QAIS

Chapter 21: Blood or Water

The first thing she saw as she opened her eyes was the shimmering sun-struck chandelier suspended from the Persian dome-inspired ceiling. If the circumstances were different, Layla would've awed at the breathtaking architecture. But a cage no matter how beautiful, is still a cage.

Grabbing her glasses she pulled herself straight against the headboard. Somehow everything she needed had been provided to her. An assortment of glasses similar to hers, a collection of premium fragrances of her taste, jewelry she had only seen in magazines, even the place was scented with aromas of flowers she loved. All of it were according to her taste, but far more expensive versions. Everything was selected to perfection, except the clothes. Layla felt incredibly uncomfortable in those dresses of satins, velvets and silks. Yasmin had ordered for them, because they were easier to dress into with her leg cast.

She looked around, ready to see the cruel doctor, or the rather gentle but silent nurses and servants. But was surprised to see no one. It was the first time in all her time there that Layla was completely alone without any supervision.

Her heartbeat instantly hiked at the opportunity. Pulling out of her paralyzing desolation she steeled herself. She had to act quick.

Sucking in a breath of resilience she quickly sat up, forcing her plastered leg to cooperate without any external help from someone else. Standing on her crutches, she looked around the room for anything helpful. The door was guarded outside by 2-3 guards at all time, Layla knew this because she had seen the formidable men in suits many times. It was unapproachable. She couldn't outrun them on a good day, let alone on a bad leg.

What does she do now?

The window!

She limped towards it, heaving in struggle. However as she neared it she froze in place.

Acres long gardens stretched across her vision, adorned with artistically coordinated flowergardens. Under the slowly pouring snow laid a riot of colors and radiance. Gardens of roses, dahlias and snowdrops. Breathtaking angel statues and fountains of sparkling blue centered the gardens, their corners and curves hanging with crystals of ice like beautiful embellishments. Across her window the rest of the building could be seen, the turrets creeping with vines and twigs but their magnificence nonetheless prominent. And when she gazed to the west she could see the corners of a lake, it's surface glimpsing with ice.

It was like a dream. A wonderland.

It was then that she realized. She was sitting in a castle!

For a second Layla though she must've gone mad. She must've hit her head too hard. It ought to be a hallucination. But the slow throbbing pain in her leg, and other injuries was a brutal reminder of reality.

Ahead of the gardens and pergolas was a forest, dense and tall all the way to the horizon. In the middle of the Castle, between the gardens was a driveway, encircling a majestic fountain, and leading out to large iron gates that opened to a road in the forest.

The remote location, and lack of any nearby civilization tenfold the anxiety in her. Layla felt trapped. She had to get out before something happened to her. The mere remembrance of Qais made her pale and falter.

But how? The window was too up high for her bad leg, and even if she escaped from the guarded door, the place below was littered with more gunmen. It was impossible.

A phone.

There has to be a phone around. Desperately she looked around the room despite her exhausted leg. The room was too large. She had only ever explored the washroom adjoined to a side, never too in her senses to look around the rest of the place. She spent most of the time sedated or unconscious, because Yasmin would be too annoyed to deal with her pleas for help or her trauma.