Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Sara opened her eyes slowly, the heavy eyelids not helping her at all, but on the good side there was barely any light to adjust to, just a fading orange flame somewhere in the place she was in casting a faint light and creating dancing shadows.

Before she could even draw her first conscious breath, Sara was yet again attacked by the memories of all the things that happened to her in the last days, she froze, not daring to even breath, too afraid it would alert the monsters.

The lump that gathered in her eyes was painful, heavy, and big. However, she didn’t dare to swallow it, what if the demoness was still there? Waiting for her to wake up just to torture her into unconsciousness again?

Sara, being her father’s precious daughter, grew up without receiving a single hit in her life, her father was the kind to use emotional blackmailing against her when he wanted to punish her, while the priests never dared to raise a hand on her, not even in that time when she mistakenly ruined a five hundred years old scroll. punishments that involved hitting and inflicting physical pain were simply things she was never subjected to before until she fell into the hands of the monster couple that made her wish she was never born.

And she did, Sara thought to herself, while Geraldine tortured her for hours and hours nonstop, in and out of consciousness as she could make her reach the sill of fainting then stop, only for a minute to ensure the girl wasn’t going to blackout before coming at her again, and in case she did faint, she would force her back to consciousness using icy or scorching water.

During those endless hours, Sara wished that she had never gone to the ball, never met Eren, never been born, not her, not her father, not her mother, and not their parents, not even the whole human race, she cursed her entire existence and the fact that she was alive to live such pain, she cursed the Gods after praying for them to save her, a prayer they didn’t answer.

The pain was great, Sara thought, she had read once that emotional pain was harsher than the physical one, she didn’t remember the name of the book nor who wrote but she cursed them both, for the bastard mustn’t even know a shred of the pain she felt to dare say such a thing.

It was the kind of pain that made one want to die, the kind of pain that made the mind give up, turning numb because it was too painful to think, during those times, her mind shrieked to the back, and she was left with a small portion that only expected waves after waves of pain, with the demoness never failing to oblige.

And then there were the words that only added insult to her injuries.

“You stupid girl actually believed he cared for you? Don’t tell me you really thought he loved you? Oh please, what is there in you to love, a bastard who abandoned her father to whore around with a man she barely knew, you think you are worthy of being loved? You are not! You are but an abomination! A freak! He will never love someone like you! No one will ever love someone like you!”

The words didn’t hurt as much as the physical torture, however, they managed to break Sara in a delicate place that couldn’t be fixed, and now that she was not being tortured, she remembered them, and again, the pain was great.

It was the kind of pain that made one too afraid to stay alive.

And Sara was afraid, too afraid to breathe, too afraid to open her eyes, too afraid to be hurt that way again, she wished she didn’t believe the woman in the dream, she wished she stayed in the safety of her subconsciousness until it collapsed on her, she should have stayed there instead of coming back to this place where there was nothing but pain, the pain that made her forget about everything else.

Sara didn’t know for how long she stayed frozen in her spot without hearing the tiniest of noises, and even with that she didn’t dare open her eyes or breath, it was too risky, but she couldn’t fight the vital need for air any longer as she felt her lungs burning, and before she drew the slightest breath in, she felt something cold but lite and gentle cover her.

The feeling was so faint, almost unnoticeable, but because of her state of alert she was able to detect it, it felt as if a very thin and lite veil, too lite as if made of air, was thrown over her body, the gentle cool touch of it managed to soothe her pain a little, Sara wondered what it was, she was sure she didn’t hear any noises, not even the sound of breaths, the place was deadly quiet.

Releasing the air in her lungs in the quietest and subtle way she could, Sara tried to open her eyes just a little, only enough to see her surroundings then close them right back up, her mind was debating her against the reckless idea, and she had to admit she was terrified, but too much time passed and nothing happened, and now that she thought about it, her body was no longer tied up nor hanging, in matter of fact, she was laying on a very soft surface, something which was comfortable rather than painful, her body was also covered to the neck, and not just by the mysterious veil, but with a thick and warm cover.

Everything indicated that she was safe for now, and therefore, a peek was the rational next step.

And it was then when she realized she wasn’t able to open her eyes!

Her eyelids were not heavy, they were just frozen as if her eyes were sewed shut, she feared it might be true for the demoness was more then capable of doing such a thing, but then she remembered she had already opened her eyes and saw a faint orange light, not to mention it wasn’t painful, her eyes were just shut.

Before she could come up with any more conclusions, Sara heard the sound of multiple footsteps entering the room, and blood froze in her veins, a part of her told her to jolt out and run anywhere before they got a hold on her, but another part was too scared to move, not that she could, Sara thought.

Three people, Sara judged by the sounds of the steps, three people walked in where she was, it must have been a room for she didn’t hear the distinctive sound of the iron bars, instead, it was the sound of a door being opened as the three people walked inside.

“Oh, so she is real, I was starting to have my doubts.” A male voice said, probably a young one, Sara, who was faking sleep, figured it was one which she never heard before, but soon, the one she knew spoke.

“Well now that your doubts have been ended, feel free to return to your assigned section.” Sara was now grateful for the mysterious veil which froze her moves as she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide the shiver that ran down her body when she heard Eren’s voice, his tone was low and void of emotions as he spoke with obvious authority.

“Your lack of hospitality is not a kind way to start an alliance, Lord Eren.” The first voice replied, and Sara, even though she couldn’t see it, could have sworn that the man was smirking as he spoke the words.

“My lord, did she wake up yet?” a third voice asked, and this time it was an elder man, his voice proud but still respectful.

“No, all thanks to your daughter.” Eren answered sharply, and then Sara heard the voice she was terrified of.

“I…”

“Don’t you start!” Eren interrupted, unable to even tolerate her presence, and it took Geraldine all her self-resolution not to cry in front of everyone.

“She only did what you asked her too!” the third voice interfered, defending the demoness who was his daughter, but Eren was quick to retort.

“Oh, and isn’t she so great at doing exactly what she is told?!” he asked mockingly before adding “She had almost ruined our entire plan!”

“The girl seems fine to me though!” The first voice became closer as the sound of his footsteps made it to her ears.

“And My! isn’t she a beauty?! No wonder you have been keeping her in here, all for yourself, Lord Eren!”

“I think you should all leave my room!” the men, after exchanging several words in a different language left, Geraldine on the other hand tried to stay behind only to be screamed at, and that is when Sara remembered a very important detail.

There were four different voices although she only heard three of them walking inside, not to mention the direction Eren’s voice came from was opposite to the others, opposite to the door, did her senses mislead her? or was he….

“You can stop pretending to be asleep now, Sara!”