6.

AMBER CAMPBELL.

I watched with blurry vision as Agatha walked away from me, laughing maniacally at her achievement to get me immobilized while still exercising her power.

Helping myself up even though it felt like I was going to fall right back down, I bit my tongue so hard that I could taste my own blood and could feel it taking over my mouth.

Sickened and with my spirits sunken even lower and my body achy all over, I dragged myself to the kitchen because as much as I wanted to be defiant, I didn’t want to put myself through any of this anymore for today.

I’ll just bury myself in my chores like I usually do.

My face was still swollen, sore and it hurts but I managed to keep all of the pain swept under the rug as I focused on the chore I needed to do and it didn’t take long for me to finish with the main building before making my way to the kitchen.

There were heaps of dishes that I needed to wash and coupled with the pain that I was still feeling because my body was taking its sweet time to heal, I was slow.

Humming to myself as I got engrossed with the dishes I was washing, singing was one of the ways I felt I could escape from reality. Music has helped me in so many ways and even right now, my mind was off the unbearable pain coursing through me.

Sighing, I wiped off the sweats that had clustered around my forehead and let out a sigh as I cleaned the sink and just when I thought I was done, I turned around to see that the floor I’d taken my time to mop, and the table I’d carefully cleaned were now filthy.

What? How did this—

“Did you think you were done?” One of Agatha’s minions said and anger settled in my stomach as my teeth gritted and my fist clenched.

“Look at what you cleaned, everything is still as filthy as ever,” she added with contempt as she acted as if she was on the verge of vomiting and my chest heaved as I glared at her.

I did nothing to hide the anger in my eyes and made sure that my hostile glare conveyed my rage fully well.

Trying to swallow down my frustration and anger, she made it difficult for me with the sound of her laughter echoing in the kitchen and fury slowly began to overcome me.

“Why are you glaring at me?!” She demanded, snarling at me like she was some sort of wild animal but I didn’t say anything, the remnant of what Agatha had done to me a few hours ago was enough trouble for me to deal with and now this?

Another loud shattering sound got my attention and my eyes widened when I saw that one of the lady’s favorite plate was scattered on the ground.

“No. No. This can’t happen, how did this happen?” My eyes were wide with terror and the thought of what was going to happen to me if Mara found out about this made tears immediately well up in my eyes.

I had no idea I’d been surrounded until I heard a loud laughter and I lifted my gaze to see some group of girls standing around me with the most dangerous look in their eyes.

They did this. I’m sure.

“Now you’re going to be in more trouble than the one you got out of.” One of them laughed and my stomach clenched tight as I tried to pick up the shards but with my shaky hands, I ended up hurting myself.

“Okay, now you’re just being disgusting with your blood spilling everywhere.” Another of the girls retched as she kicked me until my body was pressed into the shards of broken glass.

My eyes closed as I tried to tamp down my anger because standing up to all of them at once would do more harm than good to me.

I’ll be at a huge disadvantage if I ever thought about fighting back, “Stupid Freak!” The first girl that came in the kitchen bellowed and I shivered.

“I mean, why are you still alive when everyone you associate yourself with, you bring them nothing but bad luck.”

“Your mother died because of you and only the goddess knows where your wretched father is.”

“You should just go back to your room and kill your useless self, no one would miss you.”

“Freak.”

“Witch. Filthy dog.”

Their words tore at me and I could feel the sting from their venomous lashes but there was nothing I could do as I focused on cleaning up the broken plate.

“Stupid thing!” Agatha’s minion jibed at me as she kicked me again and it wasn’t until then that I realized just how hard I was hanging on to life.

Why am I not dead now? Why am I still alive?

All my life, I’ve been doing nothing but desperately trying to live to see the next day because I always held out hope that Mara and Daniel would let me go but I was wrong.

They didn’t let me go and so there’s nothing to look forward to but yet, I haven’t found it in me to give up on life yet, I haven’t found it in me to let go of the thread I was hanging onto.

“You deserve hell and you’re going to get it.” Another of the girls grunted and I watched as they all walked away through the veil that my blood and tears had made on my eyes.

My life has always been hell but ever since what happened last night, the fire of the hell I live in seems to burn even hotter. Everything seemed to intensify.

The brothers. It has to be them. I’ll never forgive them.

Having no other choice and making peace with the fact that I’ve always been so pathetic that I don’t want to die, I continued with my chore as sluggishly as I could and after hours, I was done.

My stomach growled again, hunger pang biting at my stomach but not only was it late now, I was also too tired to go back to the kitchen for my portion.

I shivered, my teeth clattering as I made my way to the maid’s quarters but still, I could barely walk and even though I knew how close the quarter was, it felt so far away.

My day had three whole days of hell infused into it and I knew that the quadruplets were definitely involved. They were the one who ordered the maids to make my life more of a living hell like the hell I went through wasn’t enough.

I had no idea what ended their meeting but I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me that they were trying to use force so that I would have no other choice but to accept them.

“Amber?!” A familiar voice called my name and I stopped in my tracks as cold chills ran down my spine and the chill spread across my entire body.

The tenderness of that voice was unfamiliar, hearing my name like that sent a tingling sensation surging through me and I hated it.

Turning to look at which of the brothers had called my name, I looked at Reid with lazy eyes and I watched as his eyes slowly grew wide with underlying anger.

The fucking audacity to look so shocked.

Faster than my eyes could catch, Reid rushed towards me and just when he was about to touch me, I instinctively moved away from him.

I’d rather die than have his filthy hands on me.

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” I forced the words out of my mouth carefully, one after the other as I fought against the pull. I knew what would happen if I let him touch me and I hate it.

I hate that I have no power against this stupid matebond.

“Who did this to you?” He asked in a disturbingly low tone, his eyes brimming with anger and flaming with rage as he looked up at me.

“It’s none of your business.” I muttered a reply as I turned to continue my walk to my room. I just need to make it there, I just need to lay on my bed and rest for a while.

I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. My spirit might be broken but I know I’ll find a way through all of this.

“IT IS MY BUSINESS!” Reid yelled, making me stop in my tracks, his voice was thunderous and it echoed more times in my head than I cared to admit.

I turned to look at Reid and what I saw when I looked into his eyes chilled me to my bones. His eyes were glowing with fury and it was so scary that it sent chills down my spine.

“I won’t ask you one more time, Amber, WHO. THE. FUCK. DID. THIS. TO. YOU?” Each of his words were punctuated by the gritting of his teeth after each word.

Does he really not know? Also, why does he even care?

“Again, it’s none of your fucking business!” I spat, “and I don’t know what game you’re trying to play but I will never accept any of you as my mate.”

“Not even over my dead body will I agree to this stupid matebond and with that said, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!” I retorted, desperate to not let him in.

I turned to leave, attempting to run but that was my own undoing. My legs could barely move as I stood impaled to the spot while everything before me seemed all jumbled up.

My heart raced and my pulse pounded, I couldn’t see properly and no matter how hard I tried it still looked like I was standing upside down.

What is this? What is happening to me?

Anxiety cooled my thoughts and fear swept through me as I tried to move but it felt like there was a force holding my legs down, making it impossible to move.

I couldn’t move.

“H— Help. Someone. Help me.”