After the Walls

Chapter 25

Someone clamps a hand over my mouth, their palm filled with a powder that makes me cough and I choke. I inhale the powder in an instant and stumble. The battle seems to crawl to a stop around me. Bodies, my soldiers, little the beach, turning it into a red wasteland of horror. Sirens and Red Movement soldiers shove their way past the remaining kingdom warriors, past Ruben, who they have restrained against a lonely tree stump by the Floodgate walls. There's a gag in his mouth and fresh lacerations have torn his clothes. He's soaked in blood. His head rolls to the side and his eyes are closed, his mouth hanging ajar.

Someone has already knocked Ajax and Aston unconscious with whatever concoction the powder is. My mind goes woozy. Numbness and tingles fill my muscles and bones and my knees buckle. The world spins and grows hazy and the last thing I hear is Edward's manic cackle.

--

Darkness surrounds me like a cloak. I open my eyes, or at least, I think I open them, desperate to catch pinpricks of light. But the black ink is heavy against me. My temples throb. Bruises and wounds come alive all over my body from the battle and the gnawing panic does little to mask the pain.

"Ruben?" I call into the void, wondering if this is, in fact, death.

"Elle?" a voice cuts through the blanket. Not Ruben's.

"Ajax?" I peel my back from the hard stone floor, letting out a groan as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Where are you?"

A hand touches my shoulder and I yelp. "It's just me," he says, voice gentle and strained with pain. "I'm in a prison cell next to you. I think we're in the dungeons."

"Under the palace? Edward hasn't whisked us away somewhere else, has he?"

"I think he's tucked up in bed several floors above our heads, nursing his wounds with a nice glass of shadowteeth blood."

I press my lips together, feeling around in the dark. My hands meet frigid stone walls, only an arm's length away on either side. I find a bucket that I dread having to use. The smell of vomit and urine permeates the otherwise stagnant, dusty air. The iron-barred door allowed Ajax to reach around and stick his hand into my cell.

"Do you know where Ruben and Aston are?" I ask.

Ajax clicks his tongue. "I think they must be in here. Likely still passed out."

Our voices echo, telling me the dungeon is probably rather empty other than four prisoners.

"Ruben?" I call into the obsidian. "Where is he, Ajax?"

Memories of him bound to the tree stump, soaked in blood and passed out, crawl out of the depths of my subconscious and I wish I could bury them away.

I let out a hiss as a bright warm light blooms to life. A flame dances on its wick, splashing shadows and light throughout the hallway of cells. Fear grazes my arms. I take in the charcoal-coloured stones that comprise the walls, and floor, and divide the hall into cells. A lump comes into view in the cell across the walkway. His bronze hair shines in the candlelight.

"Aston," I say. He sprawls on the cold, hard floor, passed out.

That's when the heavy iron door screeches on its rusty hinges as it inches open. A pair of dark brown boots prowl into the hall. The harsh beat of his solid footing makes me grind my teeth. I can smell him before I see him. Dressed in an alabaster waistcoat, and wearing a sinister smile that reminds me so much of his father, Edward slithers into the dungeon. A sword – my sword, rests in the sheath fastened to his belt.

"You're a liar," I snap, my voice shaky. "A liar, a traitor. We cared for you. We trusted you. How could you?"

His scar stretches as he flinches at my words and those jade eyes roam my face. "Elle," he says my name and I want to reach through the bars and throttle him. It sounds like a curse word in his voice. "I never promised my loyalty to you. You only swore yours to me." He taps the spot over his heart, his finger quivering like a small child after a scolding.

I can practically see the shadowteeth blood in the red veins of his eyes. Bold. Bright. Dangerous.

"So, you wanted a kingdom of people who would never leave you. Unlike how your father did." My voice wavers and I stand up, fighting the rage threatening to take me over. "Honestly, I understand now why your father couldn't stand to be around you. No wonder he left you. You are nothing but a pathetic monster who endangers people because he's too afraid to face the truth of who he is. To face the possibility that you are too foul, too evil for love."

My words hang in the air like corpses dangling from their necks. He releases a harsh bark of laughter, but the pain festers in his eyes like an infected wound and he pulls out a dagger, spinning it around. "Fine. Make me your monster. As if you and I are all that different."

"Trust his grace to speak in cryptic," Ajax pipes up from the other side of the wall. "Yet, he's just a little boy who cannot go without his shadowteeth blood." He pouts, pretending to wipe a tear.

"You're all nothing but ungrateful bastards," Edward says with a sneer. "That blood is magic. It cures the drown and cured the blight that made half of you starve for generations."

"It's turned you crazy and is stripping away at your psyche," I snap, gripping the cell bar.

His brow arches, as if this is news to him. "Speaking of which, you are probably thirsty. You reminded me of someone who can bring you water. He's my new personal assistant. Can you imagine having two jobs? Commander and assistant! He's working hard."

Fear jumps down my throat and I freeze. Ajax flings curses at Edward like food scraps.

"Brother!" Edward bellows and I flinch. "Why don't you come out and tell Elle about the new plans for the kingdom?"

No. No. No.

The iron door squeals again as someone shoves it open. Ruben stalks into the room, movements stiff. But his face startles me the most. Covered in scratches and bruises, his usually bright forest eyes are lifeless, and hollow.

He opens my cell door. I cannot muster the wits about me to move or protest as he yanks a black hood over my head, smearing my tears, and cuffs my hands behind my back.