Chapter Twenty

Rayanna- When all the girls went to bed I came out of hiding. I had left the boys room when they returned from dinner. I went to the kitchen and ate something. I then went to bed after changing. I fell asleep when I hit the pillow.

"This is my daughter Rayanna," my mother sayed.

I tried to look around, but it was pitch black.

"She would be perfect for anything you would like and I'm sure she'll be a fantastic wife for your sons," I could hear the slimy smile in her voice.

I got chills all over my body. A light turns on, on the other side of the room. I see my mother with a horse crop in her hand. She was being followed by a group of men. She walked over then stopped. I tried to run over to the door, but I was jerked back by something attached to my foot. I fall and hit the floor, then the light in my room turns on.

"Whoever has the most money, can take this worthless child off my hands."

A man in the back of the group walks to the front hundreds of thousands of dollars in hand, and I recognize him but from were. My mother snatches the bills from his hands wispering something to him, as the rest of the men leave. My mother stands in the corner counting bills. The man walks up to me, I don't know what but he's radiating a scary energy, as I look at his eye I shiver, they looked hungry. I scotted away as then stood balking up from him. He pushed me violently onto the wall forcing himself on me. I try to yell out, but nothing comes. I keep trying, but no sound escapes my lips. The man bits my neck.

"You'll be a fun one."

I wake up with a bolt, I touch my face and feel tears. I stand and start walking to the boys room, I go over to Xander and shake him awake.

"Rayanna?" He whispers, " Your shaking," he says after a moment of studying me.

He gets out of bed and hugs me. I wrap my arms around his bare chest.

"Xander, I need you to be my knight now."

I shake more, as tears run down my cheeks at the sound of my voice. He grabs something and picks me up. He lifts me so easily, like my weight is nothing. He carries me down the hall, and into a room with a king bed. He places me on a chair, and makes the bed. He picks me back up, and puts me into the bed. He kisses me on the forehead, and goes to sit in the chair. I grab him with my shaking hand. He looks back at my.

"Stay, please."

I don't say exactly, but he understands what I'm asking. He walks to the other side, and gets in bed with me. He shifts to lay next to him. I turn over to face him. He didn't ask any questions and pulled me closer to him. I breath in, he still had that smell. I don't know where he got it, but it was comforting. I look up at him he had his eyes closed. I use my left hand to brush his hair through my fingers. I pull my hand down, caressing his face. I feel the facial hair on his check with my thumb. He doesn't open his eyes, but he moves his right arm to hold my back rubbing it until I pull my hand from his face. I look up at him I use my hand to pull his face down to me. I kiss his, and not even a second later he does back. I pull away, my lips still close to his as I say.

"Xander, I-I love you."

He kisses me again, as if to tell me the same without words. I can feel his smile, as he pulls back.

"Get some sleep Ray."

Without another word I fall asleep Xander next to me.

I wake up to the sound of moving in the room. I look and see that the room had been cleaned up. I turn to see Xander in the bathroom shaving. I grab his pillow and lay my head on it, as I study him. He had put on a new pair of pants, and a shirt. I had noticed he weres pants to bed, but that could be because he was sleeping with other boys in the room. I have no doubt he had asked the maids to clean up the room. I understand why he brought use here, if I had stayed in his room, the other boys would jump to conclusions. If we stayed in the girls room, they would freak because they would think he was creeping. I sigh, and he looks over at me.

"Mornin' sunshine."

I smile at him and he goes back to shaving. He finishes by washing his face off, then brushing his teeth. He walks back over and sits on the bed. He starts to talk to me, but I'm distracted by the peppermint smell of his breath.

"Rayanna are you listening?"

I kiss him, which surprises him, but he kisses me back until I pull away.

"Thank you for last night," I say looking down.

"Hey," he takes my face in his hands to make me look at him, "It's ok, that's what I'm here for,"

He gives me a peck on the lips, then gets up buttoning the top button on his shirt.

"I'm going to go talk to the girls, before they make an amber alert. I need to know if you what to stay here with me for the rest of the week," I nod which makes his smile, "I'll see you in a little, oh also I had the maids bring your clothes there over there."

With that he went on his way. I pushed the covers away and looked through my clothes before I picked a swimsuit and a scarf that I could use inside, to help with the AC. I walk out of the room, and I walk pretending that I wasn't in the room. I enter the kitchen and Lillian is there. She runs up and hugs me.

"Are you ok I was so worried."

She let's go and I speak, "I'm fine, I-, just don't worry about it."

"June's been beating herself up because of that."

"It's not her fault," Because everyone knows, I'm not pretending to smile, and I think they noticed, "She couldn't have known."

I go to the fridge and grab a drink. I crack it open.

"Rayanna, what really happened with you mother?"

I shiver, as the thought of my nightmare flashes in my mind.

"Well, umm, I," I started to feel my hands shake, and I gripped the can in my hands tighter, "m-maybe another time."

"That's ok."

"Great," I shuffle out and head for the beach.

I hit the sand, and look for a chair. No one was here yet. I find one and carry it over to the water. I lay my scarf on it then sit down placing my sunglasses over my eyes. I listen to the ocean for a bit, before disiding to go for a dip. I walk it to the water tossing my sunglasses onto my chair. I walk into the ocean until I can swim around. The padern of the water flowing in then out way calming. Sometimes I like to close my eye while relaxing on the surface of a pool, and image if that's what it fells like to float in the air. I walk out and sit on the chair. I pull my hair back to let I dry.

I hadn't really done a lot of exploring, so I whent to look around. I peaked at the sides of the house and there wasn't really anything interesting. I whent to look at the storage under the deck. I shuffled things around until I found something. Nice. I take it out and find the pair of trees I saw before, as I expected they had the hook up, dame I'm good. I attach the bottom them the top, and lay down. Now I have a hamic, I lay useing my feet to make the woven cloths sway. I can feel my hair draging in the sand. I start to humm a song while I sway, a song I had practiced over and over, one of my favorites.

I was never good at learning instoments, but I did have the ability to sing. I remember on my 17th birthday it was one of the rare times I directly got to speak to the public. I did all the work behind the senes, but we have a special talent diliver news to the people on the daily. That day I got to speak to the public, saying it surprised them was an understatement. They whent crazy, the last time I had appeared on screen to the public was after my dads funeral. I ran that entire days news, and at the end enstead of going to the normal screen, it shower the emblem then whent back to me, as I sung the anthem. It makes me disopointed that I don't ever get to use this talent.

I sway just thinking, I enjoy this kind of vacation, being able to lay outside and enjoy the environment in peace. A shadow covers the sun infront of me. I open my eyes and see Xander.

"Hey there beautiful," he says.

"Hello stranger."

He lays down on the hamic and I turn on my sild lifting my feet up, as he rocks us.

"Isn't it so peaceful out here?"

"Yes, it's a change. I feel like it's going to feel empty when we get back with only eight of us."

"Ya,"

"Hey do you whant to talk about last night?"

"I- I had a nightmare, probably triggered by the resurfacing of old scars. I can't say I haven't had that one before, this time it was a lot worse."

Thinking over the dream, I recognize where that fear came from.

"I'm sorry," he says.

"It's ok, there's no way for you to be in my dreams to protect me."

"What triggered it?"

"Well like I told you before, my mother used my grief to manipulate and change me into a quiet submissive person. Her plane was to sell me off for money or to form relations it's other kingdoms. Doing that she would then try to have another, male, heir. It made me feel gross, that she would just try to sell me like an idiom that could be replaced. That dream played with my fears of being sold off, used, toyed with, and not being able to get help or ask for it more specifically."

"She tried to sell you off."

"Tried is the key word, we finally got a hold of me father will, and had a reading. He wanted this," I motion to everyone as they lay by the beach, "to happen. I think he had a slight idea of what my mother was planing."

"Something tells my your mother is always playing the acting game."

"Yes, usually. She became the one to run the event by making one of her 'friends' think it was their idea, and suggest that we hold it at our castle. She also tampered with the participants, she planned everyone here. She purposely put an odd number in, hoping that all of you would take interest in each other leaving me with no one. She was then going to end it, but because you took a liking to me and I to you, she had to hide her plan by making an even number, bringing in Erin. Erin has relations with some of the people here, she was hoping that it would stir up everyone to change their minds, but that didn't work. I don't know what she's planning now, whatever she's planning she's keeping it hidden well this time."

"There is nothing that would make me leave you Ray."

"I know Xan. Let's just hope it's nothing to erashional."

I didn't explain every detail of the nightmare, but rather the rough outline. There is really nothing to do here aside from look at the ocean, so I'll keep those less interesting details to myself. We all ate together early that evening, leaving time to enjoy the last day's sunlight for another hour. I was persuaded by Xander to go for a dip in the hot tub, as the sun went down. I joined him right as the sky started to turn orange.

"Hey there," I say.

"Hey yourself," he says back with a smirk.

I carry two glasses in my hands, I walk over and hand him one. The drink was cold served with ice, witch was unique about this particular drink. I thought that something cold would help with the heat of the jacuzzi. I slip myself in the water, as I sip the smooth drink.

"Nice choice," he says looking at me drinking his drink.

His clam makes me think what in particular he thinks is a "nice choice". I walk over and sit next to him. In my thought there are only two things that he could be talking about, the drink or my cloths. Witch if you were wondering was a bikini. I look over at him as he looks out over the ocean. I enjoy the jacuzzi for a while and start to feel hot. I move my leg to brush Xander's.

"Are you ready to go, I'm feeling a little hot."

He kisses me, " only a little?"

I clear my throat, " I mean I-"

He moves one of his hands up my thigh to hold my hip with one hand. I have this feeling, one I've never had, and it pushes me to ack. I move to straddle over him. He is the one to start the kiss this time. The softness of his lips pull me in, and I wish to have them forever. Then the thought occurs to me. Why don't I just chose him? To give the others time? No, even if that was the case they would still be at the castle for a while. It was me, I was waiting for him to say it. I was waiting for him to ask me. My thoughts are cut off by Xander leaving my lips to kiss down my neck and collarbone. He brings his Dino to his lips and starts again. He kisses a line up my neck, and then something cold drags over the imaginary line. Xander had an ice cube in his mouth, using it to cool my skin is passed over. he like the side of my neck, his tongue cold from the ice. I shiver slightly and he kisses over it. I humm slightly at the feeling of his lips, he then pulled back looking at me.

" I think we should go back."

I nodded once, disappointed for some reason. What's wrong with you Rayanna? I walk behind him, as we go back to our room.

We enter and head to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and pull my hair back showing all the scars I hide using my hair. I finish up and go to our bed Xander still doing things in the bathroom I turn around and try I block myself with my back, as I change into my nightgown. I turn to see him with a strange look, as he stares into the mirror. Right before I lay down there's a knock at the door.