Edenbridge

Chapter Eight

Kell awoke in a massive room, draped across a bed that had been elaborately decorated and smothered in pillows, sheets and silken blankets. Her head was buried in the pillows, her hair splayed about her face and onto the cushions next to her. All of the covers that were over her had been kicked off in the night and were now hanging over the edge of the bed, leaving Kell exposed.

One of the windows had been pushed open and a breeze travelled into the room, wrapping around Kell's body and making her shiver. Kell ignored the cold, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to grasp at the covers around her. She groaned, her head pounding and her body throbbing with pain and exhaustion.

Reluctantly sitting up, Kell lifted her shoulders and stretched her arms into the air, dropping them back to her side and blinking a few times to clear her vision. She furrowed her brow at once, not recognising the room that she was sat in.

The room that she woke up to was elegant and sleek, but it wasn't a room that Kell was familiar with. It was all painted a light cream with white cut-outs and coving. There were red accents dotted here and there, ranging from pillows and throws to paintings and furniture.

There was little of everything in the room. The bed was the largest piece of furniture sat in the room, alongside a desk, a trunk, a bookcase and a sideboard. To Kell's right was a door that led into a walk-in wardrobe with a bathroom attached to it, and to her left was a carved-out walkway that led to a different part of the large room.

Kell swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, peering around the corner and into what looked like an office. She pulled her eyes away from it, turning her attention to the window.' Kell plodded over to it and sat herself down on the seat shoved just in front of it, looking out to the beautiful landscapes that she was met with.

Somehow, Kell had been snatched away from Edenbridge and had been shoved elsewhere. She no longer felt as if there were any boundaries and that she could go anywhere, but that scared her. Kell remembered little of her journey to wherever she was, but what she did remember was having a swatch of fabric held over her face and how potent it smelt.

For some reason, Kell couldn't identify the smell of what had been held over her nose. She knew the smell of chloroform fondly, but that wasn't what she'd been drugged with. Kell could still smell traces of it when she breathed in, tasting it lingering in the back of her throat.

Kell took in a deep breath of the fresh air, sitting up straight and watching as life about the foreign place carried on as if nothing had happened.

The surrounding lands looked like something straight out of Italy. Kell could see a vineyard just beyond the sandstone walls that circled a courtyard. In the courtyard were nothing more than flowers and tall trees with fruits hanging from it.

Kell looked down and around the balcony that butted off of her office at the level below her, narrowing her eyes as she saw the men that took her from the greenhouse. They were both talking to one another calmly, their hands tucked into their pockets and their sunglasses covering the majority of their faces.

Kell sighed heavily and pushed herself away from the window, walking lazily around the room and running her fingers over the furniture. She came to a stop in front of a dresser, tipping her head to the side as her eyes fell onto a piece of paper taped to the mirror. Kell walked towards it and snatched it off, holding it both of her hands and looking down at it groggily.

Kell screwed up her face and narrowed her eyes, lying the paper down flat on the dresser and sitting on the chair tucked underneath it. She sat back, staring at the wall and trying to process what she had read.

The letter was from Dom and informed Kell that she was going to be married tomorrow and that her clothes had been hung up in the wardrobe. The letter stated that she would be collected from her room at ten o'clock sharply and was expected to be dressed as finely as possible. At the end of the letter, Dom welcomed Kell to the Family, signing his name in pretty italic writing.