Page 34 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)

“They were punished for their negligence,” Theodore growled, my threat taking hold. “They deserved this.”

Glancing at the other men in the room, who didn’t protest at Theodore’s statement, only proved they agreed with him. They might look sad or hurt about it; their inaction might make them less guilty, but guilty all the same.

And again, it dawned on me they still didn’t know what had happened to me.

They were so focused on punishing my knights; they neglected to ask how I was doing or what the hell I went through.

Even the method they chose to find out didn’t involve me awake, when they could have easily gotten first-hand information from me.

I could weep at the absurdity of it all, but my anger was preventing me. I didn’t even get why this was such a big deal to them that they had to punish my bodyguards for me. If anything, I should’ve been the one who decided what to do with them.

This feeling of my autonomy being taken away felt very much like the kidnapping. How fucking sad was that?

I had had enough of this. My brother could heal my knights for me. “Get up, Robin, Reuben. We’re leaving.” They struggled to stand, but they managed.

“You’re not leaving yet,” Claude exclaimed, alarmed. “You haven’t told us what happened to you!”

Now they were curious. I laughed, because clearly, I was losing my mind. All I really wanted was to go back home as neatly as possible. But everything involving these men was making the endeavor more challenging as the days passed. Why must everything be so complicated?

“I want to go home,” I voiced out my thought after a good laugh.

“You are home,” the Prince stated, gesturing to the room. “You are free to claim any part of this mansion as yours, as the Caregiver of the Champions.”

He didn’t understand. Nobody in this realm could. “I want to go home ,” I repeated. I held each of my knights’ hands to help them walk, heading for the door. The anger in my body thrummed with magic, and I held on to that, too.

“Bea, please,” Elias pleaded, blocking the path to the door. “Talk to us first. Don’t hide away again.”

Hide away? Was that how they saw this? I did have a reputation as a recluse for six years, so it made sense they’d assume I was trying to hide. In a way, maybe I was.

“Let’s be for real for a second,” I sighed, letting my knights go and facing the rest of them.

“I barely know most of you. Some of you I only met last week. I am nobody . I’m a baron’s daughter, studying mandatory magic in a city far away from my hometown.

That’s all I’m here for. Not involved with Champions, or my personal knights punished, or fucking kidnapped! So, can I please go home?”

The silence that followed was palpable.

“My lady, you were kidnapped?” Reuben asked almost in a whimper. Both he and Robin looked so devastated that I immediately regretted blurting out the truth without thinking how it would affect them.

“It’s no one’s fault,” I reassured them, but the damage was done. They both crumpled to the floor. If they already felt guilty for my disappearance, I could only imagine their torment knowing someone had taken me without their knowledge.

“Kidnapped?” Uriel spoke for the first time since I got here. “While at school?”

I gestured to my uniform. “Where else?”

“That’s why you were wandering around and didn’t know where you were when I found you,” Derrick gulped, shock stricken on his face. “You escaped by yourself.”

“They were stupid,” I mumbled under my breath, but no doubt they heard it.

“You escaped while they’re still around?” Vincent asked with concern mixed with respect. “That could’ve gone wrong in so many ways.”

“How did you escape? Do you recognize any of them? Did they do anything to you?” Claude’s questions coincided with Theodore’s, who asked, “Did you take them out?”

The last bit made me chuckle, despite my annoyance.

“I didn’t know them, but I knew they were following orders.

” I sat on the floor with my knights as I relayed to the others a few vague details of the kidnapping.

Telling it made my knights flinch, so I held their heads and rested them on my shoulders. They didn’t resist.

Amos stepped closer, crouching. In silence, he pulled up the long sleeves of my uniform, revealing rope burns on my wrist. He cursed out loud while walking away, hands on his head.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Ela.” Elias knelt in front of me, crying. “I could’ve done something. Used my senses to find you. I stupidly thought you only wanted time for yourself, as you used to do.”

“There is a history of me disappearing for long periods of time, I know,” I said, moving one of my hands from Robin to Eli, holding his.

“But again, it’s nobody’s fault. I’m not angry about the kidnapping, to be honest. You know what my first thought was when I woke up in that dingy brothel?

‘Really, shouldn’t have I expected to get kidnapped one of these days as a noble daughter? ’

“Okay, technically, that was my second thought. The first was, ‘My head hurts like a bitch’. I’m mad that my knights are hurt. I’m mad about my knights getting punished without my input. They were mine. It’s my decision what to do with them, and that’s not for them to get hurt.”

While my anger stayed within me, I understood this, whatever the hell this was, would be an excellent learning experience for the men here, including the twins.

“Consider this your first Bea lesson — I really, really dislike getting my autonomy taken away.

Getting controlled. Making a huge decision for me without my knowledge, without knowing me very well, is a great example of that.

“Forcing a mind reading while I’m asleep is another.

I know, I get it, it’s for my sake, you’re doing it out of kindness for me, you’re only concerned about me — thank you, I appreciate it, even if it’s fucked up.

Maybe you’re used to controlling women in this world, and I’m telling you to stop .

It’s only sexy when in the bedroom, consensually, but not in real life.

“I will occasionally get input from any of you when deciding, or maybe I will outright ask someone else to decide for me. The point is, it has my consent, my knowledge, my awareness or whatever word you want to use for it. There is communication, another important thing for me. I don’t care if you’re the Prince, or a professor, or a noble heir, or the Hero of the Kingdom, you don’t get to control me. I control me. Okay?”

I huffed out a breath after my long explanation, waiting for the backlash.

If they didn’t like what I had to say, then it would be better to cut each other off so we could all move on with our lives.

I needed to find out who kidnapped me so they could be sent to prison and never do that to another girl again.

I had the magic block to research, plus Teleportation magic, and my escape from this universe.

Why the hell was I putting so much effort into fixing these men when I had my own problems? I was the one kidnapped. I wanted to laugh again at the absurdity.

They all stared at me in various states of surprise, admiration, confusion and even offense. Until Amos knelt beside Elias in front of me, grabbing my other hand.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” he rasped, tightening his hold.

“I’m glad you know we only have your well-being at heart, even if we went about it the wrong way.

I don’t know about these idiots, but I will be better.

” He paused for a second, and I saw the exact moment where he steeled himself for what he was about to say … but ultimately hesitated.

Vincent combed his hair again but looked me straight in the eyes. “And I’m sorry for even suggesting a memory read on you. I was so concerned about gathering intel that I didn’t consider how you would feel about it. It’s not right at all.”

“I apologize for not noticing your condition sooner,” Derrick bowed. “I failed as a physician in that regard. Getting you medical care should have been the top priority.”

“My mistake is informing others about something intimate to you without your approval.” It was Uriel, looking as serious as ever. “I thought I was helping, like what I did for you with your professors — academically, but I realize this situation is personal instead. Forgive me.”

“And my mistake is I sat back and did nothing,” Claude stated. “Inaction is just as bad as committing the act itself. Especially when I had the power to speak up. I am sorry, baby girl.” His nuanced take surprised me, since he was the wild card of this group.

“I am not apologizing for my comments, because I still hold on to them,” Theodore grumbled from his corner. “However, I understand we can all learn from this situation. Not just for us, but for you as well, Bea.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Me?”

“Don’t keep everything to yourself,” he mumbled vaguely. “I am sorry for how I expressed my thoughts.” He said nothing else after, and maybe that was as good as I got for now.

Samuel huffed. “I’m now more convinced that I have to get your knights in my company. They’d be better off as soldiers rather than your bodyguards.”

I glared at him. “Really, Samuel?”

He actually smirked back, the bastard. “That’s the first time you called me by name. But I digress; I understand they’re important to you, and this is their first major fuck up, I presume?”

“Not their fuck up,” I grunted.

“One can only have so many chances,” he ignored what I said. “My apologies for jumping to conclusions. As an officer, it is important to take all sides into consideration when deciding, and I didn’t exercise that. I will do better.”

Last, it was Winston’s turn, and he sat straighter in his throne-like chair.

His face held his usual sweet smile. It was easy to mistake it for a kind gesture.

“I need to reiterate: your knights requested the punishment, and as a Royal Prince, I only did what my subjects asked for.” He raised a hand before I could retort.

“My major regret is how it was possible to have a student kidnapped within the academy walls.

The Magical Academy that I personally oversee.

“I am sorry, Beatrix Gadreel Havenglow. Your family will be sufficiently compensated for this slight.”

“I don’t need your compensation just yet,” I countered.

“Besides, by sending your personal apologies to my family, you confirm this school isn’t as safe as it’s known to be.

I doubt you want that information perpetuated about the best Magical Academy, especially now that the every-decade battle against the Demon Lord is looming over us.

“Personally? I don’t want that too. It might mess with my schooling, and I really want to learn Teleportation magic.

Here’s my proposal: apologize to my family later.

Preferably when everything is satisfactory within the Kingdom.

Maybe after the fated final battle of the Champions versus the Demon Lord, whenever that might be. But never forget.”

One by one, I looked at them, memorizing their expressions in my mind.

Not all were apologetic; some still held defiance.

“I accept all your apologies. I don’t ask for much, do I?

All I want is letting me decide for myself.

If you think I’m being stupid, please let me know, argue your case if I’m being stubborn.

But don’t force me. Let me suffer the consequences if it comes to that. ”

“I don’t think I can handle seeing you suffer,” Elias mumbled, stroking my hand.

“I’m more of a hands-on kind of person,” I smiled at him. “It’s how I become a better person. At least I think so.”

Claude laughed out loud, catching all our attention as he raised his arms up to the ceiling. “By the stars, I am in love with this woman!”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Wescott?” Winston immediately asked, the words biting, contrasting his angelic face.

“Bea’s the one for me,” Claude explained, as if that made sense. “My one and only. My destiny. The love of my —”

“Stop,” I yelled, cringing at my shrill tone. “No falling in love, Claude Wescott!”

To my surprise, it was Vince who asked, “What? Why?”

“We don’t have time for that,” I griped, feeling my heart beat faster.

“I need to get Robin and Reuben healed. I need to find the bastard who had me kidnapped, and the kidnappers themselves. Especially their leader.” I gulped to wet my throat.

“I — I need to find out what’s causing my magic to fuck up.

Why I had a block against Psychic magic. I need to learn Teleportation magic.”

“Okay, babe, calm down.” Amos began stroking my hair as both Robin and Reuben moved their heads from my shoulders.

“We’re not in a rush. Professor Altha can heal your bodyguards.

We’ll definitely find those bastards. And about your magic, you’re only a first year; you have five years to learn that. ”

“My lady, deep breaths,” Reuben soothed me as Elias held my hand, and Robin rubbed my back.

“She’s having a panic attack,” Derrick exclaimed as he knelt beside the others, placing a hand on the visible skin on my chest. “This happened when I found her too. Skies, I should’ve figured it out then.”

“What do you mean?” Uriel demanded as I watched the others step closer.

“A delayed reaction to the kidnapping, possibly. She was calm the entire time; I didn’t sense elevated emotions through my connection with her.

Until the moment I found her wandering the streets.

” Derrick glanced at them. “It’s a traumatizing experience — frankly, she should be more scared, but she’s able to talk rationally with us. Until now.”

“I’m cool,” I laughed, because while the kidnapping was definitely scary, I was more afraid of these men falling in love with me, because I was not me, because the real me was too prone to falling in love, and the exact reason I had numerous past relationships that always ended in disaster.

It was all too much at once. So, naturally, I threw up.