The King of Godor pulled her head back by her hair. "I am not pleased." Sophie stared back, angry yet afraid. "You are my slave, yet you let others touch you too easily." That made her anger win over her fear and she glared. She hadn't 'let' those guys rape her, she didn't let anyone do all these things to her. She wasn't a slave because she chose it. "Slave are you making a fool out of me?" He kissed her deeply and she bit him. He backhanded her, slamming her off the couch they had been on. Her head rang with pain at the impact, and she lay there stuned. By the time she realized he had called for his guards, they were on her, delivering swift kicks and slaps, stomping on her with their steel toed boots.

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She awoke sweating, tangled in sheets from restless sleeping. ~It was only a dream...~ She looked around the huge stone room she was in. The bed, like many of the richer nobles she knew, was huge, with plush blue comforter and gold pillows, navy drapes on either side of the bed. She looked down and touched the royal blue nightgown she was wearing. She raised a hand to her throat to discover the choker necklace with the tricolor gems was gone. Her neck felt free and baren. No shackles anywhere in sight. Flickering light seemed to come from a fireplace somewhere out of sight, otherwise the room was dim, like night. Sophie slowly stood. Her muscles were weak and the pain that assaulted her made her remember the fight. Worry squeezed her heart. The King. He was alright, right? An image of his innocent, lax-natured features flashed across her mind. She remembered how serious he looked when he was fighting, and her stomach flipped. She shifted the curtain aside to see a fireplace bordered by what she assumed was windows behind heavy navy drapes. There was a stool near the fireplace as well as a table and chair. Walking around the bed she saw a bench in the corner as well as a divider to change behind. The room was so dim she could only just make out 2 dressers against the far wall...and to the right was a person sleeping in one of the two inlaid benches in the wall. Her breathing stopped as terror zipped through her. She stood stock still like a doe sighting a hunter. Finally coming to her senses after a moment and the person still hadn't moved, Sophie crept closer. ~The person's really asleep, right?~ She thought nervously, leaning over them, studying their form. The short, dark hair led her to believe they were male, though besides the blanket, that's all she could make out in the black shadow cast by the bed. Suddenly the blanket slid back and he'd grabbed her wrist, pulling her roughly under him on the bench. A scream lodged in her throat, but she found herself looking up at a sleepy Drakon.

"Who are you?" He blinked his eyes, darker in the dim lighting. He still held her wrist up near her head, but his grip didn't hurt, it was gentle compared to what she was used to and her heart sped, but not in fear. "Sophie?" His eyes widened and he jumped away from her, taking the blanket with him and Sophie watched it fall to the floor. "I didn't hurt you did I? Your back, are you okay? Gods I'm so sorry, here, let me see." He rushed toward her almost faster than she could see and she held up her hands to keep him away.

"I'm fine Drakon, really." She slowly and carefully sat up and he hovered over her. There were voices in the hallway and suddenly the door opened, revealing an older, black haired man in a white shirt and grey cloak with the hood down. Zarathustra stood behind him in similar attire, only his cloak was a lighter grey.

"Hey! Drakon!" They all stopped and stared at one another. Drakon's look was one of annoyance. "I can't believe you bought someone! The rumors are already spreading and the slavers we were struggling against are having a field day!" Zarathustra sighed as the new man ranted.

"Zarathustra, go wake Healer." With a worried glance at me, Zarathustra nodded and seemed to vanish.

The elder man suddenly changed his tone. "Is something wrong?"

It was hard to tell in the dim lighting but Sophie thought Drakon's cheeks tinted. "Well, Sophie has awoken so she should get checked out."

The man crossed his arms. "Yes, about that."

Drakon still wasn't paying the man much attention. "Karl meet Sophie. I offered her the position of my Personal guard."

Karl frowned but didn't say anything as he seemed to be thinking it over. Finally he nodded toward her. "Very well then, hello Miss Sophie."

"Hello." She said back in a little voice, suddenly feeling shy for some reason.

"Besides that, how goes the Kingdom in my absence."

"It might please you that you are not the only one to be gossiped about. Prabhakar went out camping and came back with a..." Karl glanced at Sophie before saying carefully, "a Healer woman."

Drakon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Interesting."

"They seem to have become fast friends and the girl has entered into the services of the castle upon Prabhakar's wishes."

Drakon seemed thoughtful, "Good." Karl seemed just as thoughtful and nodded. There was silence and Drakon sat besides Sophie on the stone bench. "And?" He goaded. Karl glanced at Sophie once more and started rattling off things about a woman named Agnes and how much she bought while the King was away, then went into crop growth and how much yield recieved and the estamated yield would be for next year, around this time both Drakon's and Sophie's eyes had glazed over. Suddenly there was a weight on her shoulder that slightly agitated her side wound until she adjusted to the new weight. She looked over to see soft brown hair that tickled her cheek, and the King's innocent face, asleep against her. Her face ablazed. His hair smelled so nice, reminiscent of a fresh ocean breeze.

Karl talked for a bit longer then grinned, winking at her and holding a finger to his lips. "Please take good care of Our Majesty, Miss Sophie." Uncomfortable, Sophie sat there stock still while Karl silently left them alone in the dim room. Eventually she sighed, giving in and relaxed, her wounds aching dully, she too drifted off into a comfortable, dreamless sleep.