Chapter 4 Pain of everything

Chloe's POV

"You're going to stay here in the palace as my bride," he said softly, but with a finality that shattered my defenses.

My face dropped at his words. This was not how I wanted to live my life, under the oppressive rule of a man I didn't know, want, or love - a man I feared.

"Come here," he commanded.

I didn't want to, but I knew I had no choice. To fight it would be a battle I'd lose before it even began.

I started walking towards him, counting every step I took towards my doom. Just as I got a few feet away from where he sat, he got up and closed the distance between us in one long stride. I shivered, feeling his overwhelming strength radiating off him.

"Take it off," he said, his eyes moving over my body. I knew he was talking about my dress.

My face flushed, despite my attempt to keep it hidden. I wasn't used to undressing in front of people, but now I had to do it because he was my husband. It had been hard for me the previous night.

I took a deep breath as my fingers pushed the left strap of my dress off my shoulder.

It slid off my shoulder, and all that was left was to take it off the right. He growled and used a finger to take it off for me. The dress fell to the floor at the same time my mouth opened in a wide gasp.

His eyes moved along my body, and I couldn't tell if he liked what he saw or if he was repulsed by it because of how he kept his face expressionless. All he did was stare at my features slowly, as if he were devouring every piece of me with his eyes.

"Come closer," he said, his voice soft. It was as mesmerizing as it was deadly in the way it affected me.

I walked to him and stopped just in front of him. His breath brushed my skin and made my flesh burn. Our eyes were locked the whole time.

He kissed my neck and continued kissing it until the kiss moved to my shoulder. My eyes danced as different feelings moved through me. He licked and tickled the spot with his tongue.

My lips parted, and I was tempted to rest on his body for support. He was strong and steady, so he would be able to hold me up. Just then, he bit deep into my shoulder and licked off the blood.

Oh no!

No. No. No. No!

He had just marked me!

I cried out, feeling something break inside of me. My head was blank, and a dull pain hit me in my chest.

"As punishment, I decided marking you would be suitable enough," he said, pulling away from me. "Now you can never find your true mate." He kissed the spot and helped me into my dress. I was frozen in place, unable to do anything.

I cried in the spot where he left me, feeling like my whole life had somehow come to an end. Everything was crumbling down on me.

He left the room, and I stayed in the quiet room. All that could be heard were my tortured sobs.

The next day, I woke up feeling terrible. He called me and made me gather the laundry and hand wash it all. I guess it was part of the punishment he had for me, as if marking me and ruining every chance I had for love wasn't enough.

It took me hours of painstaking labor, but I eventually completed the task. I returned to him to tell him I was done with the chores. My whole body hurt in places a person's body was not supposed to hurt. It was as if I had walked in and out of a shredder over and over.

He told me to go over to the kitchen and get the daily menu. All of it!

I wasn't a stranger to kitchens, but when I entered the kitchen, I gasped in shock. It was as big as the foster house I lived in the countryside.

The kitchen help looked at me with a mixture of shock and dismay, and I could tell right away that she had been instructed not to help me.

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes sad as she left the kitchen.

I took a deep breath. There was enough food and supplies to feed a whole village for a year. I was so confused. It took me a while, but I eventually got the hang of it, and the recipe the kitchen help had left was really helpful.

At one point, I thought I saw someone peeking into the kitchen, but when I went to the doorway, there was no one there.

I finished the task quickly and completed all my duties in the kitchen. The kitchen help was astonished when she saw what I had made-all of it.

"You did all this?" Her mouth was still open.

I nodded, too tired to speak.

"Wow." Her eyes were wide and bright, just like her bosoms. "I'm Berta."

"Chloe," I said, shaking her hand.

I went back to him, and he made me clean up the room first. When I was done, he told me to clean up the bathroom and toilet in the room.

As I worked, I could hear him eating in the room, and I smiled to myself. The sound of him eating went on for a long time, and it was clear that he was enjoying what I had cooked.

I returned to the room exhausted. My entire body ached, and there was a pounding pain in my head. I couldn't feel a thing.

"Is there anything else that needs my attention?" I asked sleepily.

"That will be all." He said.

I bowed before stumbling off to the bed I was meant to sleep in. I fell onto the bed, and sleep took me immediately.

The next day, I followed the same routine without him having to tell me to do it first. He added cleaning up the stables and dungeon to the mix.

The stables mostly smelled of horse manure, which I could handle, but the dungeon was a whole different beast. There was dried blood on the floor and a strange, unfamiliar smell of death in the air. I also saw something on the wall that looked like pieces of a human brain, judging by the texture and feel.

This went on for a week until one morning, when I was getting ready for work, he sat up on his bed and called out to me.

"Chloe." He looked at me with a gentle expression on his handsome face. "Come over here for a second."