The Moonlit Path

Chapter 20: Queens Don't Bow To False Kings

I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't see; I could only lay there consciously unconscious as Phil picked me up from the ground bridal-style and started to run. 

A car door closed and the swaying started. Phil was talking quietly to someone but I couldn't make any of it out. The blackness came again. 

It was very cold and damp. Someone dropped me on the hard ground and kicked my ribs hard. I couldn't react except to groan. There was a loud clanging, some whispering, and then a bone chilling silence. I tried to move but my body felt heavy and the shooting pain in my side told me my ribs were broken. 

Amara? I called out but there was no answer. I needed her help. I needed her to give me some of her strength so I could open my eyes... so I could get back to Titus. Amara? Where are you? Nothing. Exhausted, I surrendered to the darkness swirling in my head and slept. 

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I opened my heavy and sore eyes. It took a moment to adjust to the light of the torches lit outside the cell. I was able to raise my head, if only slightly, to see I had been placed in a kind of dungeon. The air was heavy and reeked of dust and decay. The floor was stone and the door, I'm sure if I could move myself close enough, was silver. 

"Shit," I muttered to myself. I called out again for Amara but still received no response. Where are you? She had never failed to answer me before. 

After a few moments of wallowing and sobbing, I pulled myself into a sitting position against the wall with great difficulty. At least two of my ribs were broken on my right side and there was an ugly black bruise painted down the entirety of my rib cage. The rage that was burning inside of me was overwhelmed only by the dryness of my throat and the groaning of my stomach.

"Phil!" I tried to call out but it came out in a hoarse whisper. 

A sad voice replied from nearby, "he's not here. It's just us." 

I looked up to meet Mathias's eyes as he rounded the corner to stand in front of my cell. I wanted to launch at him, even though the bars would burn my skin, I wanted to strangle him myself. 

"Water?" I asked, turning my head from him. He no longer seemed worthy of my attention. 

He produced a bottle of water, an apple, and a piece of bread from somewhere beyond my line of sight and slid them through the gaps in the bars. I shot him a dirty look. 

Understanding my message clearly, he took a small bite of the bread, a sip of the water, and a slice of the apple. "It won't kill you. If he kills you, none of us get what we want." 

I grabbed the items and immediately took a gulp of water, the pain in my throat subsided a little and I was able to speak. 

"And what is it we want Mathias?" 

"You'll forgive me one day. When you understand why I did it." 

"Then tell me now or fuck off. Even in a prison cell, you're no longer worth my time and energy." 

Mathias hung his head and turned away from me. His footsteps became more distant and then there was nothing but stillness. I ate my food and drank my water before lifting myself off the floor to evaluate the damage done. I noted the bruises on my knee and elbow, probably from the fall when I was literally dropped into this hell hole. There were a few scratches along my arms and legs but nothing major as far as injuries... if you don't count the ribs. What really pissed me off was that I was wearing one of Phil's shirts and even though it fell to my mid-thigh, it meant they had all most likely seen me naked during my forced shift. 

"Fuck!" I yelled and threw the water bottle across the cell against the stone wall. Tears stung at the corner of my eyes. I knew that Phil was always determined, driven, and selfish but I didn't realize he would truly take away from me all the happiness that I had found with Titus. 

Titus! I reached my hand up to touch the mark on my neck which seemed to have healed overnight... if I had only been here one night... How long had I been down here? Shit! 

Touching the mark I tried the only thing that I could think of. Even with Amara AWOL I tried to call out to Titus, to tell him I was alive, and not to trust Mathias. There was no response from him either. 

A door somewhere in the distance opened and heavy footsteps came toward me. I stood tall and waited for them to come. They may have trapped me but I wouldn't lose my hope and I wouldn't lose my dignity. 

Phil came around the corner dressed in his training attire with an evil glow behind his eyes. 

"Well hello there gorgeous," he sneered from the other side of the bars.

"Philious." 

"That's no way to greet the love of your life, the man you would leave your mate for."

I turned and approached the bars. "I haven't left my mate. I've been taken from him. Something I'm sure he's not taking too kindly to, by the way. In case you have forgotten, I bear his mark. We are mated in the eyes of the Goddess and by wolf law."

"We will change that soon enough," he growled. I was frightened but I refused to back down. 

"What would you have me do Philious?" 

"Call me Phil." 

"That's all?" 

"Not even close," Phil smirked and stalked back and forth in front of my cell like some sort of frustrated tiger confined to a zoo. "You will bow your neck to me, you will bear my mark, and give me my heir."

"I will do none of those things," I spat back at him. 

"You will do them all or I will kill you and your beloved mate too." 

I laughed, "you think you can kill Titus?" 

"I think I can kill you and that will kill Titus. His land will fall to ruins and I will be there to take over what he leaves behind."

He can't be serious. 

"You would kill me for power after all these years? After all we had together?"

"Don't play that game Liana. You have made it very clear in the last few days that what we had together was nothing. If I had realized you were so blindly faithful to the Moon Goddess, I wouldn't have rejected my mate so quickly." 

"Take her back then! Let me go!" He cringed at my words. I couldn't help but wonder why. 

"I can't take them back yet. Now agree to my terms and bow down, or you will force my hand."

"Kill me if you must. Titus will survive without me." 

"I'm not going to kill you yet," I gulped and met his wildly angered eyes. "First, I'm going to make it hurt. You'll break or you'll die; I don't care which." He turned to fully face me and I continued to keep a strong stance even though I could feel a sense of terror growing within me. 

"What will it be Liana? Would you like to do this the easy way or the hard way?" When I didn't answer he barred his teeth at me and slammed his hands harshly against the bars. "Bow bitch!"

I collected myself and moved to stand in front of him, squaring up against his significantly larger stature. Hope gleaned behind his eyes foolishly.

"Queens don't bow to false kings." 

He struck me through the bars so hard I hit the back of my cell. Even as I lost consciousness again I felt a sense of pride in knowing my mate would find me and I would survive.