Forbbiden Love

Chapter 1.

Chapter 1.

Megara.

I didn’t dare blink as the Veil closed like an impenetrable curtain and the Fae Princes disappeared from me... forever.

I sobbed aloud as my heart broke inside my chest.

No... this wasn’t how it was meant to end.

The air around me cooled like someone had doused me with snow, the heat from the Fae realm’s forest now sealed off.

Hot tears leaked down my face and made my nose run. I sniffed, uncaring of how pathetic I looked.

My life would never be the same again.

“Goodbye,” I managed to say aloud, though I didn’t know if they could hear me or not. Probably not.

The soldiers jumped on me and grabbed me from behind. Pain seared my shoulders and up my arms as they dragged me back, away from the portal, one of them holding me in a headlock.

I gasped for air and grabbed at his arms, pushed at his hands. I couldn’t breathe.

“Let me. Go,” I gasped out, though the soldier holding me didn’t let go. If anything, he squeezed harder.

I stared at the idiots who were still dancing around like there was a fight going on. They were obviously trying to get through the portal that no longer existed, cutting at the air with their swords, firing their guns into the now vacant woods.

“Open it!” the Dean cried as he stormed towards me.

The guard released me suddenly and threw me forward. The blackness that had been crossing my vision receded as I gulped for air.

I coughed and hacked, almost vomiting, then someone was grabbing me by the hair and pulling me up. I cried out as I came up to look at the red-faced Dean, then pain splintered across my cheek as he slapped me across the face.

I sobbed again.

“Open it!” he screamed, this time in my face.

The pain of his a***e barely registered above the cacophony of sound inside my own head. Everything inside me screamed out at a loss far greater than anything I’d ever known.

The soldiers pushed me from behind and I fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

“I can’t,” I admitted, as the tears rolled down my face.

I would never see them again.

My Fae.

Fiore... Nyeer... Everly.

The Dean grabbed a revolver from a frustrated nearby soldier.

I heard the click of the g*n being c****d as he pointed the barrel at my face.

“Open it. Now.”

I lifted my head and met his gaze with my own unwavering one as a deathly stillness fell over me, voiding my intense emotions and making me singularly focused on the man standing before me.

The words I said next came from that same secret place I hadn’t known existed before today. The place that knew the Elvish words for the spell I’d never heard before.

I shook my head. “I can’t. No one can. That spell sealed the entry to Faerie. Forever.”

I hadn’t wanted to do it, of course. Sealing them in Faerie without me was a fate worse than death. But I had to keep them safe. And the only way to do that was to make sure the Slayers could never get through.

“What do you mean... you sealed it?” The Dean was practically spitting on me he was so close.

I glanced away, then looked up at him again. This time I was calm, so I shrugged. “You told me they were evil. What’s wrong with closing the door so they can no longer come through?”

I saw his mouth twitch and I felt a moment’s spiteful happiness before I was yanked to my feet.

“Ow!”

My shoulders ached from being pulled so hard and I glared at the solider beside me. He was twice my age, and ugly as sin.

“Let me go.”

They had no right to hold me captive. Did they?

The Dean pushed past me as he walked back towards the Academy, and the old soldier who seemed to be in charge walked forward.

He was cut and bleeding, and panting like he’d run a marathon. But he was still alive, unlike so many of the others.

“You’re not going anywhere, Megara. You’re under arrest.”

The soldiers who flanked me grabbed my arms and I struggled against them. It was hard not to, when they grabbed so hard.

“Under arrest? For what?”

They can’t be serious.

The soldier smiled smugly. “For aiding the Fae.”

I glared at the guy. Who the hell did he think he was? “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He laughed, and it sent chills down my spine. “No. And you will tell us everything you know, or we will hold you until you do.”

My spidey senses went crazy. My skin was practically on fire.

Warning. Danger.

I shuddered. “You can’t do that. I have rights. Parents. Friends. They’ll wonder where I am.”

Surely someone would come looking for me.

He grinned at me, and for the first time I noticed some of his teeth were missing.

Yuck.

“We’ve got months before anyone expects you home. The entire semester. By that time, you’ll be dead.”

My stomach convulsed and I made a loud gagging noise. The soldiers who had my arms let me go, so I launched myself forward, vomiting all over the grass in front of me.

The laughter around me made me want to retch again, but I was grateful the soldiers let me cough and spit, and wipe my mouth before they grabbed me again.

“Let’s go,” The head soldier said as they dragged me off the battlefield that was once the north Quad, and into the library.

Oh, God no... not again.

“No. No... you can’t take me down there.”

They were dragging me into the dungeon!

I planted my feet against the concrete of the foyer. I couldn’t go into that dark place by myself, with only the skeleton of the royal Fae for company.

No....

One of the soldiers next to me grabbed my shoulder and slammed his hand into my spine, thrusting me forward.

Pain burst through my back and I staggered forward as they took me down the stairs and towards the dungeon I’d only broken out of an hour ago.

I sucked a breath in.

The air around us had changed, the room around me was now dark and dank.

Fear whistled through my blood.

I couldn’t go back there.

“Please. Keep me anywhere but down in the dungeon. Please.”

One of the soldiers grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me closer, until I could smell the onions on his breath.

His beady black eyes glared at me as he said, “You’re a traitor, and if you don’t do as you’re told, you’ll find yourself with a broken back and no control of your legs.”

My skin was burning with the warning my spidey senses were sending. He was serious.

I nodded and he stepped away.

There were three of them and only one of me. Even if I could get away from the soldiers, where would I go? I was surrounded by walls, stranded without a car, and I didn’t have a single friend I could count on from the Academy.

So, with a heart that felt like it was breaking for the second time today, I followed my captors along the dark corridors and down the winding stairs.

I forced my mind to slow down, to think clearly.

I had to be smart about how I handled this.

I didn’t want to be injured, and they’d take any chance they could to break me, so, I forced myself not to fight. Not to cry. Not to scream.

I trudged along like a good little girl and let them put me into the jail without complaint.

I sat on the bench that not one hour ago, Fiore had sat upon, and took some comfort in that fact.

“Fiore was here for weeks... months. He made it. I can too.”

I told myself everything I needed to hear, gave myself a pep talk that my mom would have been proud of.

But my arms and legs shook as I fought against the fear of the unknown.

What would they do with me?

After all, they could do anything they liked and no one could stop them.

But they didn’t come then, though my frightened sobs could probably be heard through the many corridors.

I had no idea how much time passed while I waited for someone to return. I spent the time sleeping, on and off, for what felt like, forever.

Eventually my stomach hurt so much it felt like it was eating itself, and my lips were cracked and bleeding. I couldn’t even run my tongue over my lips anymore. My whole mouth was too dry. And the metallic tang of my own blood made me sick.

But I held on to my sanity, and pulled every trick I knew to stay calm. I recited movie scenes off by heart. I had conversations with people who weren’t there. And I didn’t lose my mind, and for that I was proud.

But even so, when a man I’d never seen before arrived at my door after goodness knows how long, I almost cried.

“How long has it been?” I croaked out at him as I grabbed onto the bars.

He stuck a huge key in the lock and opened the jail door.

I stepped back, not sure if I was being moved, or if he was coming in.

“You’ve been in here for three days,” he answered as he stepped into the jail cell and closed the door behind him.

I groaned aloud. It had felt like forever! Only two days? How was that possible? I looked at the warden as he moved closer. He was about fifty, with a bald spot and angry, dark eyes. But there was a calmness that was so much more unnerving than anything else.

He reminded me of a corrupt warden from old movies who enjoyed his job far too much.

The warden didn’t lock the door again and my gaze darted to the stairs that I knew existed beyond the wall.

He laughed when he noticed. “Don’t even think about escaping. You won’t make it ten feet before you’re arrested again.”

I licked my dry lips and tried to swallow. “Can I have some water?”

Fiore had said they’d given him food and water. Perhaps he’d been treated differently?

Then the probable truth hit me like a foot to the gut.

Or perhaps he’d lied about how badly they’d treated him? That was more likely than the other possibility.

He didn’t even smile. “In a minute. Once you answer my questions.”

Adrenaline raced down my legs and along my veins, forcing me to move.

I walked over to the stone wall furthest away, and sat next to the Fae skeleton that had once been Prince Calico. He’d been my only companion for three days and I’d had more than one conversation with him.

“What do you want to know?”

I wasn’t telling him anything, of course. But he could ask.

“Tell me everything you know about the three Princes of Faerie.”

Ah... no.

I leaned forward on the bench and tightened my grip on the seat beneath me. “What do you want to know? I mean... I know their names, but not much else.”

And I didn’t really want to reveal their names, either.

“Start with that.”

“Well...” I looked up in the air at the dirty ceiling. “One was named Fi... something. Fitell... Filore... Something like that. The other one was Evermore. And the third one’s name started with an N, but I didn’t get to spend much time with him.”

He took a few slow steps towards me and the hairs on my neck stood up.

Crap.

“Megara, I warn you. Lying to us is worse than telling us nothing.”

Despite the fear skittling through me, I shrugged. I wasn’t telling them anything. I didn’t care what they did to me.

“I don’t know anything.”

He took another step closer. “If you say nothing, we have ways of making you talk.”

I tilted my head and stared at him, struck by the hypocritical statement. One minute it’s worse to lie... then suddenly they’ll extract the information if I don’t come out with it.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Look, I don’t know anything. You guys have a library full of more information than I could ever give you.” Which was definitely true. I didn’t know anything amazing.

He turned on his heel and opened the door to leave.

“Can you bring me some water, please?”

And some food.

He walked back through the door, to freedom, then slammed shut the dungeon door behind him.

This time, when he turned the key in the lock, he had a smug look of satisfaction across his ugly face that made my gut tighten with anger.

“Until you tell us what we need to know, you can starve for all I care.”

The truth hit me like a slap in the face.

No matter what I told him, he wouldn’t believe me.

And if I did tell them the truth about how kind, and lovely Faerie was, they’d never let me go now.

I knew too much.

I’d seen too much.

Their whole world was based on a pack of lies. The Slayer Academy had been set up to create an army for a threat that didn’t exist.

I gripped the bars of my cell and hissed at the man standing on the other side of the dungeon. Anger bubbled in my dehydrated veins.

They were going to kill me no matter what, so I may as well let them know exactly what I thought of them.

“You know what, warden? You and all the Slayers, can go f**k yourself.”

His eyebrows rose on his forehead and his eyes opened wide.

He was surprised. Good.

They had no idea what I was capable of.

“I know the truth about everything. And I’m not saying a goddamn thing.”

The guard, the soldier, whatever the hell he was, smiled.

And a chill ran down my spine.

I was going to die here.

But I kept glaring at him with all the hatred and betrayal I felt, and finally, he walked away, leaving me in the dark hole where they’d thrown me, with only a Fae skeleton for company.