KIERANThe palace was very lively. Workers moved in and out as everyone hurried to put in the last touches on their assigned tasks for the main event.The ball was tomorrow and try as I may, I couldn't get my mind off it. I knew I would finally get to meet the angel I met in the market a couple of days ago and then —maybe I would be lucky to find the one person that could give me the pleasure I craved for."What can a man do to have a smile as bright as yours?" Erik's voice drove me back to reality and I stared at him from my seat in the throne room."Erik, I thought you were out of town for a few days?" I asked him "Oh, one of my wives fell ill, I had to come to take care of her. So are we still doing this because of that strange maiden in the market or is it something else?" Erik asked and from the corner of my eyes, I could see my father straining his ears to pick up my answer to the question."Erik can you at least try to keep your voice down?" I whispered hoping my father woul
ELLAIt's finally the big day —the day of the ball."Cinderella!" My stepmother screamed as I scurried through the cottage with a large pile of hats in my hands."Yes, mama!" I responded my voice sounding muffled under the pile that threatened to push me over."Where are the hats!?" She screamed even louder, thankfully I was already in her room."It's right here, mama!" I replied dumping them on the bed for her to choose.She held the first one with two of her fingers, making sure her hand didn't brush it."Good. You may leave, " she said dismissing me with a wave of her free hand as she started testing the pile of hats on the bed like they had worms attached to it.I had to run into the basement searching for all the hats I could find only for her to go through the pile like she didn't need them. I could have protested if I wanted trouble. But I needed to be on my best behavior so she would take me with her to the as she had promised."Thank you, mama, " I whispered as I ran out of h
ELLAMy stepmother drew closer and stopped right in front of me. She started going around me, circling me like a predator.My heart was beating so loud, that it almost flew out of my chest."What do we have here, " she whispered to herself and I held my breath."Cinderella, isn't this the bedspread I asked you to thrash last season?"This time, my heart stopped.But before I could answer, I heard the sound of tearing fabric and I looked around me wondering where it came from until I saw a large piece of my dress in her hands."You never trashed it, did you?"Again, she tore through another piece and my dead heart went with it."Mama, what are you doing?" I whimpered as I tried to protect my dress."I am doing what I should have done long ago!"She started tearing out my dress from my body bits by bits."Mama, please stop!" I begged as tears spilled from my eyes but everything I said fell on deaf ears.I fell to the floor in tears and she continued to tear through the pieces till I was
KIERANErik was pacing around on the high table as he moved up and down checking the entrance. I narrowed my eyes at him and signaled for him to come to me."Why are you so restless?" I asked him.His eyes enlarged in shock as if I asked the dumbest question. "How can you ask me that?""What?" I shrugged utterly confused at what he was trying to implyHe slapped a hand to his face and turned to stare me straight in the eyes. "I am waiting for your special maiden to arrive! I have to be on alert! Other lords might get her before we do!"I released a laugh, causing other lords at the table to stare our way."What makes you think that? I have the right to make the first choice before any of these blokes!" I whispered and Erik smirked "I still have to be on alert!" He said and walked back to his position.I laughed and settled back in my seat.A lot of maidens had dropped in and I have even danced with a few but none was the maiden from the market.They were all beautiful but none affect
ELLAI got to the ball in good time, I was afraid I might have missed all the good people but it seemed to just be starting as I got there. My prayer was that I could find at least one good man that could take me away from my misery but I got much more than I planned.The moment I stepped into the ballroom everyone turned to stare at me. Even the music stopped and I wanted to drop my head and hide but my fairy godmother's teachings came to me. I held my head up high and moved around like I wasn't the one they were staring at.I noticed the maidens were all moving in one direction and I wanted to join them but as I made to turn, I saw Giselle and Anastasia at the forefront."I would rather try my luck on the other side of the room, " I whispered to myself as I started for the opposite end of the room."And where is such a beautiful maiden going to?"A deep voice that sounded very familiar spoke from behind me and I turned to look at who had spoken."Hello, I am lord Erik, you must have
ELLAI felt butterflies deep down my stomach as it flipped with excitement at his words."I have found you, Ella," he whispered again.Kieran offered me his hand and he led me to the bed. I was tensed up but I didn't let it show. I calmed myself by focusing my attention on the bridge of his nose but my traitorous sight moved down to his lips and that was when I lost my resolve.How could one man be this handsome? - and to think he wanted me."I have searched everywhere for that one woman who would make my heart beat at the mere sight of her... " He held my hand and I felt the sizzling sensation again.I couldn't believe what he was saying. He wanted me, -an orphan. An ordinary girl from the village.My heart thumped so loud I was afraid he would hear it and think I had a medical condition. Tonight I wanted to pretend I was this important lady that could marry a prince.I locked eyes with him. I got pulled into his orbs and slowly we moved closer and closer. The distance between us wa
ELLAThe ball had come to an end and everyone slowly trooped out. I was outside, checking the carriages as they carried each maiden away. I still hoped I could find her or a sign of her aside from the silk panties I clutched in my hands. It was the only piece of her that proved her existence. I stayed outside till all the palace grounds were empty.There was no sign of Ella.She was gone.My heart clenched in pain as I looked on helplessly. She was so close to me, I was so close to tasting her and-"Kieran, you need to come back inside. She isn't out here," Erik said walking up to me."She is in this kingdom somewhere. I just have to find her..." I said lost in my pain.She had to be. She didn't sound like someone that came from the neighboring kingdoms. Plus she confessed to seeing me in the market the other day. She couldn't be coming all the way from a far place to shop in my kingdom. She was close. I could feel it.Erik could see the pain in my heart. He walked closer to where I s
ELLA:As I returned to my room, I could still feel my stepmother's eyes burn my back but I kept my focus straight, I refused to let it falter. I would die first before I admitted to being the maiden at the ball.I got to my room and closed the door, taking a deep breath to calm my raising heart.Kieran gave me a memory I would never trade. I would never have him because I was only a slave while he was a prince, but the time we spent together was forever engraved in my heart. I would forever dance to the beat of his heart as he kissed me. I held my lips and unconsciously moved to a song I hummed to myself. Kudo and Ricky watched me move around the room and they stared at one another in confusion.They probably didn't remember but I did. Within this room, I was the maiden at the ball and no one could change that. I fell to the bed in excitement allowing sleep to finally take over my aching legs.In my dreams that night, I took myself back to the ball. I allowed myself to relive every mo
“Mish! Get your ass down, dinner is ready,” my younger sister, Evelyn, shouted from downstairs. I came back from school three hours ago and I’ve been on my bed sulking and constantly resisting the urge to scream at the top of my voice.Mrs. Shantel and Mr. Brett? How long has that been going on under my nose? I stalked Mr. Brett well enough to have known. I sat up swiftly and stretched my hand to pick my phone from my nightstand. Impatiently, I logged into Instagram.Pfft, of course I’m not on Instagram. I logged in with my sister’s account. Being bullied offline is only the much I can bear, thank you very much.It didn’t take me much time to get to Mr. Brett’s profile. I stared at his relationship status and it stared back at me. It was boldly written SINGLE. Just to be sure, I wore my glasses and glanced hard at it. It still remained SINGLE. I searched for Mrs. Shantel’s profile and found out that she was married.“Then why the hell were you fucking someone not your husband!!” I scr
It was the early hours of Monday morning, 6:00am to be precise, and I was already in the cobwebby school basement, tucked away in the only neat corner. Of course, the neat corner of the basement, which I had turned into my niche, was cleaned up by me. You must definitely be wondering what kind of psycho cleans up the school basement to spend her mornings and what for! Well, to cut the long story short, it was my only means of survival. If I wanted to get through my remaining days in high school, then I had to do this. This was me doing what I did best, hiding away from my sworn enemy, traitor, rival, tormentor, give it all the name you could think of. Synonymous to those names is Kelly Parker. Kelly is the Queen bee of Beverly High. I hate her with all my heart, but she’s beautiful. Breathing-taking kind of beautiful, I’m not going to lie. I just hate her the more for that, because why should she be so perfect? Of course, she is the head cheerleader and she is dating Bruce Paschal,
Ariel's POV For two days after that, I waited for the man to show himself. It was almost like he purposely ignored me. When I realized that he wouldn't show himself unless something drastic happened, I waited for the guard that brought my food -food I refused to eat since I've been held in here- to appear. The moment he rounded the corner that led to my cell, I yanked off the pendant from my neck. I went instantly invisible. When the guard reached the cell and saw no one, the tray containing the food fell off his hands, and he let out a scream. Two more guards rushed in, probably thinking I managed to subdued their colleague. When they saw what he saw, they all trembled out of shock. "Report the incident to prince Eric right now!" One of the guards yelled to the other one that came in with him. That one nodded and rushed off to deliver the message. The guard turned to the one that brought me the food, looking at him in a suspicious way. "Did you let her off?" He asked."What the he
Ariel's POVIt felt like my ears just deceived me. I blinked once, then twice. I looked at the man who had just finished pleasuring me -the tingles and soreness between my legs were the testament of that fact- like he was out of his mind. And perhaps he was. Otherwise, why would he sprout such nonsense about arresting me? And that too for what? For stealing? Me?I looked at him and shook my head. Sure that I heard him wrong. I waited for him to take his words back, but he didn't. When a minute or two passed with nothing from him to refute his words, I lifted up my tied hands and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. The eyes he turned on me were so cold and stony, I shivered."Are you serious about arresting me?" I inquired from him. The river made a ripple effect and I was reminded of the fact that I was gone for too long. If I didn't return back to my room as soon as possible, there was every possibility that my father would find out about my disappearance. It that happen
Eric's POV "The real thing I have here could do a better job than that toy!" I shouted at her from the shadows. I watched as the toy fell from her hand because of the shock she experienced."Wh-who is th-there?" She sounded as scared as she felt. I saw her looking around in the darkness, probably thinking of where to hide from the predator that sneaked up on her. My first thought was to let her suffer a sudden heart attack, just as she had done for me. That would be the easiest revenge I could take on her. But my tratious body refused to comply with that act. How could it? Somehow, I found the courage to get out of the palace after three days of hiding in my room. My courage wasn't bold enough to leave during the day when I could feel all eyes on me, so I did it by night. I was already angry when I found myself walking to this place rather than anywhere else. I was even about to turn around when I heard someone moan my name softly. I traced the voice and I saw the same girl moaning
Ariel's POVFor three days after I returned to the house, I couldn't help but think about how I would be able to get my Dada to release me from the home imprisonment he kept me in. Even as I paced to and fro the length of the room I was in, no idea came to me. I balked at how it was becoming increasingly hard to think straight these days. Each time I sat down to think, only the thought of Eric and what he would do to me came. I would spend hours and hours fantasising about the man. By the time I realize that I needed to think of a way to get out of the mess I was in in order to actually see him, I would start thinking of an escape plan. Barely five minutes into the deep thinking, I would find myself thinking about Eric again... just like I currently was.I was floating on top of my bed. My hands were on my breasts and I kept culling and squeezing them the same way I saw Eric did that day at the beach. I moaned as I imagined it was his hands playing with my breasts instead of mine. St
Eric's POVAs mother continued to hold me, she patted my back softly with her hand. I knew I was displaying a moment of weakness to the queen, but at the stage where I currently was, none of all those palace rules mattered to me. I just wanted someone to show me that I wouldn't go crazy because of a certain human.Was she even hunan? Someone that could play with another's person's feelings like that didn't deserve to be regarded as a human. "She's a selfish, cunning, and the most heartless person I've ever seen!" I bursted out, unable to contain my contempt for the woman.My mum didn't say anything and just continued to pat me like she was already doing. The outburst, however, gave in to the anger I had been trying to rein in ever since I woke up that morning and found out about that girl's betrayal."How could she have deceived me like that?" I let out again.To me, she was stupid. If she wasn't, she would have realized that I was already infatuated with her. She could have easily d
Eric's POVI didn't know what to make of the situation that happened just a few minutes ago. Ever since I collapsed on my bed, I found it extremely hard to get up. How could I when it felt like my world was crumbling down beside me?I found it hard to believe within myself that the same girl I trusted enough to bring into the palace. The same girl I was so worried about I didn't want her to spend an entire night outside during the cold. The very same girl we spent the same night on the same bed, pleasuring each other to stupor. I couldn't believe that the same girl had thought nothing wrong about betraying me.How could I have been so draft? How could I have let her deceive me just like that? Why didn't I see beneath the fake skin she was wearing to the real one? Now that I thought about it, her excuse of getting lost while with her friends seemed flimsy. Heck, everything about her felt and sounded completely fake. I was sure that the reason she approached me in the first instance wa
CHAPTER THIRTEENARIEL'S POV Sebastian sat across me with an intense look in his eyes. I reckoned I would have the same look if someone sat me down to tell the exact story I was telling him at the moment.It happened to me yet somehow I found it unbelievable. It just felt like the kind of shit that should only be possible in movies. Poorly scripted movies."So you opened the door to the right-"I nodded. "I opened it."He leaned in closer to me almost as if he wanted to merge with me. His eyes bulged out in their socket and his teeth clattered. Goosebumps appeared all over my skin as I remembered how I felt in the dark corridor turning the door knob."I could have swore he was behind me- breathing just behind me." I said as I controlled the impulse to cringe.Sebastian gasped. "Was he there?"I shook my head. He wasn't there when I turned around but the presence didn't go away. It stuck with me even as the door opened."What did you find inside?" Flounder asked speaking for the first