Olivia stared into the glass of wine Zoe had poured her, but her mind was focused far, far away. She’d never been fired before, ever. It was only an internship, but still! It was the worst day of her life.
“How the hell did you get so unlucky your first week of work, girl?” Zoe asked, settling in beside Olivia on the sofa. “Like, you got a BINGO, straight flush, strike—you name it, you won it. Go buy a lottery ticket, seriously.”
“Hup,” Olivia hiccupped. She’d been crying earlier, no matter how hard she tried not to. It felt childish to be blubbering about it…maybe because it felt like she hadn’t even been given a proper chance. “H-how could I mess up my alarm twice in a row like that? And the email thing…I swear I didn’t tell them I’d take care of it! I’d never even read that fucking email!”
“I know, sweetie, I know,” Zoe soothed, rubbing Olivia’s back. “Water under the bridge. I think the best thing you can do is move on. Try to forget it. Do you think you can get your part-time job back?”
“Blahhhh…” Olivia grumbled. She hated working at the gym. It smelled gross and the gym bros were even worse.
“I know, sweetie, but it’ll pay the bills until you can get something better, right?”
Zoe was right. Ew. Ewwwww. “Fine. But first, you’ll have to get me plastered because there is nothing on tomorrow’s agenda except sleep and wallowing in self-pity. Then I'll give them a call on Monday.”
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Clink, clank. Olivia shivered and pulled the blankets tighter.
Clink, clank. Tug. Her groggy brain slowly realized something was tugging her right foot outside of the blanket.
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“Olivia,” tug, tug, clink, clank, “time to wake up, princess.”
Cold fear slowly trickled over her. Talon. She opened her swollen eyes expecting to see the gray bedroom, but the room was too dark to tell. The bed didn’t feel familiar, though. How the fuck…? She pressed her hands into her face, trying to recall last night.
“Welcome to the dungeon, princess,” Talon said. Olivia shivered again beneath the blankets. She was naked, of course, but it didn’t feel like he’d done anything to her…yet.
He turned on some string lights, dimly illuminating the windowless space. A basement room, then. “Do you want to be the misunderstood fiance of the duke? He’s from the north, of course, and will later obsess over you after realizing the error of his ways. Or, would you prefer to be the princess tortured by her crazy, half-brother prince? How about you were isekai’d into a novel as the villainess, and you’re currently in the dungeon under suspicion of harming your seemingly innocent, but actually evil younger step-sister, the saintess?”
Olivia stared at him. Now he wants to roleplay? She groaned into the pillow. “Seriously, Talon? Why do you keep doing this to me? How did I even get here this time?”
He huffed in amusement. “You make it far too easy,” he replied. “You make me worry. In fact, I’m thinking I should keep you here forever. So, do you want to be my fiance, a princess, or a villainess? Those are your choices for today.”
Her brain didn’t want to work, and she had a headache. “I need some water first,” she told him. “I’m hungover and have a headache.”
“Choose first, then I’ll take care of you.” Damn, he was pushy.
You’re lucky the room is spinning, or else I’d be taking care of your face…with my fist! Olivia grumbled in her head. She wasn’t in the mood. But, she really wasn’t in a position to make demands, seeing how she was the one chained to a bed at the moment.
“I’ll be your misunderstood fiance,” she said, choosing what seemed to be the least violent of the three options.
Talon grinned down at her.