Wohoo, chapter 13... I hope you all still like it :)

13.

Toying With Your Fears

Rolanda stared at him, hearing her blood rush inside of her head, her breathing rigge and hurting against her aching rips.

There it was again, the one threat that frightened her the most. She would not care if he said that he would hurt her, or that he would kill her – but that he told her that he would hurt Alannah was still giving her chills, even though she had heard it before.

Once again, her fear triggered her massive protective instincts, and this time, there were no ropes that were holding her back.

Acting before properly thinking about what she was about to do, she jumped to her feet and lunged forwards, literally trying to jump at King Severus who simply stared at her, his black eyes wide in surprise.

Had Ronan not reacted as quickly as he had, Rolanda would have been able to reach the king – and her hands were nearly exactly on the level of his throat.

"You! If you dare to touch her! She is just a innocent young girl!"

Rolanda released a scream of pure rage and loathing as Ronans strong arms wrapped around her body and he pulled her backwards, away from the king, ignoring how much the young woman was thrashing within his hold, her legs kicking and her arms barely missing his face.

The two were struggling with each other, against the other one, and for a short moment it even looked like Rolanda would be able to break free. But then, Ronan managed to position his knee and one elbow just right, forcing the young woman to bend forwards. Though he was constantly gaining control, she was still fighting against him like a lioness, not willing to give up too easily.

As Ronan tried to press her down onto the tabletop, they sent plates flying off the table, crashing onto the stone floor with loud noises and spilling their contents so they rolled through the room. A jug of wine broke, and another one, filled with mead, fell over, the golden liquid pouring over the wooden tabletop.

Only as her ribs were painfully pressed against the wood, Rolanda gave up and her body went limp, her wincing slightly. Both Ronan and her were breathing heavily and from the sound Ronan released she deducted that he had not thought that she would be capable of such strong kinds of resistance.

Severus himself was still only staring at her, though by now a small smile had appeared on his face.

He too had not thought that there were such powers hidden inside this slender body, and her sudden attack had left him speechless.

After the first moment of surprise, though, he had relished in seeing how Rolanda's temper broke free.

Additionally, he had seen something in her eyes in that moment – her magic had flashed through these golden irises during her fierce fight against Ronan.

It had looked stronger than everything he had ever seen before, it actually had crackled in the air around her during her outburst, and while observing her, a spontaneous thought formed in his mind, a plan, and it sounded so easy to him.

Opening completely new perspectives to him, it seemed to offer the solution to one of his major problems at the moment and he was barely able to hide his excitement.

He had to remind himself that he would have to be subtle and careful – rushing through things would only have negative effects on his new idea.

Slowly, taking his time as he saw how tense Rolanda looked, shivering out of anger while also fearing a punishment, Severus stood up from his chair, his intense gaze fixed on the young woman.

"I have a offer for you. A way to keep your beloved sister away and safe from harm," he said, sounding as politely as he had previous to her outburst – he was acting as if she had never tried to attack him.

Rolanda closed her eyes to hide that she was actually rolling them, took a few deep breaths and hissed:"I can't tell you anything I don't know anything about!"

Severus smiled calmly and calculative as he continued:"Oh, it is something you will be capable of doing, Rolanda, I assure you! There is a way to keep all the violence and the dozens of disgustingly hungry and primitive men away from the sweet girl, she will always stay as innocent as she was before she came here."

She did not miss the slightly cold facette in his voice, and she asked herself if she really wanted to hear his offer. Gulping hard, she was sure that it would not be a small price to pay for her sister's safety. Shivers were running down her spine as she tried not to imagine all the horrible things that could happen to Alannah - the world was full of ruthless and violent men who were not recoiling from doing the worst crimes, not even to young girls like Alannah.

"What... what do you have in mind? What are your conditions?" She asked carefully, her fingers trembling as she waited for his answer. The king actually started to grin, making her feel uncomfortable as he answered:"Become my personal servant, read every wish from my lips and do everything to please me and keep you on my good side, and your sister will always have enough food and water and warm clothes until we have found your parents. On that day, I will order my men to release Alannah, and you too if you behaved yourself well."

Once again, and for the second time during this evening, the opposite things of what Rolanda had expected were happening, and this offer was just making no sense to her.

Actually, it shocked her a little bit that he wanted her to be his servant – he did not need her, he obviously had all the servants he needed, all knowing fully well what their job was and how they were supposed to behave in front of their king, how they could please his highness and what his expectations were.

But still, he made her an offer that she simply could not deny because of Alannah's safety. It really seemed like he was calculating with her protective instincts, but she could not understand why he would do such a thing – why he would ask her to be his personal maid in return for sparing her sister.

"I... why?" Rolanda stuttered, trying to voice her thoughts properly, but she was barely able to do so – she was simply too stunned.

"Fortunately, a king does not have to explain his plans to anybody that asks, he is bound to nobody," Severus answered, his face turning into an unmoving mask. "So, what is your answer? Do you accept my offer, or not?"

Biting her lower lip, though it did hurt as it was already injured, she tried to prevent herself from saying something about how he was obviously leaving her no choice, she nodded, looking down at the floor so he could not see the tears that were filling her eyes.

She twitched as King Severus clapped his hands once and gestured at Ronan while speaking:"Good, what a wise choice of yours!"

Ronan stepped forwards and bowed as his king ordered:"Ronan, summon some maids to have my new servant cleaned up in a good bath and have her dressed properly."

His most loyal servant nodded courtly, his face showing off how surprised he himself was about his master's decision as he grabbed Rolanda by the elbow and led her out of the throne hall.

Severus smiled triumphantly to himself as he sat down again and resumed to eat his dinner by helping himself to a nice piece of deer. He could not wait to find out how much of her father's magic Rolanda Hooch had inside of her, and see how much he could benefit from it.

One thing was already clear to him by now – Rolanda Hooch was not a ordinary woman, no, she was more daring and fierce and temperamentally as any other woman of her age he had met before. He was sure that she was the only one who had enough courage to actually try and defend herself against people about who she already knew that they were way stronger than she was, and that she had tried nonetheless.

Of course he could not say this for sure, but he felt like her magic, even though she herself did not even seem to know anything about it, was giving her a inner strength. Also, this temperament – it was common for many people who were capable of performing magic. Magic itself, so it seemed to him, had a personality of its own, and sometimes it broke out.

Oh, he really was curious about the next days that were to come.