A forbidden love

Chapter 12 : First light

Aanan's POV 

I couldn't sleep. I was wrapped up in the princess's blanket...Arya's blanket, in a dark dungeon cell. The nearby noises of other prisoners kept me awake. I remember when I was first dragged in here. There were hundreds of other different species, some I've only ever heard of. 

Let me just get you up to speed with everything that's happened since I met Arya. After she stabbed me, I had to retreat further into the dark forest to allow my wound to properly heal. I was surprised to see her out in the forest, my little soulmate jumping in the trees like a graceful white fox. I waited for the sun to set a few hours later, and then I made my way back to the elvish borders.

It was easier to move at night, fae are accustomed to the dark. That's the best way to stalk on our prey, you catch them when they're not watching. Unfortunately, they were watching...a little too closely. Obviously I was caught and dragged into the palace like a rag doll. The first elf I've ever seen was Arya, I thought she was as beautiful as elves could come, but after seeing all those faces, I was mistaken. Don't get me wrong, Arya was, and is stunning, she's my soulmate and I only have eyes for her, but elves were just...different, all of them. They all moved with unnatural grace and swiftness.  

From the time I was thrown into my prison cell, until now things have been pretty much the same. Torture, sleep, torture. At one point I just couldn't take it anymore, and began begging for anyone to stop this. That was the first time I reached out to Arya with my mind. It's a common thing for fae, werewolves call it a mind link, talking to their mates with their minds. What makes it different for fae is that we can see our soulmates, it makes it easier to find them. 

That's when I saw her pain-in-the-ass boyfriend. He's given me trouble ever since I got here. He's all over Arya like a lost puppy, every time I saw her, she was with him. While spending time with her, (not exactly, since she didn't really know I was there, she still can't figure out how to talk to me with her thoughts yet.) I learned more about the palace. It was grand, and so full of natural light with hundreds of huge windows lighting the building during the day. 

I found out where Soren's room was, his room was the first one I looked for, so that the moment I got out of here, I would know where to go to strangle him in his sleep. He didn't deserve to breath the same air as Arya, she's too good for him. Next I found Arya's room, at night I used to watch her sleep, until Soren came in...ugh. 

I was tortured some more, spoke to Arya when she came to visit me, wrestled with her boyfriend and won, you should have seen the look on his face when he begged me to stop, and then spoke to Arya some more afterwards. Right, you got the just, back to present. 

 I couldn't stop thinking about what Arya told me, the nobles were going to have me lashed in front of the kingdom. I was used to being punished in front of a crowd, but the thought of Arya watching it made me nervous. I don't know if she truly cared for me as much as I did her, but I know she's a very sensitive person, a bit too caring. I'd hate to see her watch as they lashed me. The idea pained me more than the thought of actually being punished. 

It would have been easier to just explain to the queen that I was her soulmate, but a love like that was forbidden. We are sworn enemies, and there was no way she'd let me love her daughter. I didn't blame her, she was protecting Arya, but I wish I could be the one to do that. The worst part was that I couldn't even touch her, and hold her in my arms. It was such a relief when I first held her, and kissed her neck. She smelled to sweet, like honey and oak just like the forest. 

All the pain I was in before I touched her just disappeared, and I felt a tingle in my hand, going down my arm. She made me feel warm despite the cold floor I was sitting on. 

As I sat on the floor, I focused on my soulmate, trying to reach out to her. It was getting more and more difficult because of the great distance between us, and I was so undernourished that I didn't have the energy anymore. I sat there for another few hours, I couldn't tell what time of day it was, there was never any source of light to tell the time, and I'm not sure how long I've been here. 

I heard the dungeon door opening and closing in the distance, and I listened to the footsteps trying to figure out who it was. I was disappointed to see it wasn't Arya. Soren's head came through from around the corner and behind him were two  other guards. "Rise and shine you filthy piece of shit." He kicked the cell bars, and crouched down on his haunches looking at me through the bars. "Are you ready for a round two?" I asked him. He laughed at me and then replied, "no, not today, but it seems like you are." 

I was confused as to what he was talking about, and then I remembered what Arya said. Looks like it was morning already. "We need to have him cleaned, fed and clothed before this afternoon." He said looking to the soldiers behind him.  "Today's going to be a big day fellas. I've asked the Queen Mother for Arya's hand in marriage and she's given me her blessing. I plan on asking her tonight at the ball, after we deal with this guy." He pointed at me over his shoulder.

The men laughed at each other. I was in shock, he was going to ask Arya to marry him? "You really think she's going to marry you?" I asked him, and he turned around glaring at me, "She's in love with me, there's no way she could possibly deny me, even if she didn't want to marry me, she's too kindhearted, she wouldn't say no in front of a crowd of expectant people." This bastard really thought she was in love with him, what a joke.

"The royal family is going to be there this afternoon to watch the fae being punished, and then we'll move on to the evening's plans. Make sure that all the guards are stationed in there places tonight and that no one is distracted."

He continued talking to the guards, Arya was going to be there to watch, and her boyfriend was planning something for this evening. I wasn't sure what it was, but I could tell it wasn't anything good. I needed to see Arya, I needed to tell her to be careful and prepared, anything could happen tonight. "After tonight, I'll finally get rid of you." He said to me, spitting in my face. They all left, and I was left alone. 

I had to get out of here. I struggled against the iron bars, trying to force them open. Nothing was working. A few moments later, I heard doors opening and closing, it had to be Arya, she said she'd be here before the guards took me away. I waited patiently, expecting to see her face appear from around the corner. Instead there were two old women with buckets in their hands accompanied by another two guards. The women looked at me with fright, "what are you waiting for? Get it done with damn it."

The guards shoved the two women in my direction, one of the men unlocked the cell door, and stepped into my cell, carefully eyeing me. He looked at the chains shackled to my legs, and signaled for the women to enter. They reluctantly came in, and placed the buckets on the floor. One of the women dipped a cloth into the bucket, and lifted it up draining it of water. I licked my lips at the sight of water, I was so thirsty. 

The guard left the cell, and waited with the other man across the hall, talking with one another. "Make it quick, I have better things to do." The women both looked at me, and carefully approached me. The one woman reached for my shirt and whispered something barely audible. "May...may you please remove your shirt?"

It seemed like it was time for them to clean me. My shoulders burned and protested as I tried to lift my arms above my head to pull off my torn shirt. Tossing it to the side, I quickly surveyed my injuries from the past few days. I must not have been here for more than two weeks, but one would think I was here longer than I saw the light. My body was battered and bruised, I couldn't see a single spot on my body that was not either covered in blood or purple in color. 

The old woman closest to me began washing my body with a cold wet cloth, the cold made me flinch and clench my teeth. The other woman just stood there watching us. Both our species hate each other so much that you wouldn't think there would be those who were actually scared of the other. She held her hands together, scratching at the wrinkled skin on her fingers awkwardly. Once the woman washing me was finished she stepped away from me and marveled at her handiwork. 

The other woman came closer and tossed me a pair of clean clothes, "p-put that on." She said, she didn't even bother to look at me. I did as I was bid and watched them as they both stood next to one another face down. "Are you finished yet? I don't have all day!" They flinched at the sound of one of the guards as he walked into my cell. He looked down at me, giving me a death stare. If looks could kill.  

He dropped a plate of food at my feet, and walked out with the rest of the group. I looked down at my meal, the first one I've had in a while. It was a simple stale bread, but for the first time in a while I was happy to eat something as plane as this. 

Time seemed to go by extremely slowly as I waited, particularly for Arya. How much longer was she going to take? I tried several times to communicate with her, but she was far out of reach, I couldn't catch even a glimpse of her mind anywhere in my outside surroundings. Did something happen to her? At that thought another two guards appeared around the corner, I was surprised to see Arya's sister, Evelyn. "Take him, I need to go check on my sister, we'll meet you in the court yard." 

Just like that she left, and the two men came in and forced me to my feet and shoved me out the dungeons for the first time since I was here. As we stepped out the dark room, my eyes squinted at the bright light that consumed me. I blinked several times to adjust to the bright light, once my eyesight was clear I recognized my surroundings. The same ones I'd seen before while following Arya around subconsciously. I roughly knew where the quart yard was, and made a map in my head as we walked through the palace. 

The ceilings were high and decorated with marvelous glass chandeliers. The walls had large paintings spread across them, some of them were of the forest or women chatting in a garden, other paintings displayed landscapes I've never seen before with floating rocks of land and civilizations in the clouds. They were all signed by the same artist, with a swirly 'A' for a signature, probably Arya's. Below each painting was a paper with their title. The halls were completely empty, you would think it was a ghost town. The quietness was very unsettling, the day I arrived every hall I was dragged through had large crowds of elves roaming them and the palace was bustling with chatter.

We walked in silence, and occasionally I was shoved from behind.  We turned around a corner that led to an open room with a grand staircase in the center and double glass doors on each wall all leading to the outside world. Standing next to the staircase was the elvish queen and her oldest daughter, both dressed extravagantly. I tried not to make it obvious I was looking for someone, preferably Arya. She wasn't here, so where was she? Her absence was really starting to worry me.

"Has he been fed well? He looks terrible." The queen asked looking at me with a scornful expression. "He's been given a deserving meal your majesty." One of the guards behind me answered her. It wasn't exactly all that deserving, I think I should have had something more...appealing to eat, a simple slice of bread isn't enough to feed a child with no appetite how could I be expected so survive off of it. 

"Good then, we are just waiting for Arya and Soren, they will be down any moment." The thought of Arya, my soulmate walking down the staircase in the arms of my enemy was sickening, I wanted to tear at his throat for laying his hands on her. Just then I watched as everyone's eyes turned up and I saw her. Damn, I really was a lucky bastard. 

The elvish princess was my soulmate, not to mention the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. Ok so any guy would think that about their Soulmate, but I mean she was genuinely stunning, anyone could fall for her natural beauty. Soren stared me down with his goody two shoes demeanor. It was disgusting, he tried too hard to look like an angel in front of the royals.

My head was shoved downward so that all I could see was the ground, "show some respect damn it!" The guard hissed. We all walked outside in single file, Arya's sister and her mother walking alongside one another first, then Arya and her fake-ass boyfriend in front of me, and lastly, me with a guard on either side of me. There was no turning back now, Arya couldn't do anything to make this experience any worse than it was going to be, and worst of all...she was here to watch it all.