CHAPTER 53
BRIANNA’S POV
I meant every bit of everything I said to Sebastian minutes ago. It was for the best. It was the right choice. Even though it did hurt me a bit. I won’t deny I was having feelings for him. But I have to cage and bury those feelings deep inside me for good before they burst out and I end up regretting. I couldn’t have him falling in love with me when our love seemed impossible. When my past was still haunting me. When his wife had her grip tight on my neck. I just couldn’t let him.
After hearing his reason for not letting me leave, I felt lost. I didn’t know how to react or what to believe. Or what to think. It was all too overwhelming for me. Could he be telling me the truth, or was he just making it all up to keep me here? But he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would lie for his benefit. He was more than that.
I paced back and forth inside the cell, like a mad scientist. I groaned, clenching my teeth until my jaw started to ache. I ran my fingers through my dishevelled hair, making it even messier, and the salty taste of my tears filled my mouth. My constant sobs had blocked my nostrils, and I struggled with thick phlegm that was accumulating and preventing my airflow.
I stifled in a phlegm-filled sob just in time for the entrance door to squeak and push open. I froze as it did. It must be Catherine. She must have known by now that I was still in the castle. She will be shocked and angry to the core to know that I didn’t leave the castle last night. But it wasn’t my fault. Her protective husband wouldn’t let me.
A feminine figure in a knee-length black dress with a white apron tied around her waist and a neatly arranged white lace headpiece entered. I breathed out in huge relief, knowing it was Amelia. She was carrying a tray laden with food and a pack of medication.
“Ohhh…Brianna,” she voiced as she hastened to me, careful not to let the food and medication packet topple and fall, her large green eyes growing larger with intense emotions.
As she approached, she carefully placed the tray on the floor beside the cell where I could easily reach out and take whatever I wanted since there were no tables or stools to keep the food on.
“What have you done, Brianna?” She asked with a concerned expression, reaching out to take my hands from the bars. “Alpha Sebastian said you tried to escape yesterday night…why…why would you want to escape?”
I pressed my lips together, my gaze drifting elsewhere as I debated whether to tell her the truth or not. I didn’t know how she’d see it. Or what she’ll think.
“Brianna,” she pulled me closer, ensuring our eyes met. “You can share with me. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” She used her index finger to draw an X over her heart, a gesture I found a bit childish and unnecessary. “You don’t like it here anymore?”
“It’s not that,” I huffed out heavily, finally deciding to tell her. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed. But Luna Catherine doesn’t like me. Ever since I stepped foot into this castle, she has treated me like I’m…like I’m a threat. She thinks I’m sleeping with Alpha Sebastian. That I’m here to ruin her marriage and take her position as the Luna…”
Amelia cut me off with a gasp, intense astonishment hitting her face.
“Is that why she hit you across the face with her purse and spilt that coffee on you and also made you do more chores even in your sick state?” she blurted out, her eyes growing wider and appearing brighter.
“Yes,” I nodded, my head slumping to my chest.
“And is that the reason you wanted to leave?” She asked again, her tone calm but with emphasis.
“Yes, and I know they’ve been fighting because of me, Amelia,” I confessed, gripping her hands tightly. “Believe me, Amelia, I don’t want to ruin their marriage. They’ve been together for years and have built a strong relationship. I don’t want to be seen as the maid who came and took Luna Catherine’s position. But she doesn’t see it that way. She never will,” I sighed, my voice lowering. “To avoid trouble, that’s why I decided to leave this place for good.”
“Of course, I believe you,” she said with the thrust of her chin. But then sighed heavily. “But Luna Catherine surely won’t. I have known her long enough to know that she can be very difficult and protective and doesn’t like it when someone meddles in her business.”
“But have you told Alpha Sebastian that’s the reason you wanted to leave?” she asked suddenly as though an idea just popped up in her head.
“No… Yes… No,” I mumbled, my grip loosening. I walked away from her, turning my back, and gazing away. I wasn’t sure of what to answer.
After Catherine burst in on us on the bed the day I collapsed due to my headache, he promised to tell her it wasn’t what she was thinking. But I was sure he didn’t explain anything to her. If he did, then she shouldn’t be treated the way she was.
“If you didn’t tell him then you have to do it right away,” Amelia stressed more.
“There is no need for that,” I replied, turning and nearly snapping at her. She flinched in surprise, causing her grip on the bar to slip.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, seeing how frightened I made her. I stepped closer to the bars. “Whether I tell him or not… it still won’t make any difference. The best thing to do is to leave this place for good. But due to some bullshit reasons he mentioned, I…I can’t. I'll be stuck in here forever. Like in when I was in Hermes’s fucking hellhole of a castle,” I finished in a low defeated voice, resisting the urge to break down in another round of tears. I had cried too much already. And wasn’t sure if there were any more tears left for my eyes to release.
“I don’t know much about the slave auction,” she said. “But the little I know is that once you’re bought, you’re forever bound to your master till death. And if you try to escape you’ll be punished and the Alpha king stripped of his position.”
Hearing that made my spirit sink lower, the tears I was fighting hard to contain now seeping out. Slowly, I turned my back against the bar and slumped down in despair. Why would the Alpha Kings make such a shitty rule? Why did they even begin the Omega slave auction in the first place? I cursed the day I followed Hermes to his castle. If only I had known… all these won’t be happening. I grazed my lip almost painfully with my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut till they ached, the tears forcing themselves out the more.
“If those are the reasons he mentioned,” Amelia’s warm breath fanned the side of my neck as she lowered to my level. “Then I’m afraid he is telling you the truth,” she placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Alpha Sebastian is not a bad person. Trust me, I have known him long enough to attribute to that. The sooner you tell him the reason you wanted to leave and he sorts it out with Luna Catherine, the earlier you can get out of this cell,” she reached for my hand and pressed it tighter than before. “Please tell him. I don’t like seeing you like this and in this place. You don’t belong here at all—”
The squeak of the door startled me, causing Amelia to leave my hand and me to stand in an instant to see who it was.
Catherine entered, her features contorted with anger and a sneer. She seemed recently awakened. I could tell because she was without makeup and was wearing a midnight blue satin nightgown. But what caught my attention the most was the thick bandage wrapped around her left wrist.