17. Chapter Seventeen

The cell door slams in my face, the sharp clang of the cold metal bars echoing through the dimly lit room and his power over me instantly washes away. Leaning forward, I grip the bars tightly, the rough texture scraping against my skin.

"Why are you helping her?" I stare vehemently at Kieran standing before me, most of my cognizance returning now that we're alone. Red-hot anger bubbles and churns inside my stomach, like a boiling cauldron, making me clench my teeth tightly together. I raise my fist, and with a sudden burst of fury, I slam it hard against the bars. The impact sends a sharp pain through my hand and a jolt through my arm. "How can you condone her actions?" I can smell the metallic tang of blood on my fist and the salty tang of tears as they well up in my eyes.

I had only been two turns away from freedom.

My fury dissipates into an icy, bitter feeling in my stomach and I wonder why the Goddess hindered my escape. Do I deserve this ending? This punishment? Meeting Aramis in those halls had felt like salvation, but the moment he let his arm fall from around my waist and watched as Kieran dragged me away, I felt my heart shatter.

"Oh, love." Kieran laughs coldly before reaching through the bars like a viper, gripping my chin in an iron grip and pulling me towards him. I flinch as the metal scrapes against my cheeks. "This tendency of yours, to always hope to find something good in people will get you killed one day. I am the seer to Queen Tricella. Her greatest confidante. I have seen the world she will create and it is glorious." He has lost his usual composure, his eyes now wild and unsettling. "Power like you cannot even fathom will be ours, and there is nothing I am not willing to sacrifice to ensure her vision becomes reality, so why would I let the most precious thing she's sought for over 100 years escape?"

My fists ball and I pull back my arm, preparing to slam into his most sensitive parts but he uses his magic once more to force me into submission. My muscles relax of their own accord and it's all I can do to keep upright.

"But the garden," I whisper as I stare over his face, trying to gleam any semblance of goodness in him. "You ordered the poison to be left out of my food and drink. You helped me."

"You were starving yourself!" He shouts in my face. His thumb lifts to trace my bottom lip, and I recoil from his touch. "You were withering away to nothing and your power was not manifesting. You're no good to us if you're dead or unhappy." He lifts his free hand to my shorn hair which has grown back just past my shoulders and grips it tightly. Through the bars, he leans in close so that our faces are just inches apart. The warmth of his breath envelopes my face with the sour stench of ale laced with the hazy, powdery floral undertone of opium poppy. I lift my brows in surprise.

"You expect me to be your prisoner? Drain my powers over and over again but you also want me to be happy? Unicorns are meant to be free to canter in the fields under the stars. I do not belong locked up in a dungeon in a kingdom hundreds of miles away from my home." I sneer, my nose wrinkling up as I reach out and weakly grip the front of his mage robes. "From the scent on your breath, I know you are unhappy yourself or in great pain to be self medicating with opium."

"You know nothing. You are nothing but a poor half-trained peasant from Kallistar. Your only use is the power and happiness you provide my queen. Until your usefulness wears out." He scoffs and roughly lets go of my chin. I lose balance and careen towards the dirty stone floor littered with moldy straw. My head hits the stone with a resounding crack. Lights flash in my periphery as I stare up at him, smiling at my prostrate form. He takes a shuddering breath, raking a hand through his tidy, swept back hair before straightening his robe.

"You will be the means to get what I have always yearned for. I have foreseen it." With these last parting words, he turns and walks away from my cell, his long silk robes whispering against the floor. I descend into unconsciousness with one final thought.

I'm going to die.

***

My head is pounding as I'm awakened by the sounds of a child crying and a warm tongue licking my cheek. I can hear water droplets fall one by one in the distance, echoing through the silence. I squint, trying to adapt my vision to the low light. The dampness in the air is palpable, the musty odor of the surrounding area penetrating my nostrils. A chill dances across my skin, perhaps due to the coldness of the atmosphere or the eerie stillness of the surroundings.

Where am I?

I raise a hand to the back of my head and wince at the pain. My fingers gingerly brush across my tangled hair, matted with the familiar sticky viscosity of drying blood. I palpate the tender flesh, nausea roiling in my stomach from the pain, but I don't feel the crepitus crackles that would indicate I had fractured my skull. Small blessings, but I had likely sustained a concussion. Pushing myself slowly into a sitting position and drawing my knees up to my chest, I wipe my dirty fingers on the hem of my skirt. Lemon scampers up the fabric and nestles his body between my chest and legs.

"It's okay, boy. We tried and we can try again." The singular light source is the flickering orange hue from a small torch down the hall. The pungent aroma of neglected flesh and stagnant bodily fluids mingled with the musty scent of decaying hay assaults my every breath. Muffled sounds of groans and moans echo off the walls, creating an eerie cacophony of despair.

"We don't need a prince on a white horse to save us. It's up to us to be the hero in our own story." I whisper into his furry head with a kiss.

Voices whisper from the cell across from mine. The tones are quiet but shrill, as though their owners can't be more than children. Rising to my feet, I move towards the bars and peer into the darkness. Two pairs of glowing eyes stare back at me, only broken by their occasional blinking.

"Hello?" I whisper hesitantly, as my brain conjures images of different monstrous creatures they have locked down in the dungeons with me. A shudder runs down my spine as I think of the countless beasts known for luring their victims with an innocent voice or the promise of riches and sweets. The eyes disappear into the darkness behind the other cell's bars. The whispering stops and only silence responds.

"Who is in there? My name is Sybil. I will not hurt you." My body slides down to the ground as a wave of exhaustion and dizziness hits me. Leaning the side of my face against the cool bars, I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

What I want is my mother, and to ask her what to do.

But thanks to the queen, my parents are long departed from this world.

Licking my lips, I decide to recant a story my mother once told me. I won't let their deaths be in vain, and for that, I need a distraction. "Once upon a time, there was a maiden who was kidnapped and trapped in a tall tower…" My eyes roll at the similarities to my current situation. "Locked in the tower with only books and birds for company, she would spend all day reading. She yearned to be free and go on adventures outside of the ones in her books, find a handsome beau, and spend her days free in the sunshine. Days passed, turning into weeks, but her captors underestimated her heart and determination. The maiden grew strong in will and mind as she bid her time, waiting for her chance. It didn't take long as she made a ladder from rags and twine, then climbed down to freedom. As she walked through the forest, she met a young man."

My heart clenches at the thought of Aramis. How would our story have ended if he had not started out as my kidnapper but just as a man crossing my path in the forest in Bellevue? Taking a deep breath, I shake my head to banish thoughts of him before continuing the story. He did nothing to stop Kieran.

"Together they talked, laughed and learned about the world they wanted to create. The maiden's mind and heart, he quickly earned." I scoff at myself. If only people were so easily swayed.

"But he wasn't just an ordinary man, but the prince of the land. She wasn't just a pretty face; her intelligence, inspirations and love he couldn't replace. He knew he'd found his match, his equal in mind, spirit, and heart. They fell in love, and it was true. The prince loved the maiden, through and through. They lived happily ever after." I finish the story and peek open an eye to see two identical faces watching me with glazed, far away expressions. Dark brown hair frames their dark orange and brown complexion. Two furry ears poke between the matted strands, twitching restlessly as faint striped tails whip behind them. Shifter children who have not gained full control of their power often settle in an in-between state of humanoid features and their creature aspects. They are the shifters Tricella has captured from the nearby villages to drain their powers.

"Well, hello there, little ones." I paint a gentle expression on my face as I peer at them. Their noses quiver and I watch their bodies tense as if readying to scamper back into the dark. Lemon pokes his face between the bars and cocks his head at them, whiskers twitching. They giggle, then look at each other before turning back to us. More noses, ears and tails are poking out of the cell doors as if they too are listening to my story.

"How long have you been here?" I ask quietly. I am afraid the wrong question might send them scurrying away.

"I don't know. There were monsters, and so much smoke, yelling, and fires." One cub pipes up in a squeaky little voice, her twin nodding in agreement.

The scrape of boots and muffled voices down the hall drags my attention away from the children.

"The queen wants the most recent group brought up to her for inspection." A deep, gruff voice says.

"The women and children?" Another voice responds.

"Yeah, from the recent raids. You should have seen the look on Aramis's face when he had to report that the town was vacated. He has no idea the games his stepmother plays with him." A deep grunt, as though one was jabbed in the side, then the footsteps continue.

"Hush. The queen will have your tongue. She has eyes and ears everywhere. Do you reme–" Two guards I do not recognize walk down the hall, the polished handles of their broadswords gleaming in the torchlight. They pull up to my cell and leer down at me. Between their legs, I see the two tiger shifter cubs have disappeared back into the corner of their cell.

"Well, what do we have here?" One of them whistles in a low cat call. Chills creep up my spine as I stare up at their leering faces. I bare my teeth at them as one cups his groin through his pants and winks at me. I shudder at the thought of his calloused hands touching me. The sound of their crude laughter echoes around the dingy room.

"I'd like to have my turn with this one before we send the next lot to the mines."

"Isn't she the one the Queen has been looking for? Look at her forehead. Kieran would nail our hides to the wall." He glances warily down either side of the hall as if speaking his name would draw his presence.

"Send who to what mines?" I ask as I push myself to a standing position. A wave of nausea and dizziness hits me and I throw out an arm towards the stone wall to brace myself. My hand squelches as it hits a thick gelatinous slime dribbling down the walls causing the guards to laugh loudly. Between the noise, the smell of the dungeon, and the sensation as my fingers envelope in the cold slip; I lose my battle with my nausea and vomit directly on the guard through the bars.

"You fucking bitch! You vomited on my uniform!" He bellows as he moves to slide his sword from his belt. The sound of a door slamming shut has his companion laying a hand on his arm. I don't take my eyes off the guards as I brace my body for a fight, wiping the slime on my skirt. I didn't know what it was, or how long it had been growing down here.

"Leave the dirty shifter alone for Kieran and the queen to deal with. It's not worth losing your head or job over." He grimaces as he glances down at his friend's ruined tunic and shrugs sheepishly before glancing between me and the sound of the slammed door.

"You'll get what you deserve, whore." The guard with brown hair stands before me, his face twists in disgust. With a loud and repulsive sound, he spits a thick glob of saliva on the ground, right by my feet.

"I am no male's whore. When I get free, you'll see exactly who I am. I will serve the vengeance my people deserve." I laugh bitterly as I wipe my mouth with the back of my clean hand. The crackling flames of my fiery determination grow stronger. The flickering light dances on the faces of the innocent children across from me, casting long shadows on the grimy walls of their prison. The sound of their quiet sobs and muffled cries echoes in the damp, musty air. My heart races with a mix of anger and sorrow as I vow to protect these children and any others who have been wrongly imprisoned. I will find the camps they spoke of and free them, then take down this entire kingdom if I have to. I stand still, my eyes fixated on the guards' retreating backs as they disappear around the corner. The sound of their footsteps echo through the cold stone dungeon, making the hair on my arms stand on end. I clench my fists, relishing in the rough texture of the wall against my fingertips, as I let my anger fester.

Tricella thought she had caught a tame unicorn to siphon.

She will find there are reasons unicorns are both revered and feared.