Cursed

Chapter One- Aromeda

A/N: my writing app can only umm (how do I say this) italicize if the words are in between a **, and the Wattpad app does not include an italics option, so the ** will stay :/ Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and happy reading! xo

Update: Fixed that! Enjoy the **-free chapter with- GASP- italics ;) Loves from momsie

I know it's wrong to eavesdrop on Duke Kaeen -after all, he is my guardian.  

But what else could I do? I've skipped breakfast to follow a maid to his office at his written request, and he is not even in there. The maid shot me a dark look then had left me at the door.  

Finding no response to my knocking, I entered the office myself to check if the duke was there. He was not. I decided to go and look around his library while I waited for him because Her Grace the Duchess has forbidden it, and that was how I came across it. I wouldn't have noticed the hidden door concealed behind a dusty shelf if it weren't partially open and had the voices not reached my ears. At the time of spotting it, I was remembering the maid's hostile manner, how- despite her newness here- she has heard of me already. 

I should have gotten used to the staff's glares yet I have not. It has been ten years, and everyday I am ever so subtly reminded that my place in the duke's household, posing as his niece, will not last long.  

Besides, any fool can see that -other than my garb- I have not one drop of Angrian blood in my veins. Red hair, although rare in Dove, is rarer still in Angria; my skin should not be its milk-white complexion had I come from the sunny Angrian regions; and whoever heard of an Angrian with green eyes? I stand out a mile. 

Their bitterness is not unjust: they are mere servants, stripped of their pride, reduced to slaves, with no power, no voice, no say about what the Angrians are doing to our country. And then there is me: living with the man responsible for our country's conquest, in luxury my people can only dream of. No wonder they hate me, I've betrayed them. And I hate myself for it. 

And then I hear the voices. They are muffled, and the only way to discern their meaning is to open the door further. I know I should stay clear of the duke's business but curiosity gets the best of me. 

I lay my hand against the door, gently pushing it open then peeking inside. There are three doors along the wall on the right, the last one is wide open, and that is obviously where the duke is. I slip through the door, and gently tip-toe towards the source of the voice.  

"Are you sure they've tried everywhere? "  

"I've regrouped the guards. They'll find him." This second, quiet voice startles me, for I haven't known that the duke's only son has come back. 

"Quite sure? I've observed that the guards are a bit reluctant to follow your orders ever since that little incident." 

"Your concern is touching. I'll go check, sir, if it puts you at ease. " 

I turn about the spot frantically as I realise there's no time to go back where I came from, then quickly I shut myself in the closest door I see, praying to Vakita they haven't heard. Darkness engulfs me, and my stretched hands collide with boxes and shelves close by. I'm in a storage room of some sorts, and a small one. 

Footsteps march a mere measure apart from me. I cannot go back now, for I might encounter anyone that way, and the duke will- Well, he won't raise a hand at me, that I am certain of, but the number of ways to cause pain is a colorful palette all on its own. Anyhow, I am stuck in here until the duke decides to remember me. 

A minute or so later the duke's son comes back. 

"They've found the place where they think he's hiding."