PROLOGUE/INTRO

For years, every kingdom suffered under the regime of tyrant King Elijah. He whipped women, took the men as nothing but drum fetchers. The entire eight kingdoms were under him and he did no good. He was a bad king to his own Kingdom, and a worser one to others.

Until six years ago, when he was finally brought down and killed by Lord Alejandro, a child he had undermined so badly.

As punishment for him not having a male heir, the Lords took his one and only daughter, Meandra, and declared that she suffers the sins of her father. She’s to serve each kingdom for a year, as a slave nonetheless, tortured and broken just like her father did them.

But with one thing never to be touched. Just one.

———————-

PROLOGUE

“Get up,” he sneered at the woman curled against the wall, her hair looking so unkept and covering the entirety of her face.

Her head moved in a slow motion, her orbs looking so dead as she looked up at him, blinking once before staring into his eyes. For a moment, he let himself get lost in her silver orbs, the way it shined despite the emptiness in them.

He could see the dirt on her, her unwashed toes, a cry from the woman he once knew her to be. Her hair hadn’t lost its length in the past years since he had seen her, but even grew more. And her face, with all the five years of suffering still bore the princess she was before her father was killed.

He clenched his jaw at the thought of who she is, annoyance seeping into his veins for letting himself get distracted, “I said get up!” He angrily commanded before matching towards her, grabbing a handful of her hair and using it to drag her up.

She looked at him with a dead expression, a hint of pain not dropping from her eyes or her hardened face. It looked like she was bored, and nothing amused her, and that reason alone made him want to crush her more.

He had waited so much for this day. The day she’ll come to serve under him, where he could inflict every pain her father did on him and his people. And yet here she was, looking so tired of it all.

“I don’t care what the other Lord has done to you, or showed you but here, you would do as I say.” He sneered to her face, “if I want you up, you get up. If I want you down, you get down and if I want you to crawl on your knees, you fucking crawl!”

He released her forcefully, jabbing her to the wall and the impact making her fall. He expected to see something, a twinge of pain, hurt in her eyes, maybe a groan. But none of it happened. She slowly stood back up, her face staring at the ground and her hands dead beside her.

He chuckled as another wave of anger coursed through him, taking her in. She was beautiful, that he already knew. And even with the flimsy white nightdress turned brown, he could see every part of her. Her full breast perking from the dress, and the dirty boxers she had on, covering her ass.

“Come here.”

She walked slowly towards him, leaving a few spaces between them with her eyes to the ground, “I’ve heard lots about you, princess. You don’t argue. You do what’s expected, and you don’t even show any hint of anger.”

He circled her slowly, raking her body, and taking every part of her in, “as much as I find that interesting, princess. I don’t care much for that. You would laugh if I want you to, you would cry if I wanted you to. And if I send you anything, I want to be met with joy on your face. I don’t want your soulless face scaring my guests or myself away. Is that clear?”

She didn’t nod, didn’t say anything as he circled back to her face. He gripped her jaw angrily, their eyes once again staring into each other, “is that clear!”

She nodded in his grip, her eyes cast down again. Alejandro approached her, closing the distance between them and leaning to her ear,

“you’re nothing again, princess. Your tyrant father left you to bear his sins. You’re the daughter of a mad man, a cruel person that should rot in hell. You would be no one again when I’m done with you. If you think the other Lords broke you, then you’ve not met me. I would make you wish for death, and I would make you cry. You’re nothing…”

He paused, looking at her face from the corner of his eyes, “…but a vermin just like your father.”

Something twitched on her face, her orbs blinked up, raw hurt and pain pooling into it with fresh tears. Alejandro smiled as he saw that, slowly leaning back to watch the entire thing on her face. Her cheeks stained red as she continued blinking, trying to stop the tears from rushing down.

The more she tried, the happier he got.

“What do you people think of this vermin here?” He yelled out, staring at her face.

Deep lines lined her face, her orbs returning to the ground as a tear slid down.

“My Lord, she’s nothing. If you allow us, we could break her without you staining your hand.”

He chuckled and gripped her jaw hard again, bringing her teary red eyes to stare into his, “Take the drums outside. I want three of the drums. She’s going to fetch every one of them from the well. Make sure she’s not fed. She’s not helped and she’s not cleaned until she’s done. Once she’s done, bring her to me.”

“Yes, My lord.” The guard responded as he entered the cell.

Alejandro looked into her eyes deeply, allowing himself to get immersed in those eyes, and the pain he saw in her. She was said by the last lord to be dead, and no matter anything, she wouldn’t yield.

But it was going to be different here. He would break her. And he would make her yield.

“Smile.”

She snapped her head up to look at him, confusion lacing them, “I said smile.” He repeated, smiling at her.

She clenched her jaw so hard in his grip before the corners of her lips morphed into the most deadliest smile he has ever recieved.

“We’ll start with this first. But you have to work on that smile. Isn’t that what your father enjoyed also?”

The smile dropped on her face immediately, turning to pure and undiluted hatred. He dropped her jaw with a smirk on his lips, stepping out of the cell and allowing the guards to do their thing with her.

“Enjoy your new hell, princess. And don’t keep me waiting.”