Chapter 3

I woke up to the smell of fire, the second thought the enter my mind was Jonathan, could it have been him here?

I immediately get up and look around to see I myself inside a house, it wasn't anything too big, almost like a cabin.

I began walking, only to be stopped by the pain of my leg, "stupid bear!" I grunt.

"Bears aren't stupid." I hear a feminine voice say.

I turn around only to be greeted by a beautiful woman. Her hair was long and dark, she had it tied back. She wore very little on top, accompanied by a pair of pants, those of which men would wear.

Although she was dressed like that, it did look quite comfortable. Philip would've never allowed me to wear such clothing.

"Who are you?" I cautiously ask, for all I knew this woman was about to murder me.

"I won't hurt you, as long as you comply." She says.

I look at her confused, "what happened to that man?" I ask her.

"Juon? He brought you to this town."

"What town?" I ask as I immediately make my way to the window.

I look outside to see other houses around, horses, people, stalls.

"Where am I?"

"You're in Pagabay"

"Pagabay? Is this some sort of joke? I've never heard of such a place."

The woman rolled her eyes and walked towards me, "there is now." She says.

"Go lay down, you need some rest."

"What is going on?" I ask on the verge of tears.

She looks at me with sympathy, "it's okay, you're fine here. I don't understand why you're still afraid."

"I'm not afraid!" I angrily say.

I sit back onto the sofa, facing away from the woman who brings me rage.

"What's your name?" She asks

"Why would I tell you?" I reply to her.

"Fine. You're better off with a fake name. We don't want anybody suspecting anything, we don't want anybody noticing you either." She says before cutting off half the length of my hair.

"You're now known as Castria."

"How dare you cut off my hair!" I yell at her.

"Settle down, we have more important matters to attend to."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm Emily, now I'll show you to your room and we'll discuss all matters there."

"What matters? What the hell is going on?" I say as I follow her up the stairs.

"You obviously have no home, money, family or friends... It would be sad, although I am giving you the chance the get out of the situation you are currently in."

"How so?" I ask out of curiosity.

"You marry the duchesse's son."

"The what now?" I was both shocked and intrigued.

"My father had initially planned for me to do so, but I'd rather you. You are what he prefers after all."

"How am I what he'd prefer?" I ask.

"You'll submit to him and his family."

My jaw opened.

"I am no peasant."

"You're not doing this to be a peasant." Emily said.

"Then what could anybody be doing this for? Why don't you go ahead and marry him?"

She shook her head.

"You don't understand, I don't want you marrying him out of love, oh no. That'd be horrid of me to make you do so."

"How would you be making me do so? I make me own decisions."

"Either you marry him, or you end up back in the woods, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to go back out now that they're unleashed."

"Unleashed? Excuse me?"

"The borders of the town have been shut, the creature run freely in the woods. There's no chance you'd survive."

Creatures... Could they have been the cause of the accident? Could these creatures have killed Jonathan?

"What creatures?" I ask.

"Nobody is sure of where they had come from, all I can tell you is that if you marry the duchess's son, we're not only set for life, but we're also protected them for awful creatures."

Creatures...

I'm sorry Jonathan, I know you'd never forgive me for doing such an awful thing to another, but it's the only way I'd be able to survive.

"Fine."

"Well then, we'll get you ready. You're to meet him tonight."

"Tonight? You don't think that's a bit too soon?"

"So you don't want any money?"

I grunt as I follow her up the stairs.

"I've set up the bath for you already, it's nice a hot."

I thank her as she heads on out.

What was I thinking? How would this plan all work out? There's no way I'd submit to anybody other than Jonathan.

My poor Jonathan.

I had to stop being so weak.

After a while I stepped out of the tub, I didn't have a good feeling about tonight. But I had to do what I had to do.

I slipped on the red dress laying on the bed and brushed through my wet hair.

She really cut it.

"It took you a while to get out of there."

I jump as I hear her behind me, "don't do that!" I say.

"You look beautiful, you'll only need a touch of makeup."

She applied red lipstick and a hint of dark eyeshadow along with some mascara.

"Now nobody will be able to keep their eyes off of you."

"I thought we only wanted the duchess's son's eyes on me..."

She rolls her eyes and we head out of the house into a carriage.

"You look uncomfortable." She says.

"I'm not." I reply as I play with my fingers.

After what felt like forever we arrived to the palace, I wasn't expecting it to be as huge as it was.

The gates opened as soon as our carriage arrived, it seems as though Emily was well known here.

Our carriage doors were opened for us, we both stepped out.

"What are you doing here?" I hear someone say.

I turn my head...