Forced to Love

As Nathaniel climbed the stairs, the smoke thickened. By the time he reached the third floor, smoke had engulfed the hallway. It filled his lungs and his eyes.
He ran to his bedchamber searching for Annabell, only to find the bedchamber deserted. A fear ripped through his chest.
“Annabell!” He tried to shout, but the smoke was strangling him so all he managed to make was a faint whisper.
“She must have left through the servant entrance. She is probably outside” he thought as he turned around to leave the smoke filled room, covering his mouth with a handkerchief.

On his way down the stairs he could see the flames starting to spread in to the hall, eating up the irreplaceable tapestries and paintings. There was no time to stop and try to save anything, the smoke was almost succeeding in its fight to strangle him. Nathaniel noticed he was slightly dizzy when he stumbled out in the fresh air.
“Knightly! Is everyone out?” Nathaniel shouted to his headwaiter as soon as he was able to breathe again.
“Yes, My Lord. I think so. The staff is gathered in the yard, starting to form a chain from the well and in to the house. That way we’ll get the water buckets faster inside.”
“Good, try your best to put out the fire. If not, try your hardest to minimize the loss and prevent the fire from spreading further. I will be back in a second, I just have to make sure Lady Darshia is in good health.”

Nathaniel turned around and ran towards the servant entrance where he assumed Annabell would be.
But when he got there, he could not see her anywhere. And to his surprise he experienced a feeling he never new he had; pure terror. Was she still inside? He had never known anyone like her, she was so calm and quiet. She was always listening to him, and all his problems. She was always ready to give of herself. Was his Annabell still trapped inside this burning inferno?

The panic started to spread through his body, and it became hard to breathe. He had to look for her. Nathaniel rushed through the servant entrance and was headed upstairs when something hard hit the back of his head. Nathaniel felt his legs start to shake before he fell over and it all went black.

***

Annabell groaned as she regained consciousness. Her head was aching, and her eyes were red and sore. She looked around slowly and found herself lying on a big bed in a strange bedroom. Suddenly, she became aware of her hands was chained to the bed.
Afraid, she started pulling in the chains. The feeling of the metal against her skin, only made her feel even more terrified. Panicking, she kept on pulling in the chains till her wrist was bleeding. Now and then she stopped to listen if anyone was coming. After a while, Annabell calmed down, and realised that hurting her self was not going to help her out of this.
She sat down on the bed, and started to look around.
There were no windows, so the room was dark; the only light source was a candle stub someone had left on a table by the door. The single candle did not help much, so she could only see the contours of the room. It was completely empty. The only furnishing was the bed, the table by the door and a big, cold, marble fireplace.
The room was ice cold. The combination of the cold room, the darkness and the feeling of being trapped, made Annabell shiver violently. She curled under the comforter just looking at the door.
“Why am I here?” she wondered, “and how do I get out of here. For one thing is certain, I am being held here against my will. Am I been kidnapped?” All sorts of questions whirled through her head. “What was the meaning of all this?”
Suddenly the panic ripped through her body and squeezed her heart. Was her father behind all this? Did she have to go back to him, and live in the cold, dead castle, with less than no food? She did not think she could manage that anymore.
She had no idea how long she was lying there, shivering and looking at the door that parted her from the rest of the world. It did not feel like minutes of hours were passing, but days.
Finally the sleep came and overpowered her mind and body.

She was brutally woken by a big hand shaking her shoulder. At once she was in defence position, standing on the other side of the bed, ready to kick, hit and scream. Whatever that gave her the advantage.
Before Annabell got the time to recognize her opponent, he grabbed the chain and pulled her towards the bed, making her fall over. Once she hit the bed he turned her over, ignoring her attempt to hit and kick him, and making her face him. He used the chain to keep her arms from moving, and simply leaned over her to prevent her kicking him.
Unable to move, Annabell’s mind slowly started to function again, and she recognized the man standing over her.
“You!” she spat.
The man only laughed at her despair. ”I am terribly sorry madam. I am afraid I did not keep my promise from our last meeting. I told you, I would not harm you if you didn’t tell anyone of our meeting, but I am afraid the plan has changed.”
“Let me out of here!” Annabell screamed. “Shhhh, my beauty. Do not shout, it will not help and you’ll only get tired.” He hushed.
“No! Let me out!”
He did not reply, but studied her face in the dull light. “You know, first time I met you, I did not have the time or energy to study you. But now I see that once you gain some weight you will be pretty, yes maybe even beautiful. It is true as they say; the sun always shines on Darshia.” Suddenly he let out a loud laugh. “But it isn’t shining anymore, Beautiful, I have made sure of that!”