Royal Pain ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Thirty

''Sir, I believe Lana wanted to discuss matters with you.'' One of the men closest to the door interrupted Aiden's groans of pain.

''Yes, yes. I'm coming.'' His voice was stern, his eyes hard as they turned back to me, ''I'll be back later and we can pick up where we've left off.'' Those were his parting words as he left the room, the other rebels trailing behind him.

The heavy metal door slammed shut behind them, the sound of the mechanical lock echoed around the small space.

The moment we were alone, I rushed over to the bars separating me from Aiden. Even though my father had clearly already labelled me as a traitor, I still hadn't wanted to confirm his suspicions by rushing over whilst he was still in the room. But now, my thoughts were focused on trying to help my Master.

He was writhing in pain, clutching an area of his leg where some sort of dart was poking out which I knew must be the cause of his suffering. It didn't take me long to realise that the liquid that was clearly visible within the dart was slowly seeping its way into Aiden and increasing his torment.

''Aiden, pull it out!'' I practically yelled. Thankfully, he seemed to understand my words and hastily grabbed the protruding object, yanking at it until it released its ruthless grip.

The creases between his eyebrows deepened with concentration as he seemed to try to stabilise himself. I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain he was going through, it looked tremendous.

Watching Aiden try to regain himself, my thoughts drifted back to my father, a once loving man turned ruthless by the trying times of war. Whatever he had been through in the years he'd been away from myself and my mother had changed him in the most terrible of ways. Betrayal was the strongest emotion seeping through me, clouding my mind and memories that had previously been beautiful of my family.

''Violet, we have to think of a way out of here.'' Rose's desperation shocked me from my thoughts, bringing me crashing back to the present situation.

I nodded, my eyes focusing once again on Aiden who had seemed to calm down somewhat. The sight of his dishevelled appearance was disturbing, he'd always been so smug and arrogant, and now he had been reduced to a mess.

There had to be something I could do to help him.

''Aiden, what can we do?'' I asked in a quiet, shaky voice, wrapping my hands around the thick bars separating us, my mind working overtime trying to piece some sort of plan together. I'd never done well under pressure.

''There must be something we both can do, Violet.'' Rose's words were rushed and I could tell she was trying to think as urgently as I was.

My eyes drifted to Josh and the sight of his still form, there would be no help from him. The colour had returned to his cheeks I could see, much more than they had Aiden's but then he hadn't been hit by as much as the prince.

Then an idea sprung to the forefront of my mind.

Before I could doubt myself, I searched around my small cell until my eyes landed on a large padlock protruding from the cage door. It was a solid form of metal, similar to that of the bars. The sharp edges were intimidating, but I knew what I had to do.

Standing on wobbly legs, I thought they might cause me to tumble back over, but I managed to maintain my balance and walk slowly towards the padlock. Rose watched, her eyes questioning, but I had no intention of voicing my thoughts as I knew she would protest.

It was a stupid idea.

''Violet, what are you doing?'' Rose's tone was apprehensive, but I didn't acknowledge her. It would be too easy for me to back down if she started telling me how crazy my idea was.

When I reached the bars through which the padlock rested, I reached out my hand and wiggled it through, only just managing to get my hand through followed by a section of my wrist. Closing my eyes tightly shut, I wrested my skin on the metal of the padlock edge, the inside of my wrist instantly turning cold where it touched.

Then I swiftly brought my wrist back against the edge, biting my tongue to stop the cry of pain that automatically wanted to escape. I heard Rose gasp, but refused to open my eyes and look into hers that would most certainly show both fear and disapproval.

''Violet, what the heck do you think you're doing!? There're cameras in here, Violet!'' Rose exclaimed much to my dismay. I was already reprimanding myself for being so rash, who was I to think that I would survive this? He had no reason to stop once he started.

I didn't look at her, instead turning around and heading back towards where Aiden lay, mostly still now. My eyes found their way to him, only to see him staring back at me with a look of both horror and wonder, ''Aiden, I have to help you.'' I spoke sternly, holding my wrist up before him, a small trail of blood curling its way down my arm.

''Violet, please...don't.'' His voice was pained.

I wasn't going to listen to his protests; instead I pushed my hand through the bars separating us, relieved that my arm fit through. The space was only just wide enough, the blood on my wrist smearing itself onto one of the bars. Aiden's eyes were locked on the red liquid, a scarlet colour swirling in their depths.

A thrill raced down my spine at the thought of being able to help us out of this place. Although, the fear of him taking too much still remained.

The vampire tore his eyes from my wrist, ''You really are different.'' His words were cryptic, but I didn't have time to comprehend them fully as he leant towards my arm.

The bite was different this time, probably because Aiden wasn't feeding out of pure anger as Josh once had, it could be said that Aiden was actually being gentle. There was the momentary discomfort from his fangs digging into my flesh, like two needles expectantly waiting to draw blood. But, this time the sensation of him drinking was different, it didn't feel as if every ounce of my life liquid was being tugged towards the spot all at once, it was much more gradual. Obviously the sensation was far from nice, but it was much less painful.

Then it was over, almost as quickly as it had begun.

I felt him pull away, still supporting my arm. My eyes had closed involuntarily during the entire process, opening them seemed more difficult than it had been before. He was staring at me, his own eyes dancing with several different shades of blue. A part of me realised that he hadn't taken as much as he should, but I was extremely grateful that he hadn't taken any more.

I sat up slowly and pulled my hand from his, realising that I had been slouched against the cold bars. Looking around, Rose was succumbed to silence, her eyes wide with concern. In the cage beside hers, Josh had awoken and was staring at me, mirroring Rose's shock. At least he'd finally decided to join us.

A screeching sound echoed around the room. Startled, I looked over to see Aiden bending the bars between our cages, the metal screaming in protest as it curled at odd angles. My eyebrows rose as I realised it was my blood that had allowed him to do that, which I had hoped for all along. It was satisfying to think that my plan had worked.

It still didn't seem easy for him, after all the bars were thicker than my own arm and made out of solid metal, but he finally managed to make them wide enough for him to squeeze through into my cage. My emotions became complicated as I realised we were in such a small space, but Aiden didn't seem to mind. Despite my wrist still steadily bleeding, he made his way past me and begun bending the bars at the front of the cage without a word.

I covered my wrist quickly, applying pressure to the gash that I had caused myself, and small bite marks that Aiden had made to make the blood flow.

''Did I miss something?'' Josh's suspicious voice broke our verbal silence.

''Only Violet making some ridiculous decision that might just save us.'' Rose's voice was slightly breathless, though it wasn't difficult to tell that she was also relieved that we had found some way out of here.

My concern was that this was the easy part.

The harder part would be having to escape the compound, and dealing with my father.

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A/N Thanks for reading, please remember to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! :)