and you’ll need to change.” He yelled across the lawn.

“Why can’t I go in this? This is how I’ve gone every other night?” I said, walking closer to him.

“Tonight is special. Tonight, we begin the month-long festivities before our wedding.” He said pulling me into his arms. I pushed back from him.

“Our wedding? When were you going to tell me? The minute I was walking down the aisle! What the f**k Daniel?” I said, storming off into the woods. Daniel was chasing after me, but I really didn’t care. The trail was muddy, and my bare feet were not appreciating it. I lifted my skirt up to prevent it from catching in the mud. I was so sick of being bossed around. Daniel caught up to me quickly and grabbed me, throwing me over his shoulder. “Put me down! I’m not going anywhere with you!” Daniel continued to carry me until we got into the room. “What the f**k!” I screamed again as he threw me down on the sofa. I bounced slightly and looked up in shock. Some maids surrounded me as he walked to his closet and shut himself in there.

 The maids stripped my clothes off, placing an elegant, golden ballgown on me. They simultaneously did my hair and makeup. Within 20 minutes I was prepped for what felt like prom. My hair had been smoothed down and put up into a fancy bun and a tiara was placed on my head. I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself. The gold dress shimmered in the light. It was strapless and low cut. My makeup made me look like another person but the same person all in one. As wonderful as I looked, I wanted to rip everything off and just go to bed. I watched as Daniel approached behind me and placed his hands on my waist, pulling me into him. “If only we didn’t have somewhere to be,” He whispered into my ear. I sidestepped out of his grasp and sat back down on the sofa, crossing my arms over my chest. “Come on, it’s time for the ball.”

I got up and followed him out into the hall, adjusting to walking in my heels and the ball gown. People had lined the halls, leaning against the walls talking and drinking. They all stopped and bowed when we walked past them before continuing with their conversations. I saw women too, for the first time since I had been here, they were walking around, most close to their husbands or fathers. Everyone was dressed up in formal wear. The ballroom was packed full of people. We didn’t go in, but I got a glance through the doorway. Instead, Daniel guided me toward a door that leads to stairs. I gathered my skirt up and began climbing with Daniel behind me.

The stairs led to a balcony above the ballroom with two thrones. It became evident to me then that we would not be amidst the crowds of people, rather we would be watching it. Daniel walked to the railing of the balcony, motioning for me to stay put. I heard the room quite as Daniel looked out onto the crowd. He began to speak, but I largely tuned him out, irritated that he made me get all dressed up just to make me sit up here. I heard my name and looked up at Daniel. He held his hand out, motioning for me to join him at the railing. I rolled my eyes and walked over next to him. He continued to speak to everyone about me before officially commencing the festivities. He backed up and I followed, sitting in the throne next to him. This was going to be a long-ass night.

I was right about the long night. Some servants brought us food and champagne but I still refused to speak to Daniel. A few people came up to speak to us, and by us I mean Daniel. Some men brought their wives, but the women remained silent the whole time. I couldn’t help but notice that almost every woman that was brought up here had a mark like mine, so I knew they probably had no choice but to be silent. I drank several glasses of champagne and Daniel must have been too busy talking to notice, because he didn’t stop me. On what must have been my tenth glass, my vision started to get blurry. I let out a soft giggle, unable to stop myself. Daniel cut his head over to me and dismissed the people in front of us. “How many glasses have you had?” He asked me. I shrugged my shoulder and took another gulp, finishing the contents.                       

“I think that was number ten or maybe eleven. I don’t know I lost count.” I slurred.

“Great you’re drunk.” He muttered. He grabbed my arm and picked me up, holding me bridal style. He carried me down the stairs and back to the room, setting me on the bed. He reached behind me to unlace my dress but I swatted his hands away.

“Don’t f*****g touch me.” I muttered, “I can do it myself.”

“You’re drunk Adalaide, I doubt you can even stand with how much you've had to drink.”

“I can stand,” I said, swinging my legs off the bed and popping to my feet. I felt confident until I took a step and instantly fell. I heard him laugh before picking me up and setting me back on the bed. He unlaced my dress and slipped it over my head.

“Leave it to you to make a night like this interesting.”

            “It would have been more interesting if you wouldn’t have made me sit away from everything,” I muttered. “Why force me to put on this ridiculous dress and all of this makeup to make me sit all night in a balcony?”

            “Get used to it. Royals rarely mingle during social events. People come to us to talk, not the other way around.”

            I rolled my eyes and pulled out the hairpins holding my hair in place. I laid back on the pillow angrily. Daniel came over and handed me two pills. “Take those.” He ordered.

            I didn’t want to take them, so I hid them under my pillow and took a sip of the water. Daniel climbed into bed beside me and fell asleep quickly. My alcohol buzz started to wear off and I laid there awake with my thoughts and memories. I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. If I got up, he would notice and probably force-feed me those pills. I laid very still, listening to his breath. I started remembering Edwin and Declan’s hands tying me to the bed, leaving me hopeless. I imagined them tearing my clothes off after drugging me, deciding who was going to go first. I started crying silently as I thought about their hands on my body. I wondered how Daniel had found me. He said they were done with what had happened. Were they still standing over me when he found me? Was I still tied to the bed? Daniel placed a hand on my shoulder shushing me.

            “It’s okay, it’s just a nightmare.”

            “It’s not a nightmare if I never fell asleep,” I whispered, climbing out of bed and walking toward the bathroom. I ran some water over my face trying to cool myself off. When I came back, Daniel was holding the two pills I had stashed under my pillow.

            “Why didn’t you take them?” He asked angrily. He hated it when people didn’t listen to him, especially when it was me. Seeing as he left no room for questioning when he told me to take them, he must have been pretty pissed. “Why can’t you ever listen to what I say to you? You continually defy me and what I ask of you. Do you enjoy making me angry?” The tone of his voice made me shake slightly in fear, but I refused to back down.

            “I didn’t take them because they don’t work. They don’t calm me down, they don’t keep me asleep, and they don’t make me forget!”

            He approached me with the pills anyways. “Please, don’t make me take them. If you care for me you won’t make me take them.” I cried as I whispered to him.

            “You either take them yourself, or I can make you take them,” He said, now standing in front of me. “You need to sleep, no matter what it brings.”

            I shook my head and stared at him. He grabbed my chin and forced my mouth open and shoved the pills in my mouth. He shut my mouth and I had no choice but to swallow the pills. Once he saw me swallow them, he let me go and I fell to the floor, crying, too tired to do anything else. “I hate you,” I whispered. The pills worked fast. He picked me up and started to carry me to the bed, but I was asleep before we reached it.