Chapter Eight

DNLL 8

Zuri

"Get your hands off him, " one of the elders growled and Donavon smirked, and loosened his grip on the elder's neck before throwing him to the ground. 

"I tell you that the filthy tricks won't work on me, you deserve to be martial right," Donavon said, gripping the other man's shirt. 

He stared loathingly at the other men who shuddered from the intensity of his glare. 

Unable to breathe anymore, Donavon threw the man in his hands to the ground and strode away, stopping in front of me, he kicked the metal bucket I was cleaning with, splashing the foamy water in my eyes and the bucket hitting my calf. 

I seethed and moaned in pain, while he walked away without a care in the world. 

I blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall from my face and carried the pail away, leaving the almost dead men in the room to themselves.

"Maybe he deserved to not be saved last night, Maybe he deserved being usurped, after all when he was, I could be free from his slavery, "I muted To myself as I strode away to get another pail of water.

I went back to cleaning, just like I'd been assigned to, and with every move,l slid to the side to avoid being caught again by Donavon.

The rest of the day went as a blur, I hadn't cleaned so much in my life and although I was getting used to it, I couldn't describe the extreme tiredness I felt that day.

My body ached with all its might and each part of my body throbbed as if it were a life of its own.

I managed to drag my feet back to the maid's house and plopped to the ground in no time.

A little bit of sleep would do until it was found that I did anything wrong again.

"Zuri..." I heard my father's voice from the distance, and I opened my eyes groggily to look at his smiling figure From where he sat.

"Yes father," I smiled and trotted over to him, seeing the box in his hands.

"Did you get them," I asked and his eyes twinkled with happiness, as he nodded.

"I got the book and I made sure that they only had Happy endings," he said and dropped the box to the ground.

"How are you so sure that they have only a happy ending," I asked and sat next to him.

"Because I read every one of them, I wouldn't want you to cry so terribly as you did before when the man from your book died,". He said and we both burst out in laughter reminiscing the day that I refused to eat anything and only cried all day because the boy in my last book had died, I'd never seen my father as helpless as he was that day.

"I...I could ask the author to rewrite the book and give it a happy ending, Zuri, you trust your papa to do that right," he said and I nodded, still crying in his embrace.

"It is not going to be the same as the original," I burst out into tears while the man stood helpless, and sat beside me.

"It's okay," he cooed, running his hands through my hair, singing a lullaby to me until I fell asleep...

Tears trickled down from my face as opened my eyes slowly from my sleep.

Nothing had changed, I was still Donavon's captive, and for the umpteenth time, I wondered again if my papa was really what Donavon called him to be; a murderer.

The stifled tears of a woman from the distance broke me out from the train of my thoughts.

Two black hooded men dragged her, covering her mouth without a shield and she struggled to be freed.

I laid back down in no instant, closing my eyes to pretend I was still asleep.

If it were on any other day, I failed terribly at pretending to sleep or had never worked for anyone not even my father

"Mmm," one of the men holding the girl motioned to the other to nudge at me to see if I was sleeping or just pretending.

He kicked my back and I winced softly in pain, acting completely numb would mean I was pretending.

Moaning softly and shifting unconsciously to find a more comfortable place to sprawl down on, the men believed my pretense and carried the lady away.

"Let's go, she's Alpha Donavon's maid," the other muttered as they slapped the woman's body to unconsciousness.

She fell limp in their hands and was hurled away by them to wherever.

Now wasn't the time to play hero, I'd be killed and my body dumped in the waters behind the pack and except for my dearest Hart, no one would even think twice about my absence.

I laid back on the ground, waiting for the next action, if I stood up immediately after their absence, they would know that it was all just pretense and killing me in this dark night would be as easy as breathing.

Moments later, the men walked back to wherever they were coming from and spoke in a hushed tone to themselves, and from the corner of my eyes, I recognized the two men as the palace guards.

Donavon with his ego and proudness would never ask that anyone should be executed in the night and I knew for a doubt that the maid that was dragged away had his been unalived.

"We have to send a message to the elders that she has been executed," one of them said, standing akimbo to wipe off the perspired sweat from his face.

She was such a hassle to kill," the other replied and they both laughed.

...the elders, the girl...

My thoughts scrambled and I thought back to the girl Hart had hit to unconsciousness.

She was the one that was supposed to have been a trap for Donavon and since the plan hadn't worked out, they had her eliminated to keep their secret safe.