The Art of Courts and Lies (Book 1 in The Gifted Trilogy)

7- No Windows

The next few moments swam by in a blur of movement and chaos. Arms encircled my biceps and before I could open my mouth, I was being dragged towards the doors at the front of the room. As I passed the thrones, I turned to look at the different kings.

The expressions on their faces varied of surprise and anger. I met the gaze of Nox who held a look of amusement and before the guards holding me could whisk me out the door, I gave him an obscene gesture. His laugh echoed through the halls that I was quickly led through.

As my captors led me down a hall lit by some unseen source of light, I managed a glance around my surroundings to see that wherever I was being led to was somewhere deep inside the castle. Probably so that I would have less of a chance to escape.

The two guards remained silent as they led me further and further down the twisting hallway until we got to a set of stairs. As we descended down the stairway, I began to replay the events that just took place in my head.

I was now a participant of the Garner. Kesserian had threatened to kill me if the other rulers didn't agree to this and when given the chance, he dismissed a girl that actually wanted to be here. This was all real. I was now little more than their puppet.

A wave of hopelessness washed over me but even as the dread filled my body, I could still hear Tessa's words clear in my head.

Never. I'll never stop fighting. You'll find us again.

I nearly sobbed at the memory. It was only earlier today that I had said goodbye to my sister, despite the fact that it felt like centuries. And with our goodbye I made her promise to keep fighting and in return I promised to find her. Somehow. Someway, I would get free of this place and see her shining face again.

With my purpose newly restored in my mind, I straightened my spine and pulled back my shoulders, walking as if I were the one leading, not being led.

Soon enough we reached a narrow hallway with only a blood-red carpet as decoration. One of the men opened the door on the right as the other practically shoved me in.

I took in the room. It was mostly bare with grey walls, a king post bed with a matching grey comforter and a small desk in the corner. A dresser sat beside another door that lead to what I could only assume was the bathroom.

"You'll stay in this room until one of us comes to transport you somewhere else." One of the men behind me spoke. "Don't bother trying to escape. We have guards surrounding you as well as the others."

"How comforting" I replied dryly, not bothering to turn back around to look at them. When they realized that I didn't intend to say anything else, they silently filed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

When I didn't hear a lock click, I allowed my shoulders to slump ever-so-slightly. Trapped, yes. But encased, not yet at least.

I slowly scanned the room, walking to the opposite side of it. The living conditions here weren't bad and as embarrassing as it was to think, I couldn't help but observe that this room was far nicer than my old one used to be.

I used to share a bedroom with Tessa, if you could even call it that. The room was barely big enough to fit our bed and a tiny dresser that we shared. Every night before we fell asleep, Tessa would turn toward me and with those wide blue eyes, she would ask me the same exact question.

Are we going to be okay?

Usually it was a lie that fell from my tongue, seeing as we almost always were in dire circumstances. We were almost always one failed hunt or one unpaid day away from starvation. I almost always had dark circles under my eyes and my skin was almost always covered in grime from that day's work due to the fact that we had no clean water to spare.