Thorns and Promises

Aligning Interests

{Adriel’s POV}

She had two of those scars.. at least two that we know of. One that said “Soft-Spoken”, and another that said, “Flawless”. When Aelarian came out and said that he thinks that these things are her father’s doing.. I just about lost my senses. If he was doing this to her.. who knows what other torture she’d been through. We may have kidnapped her, but I’m beginning to think that we also saved her. I sighed, turning and punching the stone wall of Hettie’s house.

I could feel eyes on me, and when I looked up I could see a terrified Lilliana watching. She’d seen me lose my temper.. and she looked petrified. She slowly moved away from the window, back somewhere into the room that had become hers.

About that time Teryn walked up whispering something in my brother’s ear before turning and walking back to the castle. Aelarian walked to our side before letting out a long sigh. “The king of Eldarin is hosting his daughter’s engagement ball, for her happy engagement to Duke Ryland Rosewood.”

“The man that attacked her?” I sneered, before pinching the bridge of my nose. Does her father truly think that she’d want to be with a man like that.. I know that we’d sent a letter that Ryland had taken her.. but an engagement ball? “Aelarian.. you should know what Anora and I saw..” I said, looking over to him. “Princess Lilliana has these massive scars.. they’re runes.. runes that have been carved into her skin..”

His eyes went wide, his whole body tensing, before he turned on his heel and rushed back inside. I followed close behind, with Anora on my tail. He burst through her bedroom door, and I could hear shuffling,, shouting, a high pitched scream, the sounds of cloth ripping, then a loud thud, before someone fell. I rushed in, seeing Lilliana, holding a candlestick in her hands. She was shaking, her eyes were wide as if she’d just realized what she did. Her ribs on her right side were exposed, with a large carving of a fresh rune that read, “Pure”. She dropped the candlestick, her hands going to her mouth. Aelarian had blood dripping down his forehead, and his eyes were wide staring up at her. Nobody had dared ever hit him, or even touched him, and now he’d been struck for the very first time, this was the first moment that he’d had blood drawn. He looked shocked, perhaps even stunned as he watched her. “I-I..” she whimpered, shaking her head, she dropped to her knees beside my brother looking him over. I watched as she gripped the bottom of her robe, tearing a piece off before holding it up to his head. “Don’t you know better than to attack a woman when she’s already frightened?” She sighed, dabbing the cut on his forehead.

“Da****, that hurts!” He shouted at her.

She flinched for a moment before glaring back at him, something I didn’t expect out of her. “Well, if you didn’t show up out of nowhere and attack me! You wouldn’t have gotten hit!”

He stared at her in awe for a moment before letting out a low chuckle. “I suppose you’re right..” he said, grabbing her wrist as she held the cloth on her forehead. “Who did that to you?” His voice was cold once again, laced with hatred that slipped into every syllable.

She looked down, noticing it was on display before sighing. “It doesn’t matter.. I’m your prisoner, not your guest, so stop pretending that you care about me. Take me back to the dungeon, interrogate me.. whatever you’re going to do, just do it already.. I grow tired of these games. Showing me kindness and compassion to get me to let my guard down won’t work. I can’t let my guard down, so if this is some tactic, then just stop it.” Her voice was cold, detached, she really didn’t care what happened to her, and she didn’t trust us at all. I suppose it’s fair, seeing as how we kidnapped her and threw her in the dungeon. This was our own doing.. we took the one decent person in Eldarin as our prisoner, and now we were suffering the consequences of our ridiculous actions.

My brother sighed once again. “We’re not throwing you back in the dungeon.. we aren’t going to play any games, and we’re not going to torture you.” He said sitting up, his face getting a bit too close to hers as he did.

She scooted back away from him before looking back to the floor. “I’m sure you’re not..” she sighed, this emotionless look going across her face as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen. “Whatever you’re going to do though, I’d prefer you go ahead and get it over with.. I’m not afraid of you, I’m not afraid of pain, and I’m not afraid of death. If however, the only thing you’re after is information about my father, and my father’s kingdom, I’d be happy to help. My father isn’t a kind, or just ruler. He’s cruel, and unkind, using anger, and prejudice to manage his subjects. He doesn’t deserve the crown, and he clearly cannot handle the weight of it. He thinks he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, simply because he is the king. I’d love to prove him wrong by any means necessary.” She took in a deep breath before looking my brother in the eye, something that not many would ever think to do. “I won’t help you hurt my kingdom.. not everyone there is awful.. there are many that don’t know how my father is.. they’re fooled by his false kind gestures, and his games of pretend that he plays so often. There are some who know but simply don’t care because it doesn’t affect them. But, most of the townspeople are innocent in all of this, and I don’t want them getting caught in the middle. I do, however know that castle inside and out. Every secret way into the castle, I have memorized. If you need in, I’ll be glad to help you.”

“What exactly do you want in return?” He asked her, arching an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head, a smile forming across her full, pouty lips. “I only want my father gone, as long as that is your plan, our interests are aligned.”