Rogue Queen ➵ 2.0

➵ XXXVII. Start a Riot

Tuesday, February 20th, 2018, 1:00am

Start A Riot - BANNERS

Asher's POV

The days just blend together.

I have barely any sense of day or night. I just sleep when my body tells me to, which is basically all the time, because there's nothing else for me to do, other than daydream about being rescued.

I'm starting to really doubt that anyone's coming for me and I hate it. That I don't have faith in my family and the fact that it's possible they really did abandon me. I want to believe that they'll come for me but it's hard to do that with Thatcher filling my head with lies.

Nothing but a burden.

Glad he's gone.

No one needs him.

Weak.

Pathetic.

Useless.

They won't come for you. They don't care. They just said they did. No one wants you. Not your pack, not your family, not your mate. You have no one. You are no one. They left you here. Said they would save you and yet they didn't. They don't want you. No one does.

So many lies. They circle in my head, on a seemingly endless repeat. Throwing shadows over my confidence and strangling my hope.

It's been a long time since anyone's come down to torture me. It's just food and bathroom breaks now, nothing else. Nothing to distract me from the demons growing in my head. Not even sleep, not with nightmares plaguing me.

I've basically given up thinking about how things might be going in the pack. I've stopped wondering if they miss me. I don't really believe they're wondering about me, so why should I worry about them?

A bitter hate has been beginning to grow in my heart. Why did they abandon me? Am I not good enough? Did I not do enough for them? Why?

I sigh softly. No use in dwelling on whys. They left me here. Shit happened. Might as well accept it.

A loud crash pulls me out of my thoughts. Footsteps stomp loudly towards me, along with the sound of cursing. I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my chin on them, pretending to be asleep.

I hear the door open with enough force to slam it into the wall it stands next to. I hear the voices of Daring, Four and Darcy, along with one I don't recognize. Chains rattle and shackles click, so they must be chaining the newcomer in here with me.

Great. Company. Well, maybe this new person can help distract me.

The door closes again and there's silence for a minute or two.

"Asher," the unknown person hisses softly. "I know you're awake. Look at me, I need to fill you in."

My eyes open slowly, locking onto the green orbs watching me. The newcomer has knotted, bright red hair and a thin, freckled face. His clothes are dirty, torn and slightly bloodied.

I watch his expression fall as he studies me, gaze lingering on my eyes.

"Oh Asher," he whispers softly, reaching towards me, moving to the edge of the range the chains give him, which isn't very far at all.

"How do you know me?" I ask, voice raspy, eyes wary.

"Asher, I'm Killian," he replies. "Zaine used his shapeshifting power on me so they wouldn't recognize me."

My eyes widen slightly and a second later, the growing hatred within me pushes to the surface.

"Finally decided to come for me, huh?" I mumble. Killian blinks, confused. That only fuels the fire sparking inside me. "Don't give me that look. You left me here, for I don't even know how long and now you finally decide to show up?"

"Asher," Killian says softly. "We would never leave you here. Not once did we even think of leaving you here."

"Really?" I reply sarcastically. "Then why? Why didn't you come sooner? Was I not worth it? Was it payback for what I did to Rei? Why didn't you want me?!"

Killian's expression is disbelieving and shocked. "What did he do to you... I swear, Asher, we did our best to find you and we came here as soon as we could. We would never abandon you. Royals look after each other and no one gets away with hurting one of us. No one."

I stare at him, feeling the hatred fade and die out. How could I have ever thought they would leave me here? How could I let Thatcher manipulate my thoughts so much? How could I lose faith in my family?

I shake my head softly. "I... I'm sorry, for-"

"You don't need to apologize for anything," Killian says, cutting me off. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a vial of some clear liquid, along with a golden ring, sliding them across the floor to me. "The liquid in the vial is to cancel out the wolfsbane, you need to drink it. And the ring is like the Chains, it lets you mind-link."

"Why didn't Daring or someone take these from you?" I ask, glancing at another gold ring around his finger and downing the contents of the vial, shivering slightly at the bitter taste. "And how'd you get here?"

"Daring's with us now, along with Four, Max and AJ," Killian replies. "Daring called and told us they were here at Shadownight's pack house, we flew here along with your alpha friends, it took a day to refine the plan and sure it was as King-proof as possible.

"Zaine changed me since King doesn't know he can alter others and I got captured on purpose. We decided it should be me because one, they would expect Zaine, two, Rei would end up giving herself away by attacking someone and three, I can break these shackles pretty easily. Turns out, King thought we would try to outsmart him and has been focusing on blocking all the extreme, overcomplicated ways we could foil his plans but forgot to block the simplest ways we could ruin him, sneaking one of us in being one of them."

I frown slightly, putting the ring on. "So he thought of everything but this?"

"Basically," Killian replies. "That's what Daring said at least."

Asher, Rei's voice echoes in my head, sounding relieved.

Rei, I whisper back, missing the feeling of having her in my arms.

How're you doing? Raiden asks softly.

As alright as I can be, I reply.

What happened? Jayden asks, yawning.

A lot of shit, I reply as he starts looking through my memories.

A few seconds later, before I can do anything, I'm pushed back and Jayden takes control over our body.

"Get me out, Killian," he growls, voice furious. "Get me out so I can make them pay for what they did to Asher."

Easy, Jayden. We attack at dawn, Rei says, When Daring says the rogues will be tired from patrolling all night.

Fine, Jayden grumbles, stepping back and giving me control again, taking to pacing back and forth in my mind angrily.

"So," I say slowly, "What's the plan?"