Page 52 of Broken Princess
Sold, sold, sold. The word was taking up most of the space in my brain now, flashing like a big neon sign. With it came an overwhelming sense of urgency and anxiety.
Finally, every single memory flooded back to me, making me feel like I’d been dunked in freezing water.
I recalled the bright lights of the stage at the mansion, and the way all of those avaricious, predatory people stared up at me as they called out their bids. Bids for my ownership. Bids for my life. Then I recalled the auctioneer announcing my sale to Prince Darius of the Kingdom of Keshar for ninety-six million dollars.
I’d actually met the Keshari prince a couple of times at state dinners thrown by my mother. While I always got a slight creepy vibe from him, I never thought he’d be the kind of guy who would throw away almost a hundred million just to defile the American president’s daughter. I suppose he could afford it, though. His family was worth billions, thanks to the oil and gas reserves in Keshar.
The Keshari monarchy had also experienced a tense, rocky relationship with America over the last thirty decades, despite the outward appearances of civility and friendship, so that gave the prince some serious motive to take me.
Tears gathered in my eyes as I pictured the life that lay ahead of me now. Constant pain. Torment. Misery. I would be pushed to the brink every day, and when death finally came, I would probably welcome it with open arms.
A low, defeated moan escaped my mouth. At the same time, my eyelids finally fluttered open.
I sat up a little straighter and looked around. I was alone in a lavish cabin on what appeared to be a private jet. That made sense. I remembered Jamie Torrance dragging me off the stage when the auction ended, telling me that the prince wanted to take me home immediately, and after that, I was taken into a small room for ‘flight preparation’.
That meant handcuffs, a blindfold, a gag, and a hypodermic needle in my neck. Apparently, the prince and his entourage wanted as little trouble from me as possible during boarding, and those measures would ensure it.
In a twisted way, I couldn’t blame them. If they didn’t drug me and restrain me, I would’ve fought them tooth and nail all the way up the ramp leading into the plane. Like Jamie said the other day, I was a wildcat.
Wildcat and proud of it.
Unfortunately, my claws would soon be clipped. Prince Darius would make sure of it.
I heard a door slide open somewhere up ahead, and I squeezed my eyes shut again, heart racing. Loud footsteps echoed in the cabin. Then the silence returned as a shadow loomed over me.
He was back.
“Still asleep,” he muttered. “Ah, well.”
I thought he would walk away again, but he kept standing over me, presumably interested in watching me and my phony slumber.
Under his gaze, I felt terribly small and colder than ever before, even with the thick blanket covering my body. Despite all of the awful things that had been done to me over the last few months, I’d never known a terror like the one taking hold of me now.
Please leave,a little voice whispered in the back of my mind. Please just let me have these last few moments to myself.
The shadow finally vanished from my eyelids, and I heard more footsteps. Then the door up ahead clicked shut.
I waited a minute or so before slowly opening one eye, just a crack. I was alone again.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned to the window on my left and quietly slid the window shade upward. Then I craned my neck and peered out into the darkness.
We must’ve taken off fairly recently, because we hadn’t reached the maximum cruising altitude yet. I could tell from the sight of the red and green lights shining below; most likely ships on the ocean. If we were all the way up in the air, the lights would be much smaller specks, or I wouldn’t be able to see them at all.
I closed my eyes again and slumped back into the buttery leather seat. All I could think about was the time I woke up on another private jet with no idea where I was or how I got there until Logan showed up to smugly inform me that he owned me.
Back then, I thought that was the worst possible thing that could happen to me, even though Logan had made it clear that I would still live in the same city and see my friends and family again, once I was trained.
How incredibly naïve of me to think that was as awful as life could possibly get. How foolish and ignorant. Things were so much worse now that I was on this plane instead.
This time, I would never see anyone I loved or cared about ever again.
This time, I was never going home.
This time, I was going to find out just how bad life could actually get…
