Married to the Prince of Darkness (COMPLETED)

Chapter 17

I came away from the ice cream parlour with a renewed sense of purpose. Henrietta had revealed to me that there was a way to block Luc from my mind, and if I could block him out then I might be able to escape the fate that he had planned for me. I walked back to my dorm hall with Jacques who was unusually sombre. He spoke little about our planned secret trip to Port Cressida and advised me not to think too much about it until Henrietta had taught me the mind block.

Frustrated by his lack of enthusiasm I asked him, “Why are you so against this Jacques?”

Jacques slowed and replied, “I just think this is a bad idea.”

“Will you tell Luc?” I questioned.

Jacques bowed his head and said, “No- when I said that I would be your friend I meant it … even if it means going against His Royal Pain-in-the-Ass.”

I bumped my shoulder affectionately against his and said with a smile, “Thank you.”

Jacques looked down at me and stilled, “For that smile, maybe the hell which will inevitably follow will be worth it,” He said.

We arrived at my dorm hall shortly after the sun had set. The setting of the sun had become a mixed blessing. I enjoyed not having to deal with the punishing glare of natural sun light, but I did not enjoy the migraine inducing glare of fluorescent strip lights that filled the campus buildings with light after dark.

I looked up at the building and felt sick. I knew that I would have to walk through the communal area and up several flights of stairs before I got to my bedroom. The thought of having to face the students who had seen Jack call me a ‘dirty whore’ filled me with cold anxiety.

Jacques hovered several feet from the entrance of the hall, he his head turned away from the glass doors and the bright lights that shone through them. Looking to me he asked, “Do you need me to walk you to your room.”

I shook my head, “No I got this,” I said quickly.

I did not want Jacques walking me to my bedroom. Goodness only knows what people would say if they saw me with another man who was not Jack or Luc.

Jacques leaned in and gave me a quick hug, “I promise you Mia, things will get better,” He whispered in my ear.

I thanked him and walked into the foyer of my dorm hall. It was early evening and students were filtering back into the dormitories from their lectures. After today’s dramatic events I did my best to keep my head down and keep moving. As I was jogging up several flights of stairs something happened, a voice called out to me.

“So is it true?” Laura Taylor’s echoed up the stair well.

I stopped dead and turned to face Laura and her groupies staring up at me from the flight of stairs below. They must have been waiting for me on this level to rub salt into the wound. I felt my heart sink as I realized that I would have to face them.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I shrugged half hoping they would drop the subject.

Laura smirked and said, “Jack has been telling everyone about your little secret to academic success.”

“Jack is delusional,” I replied flatly.

“Oh I would not call Jack delusional. We have all noticed the way that stand-in tutor looks at you,” She replied.

“Then you are imagining things,” I said.

“So the entire college campus is under one mass delusion?” Laura enquired sceptically.

“Small minds have a tendency to believe in tittle tattle and create drama out of thin air,” I retorted.

Laura’s eyes hardened and a cruel smile spread across her face. Her friends behind her began to whisper excitedly, and watched in glee as Laura dropped a bombshell on me.