Chapter 51 - In the Forest

It was dark. And cold. Wind was slowly blowing over the right side of Lilith's body and its gentle creep only added to the terrifying nature of her situation. There was also some sort of sack over her head. Her arms were tied behind her and she was leaning against something hard and itchy. Possibly a tree. So that meant she was outside.

Goosebumps crawled all over her skin and she had to calm herself with the hope that she was still near the manor. The people who had done this to her were somewhere off in the trees. She could hear their faint shuffling and the murmurs of their voices. Whatever they were discussing, Lilith didn't want any part of it. But she guessed she really didn't have a choice there.

But then, the shuffling became louder. They were coming.

Lilith involuntarily held her breath and completely froze. She was alone with her captors in the forest with no way out. Her focus was primarily on her surroundings that she did not even know how badly she was trembling against the tree. Cold fear shot up her back when the footsteps stopped right next to her. 

"What should we do with her?" one of the servants asked.

"Make sure that she never sees his Majesty again." another answered.

"She isn't even that pretty but disfiguring her forever does not sound like a bad idea. I'm sure it would be an improvement. It's a wonder how she managed to seduce the King with looks like that."

There were snickers all around and Lilith could not even tell how many there were. More or less than before? How could they have managed to get her out of the manor without being noticed was a mystery to her? Even if the guards were busy trying to figure out where the noise came from, there should still be some around to make sure that no one used that as an obvious distraction. They could not be that dumb? And yet it seemed like they were.

Suddenly, Lilith was pushed against the ground harshly, a foot pressing into her side. She let out a trembling gasp but it was quickly cut off when she felt another force on her stomach. It took the breath out of her lungs. Hot pain erupted over her torso and Lilith let out a cry that muffled itself when she rolled in pain, pressing her face into the ground.

But that was only the beginning of it. Kick after kick and stamp after stamp, the servants took out their anger on her. Lilith could barely breathe to keep up with all they were doing to her. Her face was wet and she didn't know if it was from tears or blood.

"How could she... how could this... be able to touch the King. Despicable." A heel dug into her skull and Lilith let out a choked cry. The sack over her head was restricting her breathing and she was sure that she would eventually pass out of this continued.

Of course, this had to do with jealousy. Lilith was not even surprised. She knew it the moment they cornered her in the office. Lilith was a servant and she was able to accomplish something that even nobles had not. The other servants probably felt cheated. For whatever reason they did.

A sharp scream ripped through Lilith's throat, her nose basically exploded feeling like it was on fire and being ripped off of her face at the same time. One of the servants had kicked her square on the face. And with all her might by what it felt like.

Lilith sobbed and she rolled fully onto her front. Her limbs felt close to falling off and the sharp pain she felt in her chest had her believing that one of her ribs were broken. She needed to protect herself. If they went on Lilith was sure that she was going to die. But they did not let up and kept on punishing her with their feet.

Her body could not keep up with what they were doing and it eventually gave up on her, giving out and going limp against the ground. Lilith could barely keep herself focused. Her head was pounding and her vision was splotchy. She hoped that she at least still had her eyes.

"Is she dead?" After however long, Lilith heard someone speak.

"Probably not." She was nudged.

"Her brain must be cracked open, unconscious is more like it. She'll probably bleed out or something." a voice she hadn't heard before spoke.

"Finally, I was getting sick of hearing her make noises."

Lilith slowed down her breathing to the best of her ability and folded her lips to stop any noise from exiting accidentally. Even if she was not unconscious, she would be soon. The pain was too much for her to handle and she could barely find the energy to breathe. She was tired and just wanted to slip into the darkness to get away from everything that was happening.  

"By morning, she should be nothing more than a memory."

It had been around three hours since Lilith went missing and Raymond was losing his mind. He knew that she would not just leave him. Something must have happened.

"How could you not have seen anything?!" he snapped at the guards who stood before him just as lost as he was.

"We were investigating the noise sir,"

"All of you left your posts to investigate the noise?" He looked at them and took their silence as agreement. "How does that make any sense?! How could you leave your posts and let someone slip away?!"

"We apologize-"

"I don't want your fucking apologies. I want her found. Now." Raymond took a deep breath in an attempt to regain his control. He smoothed his hands over his pants and turned away. "Find her. Or suffer the consequences."

Raymond marched back into the house without any further words. He would send every officer in the country after her if that's what it took. Where could she have gone in such little time? Why is she gone?

"Dammit." he snapped. Just earlier she had agreed to marry him and now he was losing his mind with worry trying to figure out where she was.

Raymond stopped on the steps and looked back. He could not sit and do nothing. He had to be out there looking for her as well. The noise from earlier came from a barrel of water crashing into the manor. It was loud enough to draw the right attention and enough for him to be distracted enough to let Lilith slip between his fingers.

His hands shook and he continuously clenched them as he moved back downstairs. He would never forgive himself if he left it up to other people to find her. Three hours had passed and Raymond had been convincing himself that she had wandered outside and gotten lost somewhere. But it had been three hours.

The guards had flanked out into the forest with lights to broaden their search. Raymond paced around the premises looking to see if she would come wandering back. He looked about three times through the garden and around the lake. Before, he had checked every corner of the house. His hope was to find her waiting in his bed when he didn't find her in his office but she wasn't there. And that was when the panic came.

"Your Majesty."

Raymond almost pulled a muscle with how fast he whipped around. It was a female voice that called out to him. But it was not Lilith. There should not be any females here.

He was standing by himself outside the house, overlooking the lake. All of the guards had disappeared and he was all alone, waiting for someone to return with good news. He was still the King so he could not go too far, but he did send all the guards out.

But what he did not expect was to see a group of women approach him. They were servants he could see. And Raymond immediately got a bad feeling. Where had they come from?

"What are you doing here?" he asked harshly.

"Your Majesty, are you alright? We know that we aren't supposed to be here but we could not help but worry about you." one of them stepped forward.

The King let out an aggravated sigh. No one would defy his orders unless it was something really important."I do not have the patience for this. Tell me why you are here. Now." He crossed his arms and glared down at the girls who smiled back at him.

"We saw that you were having trouble with that servant girl of yours. We all knew that she was trouble but never expected her to go as far as to harass you like that and force you to do those things with her."

Raymond froze. "What?"

"When we saw what happened. We could not let it go on. So we took the liberty of taking care of it for you." a servant girl that looked to be no older than eighteen spoke up.

Lilith. They knew where she was. They took her. The King squeezed his fists impossibly tight and took a step forward. "Where is she?"

The servant smiled flippantly and turned to her companions. "Halfway to hell by now, I would say. Don't worry Your Majesty, she won't be tro-"

Something finally snapped in Raymond and he could not keep himself together anymore. Losing his temper, he had not even registered the fact that he had struck the servant across the face until the other girls started fussing over her fallen form.

"Where is she?!" He grabbed the closest servant to him and squeezed their throat in his hands. He was just waiting for a pop. "Where?!"

"The- the forest Your Majesty. The forest." one of them scrambled to say.

Raymond threw down the servant, and she crashed into the others, making them fall over. "Take me there, now," he demanded in a low voice, almost causing it to crack with how much he was shaking. "Or I will kill you."