Betrayed

☾Chapter Forty-Three☽

Vladimira's P.O.V

If I've been counting right, we've been here for a total of three days, and there's been no sign of rescue. According to my father, it's four since I was unconscious all of the first day.

He hasn't shown any signs of wanting to rip everyone's head off, instead, he's quiet—that's still not a good sign either.

There's this look in his eyes, as if he's disturbed deeply by something, but I'm hesitant to ask him about what's plaguing his mind.

Which is surprising since sitting in a room with only him to talk to has opened doors in our relationship.

Mostly because he's had to calm me down every time the thought of Aaron entered my mind. It sets me off.

My breasts ache horribly at the thought of him too. What kind of milk are they feeding him? It should be mine because I so desperately just want to remove the "weight" of it off my chest.

I had told my father of my need to breastfeed. He responded as if it was an everyday thing we talked about.

"Vladimira, did he hurt you?" My father's voice breaks through my frantic thoughts, jolting me back to reality.

I shake my head.

Quite the opposite actually. It seemed as if he truly cared for me when I was in Galveston, but it might have just been a facade he put on to lure me into his trap.

My father nods slowly but doesn't say anything else. The look returns to his eyes almost immediately, and once again, he's back to studying the ground, lost in his thoughts.

"What are you think about?" I ask quickly, hoping that if I slide the question in without too much hesitation, he'll answer truthfully.

He doesn't look up. "It's the same thing I've been feeling for the past month or so. Something's off, and it's making Xavier uneasy," He answers distractedly.

Glancing around the room, I laugh. "This isn't what's making you feel thrown off?" I motion around me.

His face scrunches up. "Well, Vladimira, I always feel 'off' because there's always some sort of crisis in the kingdom. I can't explain this feeling... it's like the something that's off is within... me," He pauses and looks me in the eyes. "Plus, whenever something is off in the kingdom, Xavier just tells me. He doesn't, however, try to take control by force and find the source of the problem."

I tilt my head, confused. "Is it a good or bad feeling?" I ask.

"Borderline. It leans more towards good sometimes though." He sighs. "I have no idea what it could possibly be," He says as if he knows I'm about to ask that.

My stomach clenches in hunger. "The food does nothing for me," I change the subject easily.

"You're not wrong," He says in agreement. "Silver really drains the energy from your body."

The smell of burnt flesh had become bearable during these past few days. My father somehow acts as if he has felt worse pain, and I have no doubt that he has after hearing about his childhood.

His father had abused him since the age of six until the age of fifteen. He has various scars to show he isn't lying. Nikolai also abused my grandmother, but not nearly as bad as my father.

My grandmother loved nature—she still does. To get away from Nikolai, she escaped to her garden that she tended to when her duties of being a wife and a mother had been completed.