Interlude
The door to the interrogation room opened with a screech and slammed with a boom.
Princess Gray shivered in her steely-ice chair as she tried to understand what had happened.
One moment, her father dangled her from the ground by her throat, and the next, she was wielding a powerful magic she had no business possessing before she blacked out.
The end result was Gray waking on the concrete floor in a fortified room wrought with destruction.
The haunting laugh that came from her father’s chest would never leave her mind.
What shocked the princess most upon awakening was how he’d been slumped against the wall as if someone threw him against it.
Whatever had happened hadn’t seemed to do much harm to him as he laughed to himself, unhinged.
Not even half an hour later, she sat in the destroyed interrogation room in a new chair that he’d ordered someone to bring in.
Gray’s wrist bore the silver magnetic bracelet only those with awakened magic wore.
A black one with strange symbols she’d never seen before accompanied it on the opposite wrist.
The king would return soon, and the princess had no idea of what to expect.
All she knew for sure was that a bad punishment awaited her, and it would be different than the times before.
The severity of the impending punishment suffocated her.
There was no doubt that she’d endure the worst of his wrath after everything that had happened.
First, the playground, now this? What is happening to me?
Princess Gray sat with her head downcast, chin nearly touching her chest, as she succumbed to her fate.
She exhaled a heavy breath, working to keep the panic under control, but failing.
The evidence was in front of her. There was no getting out of this one.
Not that her father would believe her anyway.
She’d truly messed up, and she would have to pay the consequences.
The metal door clicked open before squealing the arrival of new visitors. Her father strode in first, followed by the presence of several stoic guards.
The last thing Gray saw before her vision winked out was the king’s victorious sneer.
Gray’s heart picked up in pace, fluttering in her ribcage like a terrified butterfly. “Father…” she whimpered, tears rising to the surface.
“It’s someone with light magic controlling your sight,” he brushed off. “You’ll gain your vision back shortly.”
The pitch darkness ratcheted up Gray’s panic, her fingertips digging into the chair’s metal arm. It bit into her tender skin, but she paid it no mind. She wanted out. Out of this room, of this punishment. Out of her role in life.
“Bring him in,” King Forest intoned to the other men in the room.
Boot-clad footsteps sounded toward the door. The beeping of the electronic code rang in time with the beat of Gray’s racing heart, signaling a bad omen of what was to come. Another pair of footsteps entered the room; although, this pair was unusual and different from the others. Not as clunky.
Gray’s breaths sharpened, her back pressing against the chair as if that would save her.
She had no idea what to expect, but she hated going into this situation blind more than anything.
“Father, please…I’m sorry. I–I don’t know what–” Her shaking hands clutched the thin arm of the chair, rattling the bracelets against it.
“Shut up, child. You’ve done enough damage,” the king cut her off, his voice leaving no room for argument. “You’ve proven you’re too dangerous to have running freely around here with your awakened magic. I think it’s best we forgot it ever happened.”
The foreign presence approached the princess’s side, and she sensed the otherworldliness buried just beneath the surface. Whoever it was remained silent, prompting Gray’s fight-or-flight instinct to kick in that much more. This was it.
My father is going to kill me.
“You know what to do,” King Forest said to the foreign presence. “Don’t make me remind you what’s at stake.”
The princess wanted to scream, flail, kick, and swing at anyone who got near. Her sense of self-preservation had latched onto her soul. Maybe whatever presence had protected her before would rise up again and keep her safe from what was about to happen this time.
“Be still,” a gruff voice grumbled beside her. “I’ll have to hold you down, otherwise.”
In Gray’s frenzied state, she couldn’t determine if it was the newcomer or a guard as she continued to thrash in her seat. She wanted nothing to do with it. All she wanted was to go back to her room and sleep, forgetting that this day had ever happened.
“Do it,” her father urged.
Despite being in the dark about the punishment Gray faced, she wasn’t going to make it easy for either of them. She would fight until she couldn’t anymore.
“Hold her down!”
Strong, calloused hands clasped around the princess’s wrists, pinning them to the armchairs like shackles.
“No! I’m sorry. I won’t disobey again!” she pleaded. “I’ll be perfect, Father!”
A snort sounded, deflating Gray’s fight. “You’ll never be perfect. The sooner you learn that you were a mistake, the easier your existence will be.”
Gray’s will fled her spirit like the shattered heart she wore on her sleeve, carried away by the wind and scattered to the cruel world.
The young princess slumped in the chair, her energy zapped and chest heaving.
“I’ll be good,” she whispered in a hopeless attempt to appease her father.
Anything would be better than what was about to happen with this stranger.
Everything within her soul told her it would be a harrowing experience that she’d be forever altered from.
Surrendering to her fate, she sank further into the chair. Forceful hands shoved her shoulders back into the metal seat, wrenching a whimper from her throat, while seconds later, cold, clammy hands covered in hardened skin began to prod at her temples.
The hands jerked away from Gray’s head before she could put much thought into determining who they could have belonged to.
With no warning, a presence invaded the princess’s mind, sifting and forcing its way through her thoughts. Invisible fingers probed through them, retrieving memories and pushing them aside carelessly.
Gray had never felt so violated in her short life.
All her personal thoughts were no longer private to this stranger.
Whoever it was got quite the glimpse into her past, present, and even her hopeful future.
Not that she ever expected to give her consent to anything ordered by the king, but once again, she felt robbed of having a voice. Of being her own person.
The natural instinct to regain control took over. Again, Gray began to thrash in her chair, but the hands pinning her shoulders back were too strong. “No!” she wailed. “Make them stop!”
King Forest did not stop the intruder. Not in the slightest. In fact, he said, “Keep going.”
Finally, after what felt like an eternity to the princess, the mind invader latched onto a particular memory. The most recent one where she’d obliterated the interrogation room and launched her father against the wall.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, feeling the memory being drained from her mind. “No! Stop!”
The intruder didn’t relent. With what felt like delicate fingers, they plucked the event from her mind. Ever so slowly, the memory drifted away, becoming a wisp of smoke that Gray couldn’t grasp onto until she no longer knew why she was fighting.
Gods, she was so tired!
The princess slouched into the chair, feeling its coldness. Wondering where she was, she had no inclination as to what had just unfolded.
Did I black out on the playground and lose my sight?
The exhaustion seeping into Gray’s bones made her want to sleep so she could worry about these things later.
“Very well,” King Forest intoned. “You may leave.”
A presence lingered inches away, but she was too confused and fatigued to try and sort that out for herself. “What happened?” she asked to anyone who’d answer, her voice hoarse and raw.
“Oh, just a few precautions. Nothing to be concerned about. It’s time for you to go to bed now,” Gray’s father responded.
“But…” she asked, really needing to know where she was and what was going on. “Where am I? Why can’t I see?”
A door slammed shut, causing the princess to jolt in her seat. The stiffness of the chair told her that something was off. She wasn’t in her suite, that was for sure.
“You just had your punishment for today’s incident at school. You don’t remember?” the king asked, his voice prodding.
“I–I remember the playground. But how did I get here?” she pressed, not liking the gap in her memory. Something was missing. A key part of her, like a hole in her mind. She didn’t like that feeling at all.
“You must’ve done what you always do during your punishments and disassociated,” the king tsked. “Always such a weak one who can’t handle her consequences.”
“No, but…” she went to argue. That wasn’t how her disassociation worked at all. Maybe for some, but not for Gray, even though she wished more than anything it did.
A silence fell over them, and soon, Gray’s vision began to return. Light blurred into focus as the interrogation room filled her vision. As she took in the disheveled state of the space, her eyes widened. “Gods, what ha—”
“Nothing. Not for you to concern yourself with.” Forest’s hard tone left the princess no more bravery to push further. “It’s time to go home. Now.”