I had never been in these halls and had no idea how to find Demir. Geraldine had given me a brief explanation of what Cain’s sources said the layout was, but after a full day in the dark, I was feeling more than a little disoriented. I made it into the inner halls of the castle. There wasn't even a guard in sight. Geraldine said Demir resided in the western tower and Sebastian in the eastern. I made my way to the fourth floor of the castle and passed their great hall. I would start with Demir, as he seemed like the easy win, and given what simmered between us, maybe I could use him to make what I would be attempting with his father just a touch easier. Heading west until I reached the end of the hallway, I noticed that it splintered into two directions and knew I had to go right, even as a guard walked down that very hall. This was the first guard I had seen since I started; I had almost begun to believe that whatever dark magic Sebastian had been toying with had wiped out everyone due to the eerie silence of the castle walls. I hid in the shadows, having shifted into a mouse, until he made his way into the hall that went left; then I ran for it.
When I reached the end of the right hallway, there was a door that was closed so securely that there was no gap to fit even the smallest of creatures. Shifting back into the peasant girl, I opened the door as the metal hinges creaked worse than I had envisioned the trapdoor would sound. Instantly, I heard the halting of footsteps and the clattering of armour as the guard I thought I had cleared came storming towards me. Fuck, he wasquick. Slamming the door shut behind me, I made a run for the spiral stairs that led up the tower, but before I could get far, another guard stepped out from behind the steps just as the guard from the hall blocked the entrance.
‘What are you doing here little girl?!’ the guard in front of me yelled. I could shift and maul them to death, but that would raise too many alarms; there was an easier and smarter way to play this, which I had prepared for. I had to play the role of a passive, needy girl, and although I had never gone without money, food and material things, I had gone without many other things in my life to the point where I still felt starved.
‘Please, sir, I was just looking for some food. I am so incredibly hungry. I-I was desperate; it’s been days since I last had a bite to eat.’ I sobbed, shaking my whole body as I forced tears from my eyes and sank to the ground.
‘This is the prince’s quarters; why would you be searching for food here? You’re a liar. Did you come here to try and seduce him, thinking you would become the next Princess?’ he sneered, trailing his eyes up and down my body hungrily. I had to physically stop myself from wincing and from wanting to empty my stomach on the ground in front of me, given that I had chosen the body of a minor, thinking I could play the sympathy card with whoever found me—but I did not account for how sick and twisted some men could be. My mind pulled me from the moment to thoughts of Zoe. Is this how those men had viewed her? I’m glad I ended their lives slowly and painfully. Before my mission was done here, I would kill these two.
‘No, sir! Please! I didn’t know,’ I begged, dropping to the floor to plead some more. They didn’t care, so I began scrambling away as he stepped towards me. But the guard behind me was already lifting me off the ground and pulling my arms behind my back, binding them. There was no use in fighting; I would simply have to break free.
‘Yeah right, little lady, we don’t believe you for a second. Maybe a night in one of the cells will get your lips talking,’ theguard behind me said, clasping my wrists as he started pushing me back out into the hallway and through the castle until we eventually arrived at a long hallway that descended the deeper it went. It was well lit, with torches lining both walls, but the further we went, the worse it smelled and the colder it became. We walked for another ten minutes. We were deep underground by now; no one would hear the screams of the prisoners kept here.
The dark, damp cell they had taken me to was worse than the ones in my own dungeons. I was both horrified at the thought of staying there and slightly annoyed that they had outdone me. I had prided myself on my dungeons being a place unlike any other, a place people feared. Perhaps my time in Morgad would be far more interesting than I had anticipated and provide me with some inspiration.
I was thrown to the dirt floor in a cell large enough to house at least ten. Chains hung from the walls, and the sound of water dripping echoed in the background, which did not quite make sense, as there was no plumbing of any sort. I stood up, trying to get my bearings once the guards had walked off, but it was a simple cell with no windows, given how far underground we were. In the corner was a puddle of piss and excrement. At least I gave my prisoners a bucket to piss in. I wasn’t a complete barbarian besides it was best to treat your prisoners as people because the moment you broke them was all the more satisfying. There was no light; every corner of the cell was shrouded in darkness.
It wasn’t until I calmed my own breathing from the initial panic of being locked up, even if it was willingly, that silence descended. I had never liked being confined; it went against every fibre of my being. With my own breath quieted, I heard the shallow panting of breathing in the far right corner. It was too dark to make out any figure, but someone was in this cell with me.
‘Who’s there?’ I whispered into the void. The sound of anagonising groan met me in response. I stepped closer to the corner as my eyes adjusted to the darkness until I could see the outline of a body slumped against the wall. Crouching in front of the figure, I tried to lift his head as it lolled to the side. As my fingers brushed his chin, I heard him suck in a breath and felt warmth envelop me.Ruhi.I heard the word rattle in my mind in an all too familiar voice. It was him. Why was he here?
I pulled back in shock, but even though he could not lift his head just a moment before, he somehow found the strength to reach out for my wrist. It would have been easy to shake it off, as he was so broken in that moment, but I couldn’t leave him. I imagined this is how Cain felt when he saw me in that forest. A wounded animal that he pitied, but it wasn’t completely pity that ran through me as I looked at Demir’s prone form. Something deeper tugged at me to stay close.
Demir pulled my hand to his face and placed his cheek in my palm letting out a deep long sigh. It was enough to snap me out of whatever kindness had been brewing as anger took over—at what, I wasn’t sure? It didn’t feel like the old anger I used to feel for this man, and I didn’t think I was so far gone by whatever this bond was doing to me that I had legitimate concern for him.
‘What the fuck are you doing, Princeling? More importantly, what are you doing here?’ I asked, but he couldn’t speak. I had to touch him if I wanted answers. I bit my lip, warring with myself. I loathed the idea of touching him, scared of what it would do to me, but I needed to know. Placing my hand back on his cheek, I asked the question again.
Her touch takes away the pain. What am I doing here? My father is a cunt, that’s what I’m doing here. How could I kill her? Especially after knowing she’s my Ruhi? But I couldn’t tell him that. All he sees is a son that failed him, one who spoke out of turn at the Academy and questioned him in front of our enemy, one who should have killed the Queen who now sits in his dungeon. How poetic, I hope she’shere to end it all for me.
Stepping back, I withdrew my hand as Demir whined at the loss of contact, likely flooded with pain once again.
‘P-P-Please…’ he begged, reaching out wanting to sooth the unfathomable pain he was in. This was all my fault; something panged in my chest as that truth settled in me, but I couldn’t fall deeper into whatever this was. Every moment with him since I discovered he was my Zauvek and his confession was a mistake. Distance is what we both needed.
‘You deserve every second of pain for all the pain you and your family have ever caused me. My wounds from your family run bone deep compared to the superficial wounds you now carry. Grow up, princeling,’ I said, retreating to the opposite corner, leaving him to writhe in pain throughout the night, forcing a physical distance as the walls inside me began to crumble under the weight of the bond.
The next morning, light shone through the front of the cell. The guards had lit some torches just outside, marking the change from the night shift to day. Demir was still asleep as I pulled myself up and went to relieve myself in the corner of the cell.
It wasn’t long before he began rousing from sleep, and as his eyes blinked open, he looked at me in confusion, taking in the small, dowdy figure and features of the peasant girl who sat across from him.
‘Wh-where is she?’ he asked through the dryness in his mouth. I tilted my head in confusion, playing as though I didn’t know what he was talking about.
‘Where is Queen Skylar?’ he asked a little more clearly this time as he tried to stand but failed, slumping back down against the stone wall.
‘It’s just me. You were talking in your sleep last night when they brought me in,’ I lied placatingly. His eyes sharpened, not quite believing me; the dream likely felt all too real, but all he could do was believe what was in front of his eyes, not what hehad heard in the dark while consumed with pain. The lie was plausible, so he quickly dropped it.
I could see him clearly now—the filth that coated his skin, the cut across his supple lips and eyebrow from being beaten. The way he barely moved his left arm as he cradled it, along with the blood on the soles of his bare feet, was unsettling. There were green and purple bruises covering every inch of visible skin that rippled with muscles and his wrists showed raw friction marks from being bound. They had tortured him for not killing me following the ball at the Academy and then further for how he questioned his own father during the peace talks. Looking at him, the average person would have broken instantly under the onslaught of what they had done to him, but he appeared barely bothered beneath it all. I was mildly impressed by his fortitude. He likely had the same training as I did.
The same two guards from last night opened the cell door, and instead of treating their prince with any kind of respect or reverence, they took one look at him and laughed at the state he was in, smug in the knowledge that it was likely their own handiwork. Something primal took over me as anger reared its familiar head; now I had two reasons to kill them.Gods, what was wrong with me?Demir was unfazed, instead squaring his shoulders and spitting at their feet with what little strength he had regained overnight.
The larger guard who had all but eye-fucked me last night stormed towards Demir, backhanding him with such force that Demir’s face whipped to the side as a new cut broke across his cheek from the guard’s ring. The second guard then joined in kicking Demir in the stomach. Playing the innocent peasant girl, I flinched and scurried deeper into the corner, feigning fear. Underneath I wanted to scream and bash their skulls against the wall until I saw brain matter seep to the floor. I was on the verge of losing it. He was MINE.
Shock at the insane thought that took over me had mepressing myself harder against the wall, wishing I could melt through its cracks and get far away.
By the time the guards were done, Demir was in a pool of his own blood, unable to pull himself up to sit against the wall anymore. He groaned in pain as the guards laughed at their handiwork, before they turned their focus to the young girl in the room—me.
Both guards now looked at me with a dark hunger in their eyes, with the larger one licking his lips as he took in my fragile frame.
‘Come here, sweet thing,’ he beckoned. I remained firmly planted on the ground, continuing my charade of the scared little girl.
