Chapter 6: A toy
6
~Lisa’s POV
The silence that followed their exit was louder than their words, sharper than Rowan’s slap. I lay there on the cold marble floor, my cheek stinging, my soul even more bruised than my skin. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My pride, my only shield in this cruel palace, had been shattered into a thousand pieces.
I had been foolish to hope.
Foolish to think that being their mate would mean freedom from pain. Foolish to think fate had smiled on me at last.
The tears came in waves. First quietly, then like a storm. I cried until my throat was raw and my body trembled. Alone in that room with nothing but pain for company. I didn’t know how long I stayed that way. Hours, maybe. The sun had fallen, darkness wrapped around the palace, and the cold of the stone floor seeped into my bones.
At some point, sleep stole me.
It wasn’t peaceful. My dreams were full of whispers and shadows, of hands gripping my wrists and voices laughing at me.
When I woke up, my throat was dry and my face stiff from the dried tears. My chest ached, not from any blow, but from something deeper. A wound no one could see. I dragged myself into a sitting position, hugging my knees, my mind wandering.
Was my father worried?
Did he know I wasn’t coming home?
My heart clenched painfully. He was sick when I left, and I was all he had. Would he think I abandoned him? Would he wait by the door, hoping to hear my footsteps?