Gryphon's Glenn

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT
Helena awoke standing outside. She hadn't walked in her sleep since she was a small child, when the King had first taken her in. He'd said it was the trauma causing her body to journey as she slept, and after a couple of years in the safety of the castle, it had stopped.

She remembered her early childhood only in brief flashes now. She'd been four years old when the King rescued her, but prior to that, she had been treated as a slave by her father. From what she'd been told, Helena's mother had been a lovely, kind woman. She was a powerful sorceress who was killed the night of the storm that had forever changed the Kingdom. It seemed she'd tried to calm the storm, as causing them had been one of her powers. Helena had been with her.

They'd found her afterward, snuggled safely in the arms of her dead mother. She'd used her own body to protect Helena from harm. Helena told people her mother had been hurt trying to "stop the monster," but she had no memory of this. As she was a toddler, the people had dismissed her version of events as a small child trying to comprehend witnessing her mother's death. She'd been returned to her father.

Helena's earliest memories were from about a year later. Her father had turned her into a servant. He was physically and emotionally abusive, and when Helena was far too young to understand what was happening, he had used her to satisfy his needs. Unfortunately, she could still remember those nights, when she was terrified and trapped alone with a monster who was supposed to love her.

One day, after her father beat her savagely in a public square for dropping a bag of liquor that was too heavy for her, he'd brought her home and hurt her so severely, she'd believed she would die. Just when the pain was at its worst, he'd been ripped off of her. Stunned, Helena had looked up to see the King. He was the first person who'd ever helped her, and that cemented her loyalty for eternity.

She'd been terrified, but the King had gently coaxed her into his arms. He'd cleaned her up, dressed her, and taken her into his home. No longer did she live in a filthy house she was expected to clean where her only caregiver harmed her in the worst ways possible. Instead, she was cherished and protected. The King nurtured her and cared for her as if she were his own. The Queen, who'd lost her own children, doted on her and helped her understand that she was finally safe. Helena was happy.

When Princess Taylee was born, Helena spent less and less time with Queen Bethany. Instead, she was trained by Emily, Holly Lynn's mother. When Holly Lynn was born, she'd expected to be rejected again, but Emily made time for them both. Holly Lynn became like a younger sister to her. They remained close until Emily died when Holly Lynn was seven and Helena was thirteen. The only maternal figure Helena had left after that was Marta, who she wasn't allowed to spend as much time with. She liked and respected Marta, but she understood she was an extremely busy woman. It was the King who loved and cared for her. He took over all of her training as a Sorceress, giving her Emily's official position in the Kingdom, which had once belonged to the infamous Serenity. The King was the only one who genuinely cared for her and helped her grow. He was the reason she had so much power, and she owed him everything.

He has my gratitude, my body, and my heart, Helena vowed. He'd had two of the three since she was four years old, so when he'd begun looking at her with desire, Helena had believed it was natural that she tend to his needs whenever the mood struck him. She knew he did not love the Queen, and although it was wrong to share a married man's bed, she desperately wanted to please him. If that meant giving him her body as well as her loyalty, then so be it.

Helena looked around and suddenly realized where she'd woken up. "This place again?" She mumbled. She stood outside of the old tower. The King would be cross with her if he discovered her there, yet Helena desperately wanted to understand what force kept leading her to the mysterious tower. She took a deep breath before reaching toward the door.