The Prince's Choice (Book 3)

Chapter 7

Dinner is tense, to say the least. All the other girls keep glancing at us. Okay, they aren't glancing at us. It's more of glancing at me. Some of their gaze's hold curiosity, probably wondering why the heck I'm back at the palace. Other's, like Genesis, hold rage and anger. Either way, I hold my head high and smile politely at them all. I need to show them they don't intimidate me and I'm here to stay. 

The king and queen are a whole different story. They're whole body is rigid and they look almost like robots as they eat. They sneak glance's at each of as then at each other. 

I glance at the remaining girls and see them politely whispering among themselves. Sabrina, who sits beside me, try's joining in on their conversation's but eventually gives up.

"Hey," I bump her shoulder.

Her curls bounce as she turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow and a glare. 

"What?" she snaps and I furrow my eyebrows.

She mouths Sorry and I understand. The other girls don't know Sabrina isn't in the competition anymore. They don't know she isn't a Queen Butt anymore. They can't know about our relationship or that Sabrina's out of the competition. So in front of everyone else, we aren't friends. I'll treat her like I'm treating everyone else.

Everyone at the table is now looking at us. Of course, me saying something to my so called enemy would cause attention. Well, me saying anything at all would cause attention at this point. 

"I'm sorry for bothering you," I say, trying to maintain my smile.

She rolls her eyes and goes back to her food. I do the same and try to quickly finish. I don't want to be in this environment anymore. I bet once I get back to my room I'll have wrinkles from this experience.  When I'm finished, I walk out of the Eating Room, everyone's eyes trailing me. Once I'm out of there, I walk as fast as I can up the stairs, trying to make it to my room.

As I reach the second floor landing, a pair of rough hands grip both of mine from behind, fiercely locking them behind my back, and hauls me away from the staircase. My ankle twist under me and I hold back a yelp of pain. I struggle to turn around but this person is far to strong. I hear a door open and I'm thrown onto the ground, my dress hiking up to my knees. Light filters in to this little room through the light from the hallway. I try to turn around and see my kidnappers but that results in a foot to my gut. My breath whooshes out of my lungs and I struggle to breathe.

"Do with her as you please, Roger," Genesis voice says and the room goes dark.

 The only sound in the room me trying to regain my breath and the soft breathing of Roger. I can tell he stands above me and try to silently move away from him. The beads on my dress scrape on the floor making it impossible for me to be quite.

A hand shoots out and grips my arm, jerking me up. He squeezes my arm tightly and I know there will be bruises there later. Pain shoots throughout my ankle and I can feel that the heel is almost broken off. A light flicks on and I take advantage of this and try to see my attackers face. Unfortunately, the lights barely glowing yellow and his face is in the shadows. But I do see what he's wearing and that frightens me more than anything. The royal symbol stands out on his guards uniform making my heart jump to my throat.

What the heck is going on? Why in the world is this guy in this room with me? Is he going to kill me? I mean, that'd be a little extreme of Genesis but would she do that just to ensure the crown? 

Roger's hand moves from my arm to the small of my back. My skin crawls and I fight the urge to run away.

"Who told you you deserve this?" he whispers in my ear, gently taking the tiara headband off of my head.