Her Fear, His Obsession

A Cost He Couldn't Afford

Luca continued to rage, throwing everything in sight. As he turned to yell at Viraj some more, he saw him kneeling, his eyes fixated on something on the floor. Enraged that he still didn't have the sense to seek permission, he moved towards him, nothing but death on his mind. But two words stopped him in his tracks.

"My Queen," Viraj whispered with a bated breath. He had seen her fall and stay on the ground. It had been several minutes since he saw her move and he no longer thought she was hiding, she seemed unconscious to him. Hoping that the king would turn his attention and get the Queen the care she needed, he whispered her name.

Luca froze and whipped around. His flower was likely very upset by his behavior and he knew he would have to cajole her. But this shouldn't have scared Viraj- he knew that he could handle that. 

Stomping over to the recliner, Luca's face slowly morphed from rage to confusion to regret as he assessed the damage before him. A shivering Alia lay on her side, curled into the fetal position, shoved between the recliner and table, no doubt a position of fear. Her hands were covered in small cuts and her clothes had small splotches of blood.

Luca knelt to reach over towards Alia's face to pull her hair back. Slowly putting it back, he watched her tear stained face, eyes closed. As he reached to stroke her hair, he stilled as he touched her head, feeling something wet and sticky. Fearing the worst, he lifted his hand and saw dark red. He immediately looked over to Viraj and said "Doctor." Viraj nodded and stood, stumbling over to the door. Flagging one of the guards, he sounded the alarm.

Fast forward 2 weeks

Alia continued stroking the bird in her arms. Viraj had done well on his promise- he took the bird from her and taken care of it, getting a vet to come look at it. Now the wing was permanently damaged so it could never fly away but at least the cute birdie was alive. He also had kept the bird out of Luca's sights (and Alia's).

Alia had spent the 2 days in bed, waking up nearly 24 hours after passing out. Between the exhaustion and injury, she was lucky she was alive. While she was lucky to have avoided any lasting brain damage, one thing had changed for her.

Gone was the little trust she had built in Luca.

She had spent her life living in and dealing with men who thought they could win a woman with violence. She knew Luca was an impatient and possessive man, but something had told her that he was different. A man who loved and respected her.

Boy, was she wrong. Despite his multiple attempts at an apology, Alia remained silent. She would only acknowledge him to save someone. She ate, bathed, and slept without a fuss. And spent the rest of her day in silence.

Luca remained distraught. He had never intended for her to get hurt and he knew that her silence wasn't consent, it was complacency. He had won, but breaking her was the cost. A cost he desperately couldn't afford.

A/N: I made a bit more of a plot twist then I intended but we'll see what Alia does next!

On a side note, I went into a really deep rabbit hole of ADHD distractions yesterday and ended up writing an entire 7 chapters for a story I came up with last night so... sorry I couldn't get myself to write more of this one but I think having two to bounce between will help me focus better 🙏🏽