INAYAT'S POV

What is the worst thing you can do?

Ask a stranger to save you. In my case, I ran away from a monster to fall into the hands of another. He isn't as bad but I shouldn't have ignored the blood on his hands. I shouldn't have ignored where I first saw him.

A cemetery.

Mount Palacia is a dead island. People live on it but this place is scary. Haunting. Full of secrets. I was terrified when I first step foot on it. My parents had brought me here for a surprise.

I was prepared to die. According to them, I am a troubled child. But they have no idea they shove the cause of my troubles in my face every single day. Their dead friend's son. The poor orphan who has no one to call his own. The monster.

He left for the US five years ago and I believed I was finally free of him but no. Not at all. He is back.

He proposed to me. I didn't know whether I should laugh at the gesture or cry at my fate. Why him? Out of everyone on this planet, why him?

My parents had left me alone with him. This was their big surprise. Washing their hands off of me.

I didn't care. I was used to it. What I wasn't used to, was this monster on his knee with a ring in his hand. I know what he wanted. He doesn't love me. He doesn't care. But with my name comes a title and with that title comes a fortune.

I am from a long line of Nizams. As the only daughter, my father wants me to marry and to get a better grip on my life. He wants me to take over his city of Hyderabad after him but he believes something is wrong with me. Everyone believes that. So he wants me to get married and fix my life.

It's humorous. He thinks a husband can fix me. He didn't know he was shoving the wrong person on me. The answer was stuck in my throat. I wanted to scream a 'no' but no sound would come out. So I ran. I turned around and I sprinted.

Without the candles and the fairy lights he put up for the proposal, the place was dead. It was dark and I could see no one. But I heard. I heard footsteps behind me. The monster was following.

I needed help. I couldn't do this on my own. If I could I wouldn't have failed the thousand other times I tried. I kicked off the heels and ran faster. This seemed like my only chance. If I was caught now, I would never escape.

I ran through the roads, the forest but I couldn't find a single person and then I saw him. His hair was golden and he was nothing less than the sun for me in the darkness. I ignored everything to reach him. I ignored the graves around me. I ignored the burnt and broken building in the front.

"Please. Help me."

He turned sharply. I stood a good distance away from him. I believed it to be good. This man had so much blood on his white shirt. On his hands. I took another step back.

I asked the wrong man. I asked another monster for help. "What do you need help for?" Here? I believe for everything. No one seemed to be on my side. I blindly pointed behind me, where I knew nothing was. The monster hadn't caught up to me yet.

"He wants to marry me." I say. The man raised a brow. There is a little blood on his face too. "And you don't?" He asked. I shook my head.

"But if I say no, he would drag me to the alter and force me to marry him." The man nodded after a beat. "Do you have any family?" He asked . I nodded. "They would side with him."

"So you have no one?"

A chill ran through my bones at his question. I scrambled for words but nothing came out of my mouth. He smiled. It was anything but reassuring. "I can save you from him." Hope that I had killed years ago rekindled in my chest.

"I will give you a place to stay, and I will keep you safe from anyone you deem necessary."

I blinked. If I leave the monster, I would have to leave my family. I would have to leave my father and I would also have to leave my mother. I have strained relationships with both but my mother is kinder. She tries to understand what is wrong with me. She tries to ask me what happened.

I believe it's because no one asked her. My Hindu mother fell in love with my Muslim father. If religion wasn't a barrier enough, he was rich, powerful and a nizam. My mother was a common girl with no power and not much money.

No one was ready to accept them so she ran away from home to marry the man she loved. It took people years to accept her. She lost four babies in miscarriages before she had me. People stopped saying things after than. It was probably pity or maybe they got bored.

I do not wish to leave her. But anything and anyone is going to be better than the monster they expect me to marry. Even this bloodstained man.

"What do you want in return?"

"Marry me instead." I blinked. Is this a joke? Is my whole life a joke now? My misery doesn't matter anymore? I took another step back and shook my head.

"It will only be in name. I will protect you, give you a comfortable life. I expect nothing in return except for you to pretend to be in love in front of some people."

Protection? A comfortable life?

I have dreamt of these things for years. I am a princess but comfort has been a fever dream in my life.

"Will you give me enough freedom to do what I want?" He flashed a big smile. Dimples and everything. "Of course. Even if you kill somebody, I can clean up a mess." He looked down at himself and then back at me.

This man is a lunatic. What am I even thinking?

"I will not touch you. In any way and I expect you to do the same. I do not like being touched. At all." He tilted his head at my condition.

"Hmm. That would not be a problem."

"Why do you want to marry me?"

"I need to marry someone. This way it's beneficial for both of us." Then I heard it. The footsteps. The monster had caught up. I needed to run again. The panic in my eyes pushed the guy into action. He took one last look at the grave before looking at me and pointing behind him.

"This way. Run." And I did. I sprinted and he followed. My minds moved away from the monster to the grave he had stared at.

Joëlle Cartier

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