The following week, I was met with many funny looks from cal, each one that had me clipping him round the head and telling him to leave me alone. Each time, he just responded by walking off muttering 'Rae and Cain, sitting in a tree'. I had to refrain from completely killing him, as I'm sure that even though I am the princess, I still couldn't get away with murdering anybody. Even when said person deserved it.

I was walking down the corridor trying to calm myself down when I turned round a corner and smacked into a solid mass that sent me flying onto the ground. I groaned and looked up to see Cain smiling down at me, extending his hand out to help me back up onto my feet. I took hold of it and gave him a grateful smile, glad that it hadn't been Tiernan that had seen me fall. I received enough torment from him without that being added to it thank you very much.

"you seem to have a habit of falling over" he joked.

I groaned at him.

"please don't you start teasing me too. I get it enough from your darling dear brother, not to mention my own one."

Cain frowned as I mentioned Tiernan, but he then smiled as I finished what I said, before he then started laughing. I joined in with him and the pair of us started walking down the corridor. As we reached the main entrance, dad appeared near us and gave Cain yet another funny look. I raised my eyebrow, and dad gave me a small smile, before turning a steady, cool gaze onto Cain. I felt Cain's arm wrap round my waist, and he pulled me tighter into him. Unfortunately, there was a mirror behind dad, so I saw the look that Cain gave him. It was an almost predatorial look, one that clearly told my dad that I belonged to Cain.

I wanted to push away then, as I could see the glow that usually surrounded my dad fade darker and darker, until it was almost black. Either he ignored it, or he just didn't see it, but Cain didn't respond to the change in dad's aura, instead, just flashing me a smile before leading me outside into the gardens. I looked back over my shoulder towards dad, but he had already gone, which left me with the feeling of panic. Suddenly, I didn't feel safe. Suddenly, I felt like I was in danger.

I tried to push those thoughts down as I kept reminding myself that Cain hadn't tried to hurt me and had never shown any inclination that he would ever do anything to me. With those thoughts in my mind, I eventually calmed down, but one part of me still remained slightly wary, and I found myself consciously trying not to walk close to him, however, it was hard to do as he kept his arm firmly wrapped round me, rendering me unable to escape from him.

As we moved outside, Cain directed us over to the stables, and took me inside before he moved over to one of the horses. I slid over to jet, and as I buried my face in her mane and she nuzzled into my hair, I felt myself completely relax, to the point that I actually forgot that Cain was with me, until he put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped in shock.

"sorry! I completely forgot you were there!"

He chuckled at that, and gave me a swift kiss.

"it's no problem. I had no idea that you liked horses."

I turned my head to give him a side glance at that, and inside, my stomach churned in worry. Something about the way he said that didn't sit overly well.

"why did you bring me here then?""well, I wanted some time alone with you, and I know that very few people come in here."

Before I could say anything, he suddenly lurched forward, and pressed me against the side of the stall, crashing his mouth down onto mine and pinning my arms to my side as he had done the week before after the banquet. This time though, he was hurting me, and I could feel my arms bruising as I tried to fight him off. I tried to move my mouth away from his, and I think he thought that I was accepting him or something, as his grip tightened even more as he forced his mouth even harder. I tried crying out, to do anything for help, but all that came out was a muffled squeak.

I heard the stable door open from behind us, and my heart leapt with relief. If only whoever it was could see me. Cain didn't hear it as he moved his hand up my body and started undoing my zipper at the back of my dress. Unfortunately, whoever had come in turned back and went to go back out, and a tear slipped down my face. Jet suddenly whinnied and started thrashing about and making a load of noise, and I could see how careful she was to not hit me. She caught Cain on the shoulder though, and he let go of me with a cry. He glared at both me and jet, before slipping out the back door of her stall, leaving me behind to slide down onto the floor, shaking and trying desperately hard not to start crying.

"hello? Who's in here?" the person asked.

Tiernan. I sighed in relief, but I was still so scared, I physically couldn't open my mouth to speak. Fortunately, jet was still thrashing around, and Tiernan came over to calm her down. I tried to shuffle over so that he wouldn't see me, but the movement must've caught his attention.

"what on earth? Rae?!"

Jet settled down as she let him in, and he quickly moved over to me and brushed the hair back off my face. He gasped as I flinched and I also tried to hide the fact that my dress was falling down.

"who did this to you?" he growled.

I flinched again at the harshness in his voice, and his whole body softened as he put an arm round me. I sank into him, not afraid to cry, and he gently rubbed my arms.

"I'm going to get your dad. The person who did this can't get away with it."

He stood up to find my dad, but I panicked and grabbed his arm.

"no! please, don't! I'll be fine, honestly. I just want to forget about it."

I let go of him and he sat back down next to me. I leant against him and smiled slightly as he put his arm round me again. I was still shaken up from what Cain did, but thankfully, I don't think Tiernan recognised my attacker, so I had no worries of anyone finding out. A few minutes later, I pulled myself together and started standing up, Tiernan quickly jumping up to help me to my feet. He offered to walk me back to my room, but I declined, stating that I would rather just go on my own so that no-one else would question me.

"ah, but aren't they going to question you more because you're on your own?"

I sighed, knowing I was defeated. He held his arm out for me and I took it, allowing him to walk me to my room. I didn't let him take me to my door though. The last twice I had let someone do that, I ended up with today, so I felt much safer leaving him at the bottom of the corridor while I moved to my room by myself.

The second my door was shut, I ran to the bathroom and started running a bath. As I removed my dress, I threw it in the bin, not wanting to keep it anymore as I knew the memory would haunt me if I did. I sank into the bath when it was full and winced as I looked down at my arms. Both were bruised so badly I could actually see the outline of Cain's hands, and my left one actually had small cuts embedded in it from where his nails had been digging into my skin.

Despite the fact it was still quite early, I called for Kinney and asked him to tell my dad I was going to miss dinner as I was exhausted. He scurried off and I moved back into my room, locking the door behind me. As I lay down on the bed, my tears came again, thick and fast, and soon I was sobbing into my pillow until eventually, I was so exhausted, I had no choice but to drift off into an uncomfortable sleep.