29. Chapter 29
29
Chapter 29
Violet
Three weeks. It had been three weeks without Calum. Three weeks without leaving my room. I’d cried all I could cry. I’d solved every damn riddle book the servants have brought me. I’d reread all of my favorite books from the library. I’d counted every star I could see out of my window.
Three weeks down. Only twenty-three weeks to go.
But I could not stand it any longer.
I had to go outside. I loved being outside. I used to lie in the grass for hours reading about new things while Calumattended meetings with his Advisors or traveled around the Mountain Realm making appearances, kissing faelings—or whatever he did.
Would Celine really hurt me? For all she knew, her son was in the Night Realm, falling in love with the one she picked.
That hurt to even think about.
But there was no way she’s thinking about me. I could just sneak outside and go past the horse stables. She would never go over there. It’s “beneath” her.
I was going to do it. If I stayed in my room any longer, I would go insane.
I held my breath as I unlocked the door and slowly pulled it open. What was I doing? Celine would never be down here.
Again, it was beneath her. Literally.
As soon as my foot hit the floor in the hall, a ripple broke out like I had just stepped on water, and I fell straight through.
After falling for what felt like one hundred feet, I hit the cold, hard ground. It felt like concrete, but I couldn’t tell because it was pitch black wherever I was.
“Help—” I started to scream out, but then I remembered what my father said.
“Do not leave your room.”
He was right. Celine was after me. He must have had a witch protect my room, put a spell on it that wouldn’t let danger in. But as soon as I stepped out of the room, I left the protection and fell right into Celine’s trap.
I slowly stood up and reached my hands out to feel around.
I walked a few feet and felt a wall. I started to inch my way around to see if there was a door anywhere.
Corner. Corner. Corner. Corner. Four corners. Four concrete walls. No door.
What was Celine going to do? Leave me in here to starve to death? A slow painful death?
No, my medicine. Father always said that missing one pill would kill me.
Well, it was just after midday when I stupidly decided to leave my room, so in about eight hours I’d miss taking my pill and I’d be dead.
Death by my heart stopping sounds better than death by starvation.
All of a sudden, a bright light turned on. I shielded my eyes while they adjusted to it.
I was right. I was in a concrete box with no way out.
Like I’d always said, I really wished I could transfer.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, Celine walked through the wall and stood in front of me.
“You’ve made me wait three weeks for this. I was starting to get impatient, my dear Violet.”
“What are you doing? When Calum fin—”
“Oh, I’m not worried about Calum. I have no doubt he will fall in love with his fiancée and realize all that he wasted on you. I’d been planning this since that dinner he said ‘he was in love with you.’ You are finally going to be punished for the crime of treason.”
“Treason? What are you talking about?”
“Calum was always going to marry the daughter of a Sovereign. You throwing yourself at Calum, causing him to lose sight of his duty as Sovereign is treason.”
Celine raised a hand to motion someone to come forward from the wall she walked through.
Just then a fae with a horned mask walked through the wall and stood next to Celine.
The mask was so frightening that I shifted my eyes down.
I really wish I hadn’t.
Because what was in his hand was so much worse than the mask. It was a whip covered in spikes.
“Fifty-two years,” Celine began to speak, causing me to look at her again, “you’ve been living in our castle corrupting my son for fifty-two years. So, I can’t think of a better punishment than one whip for every year.”
I felt like I was going to throw up. This had to be a nightmare. I was going to wake up any second, back in Calum’s arms and realize this wasn’t real.
“Take off her clothes.”
The masked fae walked over to me and ripped off my dress. When he got close to me, I realized he wasn’t wearing a mask. It was his face.
I was so shocked that I couldn’t move. Only fae look like humans. Our servants are other types of faeries and creatures. Some made of stone, some covered in fur, and some that could hide in a flower garden and you would never know they were there.
But this . . . thing was different. He had the face of a wild beast with black horns, but the body of a human. I’d lived in the Mountain Realm for as long as I could remember and I’d never seen anything like this creature before.
I was so taken aback by this creature that I didn’t even realize I was completely naked until Celine spoke again. “Turn around and put your hands on the wall.”
I had wrapped my arms around my body. I’d never felt so vulnerable and scared in my life.
Calum was the only one who had ever seen me naked before. But here I was, living in a nightmare.
“Now!” Celine screamed.
I knew there was nothing I could do. Even if I could fight, which I couldn’t because my father had never taught me anything in fear that my heart couldn’t take it, there was no way out.
A witch had allowed Celine and this creature to walk through a concrete wall. I was trapped.
I turned around and did as she said. Maybe if I was obedient, this would be over quickly and she would let me go.
Crack! I let out a scream as the whip hit my back. I felt a warm liquid inch down my back.
“Oh! You were right. The spikes ripped right through her skin. That’s so much better than a basic whip,” Celine said to the thing that hit me.
“Again!”
Crack! I screamed again. This time it hit a different part of my back, but it had the same effect. I could feel the blood running down my back.
“Again. Again. Again. Again.” Celine said it every time. She was enjoying it too much.
I could feel myself getting light headed but I fought through it. I just kept telling myself that it would be over soon and when Calum was back, he would punish her.
“Again!” Crack!
My knees buckled at that last hit. I wrapped my arms around my legs and pulled them close to hide my face. I couldn’t look at her.
Celine let out a laugh before I heard her walk away. I looked up and saw that I was alone in the concrete box again. I couldn’t stop the tears from coming. That was the most painful thing I’d ever felt.
The light turned off, and I was alone in the darkness.
I curled up into a ball and sobbed. My back burned. It was already starting to heal but with a faerie’s ability to heal faster comes the pain from your body working in overdrive.
I wanted to scream for Calum, for my father, for anyone that could get me out of here, but it was no use.
I was alone.
When Celine and the creature walked through the wall and left me alone, I knew that she wasn’t planning on letting me go.
She wasn’t worried about Calum finding out because he would never find out.
She got her revenge and now she was leaving me here to die. At least it wouldn’t be long.
It couldn’t have been more than a few hours when the lights turned back on. I lay there unable to move or look around. I was too scared to see who—or what—it was.
“Vi-violet?” A familiar voice. A voice I hadn’t heard in almost two decades.
“Astrid?” I sat up to see my nursemaid. The closest thing I’d ever had to a mother. We kept in touch through letters, but this was the first time I’d laid my eyes on her since the day she left almost a decade ago.
Astrid was fae, but of the lower class which was why she became a nursemaid. She was very short and stocky with light brown hair that she always kept tied in a braid.
“Are you really here?” I asked.
“Yes. I got a letter from Calum saying you were sick, that your heart condition had gotten worse and wanted to say your goodbyes. It wasn’t until I arrived here that I realized that was a lie.” She wrapped a blanket around me and held me in her arms.
“You . . . you shouldn’t be here.”
“No, but you shouldn’t be here either.” Astrid waved her arm around before sitting me up to look me in my eyes.
“Where is Calum? He promised me he would protect you.” I could see the anger in her eyes. She was the most loving woman I’d ever known, but she was sassy and opinionated. Even though she was from the Mountain Realm, she didn’t have a problem telling Calum and my father how she felt. Especially when it came to me.
“He’s in the Night Realm getting to know his fiancée.”
“And your father?” She asked
“Protecting Calum.”
Astrid scoffed. “And not protecting his daughter. I will have a long talk with him when he gets back.”
“Celine sent that letter. But why would she bring you here?” I asked.
“She told me that you were in trouble and being punished for your crimes. She needed to make sure that you took your medicine because she feared that you would end your life.”
“Why would she care? If I died, it would make her keeping control of Calum and the realm so much easier.”
“She knows he would never forgive her if something happened to you.”
“He will never forgive her for this,” I said as I felt the anger build inside of me. He would punish her.
She moved my hair out of my face. “Maybe, but we have to get you through this first.”
“Through this? I-I’m not done?”
Astrid looked at me with such sadness in her eyes. “I fear this is just the beginning.”
I couldn’t breathe. It had only been three weeks since Calum left. Was Celine going to keep me here, torturing me, until he returned?
She pulled an apple, a waterskin, and my medication out of her satchel. “You have to stay strong, Violet.”
She sat the apple and water on the ground, then she took a pill from the bottle and placed it in my hand.
“I’m not strong. I’m weak.”
“You are stronger than you think. You will get through this, and one day you will get your revenge on Celine.”
Astrid sat with me while I ate the apple and forced me to drink every bit of water. She then looked at the wounds on my back and told me that they were almost gone.
Even though fae were immortal in the sense that we couldn’t die from old age, we could still be injured or killed if someone wanted us dead. Our wounds healed faster than they would on a human and it took a lot more to kill us.
Well, except for me and my heart. All you would have to do is throw away my pills.
Eventually the lights flickered, and Astrid told me that she had to go. I didn’t want to be alone, but I was more afraid of what would happen if I wasn’t obedient in this sick game Celine was playing with me.
As soon as Astrid left, the lights shut off again. I lay on the cold hard ground on my stomach because my back was still in so much pain and covered myself with the blanket Astrid left me.
I must’ve fallen asleep from the pure exhaustion, and I had no idea how long it had been but I was awoken by the lights turning back on.
After my eyes adjusted, I saw Celine and the creature standing over me. Before I had time to react, he bent down and snatched the blanket from me, leaving me lying on the floor completely naked and exposed again.
“Well, it looks like you’re already healed from yesterday. Not even a mark left on you.” Celine seemed disappointed.
When she said that I realized my back wasn’t even sore anymore. I reached back to find it as smooth as it always was.
“Stand up, Violet. It’s day two of fifty-two.”
“Fi . . . Fifty-two days?” I slowly stood up, still trying to cover my body with my arms.
“Oh, did I not mention that yesterday? Fifty-two whips for fifty-two days for the fifty-two years of treason that you committed.”
“You left out the fifty-two days part yesterday.”
Celine smiled as she said, “Well, my mistake.”
She purposely didn’t mention it yesterday. She enjoyed adding to the evil.
“Turn around.”
Fifty-two days. I was whipped over and over again for fifty-two days. With every day, my healing process slowed. About halfway through, it had slowed so much that my wounds were still open when it was time to be whipped again. That just made Celine happier.
The pain was so excruciating that it got to the point that I was unable to stand up on my own. That didn’t stop them. They put hooks in the ceiling and tied me up so I couldn’t fall while the creature whipped me.
The only thing that kept me going was the visit from Astrid every day and thinking about being with Calum when this was over. Astrid was only there long enough to make sure I took my medicine and to practically force-feed me food and water, but that little bit of familiarity gave me enough comfort to keep pushing through.
The rest of my days and nights were spent in silence and darkness. I would just picture being reunited with Calum. He would find his way out of this marriage and come back to me. I would tell him what his mother put me through, and he would punish her.
As good as he was, there was no way he would be okay with what she had done to me.
I didn’t know why Celine had Astrid there. She said it was to ensure I took my medicine, so I didn’t die, but I felt like Celine could’ve found a way to force the medicine in me.
I didn’t want to question it though because I knew I would’ve lost my sanity during this time if it wasn’t for Astrid. She gave me something I needed so badly—hope.
It was day fifty-two. At this point, they didn’t even try to let me stand on my own. They tied me up as soon as they came in. With every whip, I could feel the end of this hell getting closer and closer. All I could do was picture Calum. I had found a way to dissociate ten or so days ago. Every time, I pictured myself with Calum, lying in the grass under our tree.
I had such a small piece of myself still holding on through all of this.
After the fifty-second whip, the creature untied me, and I fell to the ground. I looked at the ground waiting for them to leave and for the lights to shut off, but they didn’t. They usually immediately left. Maybe it was because this was the last day. Maybe they were waiting for me to stand so I could leave this place with them.
“Violet.”
My eyes shot up when I heard my name. It was Astrid. What was she doing in here? She’d never been in here with them.
“Since it’s the last day of your punishment I have one more, well, I guess you could say surprise, left.”
The creature was holding Astrid by the back of her neck. No. They couldn’t do anything to her.
“Please let her go. She hasn’t done anything wrong,” I begged as I stood up.
“You’re right. She hasn’t done anything wrong, but she means something to you.”
“Please . . . just kill me and let her go.”
“Violet, you know I can’t do that. While I’m sure Calum has long forgotten about you, he might be a little upset with me if he came home and you were dead.”
“You don’t think he will be upset with the hell you’ve put me through already?”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that.”
“Please, let Astrid go.”
Celine nodded at the creature, and he released Astrid from his grip.
Astrid and I both let out a sigh of relief but as she took a step towards me, the creature lurched forward and slit Astrid’s throat. I screamed as her lifeless body fell to the ground. I crawled over to her and wrapped my arms around her just as she had done for me for the past fifty-two days.
I sobbed. I would’ve taken a lifetime of whips if it meant I could bring her back. She didn’t deserve any of this. Her love for me cost her life.
Celine knelt down next to us, holding her dress up to make sure none of Astrid’s blood got on it, and grabbed me by the chin so I had to look her in the eyes. “I will make the rest of eternity hell for you.”
She stood up, adjusted her dress, and walked through the wall, leaving me alone with Astrid.
Celine left me in my cell overnight. Unlike any other time when she would have turned the light off, leaving me in total darkness, she left the light on. I sat up all night, staring at Astrid’s lifeless body and thinking of every possible way I could hurt Celine.
This torture wouldn’t be enough punishment for her. I wanted Calum to rip her limb from limb.
She broke me. The last fifty-two days were horrible, but they were nothing compared to having to watch Astrid die. She was the closest thing I had to a mother.
Now I understood everything Celine did was a part of a bigger plan. The fifty-two days of whippings was just fun for her. The real punishment was bringing Astrid back into my life just to take her away for good.
The next morning, Celine came through the wall with a couple of servants. As the servants took Astrid’s body from my concrete prison, Celine said, “Your punishment is over. You are released from your cell.”
The concrete walls began to fade in front of my eyes and what was left was all too familiar.
We were in my room.
Did we transfer from the cell to my room? I looked down to see a blood-stained wood right where Astrid’s body used to be. I quickly realized that I was never trapped in a concrete room, someone got into my mind and made me believe that I fell through the floor into a cell. I’d been in my room this whole time, but someone made me believe that I was in my own hell.
Some faeries and other creatures have mind reading and manipulating gifts, but I’d never encountered one.
They may have faked the concrete room, but the blood-soaked floor and the pain radiating from my back told me everything else was real.
“Okay, Violet, we’ve had enough fun, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. I need you to forget everything that has happened. I don’t want Calum finding out about this.”
“Forget?” I stood up from the floor, still completely naked. “You expect me to forget everything that you’ve done to me?”
As I began to walk toward Celine, I stopped when I saw an unfamiliar female walk into my room. I couldn’t move. It felt like someone had locked every joint in my body. I realized then what this female was.
The witch walked up to me, raised her hand, and said a few words.
And just like that, I had forgotten those fifty-two days, and the memories were replaced with a narrative that Celine chose.