Ruthless

Chapter 8 - A Warm Welcome

"How about a ball, Dominic?" The King suggested. Dominic furrowed his eyebrows.

"This is the 24th century your highness, people don't enjoy balls nowadays. They like going to parties, drink excessively. Mate with eachother. Well I guess that hasn't changed." He said, feeling sorry for this day and age.

"Oh that's right." The King sighed and stood up, bourbon in hand. "Has Tristan found out what she enjoys? We need a way to lure her into the castle so we can lock her up." He mischievously grinned, meaning every word, no matter how playful they sounded. "Oh, wait... We already have her." He grinned even wider, turning to the couple sitting anxiously on the beige couch in the middle of the room. (I don't really know which room, this castle has a lot of big rooms let's just say it's the second biggest room. The largest being the King's bedroom... of course).

"She could wake up at any given moment now, sir." Dominic showed a hint of a smile and looked down. He was disappointed in his King. Dominic wished he could be a good man but that was the exact opposite of what King Gabriël was. The thousands of years he was on this wretched earth really took out the kindness in him.

Stellan and Debbie looked at each other. What were they to do now?

A knock was heard at the dark wooden door. They all turned to face the exit, where a young royal guard stood. He came in and his eyes immediately went to the king. Dominic could see he was very scared of the king. Of course he would be. Everyone knew how the king liked to imprison his servants who weren't loyal to him or didn't do things the way he wanted.

"She has woken up, your majesty." He said with wide eyes. Just a boy of 16... But Dominic knew this boy had been a boy of 16 for at least a 100 years.

 Everyone in the castle who knew who she was, was excited. Loud and rapidly beating hearts were all over the castle and the King could hear them all. It thrilled him. He was excited to get his life back and could not wait.

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"My head is spinning I don't understand. Just stop, Tristan!" Ruth cried. What was going on?

Trying to understand every word coming out of Tristan's mouth was the last thing she could concentrate on. He tried to explain to her why he abducted her like a crazy person but he kept apologising. Why was he talking so fast? What was he even explaining to her? Everything was turning and she felt like she could pass out again at any second.

Tristan's hands were visibly shaking, his eyes were red and watery and his skin was damp with sweat. But no one could feel worse than Ruth at this moment.

The room was cold and emotionless but it froze completely the moment the door creaked open and Ruth saw the king, accompanied by her parents. Her parents. What were they doing here? Did they come to get her back? The relief washing over her body was only temporarily as she saw the tears on her mother's face. She ran into her arms, ignoring the king's charming smile.

Tristan moved back a few steps, like he tried to act like he wasn't in the room. He crossed his arms over each other and couldn't help rub his hand over his stubble. He didn't make eye contact with the King.

"Mom, dad!" She lifted her head and looked both of them in the eyes. A chill running over Stellan's back, knowing what was about to happen. "You have no idea how good it is to see you guys." Newly formed tears spilled out of her eyes yet again. What the hell is happening?

"Stellan, Debbie... Why don't you two take place on the sofa so we can have a nice chat?" The King's prominent smile never faded.

Ruth took a look at his face and what she saw scared her. The man in front of her, in the grey suit was tall, taller than her father. (Who was already very tall). The smile on his face seemed genuine and nice but the pretentious look in his eyes gave his whole façade away. He came off as false.