The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

I felt small and completely helpless, something I hadn’t felt for a long time. Maybe ever.

Everything went hazy for a moment as the king came toward me. I wanted to tell him to stop, but I didn’t seem in control of anything that was happening.

Suddenly the dream was clear again. The king was kissing me. He was on top of me in bed.

My heart was racing as I wanted to push him off me, but I knew he was much too large. I tried not to recoil in disgust as his lips slobbered all over mine. I knew he might kill me if I did.

I still had on my dress, thank god, but I was terrified that I would soon have to take it off.

This was a dream, I reminded myself, but I couldn’t stop feeling everything as he moved his hand up my thigh.

I had to push him. I couldn’t help it. I tried to put on a smile as I did.

He stopped kissing me and glared. I had to say something.

I suddenly had an idea, my only way out of this. It might get me killed anyway, but I couldn’t let this go on.

I moved my hand through his gray hair, pretending to play with it, knowing that my life depended on holding this false smile.

He grinned at me proudly. “I knew you would come around.”

It took everything in my power not to turn my face away as he leaned down toward me again. I almost screamed out as I felt his manhood pressing against my leg. It was even more disgusting to know that he was older than my father, and such an ugly, horrible man, the wine on his breath making me suppress a gag.

“Wait,” I said. But it wasn’t my voice. It was Hadley’s. “Turn around while I undress.”

“Ah right, you’re still at that age where you’re shy. I like that.”

With a great amount of effort, the king pushed himself up from the bed and turned around.

I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, but the sound of my sharp breathing was foreign to my ears.

With shaky hands, I fiddled around with one of the king’s gray hairs in my left as I searched through my secret pocket with my other. Thank god that I had the foresight to fashion a tiny pocket on the inside of my underdress. It was because of the stares the king had been aiming at my chest that I thought to do it in the first place. I couldn’t believe my horror that my fear was coming true, but I had prepared for this.

I took out a tiny vial of snake blood, pulled off the stopper, and stuffed the king’s gray hair into the vial. I left the top open as I channeled the three notes of dteria and focused my mind on a curse that I had only theorized would work. I had never performed it. I had never needed to.

“Are you done yet?” Frederick asked impatiently. “Don’t get under the covers when you are. I want to see you.”

My heart told me to run for it, but I knew my only way out of this alive and not violated was with a convincing act.

The curse dissolved Frederick’s hair in the blood and then caused the blood to slowly disappear within the vial.

“Almost,” I said in Hadley’s voice.

I tiptoed over to door and quietly rolled the tiny vial underneath. My only hope was that it would be kicked by one of the guards at some point and roll away, hopefully down the nearby stairs where it should break. It was evidence that could not be found anywhere near me.

I felt like I was suffocating as I quickly removed my dress and let it fall to the floor. I couldn’t help but try to cover myself, though I didn’t have big enough hands to do so completely.

“Ready,” I squeaked out.

The king turned and smiled. “Let me see.”

I felt like there was a colony of ants crawling over my whole body as I exposed myself in front of the lecherous middle-aged man.

He slowly formed a wicked smile. “You have hidden yourself from me for some time, Hadley. Has that been your intention?”

Yes, it had. My parents had encouraged me to dress more provocatively when I was meeting the king, but I couldn’t stand the way he was constantly looking down at my bosom. I had made sure to cover myself completely after that first meeting.

I hated that he’d used his power to see me like this, but it was far from the worst thing I had seen him do.

I wanted to lie to him, to tell him I was just more comfortable being covered and that I had no reason to hide myself. But fear had taken away my voice.

I couldn’t utter a word.

Everything went hazy again. I thought I might finally wake up from this horrible nightmare. I closed my eyes and tried to fall out of it, but I came to lying on a bed.

I was struck in the face with the king standing near me, rage in his eyes. I tried to escape, but he pinned me easily with one arm as he leaned over me. I was so damn weak!

He struck me again. The second blow hurt worse than the first, a terrible pain throbbing inside my whole head.

“You will undo this curse right now!” he shouted, raising his fist in a threat to strike me again.

“I did not curse you, your majesty! I swear it. No such curse exists!”

It was the anger at him striking me that had allowed me to find my voice. I didn’t care if he was the king. If I could get my hand on a knife, I would stab him in the neck right now.

But I was trapped underneath his heavy arm, both of us stark naked.

I shut my eyes and hoped for it to be over. I had to get out of this nightmare.

“Are