CH.32 A Song of the chains
Iris had been sitting in the dungeon for two days.
Only through a tiny window did she watch as day turned into night and with the morning light brought day back into the world.
Her execution was to be quick. No investigation, no interrogation or torture.
Just a death sentence. She waited for the stake to be prepared for her.
She didn't think it would take much longer.
She sat there drowning in her own despair.
And even though she herself was doomed, her thoughts took her elsewhere.
She looked at the eye symbol on her palm. The magic gloves no longer prevented the bond between them. But despite that, she couldn't hear Luc. She missed his voice a little. It comforted her. The fact, she wasn't alone.
"You said that because of our bond I would never grow old, but never said anything about not dying." When she didn't hear him, she continued to speak to him, hoping he would hear her. "When I burn, I hope you won't feel it."
She wasn't the only one whose life called for destruction.
She was imprisoned here, and he was there.
She just thought about how he would get out of the prison she had thrown him into when she was no more.
When she remembered how he had looked at her as if she were his whole world.
No one had ever looked at her like that. And she ran away in fear.
"I ruined everything."
Everything that had been so beautiful and wild between them.
"Who are you talking to?" Commander Dominic emerged from the shadows of the dungeon.
"To my demon," she replied. "But what brings you here, Commander? Has my time come?"
"Not yet," he said.
"So why are you here? Did you miss me?"
"I wonder what you said in the maze. About Prince Edmund being enchanted."
"I didn't lie," Iris said.
"What kind of curse is it?" he asked her.
"It's not a curse, but spending the rest of your life with Anastasia and Madam Tremaine behind your back definitely is a curse."
"That's not the answer."
"Does it really matter? They'll burn me in the morning, and no one will break the enchantment."
"I care. It is my duty to protect the prince. But if it doesn't matter to you, why did you try to save him?"
He saw it in the corner of her eye. The commander realized it.
"It was you he met at the dragon festivals on the Bonfire night, not Anastasia. Iris, a name like a flower. It was you, witch."
"Yes, it was me," she admitted. "Of course, I didn't know he was a prince.
And that's probably why I became his undoing.
" She gave him his answer. The truth. "Until recently, I didn't even know I was a witch.
My mother taught me a few miracles, but I guess I was too stupid to realize the truth.
When the city announced that there would be a royal ball where the prince would choose a bride, my stepmother forced me to sew a dress that would make the prince fall in love with Anastasia.
Otherwise, she would betray my good friend to the soldiers because he is a rebel, and I would be accused of aiding them. "
"Is that the rebel who betrayed you?"
"Yes. I must admit that of all those I expected it from, his betrayal came as a surprise," she said. "And so it happened as my stepmother requested. I made a dress that drove the prince crazy."
"So that's why he's so obsessed with her as if it weren't him. He's cursed," It all started to make sense. "There must be a way to break the curse."
"Somewhere, maybe, but I don't know it. I burned that dress, searched for the answer in an old grimoire, even tried to make him remember. Nothing helped. The spell is in them. It has taken root and will destroy anything that tries to break it. Including you, Commander Dominic."
"If you love him, you will help me break the curse."
"Fate told me long ago that I belonged somewhere else. Unfortunately, I didn't listen."
"It's your fault he's cursed. It's your duty—"
An invisible force slammed his head against the bars and knocked him unconscious.
He was still breathing, his heart beating, but his mind was wandering somewhere in the other realm.
Luc emerged from the shadows. In all his glory, just as beautiful as she remembered him.
Not knowing who he was, she would have mistaken him for an angel.
And that gold in his eyes that fascinated her so much.
He stood there before her. Free and wild, leaning against the bars of her cell.
"Are you finally admitting that you belong to me, my little witch?" he gave her a mischievous smile.
"I didn't say anything like that. I just said I belong somewhere else," she said.
But her eyes told something else. The way she looked at him like a miracle, like a moth to the bright moon, yearning for him like waves yearn for the shore.
She looked at him as if he were her whole world, her heart forgetting to beat in his presence.
Even the air around him was sacred. She didn't care that Commander Dominic lay unconscious on the ground.
She didn't care if he was even alive. He was there.
Standing right in front of her. He was there.
And she was completely consumed by his existence.
Luc sighed. "So stubborn. As always."
"How did you get out?" Iris wondered. She was more than certain that she had trapped him.
"Did you think you could keep me there forever?"
"At least, I hoped so. There was nothing in the grimoire that said the spell would only last a certain amount of time."
"When I dragged you into the house, you accidentally broke the salt barrier you had created, breaking the spell," he revealed his trick to her.
"So that's what you were trying to do all along when you called me. You wanted me to come to you and deliberately provoked me to pull me in and break the spell. So you were just using me, and it was all a lie. And I thought you missed me."
"I admit I used you, but nothing I told you that night was a lie," he objected. "I can't lie to you. Mislead, yes, conceal, often enough, but not lie. Are you disappointed that I used you to free myself?" he gave her a questioning look.
"Not at all. You're a demon. I should have expected it," she replied.
"Tell me, how does it feel to be chained?" he looked around the small cell she was being held in. She was shackled to the wall. "Karma is a bitch."
"You're terrible, Luc."
"Don't lie to yourself, Iris. Admit that you love me."
Iris laughed briefly but didn't respond. She just rolled her eyes.
"You don't deny it."
"But I didn't even say yes."
"Then why did you say you don't want me to feel your pain when you'll burn?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Of course." He grinned. "Every word."
"Why are you here, Luc? The full moon isn't until tomorrow."
"I wouldn't let my wife burn, would I? What kind of terrible husband would I be?" he told her. "Although, I must admit I was tempted to let you taste the flames, not die."
"You have a weakness for me." She smiled mischievously.
"I've been trying to tell you for quite some time, but you didn't believe me. And in the end, your only friend betrayed you."
"You must be glad you were right, and I wasn't."
"On the contrary. A fate worse than death awaits anyone who has harmed you. I can swear to you that. I will never allow anyone even to touch you again, let alone spill the precious blood in your veins. Only I have the right to taste it."
As if he were intangible, he passed through the bars. He approached Iris, kneeling before her.
"What do you desire, Iris?"
"Revenge."
"There is nothing in this world that I cannot give you. You are my wife. Attacking you is a declaration of war on me. No more taming yourself."
The lock on the manacles clicked. The chains fell to the ground. He pulled her velvet cloak out of the void and draped it over her shoulders.
"We will paint this world red, my queen."