BOUND TO THE BEAST : CHAPTER 1 – 10
BOUND TO THE BEAST : CHAPTER 1 – 10
PROLOGUE
THE HUMAN LAND.
IN THE KINGDOM OF NAVIA.
“It’s a g-girl, your highness,”
Prince Garret froze. His hands, resting on his exhausted wife’s body, shook as he turned and looked at the palace healer.
He had secretly arranged this delivery months ago, and now they were hidden in one of the underground rooms in the palace, where his beloved wife Pandora was giving birth.
“What did you just say to me, Gonn?” Prince Garret hoped he had heard it wrong. Perhaps it had been a mistake. But the look of pity in the older man’s face couldn’t be disguised.
The palace healer turned the little bundle so the couple could get a better look. “The baby is a girl.”
A pin drop could have been heard in the silence that followed. Terror crossed Princess Pandora’s face, and she adjusted herself to get a closer look at her baby.
“No. Oh, the gods, please no…” She shook her head vigorously as fresh tears gathered in her eyes.
The palace healer understood the heart-wrenching cry of Princess Pandora too well, and tears welled up in his own eyes. “I’m so sorry, your highness,” he expressed with genuine sadness.
“No!!!” Princess Pandora cried out and buried her face into her husband’s waiting arms as sobs after sobs ripped from her throat. Prince Garret felt numb as he held his wife, then a deep sadness washed over him.
His first daughter, Aekeira, wasn’t even four yet, and the King was already negotiating with the kingdom of Cavar to sell her to the highest bidder. Because, apparently, Navia “could use more funds.”
King Orestus might be his brother, but he was a tyrant. And it didn’t help that Orestus was still holding a grudge against him for marrying Aekeira.
He had been devastated when he heard what King Orestus had planned. He and his wife had pleaded with the king over and over again—at least to wait until Aekeira came of age before “matching” her. But in the end, they really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.
Now, another girl child?
Tears filled Prince Garrett’s eyes as he looked upon the crying little bundle wiggling around in healer’s arms. The world was not safe for his first daughter, and it also wasn’t safe for his new daughter.
And lately, King Orestus had been gathering young female children to send them away for what he called “special training” for females, where they would be trained for their roles in society.
What the hell did that even mean? What was to say that he wouldn’t take his little girl away from him?
A lot of people disagreed with the king, but Orestus was a tyrant who hated opposition and wasn’t scared to get his hands dirty either.
“Why does the Sky hate me thus!? What do I do now?” Pandora was bawling, the sounds of her cries heartbreaking.
With the assistance of Otto, Pandora’s manservant, Gonn cleaned the baby and finally placed her in her mother’s arms.
Pandora looked away. Garrett knew what his wife was doing. She was trying to detach, to begin the training all over again of knowing your child will suffer in the future and there was nothing they could do about it.
“Hold our child, my dearling,” Prince Garrett coaxed his wife.
Pandora shook her head firmly, sniffling. “No, I can’t do this again. I can’t!”
But as Gonn brought the baby over, her tiny fingers closed around Pandora’s forefinger, and the little baby’s cries slowly came to a stop. As if she instantly felt safe with her mama… trusting her mama to keep her safe.
BOUND TO THE BEAST : CHAPTER 1 – 10
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