Chapter 30
Thirty
It took a full day to reach Morgad, barely stopping to rest until my legs felt as though they would give out.
I found myself at the end of the tunnel, which led to a ladder with a wooden trap door six metres above my head.
I could hear voices in the distance and could tell it was still daylight from the few specks of light that streamed through the gaps between the timbers.
There was far too much activity for me to sneak out, so I waited until it was dark.
As the hours ticked by, the voices grew few and far between.
Eventually, I heard nothing for over an hour and deemed it safe.
Letting black smoke seep from my pores and consume me, all that remained was a dowdy blonde girl standing in the dark with flat brown eyes and bony limbs, which conveyed the vision of my now ragged dress that had been torn from crawling through the tunnel for three days.
I looked like any other poor girl would if I were caught.
The perfect alibi. Climbing the ladder, I prayed to the first dragons that it would not be locked from the other side.
Smashing it open would be a surefire way to get caught.
The trap door opened soundlessly, which was surprising; I had expected it to creak loudly, leaving me in a panicked rush to run away.
I found myself by a stone wall in the castle courtyard.
Quickly, I hugged myself to the wall before any of the guards on watch noticed me and slunk further towards a door that would undoubtedly lead inside the castle.
There were not as many guards patrolling as I had imagined; Sebastian likely thought his walls impenetrable.
It had already been three days since Visarous’s death, and the border ban would lift in four days.
It was only a matter of time before he found out about my Spirit Caster’s death and became paranoid.
I had never been in these halls and had no idea how to find Demir.
Geraldine had given me a brief explanation of what Cain’s sources said the layout was, but after a full day in the dark, I was feeling more than a little disoriented.
I made it into the inner halls of the castle.
There wasn't even a guard in sight. Geraldine said Demir resided in the western tower and Sebastian in the eastern.
I made my way to the fourth floor of the castle and passed their great hall.
I would start with Demir, as he seemed like the easy win, and given what simmered between us, maybe I could use him to make what I would be attempting with his father just a touch easier.
Heading west until I reached the end of the hallway, I noticed that it splintered into two directions and knew I had to go right, even as a guard walked down that very hall.
This was the first guard I had seen since I started; I had almost begun to believe that whatever dark magic Sebastian had been toying with had wiped out everyone due to the eerie silence of the castle walls.
I hid in the shadows, having shifted into a mouse, until he made his way into the hall that went left; then I ran for it.
When I reached the end of the right hallway, there was a door that was closed so securely that there was no gap to fit even the smallest of creatures.
Shifting back into the peasant girl, I opened the door as the metal hinges creaked worse than I had envisioned the trapdoor would sound.
Instantly, I heard the halting of footsteps and the clattering of armour as the guard I thought I had cleared came storming towards me.
Fuck, he was quick. Slamming the door shut behind me, I made a run for the spiral stairs that led up the tower, but before I could get far, another guard stepped out from behind the steps just as the guard from the hall blocked the entrance.
‘What are you doing here little girl?!’ the guard in front of me yelled.
I could shift and maul them to death, but that would raise too many alarms; there was an easier and smarter way to play this, which I had prepared for.
I had to play the role of a passive, needy girl, and although I had never gone without money, food and material things, I had gone without many other things in my life to the point where I still felt starved.
‘Please, sir, I was just looking for some food. I am so incredibly hungry. I-I was desperate; it’s been days since I last had a bite to eat.’ I sobbed, shaking my whole body as I forced tears from my eyes and sank to the ground.
‘This is the prince’s quarters; why would you be searching for food here?
You’re a liar. Did you come here to try and seduce him, thinking you would become the next Princess?
’ he sneered, trailing his eyes up and down my body hungrily.
I had to physically stop myself from wincing and from wanting to empty my stomach on the ground in front of me, given that I had chosen the body of a minor, thinking I could play the sympathy card with whoever found me—but I did not account for how sick and twisted some men could be.
My mind pulled me from the moment to thoughts of Zoe.
Is this how those men had viewed her? I’m glad I ended their lives slowly and painfully.
Before my mission was done here, I would kill these two.
‘No, sir! Please! I didn’t know,’ I begged, dropping to the floor to plead some more.
They didn’t care, so I began scrambling away as he stepped towards me.
But the guard behind me was already lifting me off the ground and pulling my arms behind my back, binding them.
There was no use in fighting; I would simply have to break free.
‘Yeah right, little lady, we don’t believe you for a second.
Maybe a night in one of the cells will get your lips talking,’ the guard behind me said, clasping my wrists as he started pushing me back out into the hallway and through the castle until we eventually arrived at a long hallway that descended the deeper it went.
It was well lit, with torches lining both walls, but the further we went, the worse it smelled and the colder it became.
We walked for another ten minutes. We were deep underground by now; no one would hear the screams of the prisoners kept here.
The dark, damp cell they had taken me to was worse than the ones in my own dungeons.
I was both horrified at the thought of staying there and slightly annoyed that they had outdone me.
I had prided myself on my dungeons being a place unlike any other, a place people feared.
Perhaps my time in Morgad would be far more interesting than I had anticipated and provide me with some inspiration.
I was thrown to the dirt floor in a cell large enough to house at least ten.
Chains hung from the walls, and the sound of water dripping echoed in the background, which did not quite make sense, as there was no plumbing of any sort.
I stood up, trying to get my bearings once the guards had walked off, but it was a simple cell with no windows, given how far underground we were.
In the corner was a puddle of piss and excrement.
At least I gave my prisoners a bucket to piss in.
I wasn’t a complete barbarian besides it was best to treat your prisoners as people because the moment you broke them was all the more satisfying.
There was no light; every corner of the cell was shrouded in darkness.
It wasn’t until I calmed my own breathing from the initial panic of being locked up, even if it was willingly, that silence descended.
I had never liked being confined; it went against every fibre of my being.
With my own breath quieted, I heard the shallow panting of breathing in the far right corner.
It was too dark to make out any figure, but someone was in this cell with me.
‘Who’s there?’ I whispered into the void.
The sound of an agonising groan met me in response.
I stepped closer to the corner as my eyes adjusted to the darkness until I could see the outline of a body slumped against the wall.
Crouching in front of the figure, I tried to lift his head as it lolled to the side.
As my fingers brushed his chin, I heard him suck in a breath and felt warmth envelop me.
Ruhi. I heard the word rattle in my mind in an all too familiar voice. It was him. Why was he here?
I pulled back in shock, but even though he could not lift his head just a moment before, he somehow found the strength to reach out for my wrist. It would have been easy to shake it off, as he was so broken in that moment, but I couldn’t leave him.
I imagined this is how Cain felt when he saw me in that forest. A wounded animal that he pitied, but it wasn’t completely pity that ran through me as I looked at Demir’s prone form.
Something deeper tugged at me to stay close.
Demir pulled my hand to his face and placed his cheek in my palm letting out a deep long sigh.
It was enough to snap me out of whatever kindness had been brewing as anger took over—at what, I wasn’t sure?
It didn’t feel like the old anger I used to feel for this man, and I didn’t think I was so far gone by whatever this bond was doing to me that I had legitimate concern for him.
‘What the fuck are you doing, Princeling? More importantly, what are you doing here?’ I asked, but he couldn’t speak.
I had to touch him if I wanted answers. I bit my lip, warring with myself.
I loathed the idea of touching him, scared of what it would do to me, but I needed to know.
Placing my hand back on his cheek, I asked the question again.