The air inside the opulent bedchamber was suffocating.
Alexander had pinned Elena securely to the bed, his bandaged arm still possessing an extraordinary strength that pressed her shoulders deep into the soft feather mattress.
Hovering just inches away, his eyes gleamed with unchecked dominance and an undisguised hunger.
“Did you really think you could run from me just because I’m injured, Elena?” Alexander whispered.
His low voice vibrated against her chest, which was heaving from her rapid, ragged breath.
Elena squeezed her eyes shut, tears threatening to spill over.
She could already feel the heat radiating from his body, ready to invade her once more, even deeper than the night before.
But just as Alexander lowered his head toward her neck, the sudden, violent burst of the heavy doors threw them both off guard.
Slam!
“Alex!
Sweetheart, have you taken your medicine yet?”
That shrill voice instantly shattered the dark, intimate atmosphere hanging over the room.
Alexander flinched, cursing viciously under his breath.
With a motion swift enough to appear calm to an untrained eye, he pulled his body away from Elena and sat upright on the edge of the bed, pretending to inspect the bandages on his hand.
Clementine stood at the threshold, clad in a striking pink silk gown.
Her wide eyes immediately locked onto the disheveled servant standing near her fiancé’s bed.
“You?” Clementine sneered, instantly recognizing the red hair and plump frame she so thoroughly despised.
“You pig of a maid?
What are you doing in the Crown Prince’s room?!”
Elena trembled violently.
She scrambled to her feet, bowing her head deeply.
“I-I was merely delivering His Highness’s medicine, My Lady.
I was just on my way out.”
Clementine stepped closer with an elegant yet menacing stride.
“Get out this instant!
How dare you linger in this room longer than instructed!
Leave before I gouge your eyes out!”
“Yes, My Lady!
Thank you, My Lady!”
For the first time in her life, Elena felt profoundly grateful for Clementine’s rage.
Even if Clementine had slapped her right then and there, Elena would have still been thankful.
In her eyes, the cruel Clementine was far better than Alexander, who could devour her soul until nothing remained.
Without looking back, Elena bolted from the room as if the devil himself were chasing her—and indeed, that devil had just been sitting on the bed.
.
Elena ran toward the back of the mansion, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
She felt dirty, humiliated, yet profoundly relieved.
Pressing herself against the outer kitchen wall, she greedily sucked in the fresh air.
She felt as though she had narrowly cheated death.
However, Alexander was not a man who surrendered easily to circumstances.
A few hours later, as the sun began to dip toward the west, Alexander put his manipulation into motion.
Under the pretext of wanting “some fresh air to speed up his recovery,” he asked Clementine to retrieve a notebook he had left in the northern pavilion, a errand that would take at least fifteen minutes on foot.
The moment Clementine vanished from sight, Alexander signaled Hugo and Alaric.
This time, however, he moved alone.
He knew precisely where Elena was.
She had been assigned to pick wild apples on the edge of the Grand Duke’s private forest for tonight’s dinner preparations.
Elena was holding a wicker basket when a large shadow enveloped her.
Before a scream could escape her throat, a broad hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
“Shh…
don’t scream, unless you want Clementine to come back and see us like this?”
That voice instantly triggered a wave of trauma.
Elena was dragged roughly into the dense thicket of the dark, private woods.
Massive trees blocked out the sunlight, creating a suffocating twilight.
Alexander backed Elena against the rough bark of an oak tree.
His bandaged hand now pinned both of hers above her head.
He smirked, his sharp gaze fixing on the kissmark she had tried to cover with cassava powder, which was now beginning to run from her sweat.
“That was a very annoying interruption earlier, wasn’t it?” Alexander whispered, his nose brushing against her pale cheek.
“Clementine saved you for a moment, but here…
in these woods, there is no one, Elena.
Just me and my mischievous little pig.”
Elena thrashed wildly, her legs kicking at the air, but her physical strength was no match for his.
“Let me go, Your Highness…
please…
this is wrong.
You are Lady Clementine’s fiancé!”
“Fiancé is merely a political title, Elena.
But you?
You are entertainment I cannot let go of,” Alexander grabbed her jaw, forcing her to stare into the abyss of his eyes.
The more you resist, the more I want to break you until you can’t even stand without my help.”
The forest stood as a silent witness to the paper-thin line between obsession and madness.
Elena wept silently, realizing that her earlier escape was nothing more than a brief reprieve from the dark destiny Alexander was weaving for her.
In the silence of those woods, Elena felt her last shred of hope completely slip away.