The Villianess story: A 100 ways to kill your husband-Chapter 313: No one decides her fate

Days went by, and Abrielle wasn’t sure how many days it had been. Things haven’t changed much, only that instead of having a corpse as a cellmate, she actually had humans. The girls that were brought here with her.

The place seemed like an old castle of some sought. It was a large slave trafficking operation larger than Abrielle imagined.

The cellar was quiet at first, the kind of quiet that made every drip of water echo like a drumbeat. Silent whimpers and cries could be heard. Tears of longing, some of hunger. They were served once a day late when it was dark.

Cold and damp, the air smelled of old stone, mould, and rusted metal. The walls were rough and dark with age and dirt, and the floor was uneven with patches of standing water that soaked through thin soles.

Abrielle sat curled in a corner of her cell, knees drawn to her chest, her back resting against the cold wall.

A loud clang suddenly echoed through the cellar. The feeding bell.

The sound of keys and metal trays came next, followed by the heavy steps of the guards. Down the row, the other cells erupted with noise. Girls scrambled to the bars, arms stretched through to grab what little food was thrown their way. Bread. Water. Sometimes thinner than soup, other times nothing at all.

Those girls had given up on ever leaving unless they were bought. If you don’t get bought within a year a worse fate waits for you.

"It’s munching time, Come one, ladies, I don’t have all day." A deep masculine voice shouted waking up all the girls while he rang a bell. There were several women here from as young as 6 to their late thirties; some were sold, some were kidnapped, and basically, everyone here had bad luck.

The guard’s calls made her brows furrowed as her eyes slowly opened. She stirred awake with a small gasp, her eyes slowly blinking open. She just stared blankly at first. "Wake up, Hope, they are here," she heard a cellmate shake one of the girls that hadn’t moved all day.

Abrielle fears the girl is dead. There was a deep cut on the girl’s leg as punishment for going against Penny. "I’m too tired," a sickly voice replied. She was still alive. The girl was a fighter, Abrielle thought.

The princess’s dress was haggard and stained with dirt, and her once beautiful ginger hair was a far cry from its original glory, tangled, sticking to her clammy skin. She hadn’t spoken much since she arrived. There was nothing to say. Just pain. Just waiting for a miracle. There was still no sign of Zoltana. She asked Penny but got nothing.

Abrielle had to escape but first, she needed to know more about this place to plan a route they are never allowed outside the cells

Unlike the other cells, where everyone fought for whatever little scrap of food they could get, she was still quiet. The guard noticed and scoffed at them. "With time everything will sink in "

Abrielle watched him, a small tattoo on his arm was hard to ignore. It was a detail she could not ignore. It was a serpent strangling a bird. She recognized the tattoo, this was the death’s bite base. She was certain because every guard had the tattoo.

Death’s Bite was a slave trade syndicate she wrote about in the book. They were more deadly than the Shadow guide. They were known for killing their victims. Even the so-called buyers eventually kill the girls for rituals or their sick pleasure. If you don’t die, you will wish, hoping for death.

She risked her life only to fall into death’s hands again. A laugh left her lips, making the other girls stare at her in confusion. This world wanted her dead by all means, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight, even if it was meaningless.

The girls in Abrielle’s cell barely reacted to the dinner call; fear filled their eyes as they watched the other girls.

They were all new just like her. They sat huddled together, their faces red with tears. One girl sobbed softly into her hands, shaking as she refused to even lift her head when the food came. Another stared blankly at the floor, eyes wide with terror.

The tray was shoved through the bars, scraping the stone as it was pushed forward, untouched. The girl sitting beside the injured girl, Hope, struggled to get up and then grabbed two pieces of bread and a small bowl of soup.

"Try to eat Hope or you will die." She urged Hope to eat. "It’s all my fault, Betty. If I had listened to Father, none of this would have happened. It’s my fault we are here. I deserve to die " Hope cried out. Betty, who seemed to be Hope’s younger sister, was roughly 16 and Hope was barely a year older than her.

Betty hugged Hope then burst into tears streaming down her cheeks. "It’s not your fault. I was the one who brought it up. Please eat. If you die, I might just die as well." She begged.

It was sad watching the girl but no one here had it better. Abrielle didn’t move at first. She only watched. Watched the way the older prisoners across the row fought over crumbs. Watched the way the guards laughed when someone cried.

She watched the way the light from the torch outside flickered across the stone as if it, too, was trying to get away. The guards finally left, the metal door banging as they closed it.

"We are all going to die in the end." An older prisoner said from the opposite cell;.Betty glanced at her, heartbroken.

Abrielle reached out slowly, picking up a piece of bread from the tray and breaking it in half. She didn’t feel hungry anymore. Just emptiness.

But she forced herself to eat, chewing slowly. Because she had to stay strong. Because if she broke, she would never leave this place.

"Who are they to decide our fate? There is hope." The princess said.