All the same
Nikolai’s POV
My frown deepened as I observed her from my bedroom window. I didn’t understand any of it. She had been working consistently, no food or water, but she never hesitated, never complained even once. It angered and surprised me at the same time. Why was she so calm about everything? It made me wondered if she had a escape plan. I had tried to torture the truth out of her, but every single time she just ended up a sobbing mess, begging at my feet. That didn’t seem like someone who had a plan.
As I watched her turn the cloth she was using to scrub the walls of the old balcony, i had never felt so confused in my entire life. She worked without ceasing, not stopping for once to catch her breath until her work was complete. I hated the fact that it she seemed to complete each task effortlessly. I wondered if she was only doing it to spite me. And it angered me thinking she wasn’t going through any sort of pain. I needed to find other methods of making her suffer because I saw that she wasn’t going through enough pain. Kicking my desk down in frustration, I exited my room.
Liyah’s POV
If I hadn’t done just as much work as I was doing right now in my father’s house, I might have slumped and died by now. The work was difficult but familiar, and the fact that I was at least getting fresh air and sunlight was a bonus. By now, Elyan had seen all he needed to so he no longer showed any sign of surprise when he watched me work. On the contrary, I perceived that he was bored now. He would just sit and wait until I was done and then lead me back to the basement.
So I never complained. Sometimes it felt like my insides were burning from how long I’d been starving. My throat was parched as well but still I never complained. Sometimes I hoped I would just collapse and never wake up again, but I knew that was aiming too high. The chances that I would get such an easy, painless death were quite unlikely. So I gave up that wish and kept working everyday.
I squeezed the large cloth I was using to scrub the balcony and nearly cried out in pain as the weight of the cloth took weighed my arm down.
That was how tired I was. To avoid further punishment, I swallowed back the pain and continued scrubbing. Am hour later, I was done. I washed the rag with clean water, putting it to dry on a line that hung over my head.
As I turned to dispose of the waste water, my eyes fell on one of the children; it was the little boy that had waved at me the other day. The smile that had begun to my face faltered as I watched him have a bad fall as one of the kids chased after him. The yell of pain that escaped his lips sent a chill through my spine as he sat up crying from the pain in his knee. The stone he had landed on had cut deep into his knee, leaving an open gash.
Without thinking, I raced to the back of the balcony where I had seen some servants growing herbs the day before. Picking out the ones I needed, I rushed back and headed to where to little boy was seated, ignoring the yelling from Elyan as he followed after me.
I helped the boy up, placed him on my lap and squeezed out the juice from the herbs I was rolling. If my guess was right then he was still a pup, so definitely his healing abilities wouldn’t be strong enough yet. I saw Elyan come to a stop by my side. He made to yank me up but paused when he saw what I was doing.
After a while, the boy had stopped crying.
“Does that feel better?” I asked him, wiping his face with two of my fingers. He nodded. I continued to massage to juice into the gash and the area around it until it was better. All I needed to do now was find some bandage to help seal everything in.
The rage-filled look on Elyan’s face when I looked up to ask him if I could get any bandage chilled me to the bones. And I realized that I had gotten myself into trouble. I had abandoned my work station without permission and now I was going to get punished for it.
“I-I just…” I stammered, bowing my head.
Before he could say anything, a woman had rushed to where we stood. She was tall, intimidating, and the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. I was so caught up in moping at her that I nearly forgot about the issue at hand.
She quickly yanked the little boy away from my arms. “Don’t come anywhere near my son!” She said, looking the boy over for any further signs of injury.
My eyes stung. I was only trying to help. I looked up to see Elyan staring me down, anger still visible in his eyes. Was it so wrong to have helped him out?
“I’m s-sorry…” I began to say to her. But Elyan had already yanked me up, grabbing me roughly and dragging me back into the house and down the basement.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
“No!” I yelled, tears beginning to form in my eyes. “Please don’t put me back down the, I-I’m sorry it won’t happen again,” I begged.
But my please fell on deaf ears. He tied both my hands behind me with some kind of string, and pushed me roughly to the ground.
“What the hell! You clearly have a death wish, why on earth would you do that?!”
My eyes watered from the pain in my wrists. “I was j-just trying to help, I didn’t mean to cause any troub-”
“You would have put yourself and everyone else in trouble if he had seen you laying hands on a pup. Are you fucking crazy?”
I kept silent, tears streaming down my face. I was getting reprimanded for helping a little boy’s wound heal faster. That was my offence. I was practically a slave here. I was working, I was starving, but when I helped a member of their pack out, I suddenly became the villain. They were all the same. All the same.
Silently, I slid to the floor, ignoring the pain in my wrists and letting the tears fall.