Will it be forever?

Chapter 25: Crazy

Astrid's POV

"Ouch..." I groaned as I massaged the side of my forehead with the heel of my hand, my head thundering like a rainstorm over the ocean. After my headache had the chance to calm down a little, I slowly opened my eyes and took in the room around me.

The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting in a surprisingly soft bed, which was an upgrade from the last time I had woken up in an unfamiliar place. The room around me was not a big one, and it reminded me a lot of the cell I had spent a year in not too long ago, which sent a spiral of fear up my spine as I shot up from the bed and sprung over to the dark, wooden door. I tried pushing and pulling the door, but to no avail, it wouldn't budge. I let out a heavy sigh as I plopped back down on the soft bed with my head hung low. Once again, I had managed to get myself kidnapped, good going Astrid!

The wooden door I had stood before earlier began rattling before it swung open, revealing a curvy woman with a sweet smile and bright, blue eyes. "Ah, you're finally awake!"

"Uh, who are you, and where am I?" I narrowed my eyes at the sweet-seeming woman as she closed the door behind her and placed a basket beside it.

The woman chuckled as she began pulling up long measuring bands and white fabric from the basket she had brought in. "I'm Hilda and you're on the glorious island of Midnatter."

"Midnatter?" I asked as the woman began measuring and poking me, which I did not like at all. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The woman, Hilda, shrugged as she held up the measuring band. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking your measures!"

I took another step away from Hilda. "Measures? And for what exactly?"

Hilda let out a shrill laughter as she let her hands fall to her sides. "Well, for your wedding of course!"

"My wedding? Sorry, I'm already married and I'm not about to do it again." I snorted as I swatted away the older woman who was trying to measure my body.

"Oh darling, you refused, didn't you?" Hilda asked as she swiftly swung the measuring band around my chest and tightened it to a point where I could barely breathe.

"Refused? What? Fennir's ... oh." I felt my shoulders slump as I put the pieces together and realized what situation I had managed to get myself into.

"In my own experience, I find that it's just better to nod along and cooperate until you find a way out." Hilda hummed as she calmly wrapped the measuring band around my waist.

I furrowed my brows at Hilda. "In your own experience?"

"Oh yes, when I was a young woman, my parents told me that I was to marry this boy from another village I had never seen nor spoken to. At first I thought that it couldn't be as bad as I imagined it to be, but unfortunately, I was wrong. I despised him from the second he opened his mouth. Three failed attempts of escape later and a round of whipping, I found that it was just wiser to be silent and nod along. And that worked from the day we married to the day he died, and fortunately for me, he died on the battlefield about a week after the birth of our third child, ultimately freeing me and the children from his bad habits and atrocious behavior." Hilda smiled wistfully as she recounted the tale of her life, clearly over the moon to have gotten rid of her husband after such a short period of time.

I blinked rapidly as I processed Hilda's story. "But if you were put through nearly the same thing as me, then why won't you help me escape?"

Hilda stopped and met my gaze, her usually cheery eyes turning downcast as she knitted her brows together. "If I could, I would help you escape this Hel in a heartbeat, but it simply isn't possible. First of all, Midnatter is a small, flat and sparsely populated island, which makes hiding very difficult, second, Midnatter is also in the middle of nowhere and with all ships controlled by the Chief and his men, it's quite impossible to escape with any of those. And if you were thinking about swimming, the next Island isn't for another 80 miles."