Fang Two

*Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal...*

He seemed to have noticed I was paralysed under him and rested his palm on my cheek, gliding his thumb across it. "What is the matter Daphne? Are you somehow feeling uncomfortable?" He asked, using the name again, clarifying all of my doubts.

This king seemed to think that I was Daphne!

"Your...Your Majesty is mistaken, this is a misunderstanding." I voiced out quickly, curling my trembling fingers into a nervous knot.

He sent me a whimsical look, asking me to explain further, seeing as the mood had reached a swift decline he crawled off me and stood by the bed.

I immediately sat up and hugged my knees to my chest, warming myself up, the night had turned chilly all of a sudden.

"What do you mean by a misunderstanding?" His tone was no longer soft as before, it was now an uneven mix of curiosity and indifference, the latter more evident than the former.

"I'm not Daphne. My name is Heather." I told him clearly trying to fix the misunderstanding.

The king blinked twice at me then took another look of my body from head to toe, both his hands rested on each side of his waist.

"I don't think I follow, what do you mean by you're not Daphne." His tone now sounded cold, lacking any form of emotion whatsoever.

I was no fool and could tell that depending on what I said now, my life would be at a great risk. However, there were doubts that lingered in my mind, and only he had the answer to those questions.

"If you're not Daphne then who the hell are you and where is my bride?!" He roared all of a sudden, my entire body felt like it was thrown into an icy cold river, unable to move.

"I... I'm her older sister Heather... My parents said that... that you sent a proposal for me to be your bride..." Before I could even finish speaking, he angrily charged towards me and grabbed me by the neck, staring daggers into me.

"Those sly foxes! How dare they try to deceive me!" His grip on my neck tightened with each word he spoke.

"Please...please..." I begged for my life, choked with tears, I was equally as confused as he was and still needed to process my thoughts.

"If you're the impostor, then where is she? What have they done to her?!" He demanded with his fingers still curled around my neck. I had to use my hands to vigorously tap his, trying to explain that not only could I not speak, but in a few seconds I'd be unable to breathe.

Fortunately, he cared more about Daphne's whereabouts than exacting vengeance on me, and gradually relaxed his grip on my neck, giving me some allowance to breathe.

"Start talking."

I took shallow breaths, trying to put together an image of the situation, my parents had insisted that their hands were tied and they couldn't reject his marriage proposal, for fear they would anger him. When I reminded them that I was betrothed to prince Eric, they told me to forget about him for the benefit of the kingdom.

To comfort me, they instead had Eric and Daphne engaged to one another, so our kingdom would not lose face. But, if the proposal had come for Daphne from the beginning, then why would they have to call off my engagement to Eric?

Unless...

"They tricked me." I said under my breath in realization, the ugly truth had come to light, that my parents had tricked me into marrying this vile man, and arranged for my fiance to marry Daphne instead!

Fresh set of tears fell from my eyes, "it was all planned out from the beginning." I spat out, forgetting all about the intimidating man whose patience was running thin.

"Where is my bride?" He asked once more, this time demanding I answer him immediately.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment, we were both sitting on this matrimonial bed, fooled by my parents and heaven knows if Eric and Daphne were involved!

"There is no bride, Daphne is already engaged to someone else." I told him, counting my words while I spoke. I watched him for a reaction, but he didn't seem to have any traces of stun in his expression.

"That can't be possible..." He said to himself, drinking in the shock firsthand.

It wasn't an unusual thing for marriage proposals to be sent without even seeing the bride in question. And when it came to Daphne, the stories about her were so popular that she never had a shortage of men lining up for her.

But to think that this ruthless king had also fallen head over heels for her charms was really saying something. What did mother and father think would happen to me when he found out that I wasn't Daphne whom he loved dearly. Did they not once think of my safety?

Thinking about it all made more tears to trickle down my eyes and my nose had started to leak, I looked very ugly whenever I cried.

He quietly rose from the bed without sparing me a second glance and marched towards the door with clenched fists. He reached for the door handle and mindlessly pulled it open, separating the door from it hinges.

I gasped and covered my mouth, he angrily flung the door into the room, not caring where it landed, then he angrily dashed out of the chamber, without saying a single word to me.

*The next morning*

I woke up curled up in a ball, with goosebumps plastered across my arms from the cold of sleeping without bedsheets.

My eyes took a heavy sweep of the tower, searching for any hole that sunlight could infiltrate through. Thankfully, aside the tower window which I had used the bedsheets to block, there was nothing of the sort.

"Ah, I see he left you alive." A voice sounded from where the door used to be, I shifted my gaze from my blistered covered feet to a woman who looked no older than me. I recognized her immediately as the same woman who led me into this tower when I first arrived last night.

She had long raven black hair that rested at her lower back and deep brown eyes that reminded me of dried autumn leaves.

"Why is it so dark in here?" She asked inviting herself into the room carrying a tray of breakfast, her eyes landed on the broken door, causing an amused smirk to decorate her lips.

"I can't have sunlight." I explained, she stared at me blankly for a second but didn't push the matter any further. As she waltzed across the tower room, I couldn't help but notice how physically endowed she was.

The woman set the tray beside me, she raised a brow at my swollen eyes but didn't say anything of it.

"Why is your skin so pale? I almost confused you for one of us at your arrival." She remarked as she sat on the dresser, casually flinging one leg across the other.

"One of you?" I mouthed, suspiciously eyeing the tray of breakfast, what did she mean by that?

"You'll find out soon enough, since he did that, it must mean he has plans for you." She explained, staring animatedly at me, my exposed neck in particular which still had vivid signs of strangulation.

I instinctively rested my hand on my exposed neck, ashamed of how he treated me, despite knowing fully well that I was also tricked by my parents.

"You're not going to eat? You'll need your energy." She said, urging me to take a bite.

"What's going to happen to my parents and Daphne?" I couldn't help but ask, if he took out his rage on someone clueless about the matter, then just what would he do to my family back home?!

The woman rested her index finger on her chin and pursued her lips, after a brief minute she cleared her throat and said...

"It depends on his mood really, but if I had to narrow down the possibilities then he would either murder the entire royal family or burn down the whole kingdom."

My insides twisted into a nervous knot as I searched her eyes for a sign that she was perhaps trying to crack a joke. But as I gazed at those brown orbs, it only left me completely convinced that those were not just empty words.