Royal Pain ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Thirty-Five

''Where do you think the others went? Like... Millie, Josh and Rose? Silvia, Cami?'' Aiden had taken me down to the slave quarters that I had left behind what felt like a lifetime ago. There was surprisingly nobody else down here yet, making me wonder if maybe the routine of chores and tasks still continued for each and every one of them despite what we'd been through.

Which undoubtedly it had. None of them probably had the slightest idea about what had happened to us.

''I'm guessing they're being questioned as we speak. My parents won't let Silvia off easy at all, it's best you don't think about it.'' He'd collapsed back onto the sofa in the centre of the living space, his head held in his hands.

''Rose and Josh are being questioned too?'' I worried for them. For Rose, any questioning from vampires would involve a lot of compulsion.

''Josh will be let off easy. I can't vouch for Rose.'' His voice was muffled because of his hands. It disturbed me that all of this was having this effect on him. How was a mere human supposed to handle it?

''Great. Will they put me through that too?'' It was a selfish question, but I had to be prepared. God knows what sort of information they'd get out of me. It disturbed me that I actually had feelings that needed to be hidden.

''No, I won't let them.'' Aiden met my gaze, dropping his hands from his face, ''There are things that we both know nobody can find out about.'' His eyes were hard and serious, a sight that I wasn't accustomed to seeing.

I was silent for a heartbeat, allowing his words to process and hopefully suggesting to him that I wasn't stupid, there was no way that the others would find out from me. It would be a certain death-sentence for me, and shame Aiden.

Changing the subject, I spoke again, ''So, what happens now?'' I clasped my hands together nervously, thinking that nothing could go back to 'normal'.

''Well, we have to try and act as we would have before any of this happened,'' When I opened my mouth to interrupt him and voice my previous thoughts, he spoke over me, ''No matter how hard that is, we can't give them any reason to want to question you.''

-*-*-*-

Days passed by without incident. In fact, I had hardly seen Aiden since he'd told me to act as if nothing had ever happened. He had left shortly after uttering those words, leaving me to contemplate how any of this was even possible.

My chores had resumed, a distraction that I was extremely grateful for, despite it being relatively hard work. I'd even seen Cami around, although she seemed much more subdued and quiet after meeting with her sister. Silvia, on the other hand, had proved troublesome apparently when being questioned. Although, somehow she was following orders for the Royals and working alongside Cami from day to day, something she didn't seem too happy about.

Rose had returned to doing her chores too, sparing little time to tell me anything about what had happened during questioning. Seeing her traumatised features after she had come out of it, I could make a sure guess that it hadn't been fun.

The other slaves, though obviously curious, were keeping their distance from us all. A part of me assumed that they were too scared to ask in fear that one of the Royals would punish them for it. I was extremely relieved that none of them mentioned it considering my own thoughts were all over the place for the time being.

Preparing dinner seemed so relaxing when compared to the rebel camp mission. Cooking beside Celia for the High Royals was somewhat nostalgic despite it only having been a few weeks since we'd been in this position last.