Chosen

Chapter Eleven

~Arabella's POV~
I open my eyes, my head pounding painfully, and look around. I'm in a dark, cold room, laying on the floor. I sit up and hiss in pain as a fresh wave of pain assaults my head. Where am I?
"Hello?" I call out, praying that somebody will hear me and help me. I wait in silence for a few minutes and am starting to lose hope when I hear a set of heavy footsteps come towards the room I'm in.
The door opens and a man steps in, shutting and locking the door behind him. He turns and look at me, chuckling.
"Well look who's finally awake." He says, tauntingly. "Have a good sleep?" He laughs, somehow finding humor in his words. I don't say anything, only back up until my back hits the wall. He narrows his eyes, walking closer to me.
"Do you want to know why you're here, little one?" He says, menacingly. I don't say anything, lowering my eyes to the floor. I feel hands on my chin, forcing my head up. "Do you?" I'm silent. Pain flows through my cheek as my head jerks to the side. "Answer me!" He shouts, in my face. "Don't think I won't slap you again. You'd be making a mistake by underestimating me." I hold in the whimper trying to escape me.
"Yes, I'd like to know." I whisper quietly, holding in tears that are threatening to slide down my face. I don't want them to know that I'm scared, I want them to think I'm strong, unafraid. How would Adrian act in a situation like this? That thought strengthens me and I raise my head to meet his cold eyes. I make my face expressionless and my eyes cold. He raises an eyebrow, believing my act. He steps away and starts pacing the room.
"Well, you see, we are trying to destroy the kingdom, and to destroy the kingdom, is to get rid of the Prince, and the way to do that, is to get rid of you. You're the Prince's weak spot, if you kill you, it would kill him, therefore destroying the kingdom. Good plan, don't you think?" I shake my head, meeting his eyes, coldly.
"You're wrong. I'm not his weak spot. Why would you even think I'd be his weak spot?" The man laughs, loudly, shaking his head, looking at me as if I don't know anything.
"Oh, you really aren't that bright are you? I've got eyes and ears in the castle, sweetie, and they watch Adrian and you very closely. You may not see it, but we do, you are definite his weak spot." My eyes widen at his words. There are rebels in the castle? How does the King and Queen not know? The man sees my expression and laughs once more.
"It was easy, really, to get rebels into the castle. We only had to tell them what the rebels are working towards and they were on board. I think that one of them is actually one of your guards. You know Callum, don't you?" My eyes widen when he mentions the name of who was supposed to be my guard.
"Ah, so you do know him." He cackles, evaluating my expression. "Would you like to see him? I'm sure he'd love to see you." He's here?! I shake my head, narrowing my eyes.
"Of course you want to see him. Callum? Come in and say hi!" The door opens and in walks Cal, smiling.
"Hello, Arabella, so nice to see you again." He says in his deep voice. I don't say anything, only glare coldly at him. Cal raises an eyebrow and I feel pain across my cheek again, the man slapped me again. That only happens when I don't answer someone, I guess.
"Hello, Cal." I say, venomously. Cal chuckles.
"It's so nice to know that we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, isn't it?"
"No, it's really not." How can one man be so annoying?
"Oh, trust me, you'll love seeing me soon. We'll be best friends." I narrow my eyes in disgust. 
     "Don't give me that face, you look so much better when you're smiling."  he grins, obviously enjoying torturing me. How am I going to get away with him here?  Please, Adrian, find me quickly, I silently plead. I don't know how much I'm going to be able to take before I give up. I'll fight them for as long as I can, but I don't know what they're going to do to me. But I sure as hell am going to do everything I can to make it difficult for them.
     "Are you going to cooperate with us? Or are you going to make this difficult?" The man says from the corner of the room, looking at me arrogantly. He thinks I'm going to cooperate, well he's going to be disappointed. I pretend to think for a little bit, allowing a little of the fear I feel through on my face, to make them even more confident. Then I look up into the eyes of the cold-hearted man in the corner and smirk.
     "Why don't I give you a bit of a challenge, huh?" I challenge, smirking even bigger. He narrows his eyes, stalking towards me.
     "Are you sure you want to do that?" He says, menacingly. I raise an eyebrow, laughing lightly.
     "Why wouldn't I be?" I'm so not going to make this easy for them. His eyes narrow even more and he raises his fist, punching me in the face. It hurts, but I don't let him know that. I put on an expressionless, almost bored-looking face and meet his eyes again.
     "You're going to regret that."
     "Am I?" I challenge. I feel another punch to my face, even harder than before.
     "I'm going to break you, girl, don't doubt me on that."
     "I'd like to see you try." All I feel after that is pain, pain that I keep bottled inside, not allowing my emotions to show on my face. They punch, kick, and slap me again and again, not stopping until I fell unconscious, slumping to the floor, welcoming the dark, peaceful abyss that I sunk into.
          ~Adrian's POV~
     "We have to find her!" I yell into the room, filled with guards, my parents, and my sister.  I don't know why they let Evalyn come to this meeting, but I guess it's ok, if she wants to see her brother go crazy in front of her. "She needs us, they could've hurt her." 
     "We know your majesty, we are doing everything we can to find her.  The Rebels left some evidence of where they are, we are trying to track the exact location. We will find her, sir, don't worry." The head guard, Luke, tells me. He looks as worried as I am. Do they know each other?
     "Do you know Arabella?" I ask. He looks at me, surprised by the question, then he nods.
     "I'm her guard, sir, she's one of my good friends."  I nod, she becomes friends with everyone, a smile almost comes over my face, but doesn't make it, falling my the sadness that fills my heart. 
     "Ok, well then you want her back almost as much as I do, find her, quickly."  I don't know what they are doing to her or how much she will be able to take before giving up. I wouldn't be able to live if she died thinking that I wasn't trying to get her back. I wouldn't be able to live if she died.
     "We will sir, don't worry." They all leave, going to track down Arabella, and I leave as well, going to the Women's Room, where all the Selected girls should be, to tell them what happened. She's only been gone for almost a day, and I'm already falling apart. 
     I knock on the door, and a maid opens it.
     "Can I come in for a few minutes? I have an announcement to make." She nods and the door opens wider, letting me in. I walk in and smile grimly at them.  They all sit up straighter, trying to look seductive. It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes, annoyed.
     "Hello, ladies, how are you all doing?" I say, politely, they probably think I'm here to ask one of them on a date. "I have an announcement to make, so listen up." They all sit up even straighter, probably thinking that it's something good.  Before I can speak, Marley talks quietly.
     "Can I ask a question first, your highness?" She asks, timidly, I nod. "Where's Arabella?" I close my eyes, silently sighing, and open them again. I see most of the girls look around, just barely noticing that she isn't here. 
     "That's actually what I came here to talk to you about."  I pause, not wanting to say the words about to leave my mouth. "Lady Arabella was taken by the Rebels." A collective gasp rises from the room. Tears fill Marley's eyes as she hears the news, and I feel tears fill mine as well. I take a deep breath, trying to block out the pain surrounding me, and address the girls again. "We are doing everything we can to find her and bring her back safely. I want you all to take precaution and be extremely careful around the castle. We don't know when or if they will come back and take someone else." Everyone nods, I nod back  and turn around, leaving the room, feeling the eyes of the girls on my back as I left. I shake my head, Marley was the only one that knew Arabella was gone, the rest of them were clueless.
     I turn the corner and walk up the stairs to my room, entering, slamming the door closed, and lay on my bed.  I feel the tears I was holding back slide down my cheeks, as my body shakes. I'm so sorry, Arabella. I love you, I will find you and bring you home, don't you worry. My body shakes even more as silent sobs rack through me as that thought enters my head. I fall asleep, finally, welcoming the darkness that's been trying to consume me all day.
       ~Arabella's POV~
     I wake up, feeling pain everywhere.  They had beat me all night, until I was bruised, cut, and hurt everywhere, not one inch of my skin unscathed. I hear someone chuckle, humorlessly, and sit up, not letting the pain I feel show on my face. They haven't broken me yet. I look around until my eyes land on the man that has been inflicting all the pain. I narrow my eyes, showing my disgust and hatred for the man in front of me.
     "Still holding out, huh?" He laughs again. I roll my eyes, he I'm going to give up, let go of my life, he's thinking wrong.
     "You aren't going to break me. Why don't you just give up?" I croak, swallowing to get rid of my dry throat. It didn't work. They haven't given me food or water in three days.  If I don't get water soon, I'm going to die. My body will shut down and I won't be able to do anything.
     "Well, I was thinking, you're going to die soon, from lack of water and food, but I want to be the one to kill you, so here." He hands me a cup full of water and a sandwich. "Go ahead and eat." That was suspiciously nice. But I'm too hungry to think about it.  I drink all the water and scarf down the sandwich. I want more, but I'm not going to show that.
     "What, you're not going to thank me?" I look up and scoff, laughing lightly.
     "Why would I thank you?  You've done nothing but hurt me, and you just admitted that you're going to kill me. I see no reason to thank you."  His eyes narrow angrily as he stalks toward me. He pulls out a knife and my eyes widen slightly, as I look at it. He comes closer and pulls me up, pressing the knife to my throat. My breath catches as fear courses through me.
     "I'm not going to kill you yet, don't worry. I'm just going to make sure the Prince won't think you're face is so pretty anymore."  He presses the tip of the knife to my face, right above my eyes, and slowly drags it down the side of my face and to my chin, leaving a bloody trail in its path. I hold in the whimper trying to escape as pain engulfs me. I clench my jaw to hold it in. He sees this and chuckles.
     "Not so strong anymore, are you?" He chuckles again, dragging the knife down the other side of my face, along the same trail as the other side. He then goes down to my arms, gripping my wrists tight enough to leave a bruise, and cuts up and down my arms, deep enough to leave scars, but not enough to bleed heavily. I can't hold in the gasp that leaves me when the pain flows through my arms and face. He laughs, stepping back and putting the knife away. I look down at my arms to see them covered in blood from all the cuts across them. I look back up and glare fiercely at the man laughing at me.
     "I hate you." I seethe, venomously. The man only laughs even louder.
     "Oh, I know. I just don't care. I'm tired listening to your voice. Cal! Get in here!" My heart drops when Cal walks through the door, smirking. "Beat her for me, until she's unconscious." He then leans against the back wall to watch. Cal stalks forward, smirking the whole time, until he's right in front of me. He wraps his hands around my forearms, tightly, and slams me back into the wall. My head hits the wall with a sickening crack and my vision goes blurry, before coming back. I see the look on Cal's face, and it frightens me. He's never had this look before, this look is dangerous, insane. This is not going to be good.
         ~Adrian's POV~ 2 hours earlier
     I hear a knock on my door, jolting me from my thoughts, and get up to go answer it. Luke is standing there, a weird expression on his face.
     "Yes?" I ask, getting a bad feeling in my chest. 
     "Sir, we found her." He doesn't have any time to say anything else, I'm already running out the door.
     "Let's go. Get your best guards and get ready to go. I want you down at the front door in ten minutes." I order, running down the hall to my parents room. I knock on the door and my father opens it. He looks concerned when he sees my expression.
     "What's wrong, son?"
     "They found her." I don't have to say anything else, he's already running through the door, and together we run down the stairs and to the weapons room. I grab my sword, a pistol, and put on my armor. My father does the same and we are down ready to go. We leave the weapons room and walk to the front door, meeting the guards there.
     "Ok, here's the plan, find Arabella, and kill anyone that tries to stop you. Understood?" A chorus of 'yes, sir' rises from the group and I nod, satisfied. "Ok, then let's go." We walk out the door and to the armored trucks waiting outside for us. I get in the back with my father while two guards get in the front. Seconds later, we are driving quickly towards Arabella. My heart lifts when I think about getting her back, then sinks when I wonder what condition she is going to be in. If she's hurt, I'm going to kill whoever caused her pain. It takes about an hour to get there and my nerves get worse with every passing minute. My father puts his hand on my knee, stopping the bouncing that I didn't even know was happening.
     "She'll be fine, we'll get her back, don't worry." I try to smile, but I'm afraid it came off as a grimace.
     "But what if they killed her? Would they stoop so low as to kill an innocent girl just to get to me?" I can't even bring myself to think of what I would do if that happened. I wouldn't be able to live.
     "Don't think like that, it won't do you any good. She is going to be ok." I nod, trying to get that into my head. She is going to be ok, she is going to be ok, she is going to be ok, she is going to be ok. I repeat that thought until the truck stops. I take a deep breath, preparing myself for what I might see. We all get out of the truck and I look around. We are at a small cottage in the middle of the woods, no wonder it took so long for them to find it, it's in the middle of nowhere. It shouldn't be too hard to find her.
     "Ok, remember the plan. Head in!" I order, moving towards the door. I tentatively push it open it and step inside. I look around, there's nothing up here. I head further inside and look for a door leading for anywhere, she has to be here somewhere. I find a door and open it, revealing a set of stairs leading down. I look behind me and find the group of guards staring at me. I nod my head down and mouth 'she's down there'. I'm about to head down when I feel a hand on my shoulder, holding me back. I turn to see Luke standing behind me.
     "I should go first, they could be waiting for you, with guards posted at the door. I'll go first, so that if they shoot, I'll be the one to go down." He pushes me back and walks down quietly, before I can object. I follow him down immediately. He pauses at the door, waiting, listening. I listen too and hear something that chills me to the bone.
     I hear a loud thud, followed by a sickening crack, then I hear a loud gasp. It has to be Arabella, who else would it be? After the gasp, I hear something that sounds a lot like a punch and all I see is red.
     "Luke, they're hurting her, we have to stop them." He nods and storms down, kicking open a door.  I follow him into the room and stop, surveying. I see a man in the corner, fighting Luke, I see Cal by the wall, smirking down at something on the ground. I follow is gaze and see Arabella, hopefully only unconscious and not dead, on the ground. Blood pooling around her. I attack, seeing nothing but red. I hit him and kick him until I'm sure that he won't move again. Only then does the shock set in, one of my trusted guards, was a rebel. I shake my head, feeling disgust. I look down at Arabella and kneel beside her, putting her head into my lap, gently pushing her hair out of her face. I see the two long cuts running down her face and rage fills me. It only increases when I see all the bruises and cuts all over her. There is not one inch of skin that isn't hurt.
      "Oh, Arabella, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I would do anything to make you ok." I can't even tell if she's alive, I can't tell if she's breathing. I put my fingers to her throat, checking for a heartbeat. At first I feel nothing, and my heart sinks down to my toes, but then I feel something, a heartbeat. It's barely there, but it's there.
     "We need to get out of here, she's alive, but barely, we could lose her anytime now. Get Cal and restrain him, do the same to the other one, and let's get out of here." I pick Arabella up, cradling her in my arms, and walk up the stairs, to the truck, putting Arabella in my lap.
     "It's ok, you're safe now. All you've got to do is stay alive for me. Please, I need you Arabella. I love you."
         ~End of Chapter~
AHHHH!! Oh my gosh, this was the most emotional chapter ever for me! It took me 3 hours to write this. Hope you like it!! Please vote and comment! Love you all!!