---Rayne's POV---
The guard and the prince dragged me behind them to the temples. Logan - Talon - was scoffing up dirt and kicking rocks in front of him, occasionally catching Ivy's ankles. She swore a lot.
"No very princess-like," Logan jeered.
I couldn't laugh along, though; that creature I saw by the river bank was haunting me. I could feel its eyes burning into my back, and I shuddered. If there was one, there was sure to be more. Finally, after a couple hours, the temples loomed ahead of us. Ivy tendrils climbed up the crumbling stone buildings, tinged yellow from age. The sunset turned the trees gold, and the hidden people to silhouettes.
This was wrong. I didn't belong here.
I heard Logan gasp, which made Ivy smirk. I just kept walking, keeping my eyes open to try and get to know this place better. There were streams running throughout the the small town, and a marketplace stood camouflaged behind the smallest temple. An easy escape. I started to plan how I could slip around the fruit store, when we approached one of the largest temples of them all. The guard pushed open the doors, revealing thousands of stairs leading in every direction. Thorn pulled me inside and Ivy pulled the doors closed behind us. I couldn't see anything, meaning they couldn't either. I could easily just run out of the temple, but I knew the king would be after me, so I followed. The prince loosened his grip on my wrist when we were at the bottom of the lowest staircase, and the doors in front of us opened, causing blinding light to flood through the room. I blinked several times, when I realised that we were entering courtrooms.
The king was sitting at the opposite end of the chamber.
My eyes immediately widened, and my mind was screaming at me to turn and run, but I couldn't move. The prince literally dragged me across the hall, until finally my legs decided to work again. We stopped about 2 metres from the king's throne, and the guard bowed down. Logan slowly followed, but I was still petrified. I held my head up high, but my neck was forcefully pushed downwards by one of the many more guards that had gathered behind us. When I looked up again, the ice cold eyes of the king were glaring into mine.
"Kai." His voice boomed and I tried not to flinch. "Speak."
"We found these two in our Nation, wandering around. They claim to be lost Tributes from a long time ago." The guard, Kai, explained. The king narrowed his eyes.
"What's your name, girl?" He asked me, anger sparking from his voice. I forced my voice to stay calm and confident when I replied.
"Dawn Kinning, and this is my brother, Talon Kinning."
The king shook his head in disbelief.
"They're related to the Ichrets." Thorn cut in quickly. The king sat up a little straighter.
"Well then," he said, smirking. "We'll have to have a couple chats, won't we, Dawn."
I swallowed, but tried not to show it. Logan was looking as confused as ever, and he shot me some questioning looks. I guessed I would have to lie to him some more.
The king of Earth Nation knew I wasn't who I claimed to be, so I knew I would have to act weak, scared and curious about everything around here. I had to act the opposite of who I was.
"You will both be kept imprisoned in the Earth Nation temples." The king gestured to one of the guards. "Take them to a spare room."
The guard grabbed my wrists and pulled me backwards. I got one last look at the king before the doors to the courtroom slammed in front of my face.
---Thorn's POV---
The guard dragged Dawn away, and I pulled Talon along behind them.
"Thorn." My father called. I stopped and turned.
"Take that one to a separate room from the girl's. Just as a precaution."
I nodded and continued to guide the boy out of the courtrooms and up the staircase.
"You seemed rather comfortable around Ivy, Talon," I sneered.
"Why would I be nervous around a girl?" He said, but his voice was jittery, as if he didn't know what was the right thing to say.
"You look a lot like Logan Ichret, did you know that?" I asked, now holding my grip on him tighter as he was tensing up.
"That's not the first time I've heard that, Thorn, you look a lot like your sister." He paused. "Oh, and by the way, when Logan was exiled, he wanted to let you know that you were a coward."
I shoved him forward up the final set of stairs and into the first bedroom chamber we came across before slamming the door.
"Don't come out until you know how to speak to royalty." I hissed through the door. I heard him snort before I walked back down the stairs.
He wasn't Talon Kinning.
---Rayne's POV---
The guard showed me to the bedroom and I pretended to be very interested in every aspect of the room. Eventually he became sick of me as left the room. I looked under every bed and in every drawer to try and find something sharp, but all I could find was a couple broken shards of glass and plenty of hairpins. I used a rubber band to tie then together, and I weighed the makeshift weapon in my hands. I lunged at an imaginary person and decided that it would easily stab through someone's neck or stomach if I ever needed to make an escape.
Placing it underneath the pillow of the disgusting bed, I started to shift through all the things inside the room. There were photo frames with nothing in them, drawers that were broken and barely stable, a bathroom with a bath and toilet that hadn't been cleaned in a long time, and some cupboards with no hinges. I sighed. At least I wasn't stranded in the forest anymore.
