Gideon #2
He couldn’t pick up her scent until they found another trapdoor. Upon opening it, it was clear that they had a separate dungeon cellar, and that was where Sin slept.
The cellar had but a cot, and a small, barely standing table, where one dress was folded on top of. That was it. One shitty pillow and flimsy blanket lay on top, and if Max were there, Gideon couldn’t imagine the rage he would’ve felt.
This was where she had lived for a hundred years.
“Fuck,” Gideon tensed so hard he jerked, alarming Audrira, when he saw the hook on the ceiling in the corner of the room.
Jocelyn’s eyes were wider than he’d ever seen them, filled with shock and contemplation.
There was domination, and then there was whatever the fuck this was. He took in the blood stains on the floor, and wanted to gag.
No wonder she blew up her parents. He couldn’t believe she only waited until they nearly cooked her alive.
Though, he didn’t think she did it on purpose. Audrira had told him it was her power being released after being sealed for a century. He had no doubt it would’ve happened either way.
He understood why at first. When he first saw Sin, her eyes looked as dead as Oliver’s. If she had been given the opportunity to truly use her powers to inflict pain onto others, he wondered if she would’ve ended up just like him.
Though after today, Gideon knew Oliver wasn’t totally gone.
With tears still streaming down her face, Jocelyn grabbed Sin’s old tattered dress.
“Let’s go get that little witch,” Audrira said, a bit colder than normal.
Gideon followed her silently, understanding that she was in pain. He followed her as she mounted her horse.
A few hours later, they rode through the desert, faces covered with torn pieces of Audrira and Jocelyn’s skirts to withstand the sand. Where they would find Sin, hopefully save her if they made it in time, and then further north until they found his mother.
They had travelled through the desert and into a damp forest by the ocean, only a few miles north of the docks and pirates.
Outside a bustling town, there were houses for families that preferred the quiet.
One of them held Sin.
It took them little time to track her scent, and Gideon swallowed with fear that it was because too much blood had been spilled.
She may have been half fae, and could heal faster than most witches at rest, but there was always a breaking point.
Approaching an obscure structure in the middle of a patch of palm trees, they tied their horses to one, and crept towards it.
Gideon’s hand abruptly pressed against Audrira’s chest at the sound of screams. Not Sin’s. It was screams of frustration, screams belonging to two voices.
Audrira narrowed her eyes at Gideon, then closed them, focusing her senses towards the structure. “I found her,” she whispered. “She’s alive. They’re angry because she isn’t responding to their torture.”
A low, quiet growl formed in Gideon’s chest. A reflection of pure disgust at the kind of people who would do such things.
Jocelyn winced, but Gideon couldn’t tell if it was because of the torture, or from whatever the fuck she held in her satchel.
Withdrawing his sword, he marched towards the building. He took one step, and was held frozen in place.
Every time he tried to press further, he felt his insides churning, making him groan in pain.
Magic.
Casual footsteps sounded from behind, circling around him until Audrira was looking at him face to face.
He could feel the tightening of magic around his wrists, yanking them behind his back. Another force gripped his ankles and held them to the earth.
“What are you doing?” Desperation cracked his voice.
“I’m sorry, Gideon. I truly did dream of a future with you. That was never faked.”
Jocelyn kept her back towards them, not wanting any part of something she clearly wasn’t forced into.
Gideon tried to lunge, his wrists burning as he strained against the restraints. “But everything else!?”
She shook her head, her lips trembling before she composed herself, and turned towards the building. Magic forced him to follow her as the three of them entered the building, where frustrated screams grew louder.
When they entered a room, Gideon expected horrors, but he did not expect to see a rotting body hanging on the wall for Sin to stare at.
“Magnolia,” Jocelyn muttered.
Audrira’s throat bobbed as she took in the carnage, and Gideon watched as she flicked both her wrists, and the sisters were thrown to the walls, rendered unconscious on the floor.
The act was anger, and he realized the body was the witch’s. How involved was she in her death? What was her plan here, and who would walk out of here alive?
Gideon was forced to lean back against the wall beside an unconscious sister, watching as Audrira stepped towards Sin, turning her suspended body around, cursing the sisters for what they did to the dead witch.
Gideon refused to look at Sin’s naked body, but the broken skin and blood covering it said enough.
There was no saving Audrira from Max’s wrath.
If they made it out alive.
Sin glared at Audrira. “I take it this isn’t a rescue mission?”
The coldness in her voice made Gideon shiver. There was no self-preservation in her words, no life, no fear.
Audrira leveled her gaze with Sin’s. “I should’ve known your rotten sisters would’ve done something completely fucking disgraceful.”
Sin spat blood on the already filthy floor. “Half-sisters.”
An unamused smirk grew on Audrira’s face, staring at Sin’s blood on the floor. “This wasn’t the plan. I want you to know that by the end of it all.”
Sin’s eyes flickered with something Gideon couldn’t quite make out. Not fire… “Anything else, you pathetic excuse for a witch?”
Her tone had Audrira frowning, though Gideon refused to believe it, uncertain what was real and what was very good acting.
“I am the reason witches will have a new name. Magnolia had to die to ensure your sisters’ compliance.
If you and Magnolia survived, all the witches would be hunted for the havoc you both have risen on the continent.
One day, they will learn of what my family had endured in that fucking castle.
One day, the witches will rise. And sooner rather than later, everyone in that castle will die. ”
Sin’s eyes were enraged, defying the smile stretching across her face. “If you make it past me, and hurt my mate? I hope he splatters your body all over the castle like you fucking did to my teacher!”
Audrira’s throat bobbed. “Did you know my lineage had been forced to work in the castle? We didn’t live like the lavish witches you assumed we were. For decades, every moon cycle, that king would force us to try to birth him a son.”
For a glance, Audrira met Gideon’s confused, horrified gaze.
“He kept trying to make a bastard, wanting to get back at the queen. But they had only created daughters. Daughters he didn’t want. Daughters were useless to him. The king, my father, will die when this is all over, but it won’t be anytime soon.”
Gideon clenched his fists, trembling, a growl rumbling deep in his chest. “How have I never known this?” He slammed his shoulder against his invisible restraints, trying to free himself.
Her eyes of fury met his. “Because your father hates you.” With a flick of her wrists, she reveals the glamour she held over her hair, revealing the auburn that matched Max and Oliver’s, but a tad darker.
Gideon swallowed hard, the taste of bile rising as realization hit him—she let him fall for her. “You fucking idiot,” he spat. “If you had wanted revenge, you could’ve stayed on our side and killed him yourself.”
“You can’t kill him, Gideon. He’s been preparing himself for ages to keep himself protected, even from his sons.” She flashed a grin. “Especially his daughters.”
Jocelyn flinched visibly before handing Audrira her satchel.
“Wait,” Sin choked. “Are you saying your mother—”
“Is also my sister?” Audrira snapped. “Yes.”
Sin gagged, heaving up acid from her empty stomach.
“Audrira,” Gideon demanded of her attention, gaining it. “Set us free. Run far as fuck away from here, and I will kill him in your name as well.”
Audrira laughed—a hollow, strained sound—as her eyes shimmered briefly before she looked away.
“Let us go,” Sin interrupted. “Out of respect for my mate’s brother, I’m giving you one last chance. Let us go now.”
Audrira’s brow rose. “No.”
It was that moment, that Gideon felt cool air against his back, and light entering the room, before he and Jocelyn were thrusted hundreds of feet away from the structure.
The last thing he saw was a hole in the wall closing before landing in the trees.