Dark Fate of the Crimson Princess(Breeder#8)

Chapter 2 : The Crimson Princess

*Rion*

The poison worked quicker on the Crimson Princess than I'd thought it would. Within seconds of drinking, she got woozy and tumbled to the ground. I thanked the Goddess for the luck she showed me that night in buying the cheaper poison.

As I bent down to get a better look at her, I reminded myself that while, yes, she seemed like a sweet girl just concerned about her little brother, she was a means to an end. She was the daughter of the ones who had taken my little sister Eva away from me.

She was the daughter of the enemy. I watched her lay unconscious, sprawled out on the ground. The moonlight accentuated her freckles and highlighted the waves in her chestnut hair.

I had to focus.

I dragged her through the tunnel of shrubbery into a secluded area as quickly as my strength would allow. Although she was not particularly heavy, I knew her beacon of a red dress scraping against the ground would attract any passerby, nosy or casual.

Besides that, there was no telling how long the poison would keep her knocked out. I stopped to rip off the excess dress below her ankles–she wouldn't be needing that–and continued to follow the path carved out by the shrubs.

When I reached another opening to the shrub tunnel, I left her on the ground to scope the surrounding area. Outside the Crimson family capitol building, there was a park, and it was filled to the brim with people. There was no way I was crossing that with a dead-looking girl thrown over my shoulder to get to the rendezvous point.

I glanced around. Not far out of my way was a graveyard with dense foliage. Perfect. I picked her up and traversed through, careful to keep to the treeline, until I came out the other side, where I could see my crew loitering in a corner to themselves. I groaned and grunted when I spoke as I walked the rest of the way with the girl slung over my shoulder. She was heavier now that she was all limp and unconscious, but it was better than the back pain I got from dragging her.

“I made the signal. Why didn't you answer?"

“We couldn't get through the park. You saw all those people."

It was a poor excuse, but we didn't have a lot of time. We loaded into the SUV and drove off toward the seedy underbelly of the capital city. We took the back roads, away from the traffic caused by the late guests attending the ball. I had chosen this night specifically because of the ball.

It had taken me many weeks of planning for that moment. The timing needed to be right and if all went well, I'd be scot-free within a matter of miles. The SUV sped down empty side streets, down neighborhoods into the less affluent areas. Mansions were replaced with bungalows, which soon gave way to cramped apartment complexes strung together with laundry lines in the alleyways.

The driver parked the SUV in a large alleyway behind two apartment complexes. The SUV's back door opened, and I checked to see if the Crimson Princess was still asleep. She snoozed peacefully.

I had to concentrate.

We rolled the royal carefully into a garbage bin. She was small enough to fit if we angled her right, though I doubted she would like smelling like banana peels, old eggs, and day-old coffee grinds when she woke up.

That last part made me feel a little guilty as we hauled the bin up to the back door of one of the apartment complexes. It looked suspicious as hell, but no one on our side of town, and this apartment complex, was going to bat an eyelash.

Everyone minded their own business on this side of town if they knew what was good for them, but this apartment complex was the place to be if you knew the right people.

I took the garbage bin and wheeled it through the open metal door that squeaked after I closed it behind me. Three men in front of me and three behind me kept anyone from darting out of the shadows to take my loot. We rolled the garbage bin down the dark hallway, led only by a faint amber light in the distance.

We reached the end of the hall, opening us up to an enormous warehouse with an indoor bazaar. The lights were bulbs strung on wires connecting the four corners of the enormous room. Vendors had tents hooked to the walls or bolted to the concrete floor.

People strolled shoulder to shoulder between the tents, their footfalls echoing in the space carved out in what outsiders believed to be a normal apartment building. The door shut behind me, engulfing me in the aroma of musky sweat, incense, and grilled meat.

It smelled like home.

We continued down the central aisle where the congestion was at its worst, but the surrounding people didn't give our garbage bin a second glance. Suspicious behavior was acceptable when the most normal item for sale in the markets was exotic meat from foreign traders. We continued until we reached the other end of the warehouse and disappeared into another dark hallway behind another metal door.

This time, we turned into one of the side walkways. I got my keys out.

“I've got it from here," I said.

My troop disbanded, and I was left alone to wheel the garbage bin into my place.

My room took up a whole section of old apartment rooms from the original complex. Years ago, I had it remodeled when I rose up the ranks and made enough money to dump into it. The place wasn't fit for a king, but I was proud of every hard-earned coin I'd put into it.

The entrance of the apartment opened up to the living space, where I had a pair of futons on red-painted concrete floors. I moved the garbage bin into the kitchen, then thought better of it and wheeled it into my guest room. Leaving her in a garbage bin in the kitchen was a recipe for disaster and chaos. I was a daring young man, but I wasn't stupid.

I wheeled the bin into the guest room, where there was a modest bed and a rug over the concrete floor. I tipped over the bin and the girl slipped out. Her chestnut hair was matted and sticky from garbage fluids, and she smelled just as bad as the bin. Her dress, which probably cost more than all my furnishings, was ruined and smelled like day-old fruit.

For a moment, I felt bad for her. She wasn't the one who took my sister Eva away from me. It was her parents, the Alpha King and White Queen, who had ripped my little sister away from me so many years ago.

She was only eight years old and they took her from me.

I gulped back the urge to unleash my anger on the girl in front of me. I had to focus.

I dragged her from the bin to the bed. She groaned and moved, so I had to work quickly. I found a few zip ties in the dresser drawer and came back. I flipped her onto her side and wrapped a zip tie to her hands and connected them behind her back.

She lay motionless after I strapped her up. I breathed a sigh of relief and went to take a shower. I definitely needed one after all that exercise.

I left her alone, closing and locking the door on my way out.

***

*Daphne*

I opened my eyes to a red wall and the smell of garbage. I moved, still groggy, and groaned as I moved to wipe sleep out of my eyes but realized I couldn't when I felt a sharp pain in my wrists. I wriggled, the pain waking me up, until I realized my hands were tied behind my back.

With a groan, I moved onto my side to get a better look at my surroundings and ended up on my back, looking up at the ceiling. With how plain it was, this definitely was not my room. I moved to my other side, with great strain, and found a small bedroom with a rug and a dresser. On the other wall was a partition that could have been a closet, albeit a very small one. Whoever lived there was poor.

I wanted to scream for help, but thought better of it, partly because my throat was dry as sand, but also because I didn't know when my captor would return, and the opportunity for escape was the present. I rolled and hoisted myself up to a sitting position and walked to the other wall, but there was no window. On the opposite wall was a door, the only perceivable way out.

With my luck, it was locked. I tried turning around and jiggling the handle and found it wouldn't budge.

A wave of desperation and fear flushed through me, and my corset crushing my lungs in this stupid dress made it all the worse. I tried to undo the zipper in the back of my dress, but it was no use. There was no telling when my captor would return.

For all I know, I could starve in this place or suffocate from the corset. I stopped myself to draw in as much of a deep breath as I could, given the compression of my lungs in my state, and breathed out slowly.

It only helped a little, but it was enough for me to think of a way to escape. I glanced at the door. Once it opened again, I would make my escape and run out. As I ambled over to the bed, I heard the gentle click of the lock turning.

Within seconds, I'd have my chance to make a break for it, but I had to be patient–too early, and the person on the other side could just slam it on me, and too soon, and they would be able to grab me.

As the door opened and I recognized the stubbled jawline, full lips, and those steely gray eyes, all of my reason and logic fell to the wayside. It was the young man from the ball holding a water bottle and a plate with a sandwich on it.

“Rion?"

He seemed surprised that I called him by name. He had changed out of his ball-going attire and dressed in black jeans and a gray T-shirt. He smelled fresh, his cologne a refreshing change from the garbage smell, which I realized the moment his features wrinkled came from me.

“Someone kidnapped me! How did you find me?" I rushed toward him, ready to wrap my arms around him when I realized that they were bound behind my back. Another realization dawned on me that made me take a step back. “You kidnapped me."

He nodded nonchalantly, as if kidnapping was just another everyday occurrence.

“It's nothing personal. Well, I guess it's a little personal, but not you directly, I guess. Water?"

“Why did you kidnap me? What did I ever do to you?"

He sighed and moved toward the desk, where he set down the food and water. The sandwich looked like two slices of the plainest white bread I've ever seen with a thin slice of pink meat in the middle.

“Like I said, it's business. You got caught up in an unfortunate circumstance that I just can't divulge too much about, at least not for now."

A buzz from his pocket caught his attention. I glanced over his shoulder as he checked his text. There was a large room with futons, a carpet, and a kitchen. Beyond that, I couldn't see much. By the time I got the gumption to run, he looked back up.

“What are you going to do with me?"

“For now, you sit tight and get something to eat."

“My parents will pay any ransom," I said.

He flinched, and I saw a flash in his eyes that warned me to be quiet. Beneath the calm gray was a wild beast not to be played with.

“I don't want your parents' money."

“What do you want?" I asked desperately.

“Justice," he stated plainly.

He stepped out of the room, slamming the door, and leaving me feeling threatened and alone.

I glanced at the sandwich, my stomach rumbling at the sight, and decided that eating was better than doing nothing. When he came again, I'd have the strength to run.