Page 43 of A Highlander Bound by Oath
"Speak to me, will you?" she screamed in frustration. "You cannot treat me like this." Ignored still. She shut her mouth, deciding to memorize the bends they took in case an opportunity came for her to escape. There was no point in wasting time looking around when that would only lead to her getting dragged off again if she managed to escape.
They finally arrived at a door to a secluded wing. It looked like it had not been visited by anyone except the maids in a very long time. Charlotte did not know whether it was intentional to intimidate her or to stop her from even thinking of escaping. They dragged her into the room and tore the clothes from her body before sitting her in the bathtub. Charlotte felt the cold before she realized what was happening. She looked up in shock just as another bucket of cold water was dumped on her without care. The maids immediately picked up oils, soaps, and brushes and began scrubbing away at her skin with no care.
Charlotte felt humiliated in a way that she had never been humiliated before. She felt like livestock getting cleaned up to be paraded before her buyer, with how they treated her. Her bruises stung from the scrubbing she was receiving. They had not cared to be gentle with her bruises. Charlotte had tried to move her leg out of reach when one maid had touched the leg with the scar, but she had only yanked it back and continued her violent scrubbing. Her hands were still tied during this ordeal, and she was made to sit there and suffer in a way that left her feeling depressed. They dumped water over her once again and this time, although the shock of the water was still there, Charlotte was glad as it meant that her skin could finally rest from all the abuse she had experienced in the past minutes.
After they had cleaned her and she dried, they dragged her back into the bedroom and proceeded to dress her up. Charlotte felt awkward about the entire experience. Her eyes watered, but she stopped them before they could fall. She refused to add to her humiliation by letting them see her cry.
Charlotte groaned when they tightened the corset, hurting her already bruised ribs. She almost keeled over as she struggled to breathe, staying up only because the maid still held on tight to the strings. They led her to the table, where they began to paint her face.
Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror and her eyes widened in shock. What exactly was going on? The butler had said to make her look presentable, but there was nothing presentable about painting her face in a manner that made her look raunchy. She turned her head for a better look and winced when the maid yanked her hair to straighten her face before she continued.There is something going on, but what?
"What are you preparing me for? What's going on? Where am I going?" she asked them. Charlotte was not surprised when they remained quiet, but she had grown tired of their constant refusal to answer her questions. She had had enough.
"What is wrong with all of you? Why won't you answer my questions?" Charlotte had had it with them and their vow of silence, and she did not realize she had been screaming until she got to the end of her tirade. Yet as she looked at them, expecting an answer, all she got in response were collective looks of annoyance and irritation. No word came in return.
The ladies continued painting her face and when they finished with it, they dragged her up from the chair and pushed her until she was lying on the bed before they packed up and left her stunned. Charlotte felt so much dread as she heard their footsteps receding. All this time, she had thought that they werepreparing her because she was to be taken somewhere, but now, the horrible feeling that they had been preparing her for something instead filled her with so much dread.
The thought had just occurred to Charlotte when she heard a lone pair of footsteps head in her direction. Her heart jumped faster and higher in her chest the closer the sound got to the door.
Charlotte shut her eyes in trepidation as the door slowly swung open.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Charlotte's eyes shot open when she heard a familiar laugh.Her uncle.She awkwardly shuffled as much as her tied hands would allow her to and brought herself to a sitting position. She did not know whether to be relieved, horrified, or angry that her uncle was here.
On one side, seeing him was better than receiving William Dodd. But the fact he was here only proved to her how much of a nasty person he truly was.
She had never loathed him. She hadn't hated him when her father died, and she was left as an orphan at his mercy. She hadn't hated him even when he had locked her up in that room where her mother had fallen out the window and died. She hadn't hated him, although she never gave her the comfort she needed and only pushed her away.
Now, however, as she watched the smug look on his face, Charlotte felt a deep, seethed hatred settle inside her.
"You're here," Charlotte whispered, glaring at him vilely. She wished she could say that it surprised her to find him here, but she would have been even more stunned if it had turned out that he was not involved at all. "How can you call yourself myfamily? My parents would never have let any of this happen."
Charlotte felt her head snap to the side. Her cheek stung from the blow her uncle had just dealt her, leaving her reeling and her head throbbing. It was another familiar thing about him. This was not the first time he had hit her, but the shock from the suddenness of it after a while made it hurt some more.
She had the urge to bring her hand to her cheek and soothe the burning skin, but she refused to give her uncle the satisfaction. She tried to escape his reach, but her restraints kept her from moving too much. When she tried to get out of the way and escape his hands, he dragged her back by the rope, grinning when he heard her hissing with pain.
"Let go of me," she screamed, unable to take his harassment any longer, and she watched her uncle's eyes go wide with indignation. He was furious.
"You are so stubborn, Charlotte. A thorn in my side ever since the day that I came to be your guardian. How dare you run away to God knows where and leave me with so much trouble? Do you know how many problems you brought to me with that silly stunt you pulled?" he asked her angrily, his spittle landing on her as he screamed in her face. "Do you know how much misery I went through when I was dealing with William Dodd?"
Charlotte blocked her face to stop the slap she had expected when she saw him raise his arm, yet it never came. She removed her hand from her face and looked at him. He was staring at her again with that nasty smile he always sported whenever he tortured her. He latched out with lightning speed and grabbed her by the hair, pulling on it. Pain exploded in her head like she had never felt before, and a whimper escaped her lips.
"Shut up!" he screamed, his musty breath filling his nostrils. "You made a fool of me. How could you have embarrassed me in such a manner? I looked like a fool when I went to get you and you were not there. Did you think you could run away and not be found?" he pulled at her ear, with his other hand still wound tightly around her hair. Twisting her ear, his fingers pinching into it.
He pushed away from her and walked the little distance to the window, muttering to himself.
"Do you know how lucky you are?" he asked her, facing out the window. "I arranged a marriage for you with a man who is more powerful than anyone else you could have ever gotten for yourself and instead of being grateful for what you have received, you ran away like the ungrateful brat that you are. I could have left you locked up in that room for the rest of your life, but I didn't do that. You are lucky that William is a forgiving man. He could have left you alone to fend for yourself, but instead searched for you and brought you back."
Charlotte stared at him incredulously as he spoke. She was glad he had his back turned to her because he probably would havehit her again if he had seen her face. How could someone be so delusional as to think he was doing her a favor by marrying her off to the man who had tried to get his way with her many years ago?
"Not to mention, of all the stupid things you could have done, you went to our enemies for solace. Did you really think that they would help you? Knowing who you are? It is no wonder that you ended up all alone once they threw you out after finding out the truth," her uncle laughed.
Charlotte did not know what it was about that smug grin on his face. Maybe it was because she had seen it on him every time he reminded her of her dead parents, slapped, smacked, or left her without food just to punish her for something she had or hadn't done. Now, the only thing that mattered to Charlotte was wiping that stupid grin off his face. She struggled to hold it in, hoping that he would veer off from the topic and she would not have to say anything.
"You suddenly have nothing to say for yourself? No one will ever love you. The sooner you admit that to yourself and accept it, the better it will be for you." Charlotte fumed as she listened to what he was saying.
"Being with them, who were supposed to be our enemies, was a hundred times better than growing up with you," she said defiantly, refusing to allow herself to be bullied into silence by the punishment that was sure to follow. "In fact, being with them taught me more about family than being with you for years. You are not my uncle but a man I was unfortunate to meet."
