5

Eventually I was able to force myself to undress so that I could put the dress on. Shockingly, it fit perfectly, and I shivered as I thought how this could be possible. I had no idea what had happened to me between when I blacked out in the auditorium and when I woke up in the locked room, and I had no desire to find out.

I silently emerged from the bathroom, the long train of the dress trailing behind me. I sat on the edge of the bed as Eliza braided my hair and placed a few white flowers in my brown locks. She turned my head to face her and began applying some kind of makeup to my face and eyes. When her job was finished, she retreated to the corner of the room and sat down, an exhausted look on her face. I instantly felt sorry for her.

"You know, Eliza, if you want to take a quick nap in the bed over here, you're welcome to," I said, trying to sound as inviting as possible.

I thought that I saw Eliza's eyes light up momentarily, but the look of sadness soon filled her eyes once more. "I truly wish I could, Miss Luna, but the sun has almost set. The guards will be here shortly to take you to the Presentation."

"He...Zachariah won't be one of those guards, right?" I asked, wondering if I really wanted to hear the answer.

"Yes, he will be. He's one of the main guards in the kingdom. He's know for his...very persuasive tactics," Eliza whispered. I shook my head and placed my head in my hands. Maybe if I just closed my eyes it would all be a dream...

But I wasn't so lucky. I heard the lock on the door click as Zachariah and another guard entered my room. Zachariah first addressed Eliza: "You, leave. Go take your place in the throne room." Eliza, her head turned down, quickly darted out of the room. Then, Zachariah turned to me, a huge grin plastered on his face. "Hello, Luna. You're looking much better than before. That dress really suits you. If only it was sheer..." He winked at me, which I ignored. Instead I merely glared at him. He threw his hands up in mock surrender. "I suppose that was a little inappropriate. That's Prince Eren's job to take that dress off."

I refused to say anything despite the fact that my heart was beating out of my chest. Zachariah frowned. He marched over to where I was sitting and grabbed mu hair. I cried out in pain as he yanked me towards the door. "I don't like it when servants ignore me."

Once I was at the door, Zachariah held my hands behind my back as I tried to escape his hold. The other guard placed shackles on my wrists to bind my hands together. Zachariah grabbed my shoulder and pushed me out of the room, whispering in my ear, "You can either walk on your own, or I can carry you. Doesn't make a difference to me."

"There is no way that I'm going to let you touch me again," I spat, ripping my shoulder out of his grasp.

He chuckled loudly. "So now you decide to talk. I hope the prince doesn't get too jealous."

Zachariah and the other guard each grabbed one of my shoulders and began to steer me forward. The three of us began walking down the long halls of the castle, winding this way and that until I lost all sense of direction. Even if I hadn't been caught by Zachariah, there was no way I could have navigated through the maze of corridors inside the castle. I was trapped like a rat in a maze.

"Why would he be jealous of a servant talking to you?" I grumbled indignantly. "Not to mention you're a piece of shit..." I murmured to myself.

"What was that, Luna? You want to speak up a bit?"

"N-no," I stuttered, afraid he would hurt me again. But it felt so good to insult him.

Just as I began to wonder how much longer I would have to walk, Zachariah pulled me down a staircase and I entered a large hall. Tapestries hung along the gray stone walls, and the floor was covered with red and gold carpeting. Suits of armor stood along the walls, and these ones actually held weapons of all different kinds, from swords to maces to clubs. An enormous crowd of people stood on either side of the long room, creating a pathway that led up to a raised platform. On the platform stood three thrones, each of different sizes. Two of them were empty, but the middle one, the largest, was occupied by a young man who looked to be about my age. He had short black hair that spiked out at various angles. He was extremely tall; he must have been over six feet, at least. He wore a white tunic and black pants, which were mostly covered by the elaborate drape that he wore over his shoulders, which was red with white fringe around the edges. Atop his head sat a gold crown with various colored jewels embedded in it. At his feet sat almost a dozen girls, all wearing the same outfit as Eliza. I realized these must be his other servants. But he had nearly twelve of them...why did he need me?!

The prince was sitting in a position that have him the appearance of being bored. He had his chin on the palm of his hand, and his legs were swung up onto the chair so that he was practically laying down in it instead of sitting. Suddenly he perked up. I glanced to my right to see what had caused his change in mood and saw the two other girls who had been taken from my school were being walked down the aisle by other guards. They wore the same white dress as me. I cringed as I felt Zachariah's hot breath in my ear. "Your turn, Luna."

At first I tried to holdy ground, but when Zachariah noticed that I wasn't budging, he shoved me forward angrily. "Move it!"

All eyes in the room fell on me. I had no choice but to move forward towards the prince. As I walked down the aisle of people, I heard whispers emitted from various figures in the crowd. I couldn't discern what they were saying, but I knew that they were discussing me. Up ahead, I saw the two girls arrive at the bottom of the raised platform. The guards forced the two girls to their knees and barked at them to keep their heads down in respect for the prince.

Just as I was about to reach the throne, I spun around and faced Zachariah's stunned face. Before he could react, I kicked him in the groin (which, to my luck, happened not to be covered in armor) then swiftly brought my chained hands down on his head. He collapsed to the floor, moaning in pain.

I could hear gasps on either side of me as the onlookers watched me spin around, frantically looking for an exit. I located a door off to the side that seemed like my best bet, and I began to run towards it. However, I stumbled and fell to the ground, my face crashing into the hard floor. I picked my head up and brought a hand up to my lip; I must have bitten down on it during my fall, because it was bleeding profusely. I wiped my hand on my white dress to clean it off, then turned my head to see that I had not tripped of my own accord, but that one of the guards had grabbed the train of my dress in his hands to prevent me from escaping. Despite the chains around my wrists, I pulled the fabric towards me and heard a loud rip as the train tore in half. Now free from the guard's clutches, I picked myself up and began to dash away from the crowd again.

This time, two guards blocked the aisle with swords drawn. I looked left and right, trying to find a break in the crowd that would let me escape, but none of the people in the crowd seemed willing to budge.

With no other choice presented to me, I took a step backwards. Bad mistake.

I felt a pair of hands grab my ankles and pull me to the ground. I yelled out in both surprise and pain as I tumbled to the ground, right next to Zachariah. He had pulled me to the ground and was now on top of me. The more I struggled, the more he pressed down on me, causing my head to spin. I looked up into his eyes, which were burning with fury.

To be continued....

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