Page 33 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)

He nudged them with his foot, but there was no reaction — the two men were decisively knocked out.

“You’re staying right the fuck here till our Lord gets here,” he screamed at me, and I really couldn’t let that happen.

What if he brought more people with him?

It would be impossible for me to escape.

“Can you at least pull up my dress so my tits aren’t hanging out?

” I pleaded, and with how their Lord wanted me untouched must have motivated him to do as I asked.

He crouched closer, placing the knife near my throat, and reached for the neckline of my dress.

As he slid it up over my breasts, his hands loosened their grips before he, too, fell on the floor. The knife fell onto my lap.

I got to work.

After a lot of maneuvering and scooting, the knife from my lap went to my hands behind my back. I gripped it and sawed through the binds on my wrists with great effort. I didn’t know how long it took, but every second felt like an eternity since I didn’t know when their lord would appear.

Once my hands were free, I freed my ankles next. I stood up on shaky legs and supported myself on the wall. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

I stared at the kidnappers’ leader. If this were his profession, I couldn’t let him continue. It was terrifying to know that a man like him had a job like this . I got lucky, but who was to say he didn’t do anything worse to previous victims? And I had to figure out who ordered him to kidnap me.

Gulping down my nerves, I slid the knife into my dress pocket. I had to get away from here first. Get my bearings, find my way back to the academy. Easier said than done.

I exited the room, closing the door with a quiet click. From a different empty room, I pulled out a chair and latched it under the knob. It might not fully stop them from leaving, but at least it might cause annoyance.

The stairs down lead to a full brothel, with several women working, delivering ale and other services. I tried to stay hidden as much as I could, because I should expect more people from the kidnapper’s group. If one of them saw me, they’d know something went wrong.

Staying close to the walls, I snuck out of the building through the front door because escapees were expected to exit through the back. By now, the sun had set, and the streetlamps were slowly turning on, fueled with magic. I wasn’t safe yet; what if there were more of them out here?

Memorizing the brothel’s name from the sign, I headed out to the street, hoping I could find my way back.

I was too far from the academy, it seemed, because the people I asked directions from weren’t always very helpful.

The City of Aerahelm was massive, and a clear divide existed between the academy and the rest of the city. A river bisected the city after all. But I guessed that an individual who didn’t care for the Magical Academy would not know exactly how to go there, only that it was in that direction.

I could see the floating artifacts from the horizon that let me know the school existed over there. I must be in the other half of the city, probably as far away as possible from the school.

The longer I was out here, the more nervous I became, expecting my kidnappers to appear around the corner. I had to find a hiding spot.

In the darkened streets, I rounded the corner. A cat shot out from the shadows with a hiss, and I jerked back, my heart slamming against my ribs. It was just a cat, but it was too late.

My paranoia hit me like a speeding truck. I gulped to calm my nerves, but my ragged breaths were too loud in the quiet.

They were going to catch me.

I wouldn’t be able to get away this time. They’d find me, and there would be no escape.

My previous getaway was a stroke of luck; a desperate, convenient spark of magic I couldn’t hope to replicate. They’d have more men this time. Tighter security. And what then?

They’d get me again!

And again!

My legs gave out from under me just as a pair of arms caught me. Someone cried out my name while the arms shifted from holding me to carrying me.

“You’re going to be okay,” Derrick murmured into my hair as I stared at his chest. “What’s my name?”

“Derrick,” I mumbled in between gasps for air.

“Where are you right now?” he whispered next, nuzzling his face on my head.

“Aerahelm,” I gasped, clutching his coat. “Somewhere. A street I don’t know. In your arms.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?” He laughed quietly, holding me tighter. “Right here with me. You’ll be okay, Bea. I’m here. We’re here. We’re going home, alright?”

Home.

How I wished that were possible.

At some point during the carriage ride home, I fell asleep. I woke up in an unfamiliar but comfortable bed next, the bedroom opulent. Definitely not my dorm room.

Still in my academy uniform, I slid out of bed and slipped on my boots. Roaming the hallways, the area became more familiar — I was in Prince Winston’s mansion. I wouldn’t call this “home”, but technically it sort of was, only it wasn't mine.

I ended up in the same parlor I was in the other day, but this time filled with more people — and my twin knights kneeling on the floor, beaten and bruised.

“Row! Roo!” I screamed, running towards them. All heads turned to me as I threw myself in front of my twins, afraid to touch any injury, ignoring the burst of pain in my knees as I crashed on the floor. Why the hell were they fucked up? “What happened here?”

“Bea,” Robin groaned, as Reuben muttered, “You’re here.”

They couldn’t look me in the eye. A trickle of anger began to build inside me. I glanced up, finding the men I’d associated with the past days, watching me . “What’s going on? Why are my knights like this?”

“It’s their job to protect you,” Samuel Grimwald answered me, perched on one a couch. “Their literal only responsibility you fought so hard for. And they failed at it.”

“I’m sorry, Bea,” Elias mumbled, looking away, too. “I should’ve always stayed with you. Then maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“I could’ve done the same,” Claude sighed, scratching his head as he plopped down on a loveseat.

“First of all, it’s nobody’s fault,” I gritted out. I found an uninjured spot on both of my knights’ heads and I stroked their hair. “Not even my bodyguards’. They were dutifully following my directive this entire time.”

“A stupid directive that should’ve been ignored if they were thinking at all.” I couldn’t believe it, but it was Theodore Caenum who said it, the first time I had seen him outside of the library. He stood apart from the group but watched me all the same.

I tried to hold my temper. “You have personally seen how attentive they are to me, Theodore.” He had always been there at the library whenever my knights were with me. “They disagreed with me on this, too, but this directive was a favor to me. I pleaded for it.”

“If they understood what was good for you, they would’ve ignored it,” he retorted, and the statement made my knights flinch.

“Why do you even want to be left alone?” Amos groaned with a look of confusion and desperation, as if he himself hadn't benefitted from it at one point.

“Does anybody here know what happened to me?” I snapped, deflecting his question. Why should I answer him? They were too busy chastising my knights and me to even address the actual event.

Prince Winston, who had been sitting on his throne-like chair and had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke up.

“I tried to get Uriel to read your memories, but we soon found out you have a block on Psychic magic.” He gave me his sweet, ire-filled smile.

“When are you planning to tell us, princess?”

What — “You told them without consulting me first? It’s my issue!” I screeched at Uriel, who had been observing too, seated in one corner of a couch. Before he could respond, I turned to Winston. “And you wanted to read my memories while I’m asleep? How messed up is that?”

“It was my suggestion,” Vincent admitted, brushing his hair with his fingers. “I knew Strom can read minds, and if it’s the only way to know … for the sake of information, Bea.”

I shot up from the floor, my anger rising. “And nobody spoke out against it? Not any of you?”

A few seconds passed, but nobody declined.

My blood boiled much hotter, and it must be so blatant since some of them actually look ashamed.

My shaking hands only added to the effect when I swung them around, gesturing to the entire room.

“You could’ve just asked me when I woke up! Ever thought of that?”

I couldn’t believe these men. What made them think they were entitled to my mind, to my memories? I already had a lot going on in here . I didn’t want to think about what could happen if they started messing with it too.

Glancing back down at my knights, the wild anger coursing through me clenched my heart at the sight of them looking so defeated. I needed the whole situation cleared up, or else I might just explode. “Who beat them up?”

“My lady, we offered ourselves for punishment,” Robin quickly cut in.

“It’s what we deserve for failing to protect you,” Reuben added with a choked sound of pain.

“My bodyguard unit did the punishing as they requested,” the Prince informed me with a smile. “Six men per knight. Hardly a fair fight, but we weren’t looking for that, anyway.”

And once again, not one of them thought how fucked up it was and stopped it. Was I out of my depth in this situation? This whole shebang was normal in this universe?

It was normal for men, maybe. Stupid, stupid men.

“Heal them,” I said to no one in particular.

Samuel scoffed. “What’s the point of a punishment if they’re going to get healed only a few hours later?”

I didn’t care! I wanted my knights healed!

I wouldn’t have pulled this card, but they left me no choice. “If my knights won’t be healed, it will be a personal offense to me. I hope you men understand that.”