Identity

II) Betrayed

A/N - Just a quick note. So, thank you for all the wonderful reviews on the last chapter. Hope you all enjoy this one just as much and leave a comment and vote/fan if you like it. I'm really grateful.

So, here it is. I apologize for the length of the chapter but I hope you'll still read ♥

- Rachel xxx

Katherine pressed her back against the rough stone wall and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them to shield her body from the chill. The icy wind whipped around her and she shivered; her bare skin prickling. She looked up at the tiny grate to see the stars blinking in the black sky. A few meters in front of her lay the plate of stale bread and water. She would rather starve than eat it. Looking through the bars of the door, Katherine could tell that the rest of the dungeon cells were occupied, inhabited by the highborn of Asaia.

As she’d been unceremoniously dragged down to the dark dungeons, she’d recalled that her sisters weren’t in any of the cells. Her father was in one, her uncle Robert in another. She’d been instantly separated from her mother and was now sitting alone in the freezing prison with some lady from court squealing about the filthy state of her cell opposite her. Katherine sighed and closed her eyes, desperately wanting sleep to consume her.

It was nightfall before Peter arrived back at the house with a troubled expression. He inched the door open, saw the two girls crouched on the floor, and then quickly entered and joined them.

“Did you find her?” asked Carla, eyes shooting open from where she had appeared to be dozing against the wall.

“She’s been taken to the dungeons. The Opposers are searching everywhere for you. Ravana’s coronation is tomorrow,” answered Peter.

“We need to save her,” piped up Rebecca, who had been sitting in the corner.

“I don’t know how,” admitted Peter, regretfully “I don’t even know if you two will be able to escape the citadel. It’s teeming with the Opposers.”

“Katherine wouldn’t leave without us. We’re not leaving without her,” said Carla, purposefully and Rebecca nodded in agreement.

“I’ll make us something to eat and then we can sleep. In the morning, we’ll try to figure something out,” decided Peter.

“I’ll do it,” offered Carla.

Peter looked at her incredulously.

“What?” she added, pretending to act offended “I might be a princess; it doesn’t mean I’ve not learned to cook, well, basic things anyway. Katherine learned her sparring, I learned cookery.”

“If you’re sure,” said Peter, still looking sceptical.

With a defiant toss of her head, Carla stood up and began to chop some of the vegetables. She then shoved them into a pan with some water and placed it over the fire after awkwardly lighting it with the splint.

“I’ll get some blankets,” proposed Rebecca and Peter pointed her in the right direction.

After a simple meal of boiled vegetables, rye bread and nuts gathered by Peter that day, they all settled down on the thin blankets on the floor, deciding there was no point in someone keeping watch since they would be trapped within the confines of the citadel anyway.

“We need to get out of the city soon,” said Peter.

“Not without Katherine,” mumbled Carla before falling into a fitful sleep.

Rebecca faced the wall and feigned sleep. She closed her eyes but all she got was images of the Opposers chasing them. She couldn’t believe that they were going to try and evade the guards and free Katherine. It was suicide. Yes, they couldn’t leave without Katherine, but they didn’t have a hope to storm the dungeons. It would just be simpler to hand themselves over to Ravana. After all, even if they by some miracle managed to free Katherine, they’d never be able to get to safety. He wasn’t the sort of man to just give up.