Read Online Scars Of Defiance by Lorena Angell - Free Book Online Page B

cots and a small bathroom, plus a hidden doorway leading to a tunnel
for escape. Every time we’ve been raided, the crossers have been moved just out
of reach.”
    She was looking down at her hands in deep contemplation.
Paul knew sleeping together was weighing heavy on her mind. It was going to be
harder on him than on her, guaranteed. “Look, I’ll mind my manners tonight. You
don’t have anything to worry about.” She looked up at him nervously. He changed
the subject to get her mind off it. “Tell me about how you escaped the palace.”
    She relaxed a bit. “The palace physician, Dr. Roth, had been
helping me all throughout my stay at the palace, and it absolutely appalled him
to see how Reginald treated me. After being beaten so many times, I felt I
would never be able to escape, so I decided to starve myself. I became weaker
and weaker, and of course Reginald couldn’t stand to see me, the last
Montgomery, slipping out of his reach. So he ordered Dr. Roth to hook me up to
an IV and nourish my body against my will.”
    “What do you mean the last Montgomery?”
    “I’m the last of my family line. The ousted queen was from
the Montgomery line and was well liked by my people, the Rendierians were loyal
to the Montgomery family. Reginald felt the public would like him better if his
son married a Montgomery.”
    “Wait a minute. Are you saying you’re a member of the former
royal family? You’re a princess?”
    “Well, technically, yes,” she reluctantly admitted.
    This changed everything. Paul looked at her with a
completely new level of respect and awe. There was a princess in his bed.
    “Anyway,” she hastily continued, “Dr. Roth confided in me
that he knew a plane would be taking off with a load of crossers as soon as the
lake froze over. I would need to eat and regain my strength if I wanted to be
on it. He would continue to portray my condition to Reginald as ailing and poor
in the hopes of delaying the wedding, although in the end nothing would delay
the wedding, even if I was wheelchair bound. Dr. Roth told me that when the
plane was ready to fly, he’d poison the evening meal and make everyone in the
palace sick. Like a bad case of stomach flu. I’d hopefully be able to sneak out
undetected. It worked. The gate wasn’t even guarded when I walked out.”
    “What did he put the poison in?”
    “The whole meal:  the meat, the bread, the water, and the
desert.”
    “What did he use?”
    “No idea. But it worked. I boarded the plane without
incident.”
    “So when was the last time you saw Reginald Rawlings?”
    “Last night before dinner, he came down to speak with Dr.
Roth about my condition. I tried to lie completely still, as if my strength was
long gone. I needed him to think I wasn’t in any condition to flee.”
    “Do you think they’ve realized you’re gone?”
    “Yes. Not a day goes by that Reginald isn’t looking in on
me. He’s completely obsessed. It made me wonder about his reign. I think the
threat of a coup is huge, and the marriage was supposed to appease my people.
Now that I’m gone, he’ll have to figure out something else.”
    “Or more likely, he’ll do everything he can to hunt you down
and take you back. Do you have any family living in Baylend?”
    “No.”
    “What about in Rendier?”
    “No. My father was killed a few months ago. That’s when I
was taken to the palace.”
    “Why was your father killed?”
    “Because of me.” Her head fell forward, and she played with
her fingers a moment while regaining her composure. “Because I said no to
Victor’s marriage proposal. My father died soon after that, supposedly of a
heart attack, and I was seized and taken to the palace to be forced to marry
Victor.”
    “What about your mother?”
    “She died when I was little. I don’t remember her much.”
    “Any aunts or uncles?”
    She shook her head.
    “Grandparents?”
    She shook her head again. Paul couldn’t fathom being
absolutely alone in the