Chapter 14

Fourteen

Although I knew it before he said the words, I’m numb with shock. I have dreamed and fantasised about this moment for most of my life. Our meeting. But even my very overactive imagination didn’t conjure this variation, and being kidnapped and held against my will in a fucking dungeon was definitely not on my bingo card for the year.

“Aria, right?” he drawls, stepping closer. His eyes rake over me, taking in every detail, and I am pretty sure I am not meeting his expectations. I’m sickened by his attention and try to flinch back from his presence.

“I know you can speak, child,” he admonishes, disappearing from view as he walks behind me. “I heard you do so before.”

“What do you want from me?” I say, amazed at how calm I sound.

“I wanted to meet my progeny,” he states blandly, walking back around the other side of me again and stopping in front to face me. “Have you not been curious about me all these years? You are... what? seventeen now?”

“Eighteen,” I correct with a little bite to my tone. Fucker doesn’t even know my age.

“Eighteen, apologies. You see, I tried desperately to find you when you were born, Aria, but your mother hid you both so well, and despite my rather extensive resources, she frustratingly succeeded, until this year. Until she brought you home to me. Imagine my surprise when I heard a rumour of my daughter appearing in Adelaide. In my city. Less than half an hour from my home, in fact. Well, you can only imagine how excited I was to finally meet you,” he says, his flat, cold tone unchanging despite his words.

He steps closer to me, eyes scrutinising my face.

“You look so much like her, you know? Just as beautiful, in that wholesome way that she did at your age. You’ve got my eyes, though. There is no hiding those.”

I am so mad I swear I could spit actual fire in his face. But I keep my mouth clamped shut. Taunting this man will not get Anders and me out of here.

“Nothing? You have absolutely nothing to say to your long-lost father, Aria?”

This time I snort. I can’t help myself. Anger flares in his green eyes, making them seem to glow, and before I blink, he strikes me across the face. My jaw screams in protest at the assault, but I don’t make a sound. Then I slowly turn my head back towards him, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. He closes in, his face inches from mine. All semblance of calm is gone now as he screams in my face, “Show some fucking respect to your king!”

My what? King? Laughter bubbles up my throat and escapes before I can stop it. I laugh so hard, so loud, I can feel tears leaking down my face.

“My king? You don’t even get to call yourself my father, let alone my fucking king,” I say, voice raising, and a fury like I have never known turns my vision red. “You are a manipulative child molester who took advantage of a vulnerable young girl, not even a woman. Couldn’t get someone more age appropriate? Was it the micro-peen, Daddy? You are giving off some mighty small dick energy, I have to say.”

He starts forward, in a move that I am sure will have him strike me again, but I am ready this time.

“Go on, beat me down while I am chained up, like the big man you are!” I practically scream at him, straining against my binds to get in his face. “Come on, Your Majesty! Fucking hit me!!”

He takes a step back and laughs. The anger leaving his face instantly, like this has been some inside joke all along. I am completely thrown by his reaction to my outburst.

“Got my fire, too, I see.” He steps back into me and sniffs deeply and loudly. Ewww.

“But that’s not all you inherited, is it, daughter?” he says, slinking back a step out of reach again. My confusion must be written all over my face, so with a sigh, he leans in so close I can smell his subtle aftershave, and his eyes start to glow green. And I don’t mean like a light flashes in your eyes, they actually fucking glow .

“What the hell?” I start, pushing myself back away from his face.

“She didn’t tell you,” he says. It’s a statement, not a question, but he sounds shocked. “How interesting. Tell me, Aria, have you never noticed your mother’s inability to keep a man in her life?”

“I fail to see . . .”

“Have you never thought it strange that she seems to tire over time, getting worse no matter how much she rests, until one day, suddenly, she is like a brand-new person and so full of life and energy you think she might burst?”

“I don’t know what you’re...” I start, but the rest of my sentence tapers off as I think. His words ring true.

All my life, Mum has been a roller coaster of energy. She would have so much that even as a child I couldn’t keep up, and slowly, over days and weeks, she would become more drawn, dark circles forming under her eyes, her beautiful golden hair would lose it lustre, and then one morning I would wake up and she would be full of energy again, and the cycle would start anew.

“Ahhhh, but it seems you do, my child.”

“You don’t get to call me that,” I snipe, coming out of my memories and back to the here and now.

“What? My child? But you are. There is no denying it. You haven’t even tried. You know who I am to you. You feel it. Don’t lie. I abhor liars.”

“You abhor liars?” I say incredulously, then glance pointedly at myself and our surroundings. “But you seem completely at ease with kidnapping.”

“This? It is just a means to an end, Aria. I thought it was time to meet, and I wanted to ensure you would hear what I have to say.”

“A captive audience, so to speak?” I retort. “Taking that shit a little too literally, don’t you think?”

“Enough with that smart mouth—and watch your tone!” he sneers, startling me enough that I flinch again. I hate my reaction. It shows a weakness.

“Maybe a few quiet hours with your companion will convince you to hold that forked tongue, young lady,” he says, and turns, leaving the room without a backwards glance.

My captor, who I’d quite forgotten was in the room still, moves over to the crank and manoeuvres the frame back to a lying position, rotating it around again. He removes the restraints at my wrists, and one of my legs, then comes around to help me sit up.

Movement on the other side of the room makes my gaze snap up. Anders! He’s lying on a frame the same as mine, held off the ground on some kind of lifter. He’s blindfolded like I was, but his face looks bruised. There’s dried blood in his hairline, and tracks of it have fallen down the side of his face. He isn’t moving.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I say quietly to my captor, hoping my gentle tone might convince him I’m no threat.

“I have left you enough chain to reach.” He motions with his head to a bucket in the corner near a sink with a dripping tap. Absolutely not.

“What about him?” I use the same head gesture towards Anders, careful not to use his name, just in case.

“I will untie him the same as you, but he will probably be out for a while. Took a bit of a knock to the head when he started fighting against his bonds earlier.”

The guy moves over to Anders, and true to his word, undoes the binds at his wrists and one leg, just like mine. He doesn’t remove the blindfold, though, and Anders doesn’t move or make a sound the whole time.

“I’ll be back to check on you a little later,” our captor says, and walks back out the door, closing it behind him. A key turns in the lock, and his slow footsteps walk away.