Say "I do" ~ A Fantasy Romance

[IIrawr_imma_ninjaII]

Chapter 1:

It was agony, not knowing what would happen next. The only thing that attached me to the living world was the cold chains around my wrists. I could not see anything. It was way to dark, wherever I was. The sounds, though, drove me to near insanity. The drip, drip of water coming from somewhere in the room and the scurrying of little animals took its toll on me. I did not even know what I was wearing. It felt so much different from the dress I had been wearing before.

You might be wondering who I am. Well, I am 16-year-old Rosaline Graham, princess of Galen. Moreover, you might be wondering why a princess is locked up in somewhere cold and dark is I am. Well, there is an easy explanation for that. I was kidnapped, while I was sleeping. In addition, I have no way of knowing how long I have been in here, because no light comes in.

Now that you know a little about me, back to my current situation. I have no idea why I was kidnapped. I never did anything to anyone and everyone was happy with my father in the kingdom. So, why was I here? Maybe I was in some other kingdom, one that we are enemies with; However, I do not think we have any enemies. So, who, or what, kidnapped me?

A different sound snapped me from my thoughts. It was the steady rhythm of footsteps coming my way. The door, from which the sliver of light that hurt my eyes was cast, was in front of me and about 10 feet away. Then, the door fully opened, blinding me shortly. When I was able to see again, my bright blue eyes caught the gaze of vicious green ones. I gasped, knowing the man was a sorcerer. People who had green eyes had magic, and non-magic wielding people did not have green eyes, ever.

The man was actually fairly young looking, maybe in his early to middle twenties. He had short, dark, jet black hair that had a small hint of blue when the light was cast on it. His skin was rough looking, as if he was a soldier. He wore a long-sleeved silver shirt that contrasted with his black pants and boots. He also had a green cloak that she could tell had a hood, because of the way the fabric was draped over his muscular shoulders. Speaking of muscles, he had tons of them. He was very lean, but strong looking.

The man was staring at me, almost in an intrigued way. As if he could not believe who he was seeing. I lowered my gaze, looking down at my filth covered legs. I was wearing some sort of rag dress that only covered me down to about mid thigh. My long blonde hair was beyond knotted and dirt covered.

“Princess Rosaline,” his deep, dark voice snapped her gaze back to him, as he ‘tsk’ed, “What a pitiful sight.” Suddenly, my fearful gaze turned into a vicious glare.

“Well, Princess,” the soldier said again, crossing his arms, “You have an appointment with his majesty. So, I’m going to take you to get cleaned up so he may have a good look at you.” The mage then unchained me and led me to a bathroom. It was huge and luxurious. There were some maids there to help with the process of getting me cleaned up.

As soon as the mage left, the maids set to work. I was first stripped. Then, I was set in the large tub, which was more like a mini pool. The water was nice and warm, making my face flush from the difference in temperature. Many pairs of hands scrubbed away at the dirt and grime that covered my body.

As soon as my bath was done, I was put into a green dress that reached down to my ankles. It had three quarter sleeves and was adorned with white diamonds on my upper-arms. It was a simple, yet very nice dress, though not like the ones I was used to. Then, my feet were slid into some simple flat shoes, brown in color. They were not as nice as the gown. Two pieces of my hair, on either side of my head, were braided and tied back, to hold my hair out of my face. A small tiara was placed on my head for a final addition.

After the maids finished cleaning me up, they all wished me good luck. For what, I have no idea, but seeing the master around here seemed like a bad idea now. I was led outside, where the sorcerer was waiting. His green eyes widened, as if he did not know my true beauty hidden beneath the dirt. He immediately bowed.

“Forgive me for my harshness, princess. I thought surely that you couldn’t have been a Princess with all that grime on you, but now I see it,” he apologized and I tilted my head. He stood and, for once, I saw gentleness about him. He was, more than likely now, a personal guard for the King of this castle. “Call me Valek.”

I followed Valek through the corridors, wondering what this King wanted. After a long walk, we reached the throne room. Valek went in first, to announce me to the king. I was soon brought into the room and I took in my surroundings. The king was very old and was sitting upon a plush throne. His queen, equally old, was sitting to his left. I soon guessed the boy, around my age, sitting to the king’s right, was the king’s son.

“Welcome Princess Rosaline,” the King stood to welcome me, “We are pleased to have you here.” ‘Like I had a choice,’ I thought letting the King continue. “I am King Cyrus of Ikidea, and this is my queen, Acantha.” The queen nodded her head to me. “In order to create a treaty with your country, we kidnapped you, on your father’s orders, to get you to marry my son, Alphonse. Your mother simply would not have let you come otherwise.”

I stared at the King with anger. HOW DARE HE!? He could have at least given me a better room to be my cell.

“I know you are feeling very angry with my father,” Prince Alphonse started, “but it was your father’s orders that you be treated this way, so you would not be tempted to return home. Trust me, Princess; I would have gladly let you stay in my room or the one next to mine if it was allowed. But, the terms of the treaty forbid us.”

I glared at the Prince. He must have been joking about the staying in his room part, but when I looked into his bright blue eyes, I knew he was not. ‘Well, at least my new hubby is not butt ugly,’ I thought, looking at his features. He had shaggy jet-black hair, and, paired with those bright blue eyes of his, he was adorable. He was lean and not muscular, but he was still gorgeous.

“Valek is to be your personal guard. He will be staying in the room next to yours, which is near Alphonse’s. The Wedding will be as soon as possible. Valek, escort Princess Rosaline to her room, please,” the King said sitting down. He looked incredibly smug, but I ignored it as I followed Valek to my room. As soon as we got there, he opened the door but kept me from entering.

“Here you are Princess; A Nice, big comfortable room. Also, I’m going to warn you not to trust the King, Queen, and especially not Alphonse. They may seem all nice and inviting, but they aren’t. Well, I’ll be next door if you need me,” Valek whispered. He left when he finished and I entered my room. Too tired to care to take in my surroundings, I flopped down on the bed and fell asleep.
 

[IIrawr_imma_ninjaII]

Chapter 2:

It was a dark, but comfortable room. Sweet dreams caused peaceful sleep as could be seen on the sleeping girl’s smiling face. Only God knew what she might have been dreaming about, but it must have been very nice.

Suddenly, the girl was gagged, and tied up, so she wouldn’t make noise. The girl awoke as the two men dragged her out of bed and to the window, through which they had entered. The girl struggled, trying to get free, but she couldn’t. She suddenly found herself blind folded, and dragged on the cold dark ground.

The girl’s beautiful blonde hair soon became dirt covered and knotted and her clothes covered in mud. The girl was knocked out on a rock on the ground and the guards picked her up and carried her off into the moonlight.

The lights hurt my eyes as they opened. I was lying in bed next to my husband. Using the nightstand as a crutch, I stood slowly, feeling pain every where. I walked to the bathroom, the cold tile making the sores on my feet hurt worse.

Reaching the mirror, I was horrified to see that I had scratches covering my bare body. What had happened last night? I started to bandage the wounds, careful to not reopen them. The ones that did reopen, however, were very large and deep, not to mention painful. I noticed the bite marks along the wounds. They were everywhere and counted to 30 in total.

Blood pooled on the tile as it seeped out of the largest wound. The wound seemed to cut me right down the middle, starting right at my collar bone and ending at my belly button. The deepest part of the wound was the trail right in between my breasts. It was deep enough that one could see a bit of bone poking out amidst the red of my blood and muscle.

As soon as it was bandaged, I crawled over to the corner. Careful of my wounds, I curled up as close to myself as I could and wept. I sobbed, not taking notice to the Prince standing in the doorway. The Prince, though I could not see it, held an air of arrogance and a smirk ghosted his features.

Finally feeling his watchful blue eyes on me, I looked up in fear. His features were so canine. I could see the sharp fangs in his mouth as he smiled wider and wider.

“Ready for the next round of your punishment?”

Sitting up straight in bed, I noticed I was drenched in sweat. It was morning, and I just had the worst nightmare I had in ages. I touched my face to rub my eyes to notice it was wet from tears, as well as sweat. I got up and checked the closet of my room. There were some simple dresses in there for me to change into.

I picked up the crimson one. It was short sleeved and went down to my ankles. It had a gold band around the waist, to make a sliming effect. I changed quickly and just as I was about to comb my hair, there was a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I said softly, taking the braids out of my hair from yesterday. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Valek enter. He sat down on my messy bed and made himself comfortable.

“I see you’re up nice and early. Breakfast is soon and, on the king’s orders, I must accompany you everywhere. Except the baths and restroom of course,” Valek said, winking as he said the last sentence. I chucked the brush at him playfully, deciding to leave my hair down. He just laughed and said, “Good aim.”

I turned to see him as he pointed to where it hit. It hit his thigh, very close to the private area. I laughed a bit, a start of a blush coming out against my pale cheeks. He chuckled, getting up from the bed.

We left the room, heading towards the dining room. I was the last one there, of course, and I quickly sat down so the meal could commence. The food was extravagant. I got a bit of everything, not to be rude.

The meal was quiet. No one talked so the only sounds heard were the clinking of silverware meeting plate and the occasional burp and “Excuse me.” When I finished, I excused myself and walked outside to meet Valek.

“Hey, Valek? Do you mind showing me around,” I asked, as he greeted me. He thought for a second and then smiled.

“Alright, for you,” he smiled wider. His bright smile cheered me up. Valek seemed almost like a brother to me or a best friend. He was warm and charming, much different from my Prince, who was cold and arrogant. I followed him as he started to walk towards the foyer of the castle.

He showed me the highlights and how to find my way around so I can lead him instead of him leading me. After viewing almost everything, I got bored and we went back to my room.

After sitting on my bed and taking my shoes off, I noticed that the shoes left blisters. I sighed in frustration and laid down on the bed. Valek gave me a confused look before walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed. I smiled at him a stuck a foot in the air, almost in asking if he’d rub it.

Valek shook his head, a chuckle escaping his mouth as he grabbed my foot and started to rub it gently. I was about to object, seeing how I was only joking but I just kept quiet. His hands felt really good against my blisters. After a couple of minutes of his rubbing, he came to a particularly ticklish spot. I started to giggle and he continued to tickle that spot, causing me to kick.

Valek stopped and moved away so I wouldn’t kick him in the face. We both laughed at the foolishness and he sat back down.

“It’s funny how close we are, especially sense we just met yesterday,” I said, crossing my arms behind my head. Valek smiled and said, “You become friends with people you want to quickly, Rose,” he laid down and copied my posture, “Weird circumstances bring people together.”

“Never thought of things that way,” I said, closing my eyes. I missed my mother and father; and most of all, my older brother. I figured that was the reason I got so close to Valek was because I missed my brother so much.

“Hey, Valek, Can I trust you with a secret,” I asked, parting one eye to look at him.

“Sure.”

“I’m really dreading this marriage.”

“I would too,” he said, patting my head.

“Well, I had a nightmare last night, and it wasn’t all too pretty.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I’m not ready to,” I said, looking at the ceiling with sad blue eyes.

“Whenever you are, I’m here, okay? I just feel that, we were meant to be close. I don’t know why, but it’s just this feeling I’ve gotten ever since….. a long time ago,” Valek said, not specifying what he meant.

“Are you sure it’s not because you’re wanting to have a wild fling with me?”

Valek chuckled heartily and said, “I’m sure, really. It feels like one of those destiny things.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. The silence was killing me so I said, “Horse Tush,” and giggled. That made Valek chuckle, which in turn made me laugh. Soon, we forgot the serious tone of our last conversation as we laughed together.

But, something kept nagging at me; Gnawing its way through me, making me feel as though it’d gobble me whole. Why I’m here and, more importantly, did Alphonse remind me of a wolf?


[Note: The things in italics are her dream and the thing in bold is what actually happened.]