Chapter Twenty: Cruel Act.

Arabella raged towards a mortified and nervous Elizabeth, ready to pounce on her. But thankfully, Prince Nicholas came out from the bath area and stopped her.

"What brings you here?" Nicholas's brows furrowed in a frown at Arabella, who was glaring at an embarrassed Elizabeth. She looked away, unable to face Arabella.

"What's going on here, my Prince?" Arabella asked, staring at Elizabeth in disgust. "Why is she here?"

Nicholas took quick strides and grabbed Arabella by the arm, pulling her along towards the outer chamber.

"It's already dark. Why did you come here, Arabella?" Nicholas paced left and right. "You know you shouldn't have."

"But you know why I'm here," Arabella leaned forward and threw her arms around Nicholas's neck, her lashes fluttering seductively. "It's that time of the week when we spend some alone time together."

Nicholas drew a deep breath before staring into Arabella's eyes. "I'm no longer your fiancé."

Arabella removed her arms from him, her head shaking in denial. "I'm not going to accept it. I'm not marrying Prince Jack."

Nicholas scoffed with an eye roll. "You don't have a say in this, Arabella. Just accept the marriage, my dear."

"Is it because of her?" Arabella stared at Nicholas with a hurtful gaze, not believing what she was hearing. "That slave girl."

Nicholas threw his head upwards, sighing in exhaustion. "Please just leave."

"You fancy her, don't you? Is that why she's chained up naked in your room?" She spat with such venom. "What will you do if I tell everyone what you've been up to lately?"

"Go ahead," Nicholas's lips tightened in a dark smile. "After all, I'm no longer engaged, and she's my slave. Her body and soul belong to me."

"You have feelings for her," she shook her head slowly in disappointment. "How can you have feelings for the daughter of your enemy, the man who killed your mother."

Nicholas became enraged at the mention of his mother and pushed her roughly against the wall, causing her to gasp in surprise.

He placed a hand across her neck, trapping her there. "Don't you dare mention my mother again, or else I swear I'll do something cruel to you," he rasped, his eyes flaming.

"I'm sorry, my Prince," Arabella apologized, trying to lean in to touch his face, but he quickly jerked away, turning away from her.

"Get out and don't ever come back," he ordered without glancing at her. "Go."

Arabella jerked up and hurried out of the chambers, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her chest in one hand.

Nicholas sighed deeply, his heart tugging a bit at how he had reacted towards Arabella. He had wanted to send her off in good health, but she had crossed the line and insulted him, so she deserved it, he concluded.

Prince Nicholas stepped back into the inner chambers and his eyes fell on a nervous and tired Elizabeth who was writhing helplessly on the bed. Elizabeth's body ached all over from lying chained on the bed for hours.

Nicholas was about to retrieve the keys to the chains and let Elizabeth free but paused, his face expressionless as he stared at her flushed face. She was obviously in discomfort as she fought fruitlessly against the chains, trying to jam her thighs together.

Prince Nicholas smiled cruelly. He knew why she was fidgeting so hard.

"So Arabella thinks I still have feelings for my slave," Nicholas mumbled to himself. "What a joke. How would he love the enemy's daughter?"

He decided to let her remain in the chains longer. Feelings; he didn't have such for her, and so he hardened his heart, walking past the bed before pausing and turning to face her.

"That bed had better remain dry," he ordered without any ounce of humor.

Elizabeth's eyes widened in horror, her lips parting in a pained moan as she shook her head vigorously. "Please, let me out."

Nicholas ignored her as he walked back into the bathing area, leaving her wondering just how cruel and heartless he was to deny her her basic human needs.

*******

Jasmine was sitting on her bed, her head resting on the headboard as she napped. She had succeeded in bringing Arthur discreetly into her chamber before ordering the royal physician to come treat him. The royal physician had treated his wounds and administered some medicine before taking his leave.

Jasmine was glad that Arthur had survived and was by his side watching him before sleep enveloped her.

When she eventually woke up, she noticed the room had become a little dark, and instinctively her eyes went sideways before widening in shock when she didn't see Arthur's body there anymore.

She immediately jumped off her bed and headed out, almost bumping into Mary, her slave girl.

"Mary, where is he? I can't find him anymore," she panicked, glancing around in confusion. "Where is he? Tell me."

"Come down, my lady," Mary, the chubby slave girl, raised her hand in the air. "It was the queen who asked that he be removed."

"Mother was here?" Jasmine was surprised at this information. "When?"

"You were sleeping. She had the guard move him out of your chamber discreetly. She was very livid."

"Where did she move him to?" she wanted to know.

Mary crumpled her face, hesitant to disclose that information.

"Come on now, tell me," Jasmine urged impatiently.

Mary drew a deep breath before announcing, "The battle shrine."

Jasmine shook her head vigorously, her heart beating rapidly as she almost lost balance if Mary had not caught her.

"Careful, my lady."

"Why?" her eyes pricked with unshed tears. "How could mother do such to me?"

The Battle Shrine was a place where slaves were brought in to fight while bets were placed simultaneously on them. But the problem is the slaves were asked to fight to the death. If a slave defeated another slave, he had to defeat and kill three more slaves to claim a victory and be left alive.

Tears spilled down Jasmine's cheeks as she processed everything. Arthur was wounded and not yet healed, and would probably not survive, and that meant one thing: her mother wanted him dead.

She turned back and hurried to her chair to grab her pink cloak, which she wrapped around her head to conceal her identity.

Mary gazed at her suspiciously. "Where are you going to, my lady?"

"To the battle shrine to save Arthur."