She was told to fear him...
She was told that his evil would devour her...
She was told to stay far away...
But what if they were all wrong?
What if the Cold Prince could love?
What if he loved her?
Anya is born with a gift that only the royal famil...
"This way," the nurse said, leading me to an empty cot next to Luca.
I looked at the other three and saw how tired they appeared. They must've slept just as horribly as I had. Cora looked the worst.
The King took interest in us before I'd gotten the chance to speak to the trainees. I directed all of my attention on him as he beamed with joy.
"Today is going to be an amazing day!" he said, clapping his hands together. "Today, you will all become greater than you were before! You won't even need another day of training! You will be invincible!
"This procedure will only take ten minutes each, and then you'll be taken to a resting room where you will be monitored for three days. After that, you will be released for testing and if successful, we'll move to phase one. Now...shall we begin?"
The King's gaze passed over each of us but lingered where I sat. I felt my skin crawl as he stared into my soul and was thankful the moment his eyes lowered to the pouch in his hand.
He opened it and turned toward the elderly man, pouring the stone onto gloves hands. Only, it wasn't the stone that he poured out...
It was a crystal.
The King's eyes were wild as he picked up the piece of crystal to examine it. He then turned toward us with reddened cheeks and angry eyes - eyes that were ready to kill us.
"Stand up!" he beckoned, and we each rose to our feet as quickly as we could. He slowly walked toward us, stopping first at Titus while staring him down with frosty eyes.
"Someone took the stone," he said and then moved down to Cora. "And I'm guessing it's one of you. I've been suspecting one of you to be my traitor for quite some time." The King then stood before Luca. "Is it you?" he asked, and then positioned himself directly in front of me. I quickly lowered my eyes. "Or perhaps...you."
"No...I-" The King reached a hand out and grabbed my neck. His eyes were full of fury as he stared me down.
"My father taught me that the first one to deny is usually the guilty one," he spat, and gripped my neck tighter. What had I done? Why had I spoken?
He leaned close and whispered in my ear. "Where is it?" The King squeezed my neck tighter and I could no longer breathe. "Where is it? Huh? Where is my stone?"
He then let go of me and I fell to the floor, fighting to inhale air while coughing simultaneously. The King grabbed me by my hair and pulled my head back so that I peered into his ominous eyes.
"Don't play stupid, girl," he said through clenched teeth. "I know you took it! You had it first and then you took it back! Where is the winter stone?"
"I...I don't have it," I cried, feeling frightened and in immediate danger. I hated that the others did nothing to help, but I knew they couldn't go against their own King. I was alone in my battle and the King sneered.
"I know you took it to stop me!" he continued. "I bet you also let those Firelanders loose to kill me! Listen here girl, I'll let you rot down there with your new Firelander friends for all I care. No one will be able to do anything about it! If you want justice, I suggest you tell me where the stone is."
"I didn't take it," I yelled at him and he smacked me across my face. My cheeks burned as tears came to my eyes. "Prince Sebastian," I cried out, wishing for his help.
I needed him!
"Your Prince is not here!" he reminded me.
Suddenly, more guards spilled into the room and the King moved away. "Take her to the dungeons," he ordered. "Take her through the secret passageway so that no one else sees where she goes. And if anyone in this room tells another soul about what happened today, I will kill you."
The guards pulled me away and I begged them to release me but it was no use. They didn't take orders from me, they took them directly from the King.
"Shut her up!" he yelled at them, and I felt a hand slam into my head.
My body instantly went limp, and darkness welcomed me.
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Discussion time:
Who took the winter stone? What evidence (if any) has been left in the last two chapters to hint to who it could be?
