9 Playing with her skull

After taking her bath that morning; she put on a short gown, packed her hair up with a hairband, and left her room. She walked down the hall to the front porch; there were a few people insight and they were all busy doing one thing or the other; everywhere looked serene, so she guessed that he might be at home.

Since she had nothing to do, she figured she might as well go check up on her sister in the small town and know how she had been faring.

She passed by some workers and she greeted them politely; they replied with a wave, some with a smile. She knew the news of her being the master's mistress must have spread among the workers, from the way they looked at her; she knew that they pitied her greatly.

She hadn't reached the first gate when she saw him; her heart skipped a beat. She didn't expect to see him on her way out, so she was nervous, but she regained her stance immediately. He was playing archery, there was a middle-aged man holding his quiver for him; he had just fired a shot at the target when he saw her passing by. Tiana had just glanced at him for a second before continuing on her way; although as a mistress it was proper to let him know where she was headed she didn't want to draw on his attention, if she knew he was there, she wouldn't even follow that route.

When Nicklaus saw her, something came to his mind and he turned and said something to the guard standing by the side; the man nodded and ran towards Tiana. When Tiana saw him approach, her heart skipped a bit.

''Miss, the boss wants to see you. '' The guard said and Tiana turned to look at Nicklaus; his expression was aloof, and he was still keenly playing with the bow. Her throat tightened, but she didn't say a word; she just turned and walked towards him.

After last night's humiliation, she knew that he could do anything wicked and thoroughly evil, so if she wanted to stay for the five months and save her sister she had to do everything he said.

Although she needed to see her sister; she would not ask him to let her go, he might as well find a reason to never let her see her.

Her face was emotionless as she appeared before him; he didn't glance at her much more than a second;

''Place the chair in front of the target. ''

He commanded, and the guard took a chair and kept in front of the target.

''Go sit there,'' he said to her, picking up an arrow from the quiver. The middle-aged man was taken aback. Was he about to shoot her to death?

Tiana stared at him for a few seconds; then she turned around and pushed her legs towards the chair and sat down. Nicklaus held the arrow to the bow; his index finger placed above the arrow, with the middle, and ring fingers below the arrow. He closed his left eye as he aimed.

Nicklaus held the arrow, closing his left eye, he pulled it backward and after about three seconds, he let it go. The sound caused Tiana's eyes to shut reflexively; as she braced herself for the impact. She felt something slice through her hair land on the wood behind her, and the next second, her hair came pouring down her shoulders; she had very long hair, so when it fell, it covered most of her face.

Everyone froze as they waited for him to shoot her; their hearts in their mouths as they watched him let go of the arrow; the middle-aged man shut his eyes, not wanting to see what became of such a beautiful woman. He was Nicklaus's butler, and he had been with him for years; he knew how heartless he was and he wasn't expecting anything less; although he had not seen him hurt a woman, he would not be surprised if he hurt her.

He waited for a scream, but he heard none; after three seconds, he opened his eyes only to see the lady with her hair covering her face. The arrow had cut through her hairband and it held it on the wooden target. Turning to look at Nicklaus, he saw him dropping the bow and going to take out all the arrows on the target and he heaved a sigh of relief. It would have been tragic if he had aimed lower.

Tiana exhaled a breath she didn't know that she was holding; she raised her hand to touch her head, but she felt no pain. He must be very good at archery to miss her skull so narrowly.

''Where are you off to? ''

He asked, emotionless and with a plain voice, removing the arrows from the target.

Tiana pushed her hair behind her ear and sat up in the chair;

''I wanted to take a walk in the city; I haven't been out for days. ''

She replied; her tone emotionless;

Nicklaus took the arrows and walked back to the table; he put the arrows back into the quiver and gave the butler the bow;

''From now onwards, you only leave the mansion when I want you to; and you have to be accompanied by my guards; is that understood? ''

He asked; tilting his head slightly;

Tiana nodded; she thought for a moment, remembering something, she said; ''your guards took away my phone the day I came here, can I have it back please?''

That was the perfect opportunity to ask for her phone, she might not get to ask him for it again.

Nicklaus stared at her figure for a moment; ''I'll look into that. ''

He said and walked away, his butler and his guards following immediately.