Page 13 of Chosen (The Registry #2)
Chapter
Eleven
JAMIE
I wake up. I sit in my room and stare out the window. Sometimes, I eat the food the maids bring in, sometimes I leave it untouched, especially when it appears tampered with. I don’t have much of an appetite anyway.
The highlight of my day is using the large sunken tub in my bathing room. I sit in the water until my skin puckers and the water gets too cold for me to stand it. I then stare out the window some more until I get sleepy and go to bed.
I restart the cycle the next day.
This is my new life.
I don’t know how many days have passed but at this point I’ve counted five sunsets. I may have missed a few. These past couple days, however, I’ve spent most of my time in bed not moving, and just staring at the wall.
Johra hasn’t returned since that first night and I haven’t seen the Sector Leader since we parted ways upon our arrival.
If he’s forgotten about me, it’s for the best. He confuses me. I’ve heard rumors about his terrifying reputation but our brief interaction didn’t give me that impression.
With all this time spent alone in my room, I sometimes think about my family.
Is my dad taking care of himself? He suffers from a bad back because of the hard labor he’d endured as punishment for living off grid.
Does my mom still like to take long walks?
She used to love gardening and I know there’s a bountiful array of flowers on Magnus’s estate.
And Noah. Is she being taken care of as her due date gets closer? When I’d last seen Noah, her belly had been large and round as if she was ready to pop at any second.
I thought about the disappointment on their faces when we parted ways and how I must have hurt them.
In the long run, they would see it was better to make a clean break.
The remainder of my time is spent fighting off the dark thoughts that invade my mind. Memories I wish to forget, yet they continue to plague me.
It’s why I sit in the tub for hours at a time, to feel clean despite knowing I’ll never be clean again.
Perched on the edge of the chair, I stare out the window and look at the white landscape of the estate.
It snowed the night before. The old me would have admired the beauty of the frozen wonderland but instead it just gives me something to focus on while I mentally fight the darkness warring in my head.
Rhia had made an offhand comment about there being a bio-dome on the other side of the fortress of where the grounds were green and full of vegetation. I’d seen plenty of that in sector 2. I preferred the snow.
The sound of door opening doesn’t cause me alarm because the only ones who have entered these past several days has been either Rhia or Sahra.
Usually, it’s one or the other who brings me food or sometimes both.
They often come into my room and pretend to tidy up but they don’t do much besides whisper to each other.
They still clearly resent me, neither of them bothering to hide their contempt.
It shows in the food they’ve delivered to me so far.
Once it appeared as if a bite had been taken of the meat on my plate.
Another time it looked like the food had fallen on the floor and was hastily put back on the plate.
Another time there was a glob of something wet and phlegmy in the middle of my food.
I stuck to eating the bread that came with the meal and I drank my water straight from the sink in my bathing room whenever I was thirsty.
I don’t bother to look up when I hear footsteps approach. But something feels different. The hairs on the back of my neck stands on end and I’m instantly aware of a presence I can’t ignore.
“You haven’t left this room all week, and you’ve been returning your food to the kitchen untouched.” His words are not a question but more so of an accusation.
These are the last words I expected. It’s almost as if he cares about my well-being but I know better. He’s only concerned about my ability to provide him with a child.
I have no answer for him but I stand to face him with my hands to my sides and my head bowed.
“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say. I ate when I was hungry and I didn’t know I was allowed to leave the room.” I don’t add that I didn’t have any desire to, but I doubt it matters one way or the other.
“That’s something your maid should have informed you of.”
Does he not remember the two women assigned to me? I understand days have passed since that encounter but he doesn’t strike me as someone who forgets easily. Then again, a minor scolding to two low-ranking servants in his home probably doesn’t register to him.
He walks around the room as if to inspect every inch and corner.
“Have you found your room sufficient?” he asks gruffly almost like he’s uncomfortable being here.
Maybe the reason he’s stayed away so long is because he lost interest after seeing the scars on my back. I don’t know why the rejection bothers me but before I can stop myself the words spill out of my mouth. “Do you even care?”
One dark brow lifts. He doesn’t reply right away but his bright blue eyes darken until they’re cerulean.
“Perhaps being given free access to do as you please under the Sector 2 Leader’s protection has made you forget your place. Take heed to watch your tongue, woman.”
Whether he’s trying to threaten me or not, the message is as clear as a sunny sky…behave or there will be consequences. It’s a reminder that I’m here as a tool for him, albeit an imperfect one.
He walks past me and heads to the table where I take my meals and looks down at the breakfast I’d declined to eat earlier. Another meal that had clearly been tampered with. I couldn’t even recognize half the items on the plate.
Even at my lowest moments as a companion, I’d been given something edible to eat.
“What is this?” He demands.
“My breakfast.”
He lifts the plate to his nose and takes a deep sniff. “Did you eat any of this?”
“No…My Lord.”
“Where is your maid?”
“I don’t know…My Lord.”
He taps a silver pin on his collar. “Johra, report to my breeder’s room this instant.”
“Right away, My Lord.” a voice responds.
The Sector Leader crosses to the other side of my room and presses a button on the panel display. The wall splits open and he walks inside.
I didn’t realize that was there. Curious, to see what was behind that wall, I walk over and peak inside. It appears it to be an empty closet.
When he turns and catches me looking, his eyes are no longer blue at all but that amber shade I’ve come to realize appears when something has upset him.
There are rows of empty shelves that I assume shoes are supposed to go. But why is he so upset?
Just as he exits the closet, storming past me, the door to my room opens and Johra steps inside.
Before I know what’s happening, The Sector Leader, lifts the slender superious off his feet, by the neck. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t rip you apart right now.”
Johra claws at the hand holding him hostage. “Please, My Lord, what offense have I caused?”
“Why is my breeder being fed tainted food and her closet is empty? Did you take my instructions lightly?”
“I…I put the instructions in before we were called away,” Johra wheezed the words out, as he fought to breathe.
I’m not sure what to make of what’s happening. Why is the Sector Leader so upset and what did Johra mean about them being called away?
The Sector Leader releases Johra, who falls to the floor unceremoniously.
The smaller man coughs and clutches his neck gasping for air.
“My Lord, I’m not sure where the miscommunication lies but I can rectify whatever the issue is.
Since we had to be called away so urgently to the 4 th region shortly after your arrival, I left the instructions for your breeder’s care with the steward as is protocol. ”
The Sector Leader walks over to the table and picks up my untouched food. “And this? Is this an acceptable meal for anyone in this household to consume?”
Johra slowly rises to his feet. His eyes widen when he notices the contents. “I’m not sure how this has happened but again, I will get to the bottom of this matter.”
“I want you to round up the maids who were responsible for bringing this food, the chef who prepared it, and the steward who was to follow through with my instructions. They are to present themselves in my office within the hour.”
“Of course my Lord.”
“In the meantime, have a proper meal sent to this room, right away. And if something like this is sent to my breeder again, I will hold you personally responsible.”
Johra bows his head. “I will oversee it myself.”
“Make sure that you do.”
Johra quickly exits the room leaving me alone with the Sector Leader.
His eyes are still amber and they’re now focused on me. I take an involuntary step back as a sense of unease creeps into my being. The numb I’d held on to for this long has failed me in his presence.
I don’t understand why he’s able to make me feel this way with a glance. Will he direct his anger on me now that we’re alone or does he want something I’m not sure I’m prepared to give?
His stare sweeps over my form giving none of his thoughts away. Is he disappointed in what he sees? Does he feel disgust when he remembers my disfigured back?
He closes the distance between us and cups my face.
A shiver shimmies up my spine as I once again feel that jolt of electricity I thought I’d imagined the first time he touched me.
I turn my face away from his caress but that doesn’t stop him. He grazes the other side of my face with the back of his knuckles.
“Beautiful,” he whispers softly. “I believed you to be a culmination of my lack of sleep and imagination, but here you are.”
As if an invisible string is pulling me, I raise my head to meet his gaze and find myself trapped in their amber depths. They’re beautiful, like a precious jewel.