The Lycan Series
Bullied By The Lycan King Chapter 13

Violet's

POV

I just stood there watching as they reprimanded Ash. I was there physically but my mind wasn't there.

My heart no longer raced and my panic was gone.

My parents were safe for now but it didn't mean that my heart was now at peace.

"What exactly happened, Violet? Hilda mentioned that the King asked for you and then they saw you leave. What happened?" Sam's voice sliced through my mind. Ash was gone and it was just me, Sam, and Sky.

I shook my head and offered him a small smile. "Thank you. For this..." I said motioning to the space around me.

"The King," I muttered, the title seeming foreign on my tongue. "He... Well, I didn't know I was not supposed to speak to my parents in the dungeon... So, he asked me to leave-" "The King gave you your freedom back?" Sky asked with her mouth dropping to the ground.

My heart felt pricked at her question. The response was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't say it out loud. It was what every slave fantasized... Yet I wanted something else... "Well, not exactly. He said he didn't want my face in the mansion or my parents would be killed," I said instead.

"Oh," Sky said, her shoulders dropping with her mood.

Sam let out a sigh and stepped forward to pat my right shoulder with his large arm. "That's a good point to notice. You will be assigned to quarters duties from now on."

He started walking toward the door and as he made to pull the door open, he turned to Sky, "And you, make sure they don't mob her anymore."

"Sure!" Sky chirped, her olive skin glowing under the evening sun.

When Sam left, I wanted to go to my room but after what had just happened, I changed my mind.

"Urmm, Sky, is there something I could help you with?" I asked, muffling a sniffle.

"I have completed my duties for today. Are you sure you don't want to rest? Take a shower...

"No, I'll rather stay out here than face all of them right now," I said with a sigh.

"Nonsense!" Sky hissed. "No one can say anything to you now that Sam has warned them. Come on-"

"No, it's fine. I'll just stay out here and pass some time before going in..." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I'll stay with you then. You look like you need a friend..." She surprised me when she came beside me and took my hand.

She led me to the concrete sit I had occupied and she sat me down.

"Do you have any friends?" She asked and I corked my brows at her. "I don't mean right now, I meant, like before everything happened..."

A small smile tugged on my lips as I thought of the past once again.

"I am sorry if I am asking a lot... I just thought if we can maybe talk you will feel better. You know, considering everything that happened in the mansion and today... You must be stressed out." She said in one breath

When I met her earlier that day, I didn't perceive her to be talkative. I could have easily pushed her off my neck but for some reason, I needed the company.

I feared if I stayed alone, the silence of my raging thoughts would break me.

"I can ask, right? Is it fine? I am so sorry... It's just that I have never seen an actual princess before..."

She was looking down at her fingers and there was a fresh glow on her cheeks.

Was she blushing?

"Sky, I am a slave. I am not a princess," I said with a small smile on my face. I found her excitement over my lost status cute, if not comforting.

"It doesn't matter!" She beamed, raising her head to look at me. "You were born a princess. You are royalty! Even here, you are favored. That's why Ash is jealous..." Her excitement dimmed a little but it disappeared as soon as it appeared. "But that isn't important right now. We can talk, right?" She asked again.

This time, a light chuckle escaped my lips and I placed my hand on hers. "Yes, Sky. We can be friends. And yes, you can ask me anything you want."

She let out a small shriek and she squeezed the hand I had placed over hers.

"What was it like?" Sky asked in a dreamy tone.

"What was what like?" I giggled.

"Life as a princess..."

"That was fifteen years ago, Sky," I pointed out.

"I know, but you still-" she stopped mid-sentence and looked at me closely. Her pretty face broke into a scowl.

Then she smiled. "You should have been at least five years old when the world went upside down again... You must have lived as a princess for a while," she said.

A soft sigh left my lips and I relaxed on the seat. She was right...

"I was a princess for a while..."

"How was it? Did you have all of those lovely dresses and a tiara?"

I laughed at her descriptions but the moment my mind sank into that side of my life, the only memory I saw was that of Axel.

I saw him smiling at the sweet taste of berries. I saw him holding my hand and swinging it across the fields as we picked and ate berries all day.

"Yes, Sky... I had all of that and more... It was indeed beautiful."

"Oh, my God! What about friends? Betrothed or lovers-"

"I was five or six. How could I have a lover at that age?" The smile was still on my face but I felt it more in my heart.

Axel was the only friend I had. Maybe he could have been my betrothed if he wasn't my father's most hated prisoner.

"Oh, I understand." Sky sighed and she fell silent.

Her lips were sealed but her eyes moved with a hundred emotions as she stared at the setting sun above us.

My eyes left her and moved to the mansion on the other side. I could imagine what my parents were going through down there. How it must have felt for them to become at the bottom of the power chain now... Who would have thought? "It must have been so hard for you when everything changed... Wasn't it?" Sky asked, breaking the silence.

I turned my eyes back to her and she was no longer lost in thoughts, she was focused on me.

"It was not that bad..." I whispered. "When the whole thing started, my parents hid me away in a small hole in my room. I was there till everywhere was turned inside out..."

I was scared when all hell broke loose and a new army of werewolves came. They had come for Axel.

"... I was there till it was over. No one saw me..."

I lied to Sky. I wasn't in that hole till it was over. As soon as my parents left the room, I stepped out and watched from the window.

I saw the tall man, the same one who was with Axel when he bought me at the slave market.

They saw me too. But Axel had stopped the man from coming to the castle. He stopped them from hurting me.

That was the Axel I became friends with. That was the Axel I fell for.

"It wasn't the same for the rest of us. The invasion was brutal. I am grateful I got bought by the King himself. I hear those who get sold to other werewolves don't live longer than six months..." I could feel the dread course through her as she retold the story. I took her hands and flashed her a tight-lipped smile. "Let's be grateful we found ourselves here then," I said and got to my feet.

"I think you have managed to bring sleep to my eyes now. I would like to go inside," I said.

I didn't want to sleep, I just needed an excuse to stop thinking of a past that kept slamming Axel into the picture. I wanted a clear head.

I needed a new plan.

She got up and beamed as she held my hand. "I am glad I could help. Come on, let's go."

True to her words, when we got inside, everyone made an effort to mind their business as we passed through the corridor and headed to my room.

I unlocked the door and stepped in, inviting Sky in as well.

"Woah, you really got the princess treatment here!" She exclaimed as she stepped into the little space.

She moved to the bed and tested it. She bounced on it and a bright smile covered her lips as she giggled.

Sincerely, it wasn't as soft as the bed I had in the cottage my parents had escaped to yet Sky thought this was fancy.

She jumped off the bed and moved to the bathroom. "No wonder you don't join us in the queue to take a bath. You have your own shower!" She shrieked as she ran inside.

When she stepped out again, she was like a small child who had been taken to a chocolate factory.

"Can I use it? Please, I will wash it, I swear!"

"Sure. You can use it anytime you want."