A forbidden love

Chapter 7: The dungeon

It was getting late, and no one had the patience to argue any further. My mother was the first to leave, "be careful what you say to this fae, he can use anything against us." I was surprised she was even willing to leave us with him in a dungeon, but you could see the fatigue in her eyes. We nodded and bid her goodnight. 

I don't know why we were still down there, but I couldn't help but stare at the prince. It was like his green orbs had me in a trans. His voice brought me back to reality, "where's my necklace little elf?" 

"It's safe," was all I could say and it would have been better if I didn't give him any clues. "I'd feel a lot better knowing it was safe around that pretty little neck." He pointed at my bare chest, I couldn't help but notice as his gaze lingered longer than necessary as he slowly looked me up and down.  "Are all fae this pervy?" My sister held her hand out in front of me, as if to try and cover me. 

He didn't answer her but instead he stared her down, threatening one another with their eyes. Evelyn had about enough of this, she grabbed me by the hand and walked off. "I hope to see you soon." He cooed as we walked away, I could no longer see him. 

My sister kissed me on the cheek as we said our goodbyes in front of my bedroom. I watched her as she walked away, the darkness swallowing her whole. I pushed the doors open, and began kicking my shoes off and throwing my garments on the floor as I made my way to my bed. 

There in the center of the bed was Soren, had he been waiting for me all this time? He seemed to be asleep, letting out a soft snore. I crawled into bed next to him, our backs facing one another. It felt so good to rest my legs. I heard the sheets rustle as Soren turned around pulling me closer to his body, spooning me. "I've been waiting for you," his voice came low and hoarse. 

I felt him place a soft kiss in the crook of my neck, "I'm sorry, there were some things I needed to take care of with my mother and sister."

"Mh, the fae they caught in the forest?" I was surprised he even knew about it.

"You know about it?" I asked him turning around to face him. The moonlight lit his face perfectly as I brushed a few loose hair strands out of his face. 

"Yeah, I saw the guards dragging him in as I came up to your room a few minutes ago, almost everyone saw him. He's kind of hard to miss, when he's the only one in the entire room dressed in black."

I placed my hand on his bare chest, running a finger down the outlines of his torso. He took my hand in his and gently kissed my knuckles, "please stay away from him, he's dangerous." I nodded, although I couldn't deny that I felt a connection to him somehow. Soren kissed me on the forehead and we fell asleep together.

I woke up in a cold bed. It was normal for Soren to leave after waking up, he was a morning person. Turning around I faced my bedside table and found a note on it. "Early bird gets the worm -S," I smiled as I put the letter down and got out of bed. 

 I made my way to the bathroom. With warm water already in the bathtub, I got in soaking my limbs. It felt so good just to relax and take my mind off of the past day's events. It was actually kind of exciting, every day was always the same. With a fae in the elven kingdom gossip was bound to spread, and I was all for the tea, it was all I could do around here.

Closing my eyes, a picture of the fae prince flashed in my eyes, covered in blood as he was lashed with a whip in a dark room. I shot up at the thought, my blood ran cold. For some reason I felt the sudden urge to go check on him. 

No, stop thinking about him Arya he's fine. I kept trying to convince myself that nothing was wrong. Lying back down, I closed my eyes again. I saw him again, facing me begging for help. Don't let them do this to me. His eyes practically called for my intervention. 

 Sighing I sat up, just to put my mind to rest I decided I'd go check on him. After getting dressed I made my way down to the kitchen to get some food inside me before I decided on doing anything. As I made my way out I bumped into my mother. "Mother, good morning." She gave me a smile and nodded, "have you seen Evelyn this morning? I would like her accompany her to the dungeons." 

My mother looked at me with a frown, "She has already made her way down to the dungeons love, I suggest you don't go down there, let Evelyn do what she does best." Out of the both of us, I was the most princess-like, but I took offence when she said that, there was no reason for me not to go there and I could handle myself. 

I gave her a smile trying to convince mother that I wouldn't go down, but after she left I made a run for it.  I weaved through the small crowds of nobles and high-borne in lightning speed. Every now and then I would hear something about a fae, word really did spread fast, even in such a huge palace, as if it had wings of its own. 

Stopping in front of the massive dungeon doors, I pushed it open and grabbed a torch from the nearest wall. I wasn't exactly sure where to go it was rather quiet. The stench of blood and sweat filled my nose making me want to gag. I held my nose as I walked through the dark room looking for any clue as to where Evelyn and the fae were. 

I heard the sound of keys rattling against one another and doors opening and closing in the distance as a few voices began talking to one another. I followed the sound until they were just around the corner, peaking around the corner I saw Evelyn with three other guards and the fae slumped on the ground held by both arms with a guard on each side of him. He was drenched in blood as they guards dragged him back to his cell. 

Once he was thrown into his cell, I waited for the company to leave. When the last of them exited the dungeon, I waited a little while longer in the damp silent room. There was a faint sound of water dripping nearby. Once I was certain Evelyn and the guards were gone, I ran to the cell the fae was locked up in. 

The smell of blood slapped me across the face and I winced at the smell. "What are you doing here princess?" The fae asked me in a low raspy voice. There was some movement in the dark as I waited to see what would happen. Slowly his face came into the light, and I took in his weary complexion.

His face had bruises all over it, and dry blood stained his chin and mouth. His beautiful, raven hair was  messy and had traces of blood in it that caused the strands to clump together. He shuffled a little closer to my, trying to find a comfortable position to sit in. He winced as he rested his back against the cold cell wall. His shirt was torn to nothing more than a rag that barely covered his body and was soaked in blood and covered in dirt. 

"What have they done to you?" I wished I could have gotten there sooner, I may have been able to stop them from hurting him even more. Just because he was the enemy doesn't mean he had to be treated even lesser than that. He scoffed looking up at me, "oh this? This is nothing, you should have seen the look on their faces when I wouldn't tell them anything." He forced a small smile to form on his face as if he were trying to convince me that the pain wasn't as bad as it looked.

"Your eyes don't lie prince, I see the pain you are suffering through." 

"Why are you here? The dungeons is no place for a princess." He tried to change the subject.

"I-" I was reminded of the vision I saw of him in the bathtub, I couldn't tell him that, I had to think of something else to tell him, "I was looking for my sister, and this is where I found her."

"Is that so?" He gave me that devilish grin again, he knew I was lying. "Well she's gone now princess." I gave him a knowing look. "Well then, I think it's time I left wouldn't you agree?" 

I saw a glint of pain in his expression, almost asking me to stay, "Where is the pendant? Didn't I tell you to keep it with you?" I placed my hand on my bare chest, "I-"

"Arya!" I was interrupted as my name was called from across the room, I spun around to see a furious Soren. "Did I not tell you to stay away from that creature?" I was reminded of what he had told me the night before, but after seeing the fae in so much pain just now, I couldn't help but think that maybe they were a lot more like us than we thought they were.

"He's not just some creature Soren, he's a fae."

"I don't care Arya, he could have hurt you!" Soren grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me towards the direction of the dungeon exit. I looked back catching a glimpse of the fae, he seemed to be angry for some reason as he watched me being dragged away.