Chapter 60
Talia’s note kept me awake for most of the night. By the time the morning songbirds broke through the midnight sky, I was standing in the doorway of my tent watching the sunrise above the horizon, aching deep within my bones to be back at the valley.
I’d spent most of the night going over the note and trying to decide on an escape plan. The same two guards watched my every move, and I wondered where Marcus could be. He must be here somewhere. I was surprised to not see him with Talia as I would have assumed she’d be his charge when I left. I’d have to ask her if she knew where he was.
By daybreak a soldier had brought in breakfast. A small tray of porridge, some berries, and a glass of water. They apologised that the meal wasn’t fit for a princess, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t touch it for fear of poison, or something being slipped into it.
My stomach rumbled in hunger at the smell of the food as it wafted past me. If they did try to poison me, they wouldn’t gain anything as it would only make Nicholas even more hellbent on destroying the entire world.
I was grateful when Norok’s footman came to fetch me and take me to his tent, the same one we’d had dinner in the night before. Thankful to find him alone with no Dorian in sight, I breathed out a sigh of relief.
General Lewis, the same general who’d always commanded my father’s army, lent over the table pointing at a map as he mumbled under his breath.
“You wanted to see me, brother.”
Bowing into a curtsy, Norok waved his hand annoyedly and pointed at a seat at the end of the table.
“Please sit, Ornella. I need you to go over a few things for me.”
He lifted the map up and then placed it in front of me. It was very detailed, even down to the smaller ports dotted around the islands within our world. I forgot how large Galled was. Although Mother would have had us believe The Crystal Kingdom was the most powerful, I wondered how powerful the Empire of Nadrolan was or how the Kingdom of Awyen was fairing. All in their own way they were powerful allies, but could also be strong enemies.
“What is it you’d like to know?” I asked, eyeing Norok.
“Who are the king’s allies? We know Nadrolan will come to his aid as the empress there is a cousin. But what of Myren?”
“I didn’t know he had a cousin,” I answered. I truly didn’t have a clue, I’d ignored most of my studies with April. I just wanted to explore the castle and enjoy my newfound freedom. If I escaped from here and returned back to Nic, I’d make sure to learn everything I could.
“As for Myren, possibly, but again I do not know.”
Norok snatched the map from out of my hands, causing two small paper cuts to appear between my thumbs and index fingers. He stormed off back to the end where Lewis stood, both of them shooting me looks of disgust.
“Is that all you wanted?”
“I told you, my king, she is no use. She is under his spell and will not be able to say anything.”
Lewis placed a hand on Norok’s shoulder as if to comfort him for his outburst. They both shared a look with each other, as if they knew this would happen.
“I think we should bring in Karim and Panya. They will be able to remove whatever spell he has her under and we should hopefully have the princess we know return to us.”
“I am under no spell” I said standing from the table, only to be shoved back down by two large hands. Norok’s guards were under orders to keep me here it seemed.
“I’m afraid you are. The Shadow King has powers of the mind and he’s been controlling you since the day he took you. Possibly even before that.”
Norok looked weary, tired as he jaw clenched. He was anxious about something, and I didn’t think it was something to do with me. Lewis turned to one of the guards and ordered for them to bring the two called Karim and Panya before excusing himself for a moment, leaving us.
“Norok, I can assure you I have and never have been under a spell. Nicholas would never do anything to hurt me.”
“That’s just the spell talking.”
Sighing and rolling my eyes out of frustration, I could feel the tension in my shoulders rising. Norok always had a tendency to never listen to reason. Once he had something in his head it was hard for anyone to remove it or change his opinion. If Dorian and the others made him believe I was under a spell, I would now have to face trying to convince him otherwise.
“The mages Karim and Panya, will be able to remove the spell. They’ve assured me it will not hurt but we are to take you someplace near the barrier, to break the connection.”
My eyes widened as I read how connection spells were broken and it worried me deeply. If they broke the vow Nicholas and I had created, wouldn’t that mean one of us, or both, would be in danger, or possibly die? No, surely not as I wasn’t breaking the vow by choice, I was going to be forced.
There was no arguing in the minutes that followed. Norok’s guards lifted me up out of my seat and hooked their arms through mine, guiding me forcefully out of the tent and into the back of a carriage. Dorian and Nora stood either side of the door smiling while Norok followed behind me. My eyes widened as a pair of iron cuffs were placed around my wrists and then another pair on my ankles.
“To keep you from escaping,” Dorian whispered in my ear, nipping at my earlobe when no one was looking.
I shuddered at his touch, thrusting away. Talia appeared out of nowhere shouting, screaming as her maids held her back. I didn’t know what was happening, she’d told me to trust her, was this part of the plan?
Tears burned in my eyes as my heart raced. Throwing me into the back of the carriage, I landed with a loud thud as the air was knocked out of me.
“You will feel better after this, I promise,” Norok shouted through the door.
I could hear only muffled voices as the carriage began to move away and then the sound of horses followed.
‘Don’t break. You will not let them break you.’
I echoed my thoughts again, holding on.
Watching the sun set low in the sky, the carriage became dark. So dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. We’d been travelling for hours. I tried my best to stay awake, to keep my wits about me but I was running on fumes. I was desperate for sleep and dying for some food that I was sure wasn’t going to kill me.
As we came to a sudden halt and shouting began, the back door swung open. The same guards from earlier pulled me out, my ankles before one heaved me over his shoulder. This was certainly no way to transport a royal. I felt one of his hands rise above my thigh and I begun kicking as I shouted, he soon stopped.
Small fires were lit all around in a circle. They were not large enough to cause a forest fire but large enough I could feel the heat warm against my skin. I was set down in the middle of the circle and two people approached me in grey robes. Mages I assumed.
Lowering their hoods, I could see they both shared the same face—twins. The only two differences being one was female, the other was male. The female didn’t have blue eyes like her brother—she had one blue and one brown.
“Welcome, your highness,” the female spoke.
Her voice was silvery and enchanting. She had long jet-black hair that shaped her pale face. On her forehead she had a symbol of a star, as did her brother.
Lifting my wrists up, I heard the click as the cuffs were unlocked and removed. I was grateful for the release as the aches and soreness of my skin burned. The ones remaining on my ankles were also removed.
“We will remove the hold the Shadow King has on your mind. It may hurt, but we will get through this.” She held my hand in hers gently, turning it over she noticed the small crescent moon marked into my skin and her face fell.
Looking up at me and then at her brother, they seemed to speak directly to each other, just like Nicholas and I would. Her brother nodded as he poured something into a goblet and then her eyes turned back to me.
“You have a blood mark.” Her voice echoed in the edges of my mind, and I tried not to convey my shock. “Does your brother, the king, know?”
“Only my husband and I know of this pact.”
“We were only told about your deal —We were not told of the blood pact. This changes everything.”
“My what? — What will you do? I don’t understand.”
My mind raced with questions as I only knew the smallest details of the vow and original deal Nicholas and I had made.
“This means a different spell entirely as you are both connected.”
The vows were the only thing connected by blood as we drank from the chalice. Was that what she was talking about? Did that connect our life forces somehow? As if we were destined to be together.
“You must trust my brother and me. We will do everything we can to put on a show. If we break this pact, you will die instantly.”
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and I could feel this strange ache in the back of my mind. Almost as if something was poking near the back of my neck. I closed my eyes in response.
“I can see, as can my brother, you are under no spell.”
“No, I told my brother that.”
“Trust me, please, I must do something in order for mine and my brother”s safety. This may hurt now, but it will also keep you alive.”
She stood then, as her brother passed her over a golden bowl, decorated in beautiful intercut patterns of leaves and flowers. Lilacs. Dipping her fingers into the bowl, they came out as red as blood and she drew a symbol on my forehead and then placed two fingers either side of my face, drawing a line down each cheek.
I tried not to move, not to breathe. I wasn’t even sure what was happening or how much pain I would be in.
“Please drink this.” Her brother stepped forward and handed over the goblet.
Dorian, Nora, and Norok watched from the side lines. I tried not to stare back at them or attempt to run away and demand answers. The brother, who I assumed was Karim, looked at me with worry in his eyes. He probably wondered if I was going to try and run away, ruining this entire thing.
Hesitantly, I took the goblet and drank the disgusting contents. Whatever it was seemed sweet at first, but left a horrible, bitter aftertaste, as if I drank swamp water.
A sudden burning hit my ears and had me curling in pain as I screamed. The liquid stung within my throat as my stomach curdled and ached, begging for relief. Leaning over myself, a hand lifted up my chin as Panya stared at me before a clap of thunder roared from above.
Karim began to chant words in another language, one I’d never heard before as the contents of the bowl was poured over my head. It soaked my hair, neck, and face in red. I wanted to scream, to cry, to beg for my brother to help. He just stood and silently watched. His eyes never left my face.
Panya began to speak words I believed were a spell and pain shot down my neck, into my arms and legs. My body vibrated with shock, the horror of it all. What was she doing? They told me it wouldn’t hurt much or at all, but it felt as if my entire body was breaking from the inside out.
“PLEASE!! STOP!!” I shouted, begging. “Brother, please!” Looking directly at Norok he just shook his head as the mages continued.
“I’m sorry, your highness. It will be over soon.” Panya’s voice again, she sounded as broken as I felt.
A sharp pain ran across the insides of my palms as large deep cuts appeared out of thin air. Panya lifted my wrists up and I watched as the blood dripped down my arms and onto the ground below.
I thought the pain I was in was at its worst, but it wasn’t. Not by far. As soon as the blood hit the grass below, it felt as if a million daggers were stabbing me in the back. The crescent moon on my wrist throbbed, burned and then there was this pull. A pull deep within my chest, in the very pits of my heart. That pull I’d always felt near Nicholas, the light that drew me closer to him.
It was being taken away.
My eyes widened in shock, in horror at what they were doing. They were taking my bond away, the thing that kept me alive, pulling me back to him.
“No, please not that,” I begged, pleading as tears streamed down my dirt, blood stained face.
“I must.”
Another roll of thunder and lightning lit up the woodland we were in, and I could see Dorian’s face in that second. Cunning and filled with hatred. He planned this. Possibly in the hopes I would become his once Nicholas was out of the way, but whatever happened next, I’d rather be dead than be with Dorian.
Seconds later, that light inside me was snuffed out.
Ripped from my heart.
Collapsing on the ground in front of me. I wasn’t sure who wrapped my hands in bandages or who lifted me up and put me back in the carriage.
All I knew was this deep hole within my chest. They took something I had no idea I had up until that very moment. The thing that always kept me moving forward and making me believe in love.
It was Nicholas. And now, they’d taken it.