Chapter 21 - History Devin woke me up in the late afternoon, when the sun was starting to sink into the bright rolling clouds. The sky was turning colors, bright pinks, reds, and purples all melting into the light blue painted a perfect end to the day. Devin needed to meet his father for dinner, and he was going to use the opportunity to ask for a little more freedom for me. The thought of finally being allowed out of the blank walls I had been staring at for weeks had me giddy, even if I had to be escorted everywhere. Devin walked me from his room to mine, and placed a soft kiss on my forehead before shutting the door and locking it behind him. The loud metal loudly grinding into place into the lock, as he left me alone. My body was still sore from the past day’s events, and as I lifted my arms to stretch, I caught a whiff of myself and wrinkled my nose.“Time for a much-needed shower.” I said to myself, and moved towards the small bath

Chapter 23 - Fear   My heart was beating fast as Devin ripped me through the hallways, terror increasing my breathing as we took staircase after staircase down to the lower levels of the castle. He was looking straight ahead of us, the muscles of his biceps flexed tight in anger, as he held my arm in a steel grasp. I didn’t know what had changed in the hour we had been apart, and by the way he was acting, I was afraid to ask. This wasn’t the prince who had held me tightly through the morning; this was a different kind of monster. If it wasn’t for his telltale blue and brown mismatched eyes, I would think it was a completely different person who was dragging me around so carelessly. It was as if he regressed back to the prince I had originally met in the dungeons, a person full of distrust and hate, calling for my head without asking any questions first. I stumbled over my feet after a particularly quick movement around a corner, and almost fell to the gr

Chapter 25 – Secret “Shut the fucking door, Marcus! Hurry!” The person who was pulling me away from the creatures screamed, and the sound of metal grinding on stone again rang through the room. My eyes snapped open to see the beasts charging at us; stumbling over each other trying to get close enough to sink their disgusting jaws into the closest flesh they could get to. They were running on all fours, arms bending out at a devastating angle every time their knuckles hit the hard stone floor. Their mouths were open wide, long streams of black colored drool dripping from their pointed teeth, and they were screaming; an ear-piercing sound that resonated around the cave, stuck somewhere between human and beast, and so wicked that it made my skin crawl and my heart stop. Their eyes were wide and wild, the milky color adding to the brutal look of them, as they charged forward towards the murderer of their brother. I reached out with the tendrils of

Chapter 27 – Identical   “You can’t think that I would actually fall for that did you Moira?” I snapped at her, and rolled my eyes. “Everyone in the kingdom knows that Devin is an only child. The king’s pride and joy.” I spat, and turned away from her, leaving Moira doe eyed behind me. I stepped back over to one of the chairs, and sunk back into the soft cushions, folding my arms over my chest as I looked at the three people in front of me. All of them looking back at me with their mouths hanging open like fish; stunned at my reaction. “I-‘m not lying!” Moira barked at me, and I raised my eyebrows at her. This day had been too eventful already to throw some mysterious brother into the mix. She wanted to protect her cousin, and I understood that, but making something up about a lost brother was bordering mental. “Alright, Moira. If you’re not lying, then where is he?” I asked with a half-smile on my face, enjoying watching her squirm. She looked a

Chapter 29 – Again   Moira and I slid silently through the halls of the castle. Listening intently for any sudden noises or footsteps, and moving as quickly as we could without being spotted. The sun was just starting to set, and deep orange light was cascading thick shadows over the stone. We were moving back towards the cave of the lost children, and even though it was late enough that most of the staff had gone home for the night; there were still many guards milling about the castle.  They had kept me in the hidden infirmary room for the twenty-four hours I was supposed to be with the children, as we prepared a plan. It wasn’t anywhere near perfect, or really a good plan at all, but it was all we could do with the little information that we had. It consisted of very few, but precise steps that could either save the entire kingdom or get all of us slaughtered. Either way we wouldn’t have to see what was to come, and I was beginning to accept eith