Between Two Vines

Chapter 3: Alone

Wattpad and Google Drive decided to absolutely mess with me this week so I'm angy. There are typos, please ignore them lol

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The first thing I felt this morning was pain. My shoulders were killing me, yes, but the kick to the ribs did not help things.

"Wake up, unless you would rather starve."

Garrick is not a morning person, it would seem.

He placed a bowl of last night's cold stew in front of me. He stood up and dropped a bread roll into the bowl, purposefully causing it to splash on and around me.

"Same problem as last night, my dear friend." I said, sarcastically. "I can't move my arms, so I can't eat. Unless you want to untie me, which I would have no complaints about, how do you expect me to eat this?"

Garrick paused, almost as if he had not thought of that. Then he began to smile. I do not think I will like whatever he has just thought of.

He knelt down in front of me.

"Here, let me help you." He said, venomously.

He grabbed the roll and shoved it in my mouth.

"Quite frankly, I don't care if or how you eat. Let's go ahead and make that clear right now, but maybe this'll shut you up for a bit. If you're so hungry then you figure it out." He said as he walked away.

Jeez, this guy is really starting to hurt my feelings. He kidnapped me, tied me up, and starved me. I think I am warranted a smart mouth. Now he is even making me eat like an animal. If I want to eat the stew, I will have to shove my face in it, as if I were a dog. This is humiliating and dehumanizing.

Why will he not let me go? I am of no use to him. He did not get any answers from me last night, at least nothing that could be considered helpful. And he seems to know of the princess but not that I am her. When was the last time these men went into a town? They seem to be very out of touch with the current news. Garrick did not even know of my disappearance until I told him, but he knew of the wedding.

What did he mean about Father 'keeping an eye on me'? Father was barely there as I was growing up. He was always out on 'diplomatic missions' as he called them. I think he was visiting mistresses, mostly. Either way, he is my father, he was supposed to keep an eye on me. Correct me if I am wrong, but is that not part of being a parent?

I overhear the cruel crew talking about food supply. If they let me go, that would one less mouth to feed, not that they really feed me anyway. Not that Garrick would let me go even if I brought that point up to him. I see Samson grab a dagger and Triton grab a bow and quiver.

So they are going to leave me here, tied up and defenseless, while they go hunt. I would not put it past Garrick to just leave me here, alone, forever. I am certain he wants me to starve, he said it himself that he wants me to rot.

The four of them walk off into the forest, only Roman glances back before they become enveloped in trees. Suddenly, I am very aware of the fact that I am incredibly vulnerable in this massive forest. If an animal or a stranger came into camp, I would be dead or worse. I could be turned in for the reward money.

Okay. This is fine. I just have to find a way to pass the time until they get back. Do not think about all the creatures living here, or how hungry they may be. These men may be ruthless but being around them is better than being at the mercy of the forest.

I wonder how Adrienne is and what happened after I fled the wedding. Did she look for me? If our roles were reversed, I would have looked for her. I wouldn't have stopped until I found her. I hope she will still run away with me, assuming I can find her, that is. Maybe we can wear disguises and escape into Fairnheim. We could start a new life, just the two of us. Or we could board a ship and join a pirate crew, explore the high seas together. We could do anything, I just hope she will do it with me.