Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-Three

"I do not doubt your strength, my prince... Four," he paused, giving me another firm pat and squeezing my hand down, "I simply do not want any harm to befall you in the process." I looked at him, surprised.

"Why?" I asked. Cypress's smile turned sad.

"Because you will be my son-in-law some day, and frankly, I already feel that way about you to begin with. It has been a true miracle to see how far you've come in just a year. May mercy fall upon those who stand in your way. And yet, I cannot help but worry for your safety, physically and mentally." He looked down at my hand and gave it another squeeze before placing it on my knee.

"You are a true gift to the universe, Four. Your strength and your perseverance know no bounds. And your loyalty to those you care for is inspiring. I'm afraid you cannot see it because you are so concerned with appearing the strongest, but, Four, strength does not simply come from brute force, agility, sword skills, or the like. Sometimes strength is our ability to face our fears. Do you understand what I mean?" I hesitated, because his words reminded me a lot of Apollyon's.

They both told me to face my fears, and there was a part of me that wasn't stupid and understood what they meant, but I didn't want to look at that just yet. I wasn't ready. I didn't want to say that because a dumb part of me didn't want to appear weak. They kept telling me that it wasn't a weakness, but it was kind of hard to retrain yourself to think that way when you'd spent your entire life being called weak.

Fuck, from the moment I was created, everyone at the compound had to constantly remind me of it, from Micah to even the Mother. Even the other artificials would poke fun at tiny me. I was smaller than them, I was physically weaker, and frankly they probably thought it was fun because I got pissed off so easily, but I couldn't help it.

I hated it. I hated being looked down on. I hated being left out. I hated being treated like a freak.

And for a brief moment, I felt a twist in my gut. I wasn't sure what it was, but I thought of Seven when I did. I had been one of many who'd turned on Seven back at the compound, because it was easy. Seven didn't have magic to protect himself. It made him an easy target. It made him weak. And if I could stomp on him, that made me strong.

Except Seven wasn't weak.

My face fucking remembered that beating. Definitely not weak.

But how fucking shitty did he have to feel that he wanted to run away from the only home he knew?

"Ah, I have a phone call to make," I said, making Cypress incline his head, "Uhm, can you come back with something a little more... I dunno. Not fluffy and cute?" Cypress grinned.

"But of course, my prince. I will endeavor to please your tastes," he responded cheerfully. I smirked at that and shook my head, getting up and heading out of the room. I took out my phone as I went down to my room and scrolled through the latest additions to my contacts list, which was fucking mindblowing.

A year ago, my contact list consisted of three people. Now I had Hadrian's number, Three's (which Hadrian gave me without Three's permission, but you know, fuck him), several of the Hadiferian clan's, River's, and, of course, the one number I was looking for.

I waited until I got to my room and shut the door for privacy before I sat on the bed and hit the video call button. It rang for the longest time before the screen turned black, then it faded to a view of Seven. Fuckin' Seven with his pretty long white blonde hair that was currently styled in some fancy braids, dark skin, and clear blue eyes that gleamed the moment they saw me. He was wearing some kind of weird silky tank top that honestly looked fucking girly, but somehow suited him.