Chapter Six: Killed by the gallows.

He had to be joking, right?

Right??

My face paled. I couldn't get married to Ajax. No.

I'd rather be killed by the gallows.

"Nah, I'm just kidding." He said, making me exhale softly. "You're not my type."

I clench my fists hard, retaining the comment I wanted to make. "The day that my father died, was the first day of the Selection process. All the maidens from across the kingdom that made the cut were here for a lunch party. The Castle was on lockdown, and no one came in through the gates."

"So it was one of the people within these four walls," I whispered to myself. To my surprise, he heard me.

"Still as smart as I remember." He said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I suppressed the urge to glare at him. He knew that he broke my heart, he knew he broke me... and here he was, dancing on the ashes of my burned soul. "So, you will pose as one of the maidens interested in me, and we will catch the killer. After that, you can leave. That is, is we find the killer within three months."

"And if we don't..." I dreaded his answer.

"Then we actually have to get married." He said grimly. The room went silent for a few moments. I tried to imagine myself in a white wedding gown, walking down the aisle to meet Ajax.

But the hatred I harbored for him didn't let me.

All I was met with was a dark picture, of me in chains. My freedom was taken away, once again. And by the one who made me the way I was.

"I will show you around, so you familiarize yourself." He stood up, walking down the steps to meet me.

"Won't I be allowed to pack my things from home?" I quietly asked as we walked towards the gates I'd entered from.

"You're smarter than that, you should know the answer by now." He said, walking forward. He pushed the gates open, leading me outside, to the garden. "This is the garden."

As soon as I stepped on the grass and looked around, I knew why he'd brought me there. "There's a trap door at the edge of it, isn't there?"

"Good observation." He replied.

For the next hour or so, Ajax took me around the Castle, letting me spot all the emergency exits and memorize every nook and cranny of it. When we finally got to the room I would be staying in, he stopped.

"This is your room." He muttered. "Mine is right beside it. The rest of the maidens are on the floor below."

I nodded.

We entered the room, and I noticed it was painted in my favorite color, blue. Most people would be concerned about their freedom, especially considering how I noticed that the window latches were locked with a key, but I was elated that my room was painted blue.

I turned to him with a slow smirk on my face. "Blue, huh?"

He cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. "It was all the painter had left." He muttered.

Sure" I nodded sarcastically. "The painter of the ROYAL Castle only had ONE color of paint left. How about that?!"

"Shut up." Ajax snapped.

"How did you do all this in one week?" Looking around the beautiful room. There was a small chandelier hanging up the ceiling, and my name was even designed on the plush rug. The stitching was hand done, I could tell, and it usually took months to perfect.

Did he....

"I didn't." He simply said.

Right. He had maids and stewards to do all that for him. Besides, my name wasn't all that rare. The rug was probably store bought.

"Your clothes are in the closet. There's a ball tonight, I'll be introducing you to everyone downstairs. You'll be the center of everyone's attention, because you're new, so don't mess it up, or the girls wont be friendly to you."

"Of course, Your Highness."

He froze a bit. It felt odd, calling him that, especially after the small, little spark I'd felt when I entered. But I remembered that this was Ajax, the Prince, soon to be King of Arlon. A liar, a cheater, and a manipulative son of a bitch.

He nodded, then walked out of my room and closed the door behind him.

I sighed, plopping onto the bed. It was hard. An involuntary smile made its way to my face as I realized he still remembered that I hated soft beds.

Or, he forgot and wanted you to be as uncomfortable as possible. A thought popped into my head, and the smile disappeared.

Fighting with Ajax wouldn't do me any good. I just had to face the fact that he didn't care about me the way I did before. But I wanted to break his heart.

I wanted him to suffer the same way I did, and the only way to make that possible was to make him fall in love with me.

Then I'd break the Prince of Arlon.

I had to make an entrance, I knew that. So I sent Advil a list of stuff to get me for the ball. It would start in six hours which was barely even enough time- but made it work.

Prince Ajax was in for a treat.