Royal Rebellion ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Four

''I am Frederick Richardson.'' A voice broke the silence, echoing around the room ominously as the hungry faces looked on at the stage.

The boy was young, a stab of tension branching through my head at the reality of the situation. The headache was long overdue, but the short, innocent boy on stage brought forth a protectiveness within me.

I noticed Aiden shake his head in my peripheral vision. He was watching my reaction, warning me not to create a scene and I knew holding myself back would be hard. Despite being a reasonably quiet and shy girl, I'd noticed that the more time I spent around the vampires, the quicker my anger seeped through.

The bidding started off small, vampires shouting out numbers that became increasingly higher overtime. It was worrying to think about what these vampires had in mind when they saw a boy this age, sick thoughts that my mind didn't even want to begin to explore.

The voices became fewer and far between as they reached the higher prices. Eventually though, a female vampire shouted the final bid, glee lighting up her features as the realisation that she had won dawned on her. The poor boy's face on stage dropped noticeably, and I didn't blame him considering what the vampire could now do to him.

After the first, others came pouring in one by one. Time dragged by, torturing me as I watched each and every human face fall at the dread that manifested due to their new future. It was worse to have to stand idle through it all, knowing I couldn't act.

But Aiden could.

Yet, he watched on without even a glance in my direction. I began to realise that the previous plan of doing something to stop this auction was failing miserably. It hadn't even been thought out in the first place, and once again Aiden's confidence had given way to foolishness.

My eyes fell back towards the stage, an ache beginning to form in my legs due to how long I must have been standing there. A girl was stood in the centre of the raised platform, her wavy blonde hair just reaching her shoulders, thin lips pursed tightly together.

She was short, an obvious sign of her age. But, her demeanour was strong, much like I imagined mine to have been hopefully. Seeing it on her made me proud, despite my not knowing her it was as if she represented the determination all humans must be able to muster in this situation.

''I'm Hazel Leonard.'' Her high-pitched voice carried towards the back of the room, earning a few pleased murmurs among the crowd.

I couldn't face the expressions of the vampires, probably mostly displaying a deep desire. My eyes instead found themselves focused on Aiden whose own eyes were narrowed. He must have felt my level gaze, his eyes slowly turning to catch mine as I pleaded silently for him to take some kind of action.

A look of resignation overcame his features as he slowly stood. A hush fell over the crowd as all of the bidding stopped, the movement from the Prince causing a fresh wave of tension, ''£5000.'' Aiden stated, the familiar authority and arrogance showing through as his lips tugged up at the corner.

It took all of my willpower not to allow my jaw to drop. It was an astounding amount of money to spend at an auction, the other vampires obviously having the same thoughts as they stared dumbfounded at the Prince.

I couldn't help but let my eyes drift to watch the Queen. She looked calculating, her eyes zeroed in on her son as he stood above the rest of the vampires.

''Sold.'' A voice stated with no room for argument. It wasn't much of a surprise considering the other vampires would probably never spend that amount of money on a young girl.