Page 108 of Merciless Prince
I leapt up, eyes narrowing on him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I said, grabbing the bars. “Why would you do this?”
“To get something through your head after that little escape attempt of yours,” he said. He smiled thinly and gestured at the courtyard. “How many people have you tried to talk to today?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “Thirty, maybe.”
“How many of them believed your story about being a prisoner here?”
“One. But she was just a kid.”
“That’s what I thought,” he replied, eyes glimmering with twisted amusement. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “No one will ever believe you, Shay. No one who can help you, anyway.” He motioned to the courtyard again. “To everyone here, you’re just a crazy, overdramatic actress, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“God, you’re such an asshole,” I hissed. “I hate you so much.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled it toward him, wrapping his other hand around it. Sparks shot up my arm, burning into my chest. “I know you hate me. But you understand now, don’t you?” he said in a low voice. He leaned even closer, handsome face barely an inch from mine. “No matter what you say or do, you’re never, ever going to be free. You’ll always be mine.”
31
Shay
I saton the pile of straw in the corner of the cell, lips pursed and eyes narrowed as I surveyed the courtyard before me.
Five days of this mind-numbingly boring torment had passed. Every morning at ten o’clock, Killian came to pick me up and escort me into the courtyard. The other actors and staff members would smile and wave like I was one of them as we passed, and all I could do was offer them weak smiles in return. After that, Killian would lock me in the cell again and smugly wish me a good day at ‘work’. He returned to unlock the gate and let me out when the medieval show started to wind down at five o’clock. Then I’d be escorted back up to my room to share dinner with him, during which he’d sit opposite me and question me over and over to see if I was ready to give up my friends’ names yet.
My answer was always no.
He said he didn’t run Cori off the road, but I didn’t believe him. Of course he did. Even if he didn’t do the dirty work himself, he still hired someone to do it for him, and that made him just as guilty. I couldn’t risk the same thing happening to my other friends, so I stayed silent during our dinners, only answering basic questions about the weather and how my day went.
The answer to the latter question was always:it fucking sucked.
Everything Killian told me last week was right. No one believed anything I said. They all thought I was a crazy, overly-committed method actor.
I still tried anyway.
Every time a tourist approached the cell, I told them how a psychopathic man who fancied himself as a king among peasants—aka Killian Knight—had taken me and imprisoned me for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of them gave me odd looks, while others laughed, but they all walked away, never believing a single word I said.
Right now, there was no one to talk to. No one to attempt to convince. Everyone was caught up watching a sword-fighting demonstration in the central square of the courtyard, and the air was filled with gasps, cheers, and loud clanging sounds as the swords and armor clashed.
I let out a sigh and picked at a split end. A familiar face appeared in the corner of my vision, and I dropped my hair and sat up straight. Could that really be—
“Cooper?” I stood up and hurried over to the bars. “Cooper! Come over here!”
Itwashim. He was walking down the side alley where all the food stalls stood. When he saw me, his face brightened, and he dashed toward me.
“Shay! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Tears of relief sprang to my eyes, and I grabbed his hand through the bars. “I can’t believe you’re here!” I said, voice cracking with emotion. “How did you find me?”
“I saw someone mention your name on Twitter,” he replied, deep brown eyes flickering with concern. “They thought they saw you working in the medieval show at this place, so I decided to drive up here and check.” He took a short step back. “Why are you here? You told everyone you were working on a movie up in the Adirondacks.”
In a halting voice, I explained what had happened to me over the last few weeks—how Killian stalked me, drugged me, and took me from the interactive horror show. How he kept me in a dungeon for a week before moving me to a barred room in the castle. How he forced me to work down here in the courtyard to punish me for an escape attempt.
“No one believes me when I tell them,” I said, wiping a tear from my cheek. “They all think I’m crazy. You probably don’t believe me either.”
Cooper took my hand again. “Of course I believe you, Shay.”
I lifted my chin. “You do?”
“Yes. When I got that message from you talking about the acting gig you scored, I thought it was a bit weird and sudden, so I looked up the production company that the message mentioned. It’s a real company owned by the Knight family, but I couldn’t find any information about a project taking place in the Adirondacks.” He paused and slowly shook his head. “I had a feeling something strange was going on. That’s why I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
