Chapter 2

Kiara:

I walked through the village with a heavy heart at what I knew Celeste was being prepared to do, the rain had stopped a while ago as I walked and I found myself letting out deep breaths as I calmed myself from the guilt I felt, the girls had every right to be angry whenever it was their turns to be forced to be selling their bodies to disgusting men who seemed to want to please themselves sexually using a female’s body.

Being a girl like Celeste, who was probably moping her eyes out right now as Nina watched her get ready, forcing her to act the way she saw fit to please whoever Nina was making the business with, I knew how she would’ve probably wanted to save herself for a man that she loved, a person who would love her back rather than simply use her for pleasure for a few months stay, but Nina was Nina, she didn’t like being talked back to, and she definitely did not like being argued with.

Sighing, I found a man who was selling fruits, vegetables, and grains, deciding that a few delicious healthy goods were in order for us back home, most of us having not eaten anything other than bread for the past few weeks, a few fruits and grains were in order, grains were far more important, but if I could get both, then I would not hesitate.

Quietly watching the man as he spoke to a woman who had her kids with her, two who seemed to be a little younger than I was, and one infant who would’ve been the age of Mathew in her arms, though careful not to catch too much attention despite feeling eyes on me, though where they came from was beyond me, and if I were being honest, I did not want to care to find out, the faster I did this, the faster I could get out of here, the better we would be back home.

“Thank you ma’am” I heard the man say, raising an eyebrow as I watched the man hand a child an apple and smiling at him “this one is for you son”

The man handed the child the apple and the child held it in his small hands as if they were some precious toy, I smiled at the sight, remembering my mother and how she would give me a peach when they came to season, I loved them and she knew it, therefor whenever it was peach season, she would get two everyday, one for me, and the other for her, we would often sit under the shade in the afternoon while she told me stories about her day, or childhood, or fairy tails, and we’d be eating our peaches.

I missed her a lot more than I would ever admit, but I knew that most of the kids were either thrown away from their parents, given up on, or abused that they were forced to run, therefor I kept my talk about my mother and childhood to a minimum, well that’s how it became anyway, when I first arrived, I never knew that anyone could’ve been that harmed and would always talk about the beautiful memories I had with mother, which only seemed to raise jealousy between the others and I, even Nina looked down at me whenever she heard me speak of her, and at first I didn’t understand why, but then I heard how her mother had given her up to her father when she was not more than a month old, then how her father used to beat her up when she turned five, and how she was forced to run away to save herself before he got sexual when she turned twelve, most of the kids had suffered similar stories, some even worse, therefor, respecting them, I didn’t bring up my childhood again.

The woman had paid the man and another costumer came to him, this time a man, he looked to be in his early twenties, his chocolate brown eyes, light brown hair, calm expression though his figure spoke power, his beauty could not be denied, he would’ve had every girl in the kingdom at his feet, he would even reject them, and they would still be trying to get their chances with him, but then again, why wouldn’t they?

He was Prince Nathan after all.

My own heart racing at the sight of him, despite me never showing any interest in him, I didn’t have time to do so anyway, and with Nina wanting to be his wife, it would be wrong doing so, but the clench in my chest at the thought of her being with him ached with a sensation that I could not, and honestly, did not want to understand, I knew where I should be standing and I would not be betraying my friend, the girl who saved my life, for a lad that didn’t even know I existed.

Prince Nathan was the current ruler of the kingdom we lived in, which was currently ruled by werewolves, as the human king decided that werewolves ruling the kingdom would be far safer than him, especially with a vampire kingdom, a witch kingdom, and a werewolf kingdom around, he decided that since he was the weakest of them all, and that he couldn’t care for his people since all he saw in us was fuel for his kingdom, but he provided mostly nothing for us to be able to survive, he made a deal with the werewolf king, King Ned, and handed the kingdom to him, which was currently being ruled by his son, Prince Nathan.

Staring at the prince for a little while longer than appropriate, admiring his features, I couldn’t help it even if I tried, I shook my head and looked at the man who was still speaking to the prince, his smile evident on his face, as the prince, despite being young, took good care of the people here, everyone in the kingdom loved and respected him, he was kind and genuine to them, at least that was what I was told, I wouldn’t know, as Nina forbade us to ever go near him in fear that one of us, more specifically, me, would catch his eye.

You see the thing about Nina, despite her being my friend and tolerating me through all these years, she always seemed to look at me as somewhat of a threat to her, a challenge, someone to compare herself with as if in envy, she had never really said it out loud, but I sometimes felt like she did regret saving me that night.

Covering my head with the hood of the cloak I had managed to grab from a clothing rack, a woman having placed it to dry before it started pouring, I slowly made my way to the old man’s wooden trolley, which had the grains, with the prince being that close to him, I couldn’t risk getting caught stealing fruits, therefor grains would be a lot easier to take, hide, and run away with.

Carefully putting a few bags of grains inside my pouch, I could swear I saw the prince looking at me for a second before going back to speaking to the man, somewhat distracting him, it wasn’t until our eyes met, everything seemed to slow down as our brown eyes held contact for a few seconds longer than necessary, he mouthed a quick ‘run’ that I knew that he had indeed been watching me, and that he was aware of what I was doing, the old man almost looked back at me, before the prince put a hand on his arm making the old man turn his attention back to him.

I smiled mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ earning a small faint nod before I ran back toward the campsite without getting caught by anyone, not allowing what happened to get processed in my mind yet, I needed to get back to camp, show the kids what I got us, and get a decent meal ready to keep us warm for a little while.

It wasn’t until I hit something, well more like someone, that I was forced to stop my tracks and had it not been for the two arms that were wrapped around me, I would’ve stumbled back and fallen on my bum.

Making sure that my bag was still in place, I yanked myself away from the person before looking up to find non other, than Prince Nathan smiling down at me, his eyes meeting mine as his lips curved up in a smirk.

“Why, hello there”