Forced to Love

”What are you saying?” Annabell groaned while trying her best to wrench her body and escape from his grasp. Her attempt failed miserably, as he only lowered his whole weight on her to keep her from struggling.

He raised his hand to her face and brushed her cheek with one of his long, thin fingers. The finger trailed towards her neck, and he pushed some loose strands for hair behind her ear.

“Why, Beautiful… Do you really want to know?” He whispered, his lips barely touching her ear. A shudder of disgust ran through her body.

“Get off me!” Annabell snapped at him while wrenching desperately under his firm body. ”Who do you think you are?” This only made him laugh. There was something so unpleasant with his laughter, it scared Annabell.

“Excuse me, I am so sorry! Where are my manners? We haven yet been properly introduced.” He said with a mocking voice. “My dear, my name is Ezra, I am the current heir of Virona,” This made Annabell grasp in surprise, “and also, until recently, I was the heir of Lord Darshia, the Duke of Tabitha, and my half-brother.”

“Your half-brother?” Annabell whispered with a faint voice.

“Yes, we share the same mother. Though, I am happy to say that I was wanted, not like that bastard she put out in the woods.”

Annabell was filled with rage when she heard those words. She had seen the sorrow in Nathaniel’s eyes when he spoke of his childhood. She knew he tried to put up a brave face to hide how much he had suffered, and then this... this despicable man talked of him this way.

“Why are you keeping me here? Let me go!” Annabell demanded.

”Oh, no beautiful, I can’t let you go. You have ruined my plan, and I have to keep you out of the way. Originally the plan was to kill you, but something tells me that will not be necessary.” His evil eyes examined her body. “After all, you can come in handy.”

His words made her shiver in pure terror as his voice left no doubt of what he meant by handy. He let his lips trail from her ear before he forcefully pushed them against hers and forced her lips open. Biting her lip and invading her mouth. Annabell was shocked and rage filled her once again, but before she could bite him, he pulled away and looked down at her with a smug smile.

“I have to go, Beautiful, but do not worry, I’ll be back.”

***

Nathaniel felt awful. It was as if his mouth was filled with cotton, and every breath made his throat sting.
His eyes were burning and they refused to open up. The sound of a door opening made him forget his pains, and brought him back to the real world.

“You’re awake, sir?” Nathaniel recognized the voice as Mr. Knightly, the headwaiter.

“Water!” Was the only thing Nathaniel managed to say with his hoarse voice.

“Yes, certainly, Sir!”

Nathaniel could hear a glass being filled before a hand gently supported his head so he could drink properly. Nathaniel noticed his body felt oddly weak, and simple task of drinking had made him tired.

“What happened?” Nathaniel asked perplex.
”I’m sorry to say, but your head took a nasty blow, Sir. You have been unconscious for almost two days. We have all been terrified, and the doctor told us that if you did not wake up soon he would have to bleed you… The good news is that we managed to prevent the fire from spreading. Only the east wing is damaged…”

“What about my Bell?” Nathaniel cut the headwaiter off. “Is she all right?”

There was a long silence that made Nathaniel shiver in fear.

“I’m sorry sir, but she seems to be missing… But we know for a fact that she did not die in the fire. Her body was nowhere to be found, so we can only assume that she was not in the castle.”

“Missing?”
Nathaniel forced his eyes open, only to close them a second later. It felt like a wall of white light crashed into his pupils, and tears started to fall because of the overwhelming light.

“Missing?” He repeated. ”What has been done to find her?”

“I am sorry to say sir that very little has been done. We simply did not know what to do. We had sent for the king, as we feared that your life would soon come to an end.”

“I am fine!” Nathaniel roared. ”You should be out searching for Annabell! She is probably all alone and terrified!”

“But sir, there is very little we can do! She has not simply wandered off into the woods. The fire was …someone started the fire willingly…, and I’m sorry to say sir, there is a chance she has been kidnapped!”

This made Nathaniel groan. It felt like a physical pain. He had promised Annabell he would take care of her, and yet, now she was kidnapped. How could he ever live with himself if he caused her pain because of his status? She had already been through so much. He would not let anything happen to her. He would not rest before she was once again safe.

“Send the king to my room the minute he arrives...”

“There is no need. I am already here son.”