Forced into Fantasy
Chapter 6 - Bonded

Adomis;

The gall of that girl, the sheer arrogance!

Why does it entice me so?

First she and her temptress whore accomplices attempted to assassinate me within my own castle walls, and now she has the audacity to take out my men and escape my castle. I was outraged.

“Prepare my horse and gather soldiers.” I commanded as I marched along the darkened corridors on my way to the front entrance of the castle, “We ride after her at once.”

“My Lord.” several of my soldiers replied, bowing their heads and rushing off to complete their assigned task.

As I made my way down to the main courtyard just outside of the castle’s entrance I noticed Stone, my large black stallion standing silent and proud before me and I wasted little time grabbing the reigns and hoisting myself up over his back.

There are currently twelve of my best trained soldiers seated on their horses and surrounding me, patiently waiting for their Overlord to lead them out through the gates and across the drawbridge after the missing wench.

I spoke loudly enough for all of them to hear my command, and with a hint of added warning.

“Your orders are to find the girl and return her to me. I want her alive and unharmed, is that understood? Anyone who is found to lay a hand on her will answer to me.”

I wanted her back. Unsure of the true reason as to why I felt this way, I needed to learn more about her and why she had come into my life. Was she one of the assassins sent to kill me? I was desperate to know more about her.

“Yes Sire!” they all reply together loudly, and I know I have been heard and understood.

No one would dare oppose my command. No one would be that stupid.

With a firm nod of my head I kick both sides of Stone’s built body and my mighty stallion proceeds to gallop off through the middle of the large courtyard, headed in the direction of the great gates which are now opening to allow us passage through to the neighbouring field.

As we exit through the large gate and ride across the large thick wooden drawbridge, I immediately sight her and my blood begins to pulse with excitement; the excitement of the chase.

“There she is!” one of my soldiers calls out as we speed off into a full gallop along the grassy fields before us, spread out in a singular line.

“After her!” another adds.

My dark brown eyes are locked onto her as we speed along through the crisp evening air. The sky around us is beginning to darken now as the sun has finally set behind the distant mountains. It will be night soon and I know I must hurry. She can not be allowed to reach the treeline, or she may very well disappear from our sights.

I will not allow that.

Ivy;

My heart thumped loudly inside of my head, over and over as I ran in a full sprint across the thick grassy field. I hadn’t even realised yet, but my right hand was holding onto the hem of my soaked dress, keeping it up and allowing my legs more room to move as my feet padded along the soft comfort of the green grass below.

I instinctively turned my head to get a quick look at their proximity to me and my blue eyes widened in both surprise and terror; they were rapidly closing in on the gap between us!

My breathing is now coming out in heavy pants, short and sharp as I use everything I had left in me to reach the safety of the visible treeline. Even with the adrenalin kicking in I begin to realise that I am no match for horses in a full speed gallop. There was no way I could possibly outrun them on foot!

“There she is.” I hear one of them calling out from behind me.

“After her!” another adds and my skin begins to crawl.

I was absolutely terrified as the sound of the horse’s hooves thumped loudly along the field behind me, growing in volume with each second that passed by. I could almost feel the thunderous rumble which had caused the ground below me to vibrate noticeably. Aware of my surroundings, I didn’t have to turn around to see that they were close, I knew they were.

'Just a little further', I told myself. If I reached the treeline of the forest I would be able to conceal myself from them and perhaps-

“Shit!”

I cursed loudly as my foot suddenly twisted and sent me tumbling down to the grassy ground below. My body tumbles and rolls over and over until I finally come to a stop. A loud painful groan escapes my lips as I frown and reach down to grasp my right ankle which felt terribly sore for some reason. Had I twisted it? God it ached so badly.

The ground appeared to shake as the horse’s hooves thumped louder and louder the closer they came towards me.

My eyes darted to the side to see the riders quickly approaching and I instantly panicked, wide eyed and gasping. Unable to think straight I forced myself to stand wincing through the agony as I limped along for a couple of steps. But the pain was too much for me to bare and I fell down to my knees, gasping for breath and practically giving up on my pointless hopes of escape.

There was no way I could make it to the treeline now, not with my injured ankle. And the sun had already set, bringing about the cool chill of the new night breeze. Desperate, I tried screaming out as loudly as I could as my apparent fear consumed me.

“Help me, please someone help!”

But it is too late. The dozen or so riders begin to gallop around me, forming a large circle to trap me in and prevent me from escaping a second time. My breaths are short, sharp and shallow as my brows furrow with concern and my crystal blue eyes dart from one rider to the next while I size up the enemy now surrounding me.

Once they have formed a circle around me I wait to see what they do next and a deep and dangerously smooth voice suddenly speaks, causing sparks to fly across my skin.

“Well now… tell me, did you enjoy your evening swim?”

The other soldiers all chuckle together at their Overlord’s joke as they glare down at me, some smirking menacingly, others practically eye-fucking me in my damp, white partially see-through dress. My long golden hair is also quite damp as it falls down behind my shoulders, caught in sudden gusts of wind as the cool breeze of night finally arrives.

I keep my mouth shut, unsure of how I should respond to this clearly intimidating fiend.

How is this even possible? This… all of this, it can’t be real! It’s nothing but a make-believe novel of mine. A story I created from nothing and was working hard to get finished before my upcoming deadline. It was nothing but a story; so how am I here, in my character’s body and living her experiences? My every breath is hers, each of my movements are made by her body.

How was this happening?

“He asked you a question, wench!” one of the soldiers sitting on his horse behind me snapped angrily as he narrowed his eyes with warning. “Speak!”

“This can’t be real… It can’t be…” I whisper, shaking my head and looking down to the grassy ground beneath my bare feet. “I’m going crazy, that’s the only explanation. It has to be…”

Adomis’ dark eyes narrow as he clenches his jaw and dismounts his horse.

He gains my attention as his large black boots hit the ground below with an obvious 'thud' and he begins to slowly stride across to where I am kneeling on the grass. I watch him approach me, meeting his eyes the entire time in order to show that I do not fear him.

But I obviously fail in my half-assed attempt as he grins down at me, coming to a stop within reaching distance of where I am. His massive muscular figure looms over me with such power and dominance. He surprises me as he suddenly crouches down to my level while still managing to maintain eye contact as he sizes me up for a moment in silence.

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“What is your name?” his voice is softer than before and I frown in disbelief that someone as ruthless and menacing as him would even have a softer side.

“M…my name?”

He continues to stare at me, waiting for my response and after a moment of pulling my courage together, I give him one.

“Ivy.”

My voice is shaky though I try to remain strong, even with the searing pain in my ankle.

“Ivy…” he repeats it, as if testing to see how it sounds coming from his own lips. Those soft, incredible lips...

‘Focus Ivy, focus!’

“Well, Ivy… I’m afraid you’ve caused me and my men quite a lot of trouble this evening...” he paused, reaching out his gloved hand to tuck a stray strand of my wavy blonde hair behind my ear and making me flinch slightly, “…and for that you must be punished.”

I frown.

“Wait, punished?” the words leave my mouth before I can think them through, “What are you talking about?”

He tilts his head to the side, a small smirk forming in the corner of his mouth as he looks me up and down, his eyes roaming over my entire body without permission.

“Who sent you to kill me?” he asked, slowly removing one glove at a time and dropping them to the grass beneath him.

I can feel my lips trembling as I look around at the other soldiers, still waiting patiently on top of their horses and surrounding us in a tight circle.

I have no fucking idea what he’s talking about? But how would I even begin to convince him of my innocence in the latest assassination attempt? There was no way he would understand where I had really come from, nor that he was nothing but a fictional character in a made up story that I myself had created.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not here to kill anyone. I don’t even know how I got here in the first place.”

His eyes close, as if he is disappointed by my reply and he lowers his head. Have I angered him? And what had he meant by punishing me?

“Please, I just want to go home.” I feel the desperation coming on now as I plead with him, my brows furrowed together.

As his eyes suddenly flick open he is now glaring back at me with a darkness to his eyes that I hadn’t yet seen before. All of the gentle features once displayed have suddenly faded as he squeezes his right fist tightly into a ball; a visual reminder of the frustration he was apparently feeling because of me. My breaths become much sharper now as I feel the anger radiating from him.

“You will tell me everything you know.” he reached out and grabbed my left arm as I quickly raised it in defence.

But then something strange happened...

The exact moment his skin touched mine, his eyes widened as he sucked in a sharp breath and then closed his eyes tightly shut. I could feel something incredibly powerful washing over the both of us; a feeling of intense power and heightened passion as we linked in a kind of way that I could not even begin to describe. I felt such unbelievable ecstasy and yet such terrible darkness as wave after wave of a warm glow continued to wash over my entire body within the matter of a few seconds.

What the hell was happening to me?

Before I could think into it too much, his hand pulled away and he disconnected whatever it was occurring between us. My sensations returned to normal and I opened my eyes, blinking and looking around in a daze. As I met his eyes I froze at his expression. He was panting and was that the look of fear dancing about in his eyes? It was! He was afraid of something. Of me?

A soldier’s voice caught both of our attention suddenly.

“My Lord, are you alright?”

Adomis snapped out of his apparent daze and glanced up to his men, then back to me.

“I’m fine.” he replied sternly, eying me with disbelief as he swiped both gloves from the ground and proceeded to stand up, putting them back on while he loomed over me.

“What should we do with the girl?” another soldier enquired as their Overlord marched back across to his stallion and quickly mounted it with ease.

After a moment of silence and with his intense gaze beating down on me he finally voiced his reply.

“Bring her!” he commanded, "She comes with us."

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