Chapter 56

Dylan POV

The day of the start of the tour came and with it my nerves shot through me. The king had insisted that I was to wear the dungeon uniform and a set of restraints for the duration of the journey, and so I was placed in very similar cuff to the ones Carlos had been made to wear, they were heavy and really did slow my movements down as I tried to navigate the palace with gamma Warren close to my heels. King Josh sore to it that I would Beas uncomfortable as possible while on the road.

We made our way to the dining area where we would be having our final dinner before we departed. Everyone was already seated and eating by the time I entered. The king quickly stood up and walked over to me, he tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear while I recoiled slightly. I hated him, I hated his touch I hated his voice, I hated his home and most importantly I hated his stupid narcissistic family. I just hated everything about him, and the more time I spent with him, the more my hate grew.

As soon as I sat down at my seat, my eyes became enlarged, I stared at Carlos in front of me, he was sat next to his mate Lorellia, the thing out of the ordinary however was the state in which he looked.

He was no longer cuffed or restrained in any way, but he was completely and utterly beaten, his face had lost some more weight, not quite as much as me but he was unnaturally and unhealthily thin. His clean shaven chin only showed a set of dark deep bruises and his left eye was swollen. He had a short sleeved shirt on which highlighted the fingerprints littered up and down his arms, and a solid plaster cast rested on his right wrist.

He shook his head at me and smiled slightly at the sight of me. Had we swapped places or something? He had clearly gone through much more physical abuse than me the past few weeks, and I had been left alone, much like he had been before lady Lorellias pregnancy was announced.

"The limo is ready your grace, Oliver suggests that we leave promptly after dinner, if we intend to arrive by morning.” Warren spoke which lead to the king's voice to meet my ears.

"Very well. We will set of as soon as I am finished." Warren nodded his head before exiting through the doors I just walked through.

"You must be very conflicted, child. I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling." The kings grandfather spoke, his eyes directly on me as a sincere look crossed his face.

"She should be feeling honored that she's allowed to be a part of the 5 year celebrations. It's not an everyday occurrence." I rolled my eyes and looked to Carlos who was doing the exact same thing, the only difference was he got a hard slap across his face which caused me to gasp and caused his head to see snap to the side.

"What the fuck was that for?!" I shouted and without thinking I stood up in my seat, only to be pulled straight back down by my left arm, by the king himself.

“I’m fine Niña, don’t you worry.” He wasn’t fine and so I shook my head, I was getting progressively sick to death of being treated like a punching bag, but seeing another person go through it was even more stomach churning.

"If my aunty wishes to discipline her mate, who are you to tell her otherwise!" I was bewildered at how fast he was in diminishing my outburst. He pulled me down not even a second after I stood up. My head shot to the king and I frowned at him deeply.

"Do you honestly not get it? You shouldn't be disciplining your partner at all. No one should. If we were wolves you wouldn't even raise your hands to us." So much for keeping my head down. I didn't mean to go off on a rant, however these people were just horrendous. It's absolutely atrocious how we are treated on a daily basis. “Just because we’re human it doesn’t mean we should be on the receiving end of your anger.”

"You dare speak to your king like that?" I shook my head at him and scoffed. I don’t know what had gotten into me, but seeing Carlos being treated the way I was, well that had triggered something in me, he didn’t deserve it. Not after everything. It was the kings backwards attitude that prevented my kind from accomplishing everything we are capable of. I don't see why he should be in power, and I don’t see why equality couldn’t be attainable. It was in arms reach but that arm belonged to king Josh.

"I'm sorry, your grace, I thought that we were soulmates, i shouldn’t have spoken to the king like that, it is completely my mistake!" With my sarcastic attitude on full display, I spoke to the king, my words made his entire family gasp, and a small amused scoff came from Carlos. It was also that attitude that landed me my first slap in two weeks, the king never did hold back when it came to force and I felt blood quickly trickle from my now bleeding lip, I cupped my palm underneath and watched my skin get tainted by the red substance.

"You ungrateful bitch!" The last time he called me that he dragged up to his room and defiled me in front of his ex beta. Unconsciously I cringed and waited for an onslaught of punches or slaps. Non came however and instead my arm was grabbed roughly as I was dragged out of my seat and out of the room.

Flashes of his defilement shot through my mind and I swallowed thickly as I quickly allowed fear to cloud me. Clearly the king hadn't the time or patience today for my attitude as he marched me straight down the corridor and down the stairs to the main entrance, he hauled me out of the double doors and dragged me down the main steps of the palace, where a long shiny black limousine stood. The same one that brought me to this ill fated life. My legs got pulled along until I landed right next to the vehicle.

"Get in and stay seated... I'll deal with you when we are on the road!" King josh opened the door and basically threw my bound form in, I hit the floor of the limo with a hard thump and painfully landed on the chains connecting my limbs. A small grunt left me as I moved myself awkwardly to sit on the floor while King Josh slammed the door shut and clicked the locks, before marching away.

I rolled my pants leg up slightly and winced as a large red indent of the chains rested diagonally across my left shin. That would undoubtedly bruise, not that it made much of a difference to me.

I sighed and managed to stand enough so that I could actually get my ass on a seat instead of being sprawled out on the floor. Once seated I began relishing in the peace and quiet the long car gave me.

It must have been about 20 minutes before the sweat started to pour off me, it was a cloudy day, and in all honesty it looked like it would soon rain, but it was stuffy, and somewhat warm. Being locked in a vehicle without a window cracked open was like being in a sauna, still it was quiet and I was in no rush for the king to return.

Another 10 minutes went by before the doors were unlocked and in turn opened, revealing the three men whom I did not want to be trapped with. Without hesitation the king grabbed my arm and threw me onto the floor, again my restraints made the landing less than smooth and I winced in pain as both my ankle cuffs painfully dug into my bone, once again a bruise will most likely be left.

"You are lesser than everyone here. You'll remain on the floor, where you belong." The king really wasn't in the mood for any of my usual quirks today, not that he ever was mind you. "Let's go, we're wasting time now. I want to get there by breakfast.”

The limousines wheels sounded on the gravel below us and I looked up at the king who’s face held a permanent scowl.

“Can we crack a window at least?” I asked nervously as I looked at the raging man.

“She does look hot Josh!” Oliver was quick to come to my aid, as he placed his hand atop my head. “Goddess, how long has she been in here?” The king shrugged and pulled out a single bottle of water, he loosened the lid and held it out for me to take, which I did and immediately began to greedily drink it.

“I don’t know… an hour, just under maybe.” Well it didn’t feel like it had been that long. No wonder I was thirsty and sweating as much as I was. He spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, that leaving me for an hour was the same as leaving me for a few minutes.

All I knew for certain though, was that this journey was going to be long, much longer than when I first arrived. At least this time I would be conscious for the entirety of it.