33. Chapter 31 Arden

Chapter thirty-three

Chapter 31: Arden

I t's been a week since my injury, and I'm no longer allowed to stay in Camus' quarters every night. His blood is helping, and it seems to be healing at a good pace. A few days after our conversation, we had our fake blow up in the middle of the dining hall during breakfast. We made sure to do it in front of Gormon and Dira, as well as Ursa and all of the servants so word was sure to get back to Cyndair.

He called me a magickless nobody. I made fun of his penis size. And then he brought me back to his room and punished me just like he promised; all while making me take back everything that I had said about him. It seems to have worked for the time being, but now I'm back to staying in the dungeon most of the time.

He's been secretly weaning me off of my suppressants ever since he made the deal with his grandmother. Dira, of course, doesn't know any of this. Camus and I argued for hours until I finally agreed it was best to spring it on her that we're leaving. We can't risk her telling Gormon about our plan, and I don't want him involved. In fact, my preference would be that he stop breathing.

Dira and I are laying on our cots one day in between trainings. We're not on speaking terms. I'm still pissed at her, and the guards make it impossible to discuss anything related to getting out of here. She's also become bitter that Camus seems to actually care about me rather than sneak down every once in a while to fuck me.

But today is different.

She rolls over onto her side and looks at me. "Artie?" she says softly.

"Yeah?" I ask as I continue my staring contest with the ceiling.

"I know you're still mad, but I need to tell you something."

I heave a sigh and turn on my side to face her. "What's up?"

She checks on where the guard is at in his rounds, then scoots closer to me. "Gormon is..." she hesitates then starts over. "You know how on the first day, Gormon was going to be paired with you?"

I vaguely recall Camus initially making his way to Dira, but Gormon stopped him. "Yeah, and?"

She gives me a sad look. "He's my mate," she whispers as quietly as possible.

"What?" I snap

"Shhhh," she says, the sound garnering the attention of the disgusting guard-whose name I haven't bothered to learn-and he hurries back to our cell.

"What are you two doing in here?" he growls.

"Oh just gossiping about stuff in the human realm," I say.

"Yeah? And what's so interesting about that shithole that you want to gossip about it?"

"Well, have you ever been?"

"To the mortal realm? No."

"Well it would be hard to explain then," I shrug.

I've piqued his interest. "Try me, shifter."

"Well, they have these little boxes that people carry around in their pockets. And on them you have the ability to conjure images, called movies. They're moving pictures of people acting out elaborate plays."

His eyes widen slightly, "Go on."

"There's this one actor, right? We both loved him, but he ended up in prison for grooming minors."

"Grooming...minors?" He asks.

"Sexually assaulting children," I explain.

"Ew. Why would anyone do that?"

"That's always the question, isn't it," I say as I absorb the irony of him saying that when he was jacking off watching Dira and I be raped for days on end those first several days. Sick fucking bastard .

"What else happens in these movies?"

I internally roll my eyes at him going back to the movie conversation. "Anything you could imagine. People die, they fall in love, they start wars."

"That just sounds like real life," he scoffs.

"Yeah, I guess it does. It's more fun to watch it happen to someone else though," I say with a shrug.

He trudges back down the hallway, clearly having lost interest and wanting to get back to his rounds. When his footfalls are far enough away I resume my conversation with Dira in a soft whisper.

"He's your mate?"

She nods her head. "He says that once I'm pregnant, he's going to get me out of here."

"Is that what you want? To have his children?"

She shrugs. "He's nice enough to me. He's quiet though. He never says much so I don't really know him. He's handsome. But I'm worried about you. If you have an opportunity to get out, you should take it."

"Excuse me?"

"Camus is insane. You can't let him get you pregnant. Besides, it's not like I can really help you even if I do get out of the cells for good."

"Dira, Gormon fucking hit you, and you think Camus is the insane one? And you're saying that if he gets you out of here, you're not going to even try to get me out? You're just going to leave me here?"

"You haven't heard the stories about Camus that I have. And even if I tried to get you out of here, it wouldn't do anything. Besides, have you tried at all to get me out of here?"

"I have, actually. I've been arguing with Camus about it for weeks. Good to know you wouldn't return the favor. I should have figured, though, considering you abandoned me in the mortal realm."

"I didn't abandon you, Artie!" she says in a harsh whisper.

"Keep telling yourself that," I say and roll over to face the cell wall.

Dira is about to say something else when the door to the dungeon clanks open. I don't bother to see who it is until I hear Camus' voice. "So tired from our earlier rendezvous that you can't even be excited to see me?"

"Nothing to be excited about. Your pencil dick doesn't do it for me."

He clicks his tongue. "Watch that pretty mouth of yours or I'll shove my cock in it as punishment."

"Why are you back?" I ask.

"Good news, little shifter. We can bring on that heat soon. Guard!"

The guard opens the door, and Camus strolls in with purpose. He waits for the guard to walk away then holds out a pill, "I wanted to be here the first time you took it. I wanted to see if it took effect immediately," he says with a smirk. "If it does, I'm stealing you away to my room for a few days."

"What are we going to do for the other twenty three hours and fifty five minutes each day?" I ask with a scowl as I swallow down the new medicine. When he gives me a confused look I give him a loathsome smile and explain. "You only need five minutes. There's really no reason for me to spend all that time in your room."

"You're such a crude little bitch," he says affectionately as he toys with a strand of my hair. "How you survived in Feldorn without the cruel prince killing you is beyond me."

A weird feeling takes hold inside of me. Panic floods me at the thought that the medicine may have worked and I may have entered my heat early. "Have you tried this medicine on anyone else?" I ask, trying to keep my tone even.

"A couple of the shifter children. Nothing happened, but it may have been too early for them to go into heat. They just wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to kill the fae who took it. Sterling is fairly certain that it'll work. He just doesn't know how many doses will be required."

He leans in and lowers his voice, "They don't know I'm here or that I'm giving this to you. I can't stand the thought of you being locked in here anymore." He brushes a thumb over my cheek bone, and I fight the urge to lean into his touch.

"Just give my grandmother an heir and I'll see what I can do to get you out of here," he says.

"If I conceive, I'm not giving my baby to anyone. She'll have to kill me for it."

"And she will, Arden. Just do what she asks."

"Prince Zorvan will kill every single one of you," I say with a smile. "You had better be counting your days, Cam."

"Your stubbornness will be the end of you," he says before directing his attention to the guard who is returning to our end of the hall. "Send word to me and my grandmother if she goes into heat."

"Yes, sir," the guard says. Camus stalks out of the room, allowing the dungeon door to slam behind him.

***

Within hours I know exactly what this medicine did. I would have to thank Sterling if I ever saw him again. I have no doubt that without additional suppresants, my heat will be coming on by the week's end. But I don't plan to be here that long.

"Arden?" Dira asks in a hushed voice. "What's happening to your eyes?"

I make sure the guard isn't near and I whisper, "Whatever the fuck those alchemists gave me, my shifter form is able to bypass the suppressant. I can feel her, Mandira. For the first time ever I can feel my dragon."

"Dragon?" she gasps. "You're a dragon? How did mom survive having you?"

"I don't know. But I do know that I'm getting us out of here. And soon."

" You're getting out of here," she says.

The guard is coming back around, so I wait for him to be out of earshot again before I say "We both are getting out. Together ."

"No. I'm staying with Gormon."

"Whatever Cyndair has planned for our babies, you are not going to get to experience being a happy little family with him. Even if she doesn't take your baby, he's going to beat you. We need to go. You need to come with me so she can't use you against me. You know she will if she's given the opportunity."

"I can't be away from him. I need him."

"If I have survived this long without my mates, you will survive without yours for a few weeks."

"Mates? That's the second time you've said that. You can't tell me it was a mistake."

I need to learn how to keep better secrets. I choose to tell her part of the truth. "I'm fated to another shifter, and I took Livarius as my chosen mate. I need to get back to both of them. Now. I get it. It's hard. But we need to get the fuck out of here before Cyndair gets her greedy hands on a little hybrid baby."

"I'm not going," she says and there's a finality in her voice.

We stare at each other intently, neither of us willing to back down. We both got what I thought was my father's stubbornness. And maybe it is. Maybe Nevidian has the same stubbornness about him. Maybe it's a dragon thing. Dira may only be dragon kin, but I know that getting her away from her mate will be impossible.

I briefly consider knocking her out to take her with me, but I can't afford the dead weight. I won't be able to shift until I'm out of the building or I'll kill everyone in the room. After what feels like ages, I finally concede.

"Fine. But staying here isn't going to benefit anyone except for you. I hope you realize how selfish that is. Your baby and all of Sangaris will suffer if Cyndair gets what she wants."

"What do you even know about it? You've been here all of three months. You don't know anything about Sangaris or its people."

"I know that not one single person in this fucking realm has bothered to communicate with anyone else for centuries because of a bunch of childish, petty, bullshit. I'm getting out of here and I'm putting a stop to all of this. I'll involve King Ardeth if I have to."

"Good. Then I have nothing to worry about. Go save the world, and I'll be fine." There are unshed tears in her eyes.

I sigh deeply. "I'll figure out a way to get you out," I say. And I won't take ten years to do it. I'm not sure that I'll ever get over her leaving me in the mortal realm alone for so long.

I feel my dragon begging to surface. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to try to calm her down. I need my eyes to stop doing whatever the fuck that they're doing that startled Dira so the guard doesn't see them and tell Camus.

I finally reopen my eyes and ask, "Are they better?"

"Yes. When are you planning to leave?"

"Once Camus has me out of here. I can't shift in the castle. If Zorvan was anything to compare to, I'll crush anyone around me, and shatter the building."

A small piece of bread flies into our cell from across the hall. The woman with the dark hair is standing at her cell door. We both scan the hallway for the guard. He must be around the corner and down the other wing because we can't see him at all.

"You're making a break for it?" she asks. I nod in response and she continues, "Please come back for us. Please."

"I will. I promise." I say. Then I call out, "Guard! Come Quick!"

Rapid footsteps stomp down the hall back to our cell door. "What is it?"

"My heat. It's starting."

He sticks his head out the door and says something to one of the guys standing duty on the other side. I have to hope that once Camus collects me, we can find Solina quick enough to make a break for it today.