14. Chapter 12 Arden

Chapter fourteen

Chapter 12: Arden

I t's been six days since the incident in the bathhouse, and it's become abundantly clear that Camus made a terrible mistake in completing the bond. He comes down to the dungeon several times per day and each time he stays just a little bit longer. He doesn't even come down for sex every time. Sometimes he just wants to cuddle, or talk. Not that I'll say much to him, but I let him whisper his psycho sweet nothings in my ear.

Not only is he falling in love with me, but he's obsessed with me. Every time we're reunited, he touches me, and sighs with contentment, breathing me in and holding me close.

This morning he noticed that the guard was watching us with a tent in his pants, and made him leave so that he couldn't watch us having sex. He's been bringing me clothes since he destroyed my first ones; including a beautiful dress that I feel ridiculous wearing in this grimy dungeon. Now that we mated, even if it's unavoidable, he never wants any of the guards seeing me naked for long.

He takes my soiled clothes and has them washed then returns them. None of them fit quite right, but I make due. After the bathhouse, he brought me a blanket so that I could sleep more comfortably.

He's been down twice today, and this time he's only been gone for about an hour, but some weird part of me misses him. And I'm not certain it's just the bond anymore. He's funny, and cares about what I have to say, which is refreshing. Livarius cared too, but the rest of the guys either avoided me most of the time, or just flirted with me.

Dira and I still aren't speaking. We're almost never alone, and when we are, I don't want much to do with her. Every time she opens her mouth, it's to defend what Nevidian did. She claims that he was acting in my best interest, but a lot of good that did. The only thing he accomplished was getting me kidnapped– again –and assaulted.

It might be unfair of me to take out my frustrations on her, but unfortunately for her, her lies were the final straw. I'm angry at the world because not a single person in my life has been completely truthful with me. Camus may be a monster, but he hasn't lied to me. If anything, he's been painfully honest.

"Arden?" Dira's voice is soft as the guard makes his rounds.

"Yeah?" I say.

"I'm sorry that I told Gormon about your mate. If I had known that Camus would..."

I shrug. "It's done. Nothing we can do about it now."

"I don't like how obsessed he is with you," Dira says with genuine concern.

"It's the mate bond. And it would have happened regardless. Men like him decide that something is theirs and they take it."

He's a lot like Zorvan in that way. Except in the end Zorvan discarded me like I never mattered to him. My heart aches with longing. Whatever happened between us, I'm never going to get over losing him the way I did.

I'm so lost in thought that I don't even realize I'm crying until the door to the dungeon slams open and Camus steps inside.

"What happened? What's wrong?" he says as he flings the cell door open.

"Nothing," I say and wipe my tears. "I'm okay."

"Don't lie to me. I felt your heartache through the bond. Tell me what's wrong."

"It doesn't matter," I whisper.

He pulls me into his arms. "It matters to me."

"You can't fix it, though. So can we please just drop it?"

He pushes away and grabs me by the shoulders. "Just tell me," he growls as he shakes me.

"I miss Feldorn!" I shout at him. "I miss Livarius, and my comfortable bed, and my clothes. I miss my friends there, and the hand pies that the cook would bring me. I miss being able to go outside and walk the gardens. I miss that stubborn fucking dragon. I miss it all." I miss my mates .

He pulls me a little further away from Dira and leans in close. "I'm working on getting you out of the dungeon, but it's going to take a little bit of time. You obviously can't go back to Feldorn right now, but you won't have to be in this awful cell anymore.

"I'm hoping that within the next few days we can start getting out of here during the day. You're mated to a royal after all." He brushes my hair behind my shoulder and his eyes roam over me casually, as if he's looking for any boo-boos he can kiss and make better. "Grandmother is in charge, but I have some pull. We'll make this work. "You're mine, Arden. I will not allow you to rot down here."

I nod and he kisses my forehead. He holds me for a moment, breathing me in. Then he whispers, "Stars, I wish I could spend the afternoon with you, but I have things that need to be handled. I was in the middle of a meeting when I felt your distress and ran down to check on you. I promise I'll be back in a little bit, and I'll grab you something from the kitchens on my way here."

He kisses me softly, and trails his hand down over my ass and growls into my mouth. "Fucking meetings. I'll be back as soon as I can."

As soon as the dungeon door clangs shut, Dira says, "What the fuck was that about? He brings you some clothes, and lets you bathe, and he's suddenly boyfriend material?"

"Camus is a lot of things, but he does care about me in his own way. And he has never lied to me. Which is more than I can say about anyone else."

"When are you going to stop playing the victim, here?! I had to fake my death and leave everything I loved behind including you. I've been stuck in this hellscape for the last ten years. Living with a group of bandits and warriors, helping raid villages, and never sleeping anywhere comfortable."

"You helped him raid the villages?" I pinch the bridge of my nose. Every time she talks about it, it gets worse. I whisper in exasperation, "What the fuck, Mandira?"

"He's my dad. And he told me what those dragons did to our grandparents. Terrorizing the villagers seemed like decent payback."

"Terrorizing innocent people over something that two dead fae did is an appropriate response to the death of our grandparents who we never met? You're so far gone. So fucking delusional."

" Me ? I'm not the one falling in love with fucking vampires and dragons who take me hostage. I'm not the one out here whoring myself out for freedom. Camus doesn't love you."

The guard meanders back down to where our cell is and smacks a cane against the bars. "Keep it down!" he shouts at us, then turns to walk back up the hall of cells.

As soon as I feel like he's far enough away I say in a hushed voice, "I do not owe you an explanation for any of my choices. You didn't see fit to explain to me why you were leaving, so I'm not going to justify who I sleep with. And I am not the one making innocent people suffer."

"The people in Feldorn aren't innocent," she growls in frustration.

"You are so fucking brainwashed. By a man who was ten years old when all this shit went down. He knows nothing . He doesn't know Zorvan, he doesn't know any of the Keepers, and he certainly doesn't know any of the townspeople.

"Except maybe the women and children that were stolen and sold into sex slavery. But yea, he's a real stand up guy who should be trusted. I get that he's your dad, and I get that this has been hard on you, but you're taking it out on the wrong fucking people."

"The only time they took women and children was to keep them safe," she says in horror.

"It wasn't to keep them safe, it was to sell them or bring them here or something ."

"No they didn't. We were normally going in and saving people. We came in after people were already terrorized and saved people. The first person I ever saw them kill was that owl shifter, just after you got here."

My brain can't process what she's saying. She doesn't know what Nevidian is capable of.

"Psst!"

I step over to the bars to find the source of the sound. In the cell across from us, and one to the right is a woman. From what little I can see, she has tan skin, and black hair. Her complexion and features remind me a little of Jarrah's.

"Baby girl, you may have thought it was for altruistic reasons, but we all ended up down here in the dungeon. They rounded us up and selected the 'most breedable' of the women and the most desirable children—the ones with rare abilities and shifter forms. Then we were all brought here. The same thing happened in Kildara. These cells are filled with women who Cyndair is using to try to make hybrids. And we're just the ones who are still alive."

"No," Dira says definitively, still in denial.

I shake my head in disbelief. "You can believe what you want, but I've heard from the families of the people who were taken. I couldn't help but notice that you weren't there at the hostage exchange. Who did you think he was trading for me?"

"I wasn't there because he was worried that I would end up getting hurt! Not because he was keeping anything from me."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "For someone who has lived in Sangaris for the last decade, you really have your head in the sand." I turn back to the woman across from us. "What village are you from?"

"Stalwyk."

"That's east of Krean?" I ask.

"Yes. And you're...human?"

"Human adjacent. I'm fae, but I lived in the human realm until about three months ago."

Is that really all the longer it's been? I feel lightheaded. How has so much happened in such a short amount of time. My life with Todd feels like a distant dream.

"And Prince Zorvan took you in?"

"Took me prisoner, yes."

"That makes more sense," she says with a dry laugh. "I was going to be pissed if he let a human born reside in the castle while we rotted in these cells."

Guilt courses through my veins. I know that I have nothing to be sorry for. It's not my fault that Zorvan has been failing miserably as a ruler. It's honestly not one hundred percent his fault either. He should have had centuries more training before he took over. Regardless of who is at fault, I still have the urge to protect and defend him.

"Cyndair has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. Kildara thinks Feldorn is responsible. Feldorn thought Kildara was responsible until very recently. Even now they have no way to know for certain aside from a few dead vampires. I have to believe that if Zorvan had proof, he would have done more."

"He's been so concerned with finding that man who murdered his parents that he couldn't be bothered with looking into it." She scoffs.

There's no point in trying to convince anyone of Zorvan's character. Not while we're all stuck in here anyway. I know that he cares very much about Feldorn. I also learn a little more each day that he has no idea what he's doing.

"Yes, well. We're in the same boat now, anyway. But I'll find a way to get us out. All of us. At the very least, if I get out first, I'll be back for you. I swear it."

She nods. "You seem like someone who means what they say. Why the Stars didn't put someone like you in charge of Feldorn, I'll never know. Thank you for caring. If you manage to escape, and I never see you again, I'll assume that you're dead."

I chuckle. "That's probably a fair bet."

What she doesn't know is that the stars did try to put me in charge of Feldorn by fating me to Zorvan. And I think that between the two of us—my kindness, and his ruthlessness, and our combined knack for strategy—we could do great things with the kingdom. My heart aches for the union that Feldorn will never get to see.