The Spoils of War (COMPLETED)

First Night

Jasmine followed Alaric back to the inner parts of the castle at what seemed like a high-speed chase. Her feet ached at his ruthless stride, but still, she did not complain or ask him to slow down. He was royalty and she had an underlining fear that he would exact his revenge for her falling on him. Part of her wanted to believe he wasn't like her fears though...wanted to believe he was kind and magnanimous. After all, they had just shared the kind of conversation that made them feel connected.

Alaric was too excited about her agreement to even think about how his pace could be affecting the other party. He just knew that he wanted to get back and talk to her about anything and everything, what they had shared earlier was barely enough to whet his appetite. He wanted to know how she had ended up in the position of working with Alistar, who those men she was running from were, and how he could find them and punish them. He wanted to know everything about her, even the smallest of details would be welcome, but he would wait until she was ready to tell him on her own taking anything she was willing to give.

"I should inform the servants that they need to take care of you. Oh, if you aren't too tired I could give you a tour, or we could just sit in the parlor and chat? I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable..." Alaric's words trailed off and Jasmine glanced at him catching the red tint on his cheeks and ears.

He was so cute and innocent looking at that moment that the breath almost left her. Almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind she wanted to chastity herself. He is a prince and she is someone who can't even tell her name proudly anymore, a nobody in the eyes of society.

...

After hours of chatting about nothing at all jasmine found herself sinking into probably the softest bed of her life. Her body and mind were tired and soon she found herself succumbing to sleep.

When she opened her eyes she was back in that small closet of a room at the Wright's. She could hear voices outside discussing what to do with her, each suggestion worse than the last.

"Why don't we just poison her?"

"No then what if she doesn't eat what we gave her? Let's send her to a dangerous part of town and let someone else take care of the problem."

"What if we can slip her an aphrodisiac and send her to the young master. A slut like her deserves what he would do."

"Angela you know that Daisy killed herself after a night with him."

"Exactly."

The voices faded away and the scene changed. A servant directly below the young master walked up to her giving her a once over. "Barely passable, but who am I to disagree. You are to be scrubbed clean and present yourself in front of the young master tonight. Do not be late." With those words, she felt her blood freeze. It was the same words she had heard right before she escaped.

She tried to speak, to tell him that she would rather die than serve that swine but no words came out.

Once again the scene changed, but this time she was in the inn that the men had carried her to. She felt her body move on its own as she once again checked for a way out, noting that this time the window was locked.

She felt her heart thud rapidly against her chest as if it wanted to break free. Her vision was starting to turn dark as the men opened the door and gave her a lecherous grin. She saw their mouths moving but couldn't hear anything. Still, their words echoed in her mind. She refused to be the young master's plaything and she refused to be touched by these vile men. With a scream, she flung herself at the locked window, but instead of glass cutting into her skin, she felt arms wrapped around her tightly. The panic surged back and she fought to throw off the arms, kicking and scratching with everything that she had.

"Shhhh I got you, you are safe. I won't let anything hurt you again. I'm right here." The words were soft but spoken with an underlying hint of pain. Jasmine stopped moving almost abruptly, recognizing the voice as Alaric's and not those of her attackers. She looked up slowly meeting his eyes in the dark. Through the window, a sliver of moonlight highlighted the scratch on his face that had a bead of blood slipping from it.

Tears welled to her eyes, but she did not want to show him any more weakness than she just had. It had been a while since she had nightmares, feeling safe surrounded by those she worked with. She looked away from Alaric not wanting to see pity in his eyes.

"Was it those men you were running from when I saw you before?" His words were venom, surprising her enough to look at him. She saw none of the pity she had expected to see. Only anger and...sadness. "I will find them and punish them to the full extent of our law... Or maybe just make them disappear from this world completely."

"You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine after I calm down." Jasmine tried to push his arms off of her and create distance. She felt embarrassed, but she also felt warm because of the care he was showing and wanted to run away from it.

Alaric only tightened his arms. "Please don't push me away. I know we haven't known each other long and I can't imagine what you went through, but let me help you. Let me help you, even if that is just finding closure so that you can sleep better at night."

She didn't know why she did it but she found herself nodding. So that she could hide the pink that had filled her cheeks she buried her face into his chest. That is how the maids found them the next morning, propped against one another and deeply asleep.