Torn

Chapter One

"Faye, listen to me, you need to run now! Run as far away from here as you can, and try and find safety, take my cloak, I'll find you later, okay? I promise." My brother's face is lined with pain and anger as he barks the order at me. His blond hair is untidy, unbrushed, and my own eyes look back at me. He is only four years older than me, yet he acts like a warrior.

 I nod, tears streaming down my face. I wrap his dullened wine-red cloak around my body. He grabs me and holds me in a swift, bone-crushing hug. I hear distant shuffling and mumbling. Looking at me as if for the last time, he practically throws me out into the frosty morning. I'm greeted by the icy path behind our modest home, with frozen, dead leaves scattered on the floor like pencil shavings. Before I pick myself up, hear my brother issue a battle cry that would make even the scariest monsters cower in his path. Muffled shouts and screams fill my ears, and I'm unsure who they're from.

I don't want to run, my legs are full of iron and lead, yet Casimir's orders echo in my head and I begin to sprint down our garden path, towards the roaring river. The beginnings of flowers and shrubs peek out from the soil, and trees line the path that I'd walked so many times, reaching for me, yet this time they seem... sinister. I reach the narrow stretch of water at the bottom of the garden and leap... Straight into the middle of the river. Cold water seeps into my nightgown, weighing me down like a ton of bricks. My feet brush something slimy and I bite back a shriek. A current pulls at my legs, knocking me off my balance, and I stumble. I take another step, but I stand on something sharp and jagged. This time I do shriek. And this time I do fall. I plunge into the icy water punching at my stomach, knocking the air out of me. I breathe in the water and grime fills my lungs. It starts filling my ears with a dull drone of rushing liquid. I stop breathing. I stop seeing. I stop hearing. I stop being sweet little, innocent Faye. I'm swallowed up by the darkness that invades my mind. And I let it happen.

I haul myself out of bed, stretching in the darkness that greets me. The same dream, just a different night. The other side of my bed is empty and cold- clearly Kole's already gone out riding or training. Fatigue weighs down my head, pushing my eyelids closed again, but I begrudgingly force them open. Even after eight years on the guard, it's still near-impossible to wake up on time. The scent of sweat mixed with honey wafts into my room- Ramon and Anwyl are also up. Shit.

Another lecture from my dear adopted fathers impending, I pad out of my room and into the kitchen area. Ramon smiles his greetings from the table, shovelling porridge down his throat in order to get to work. Anwyl stands over the stove, boiling tea. I sit down at the table, as Anwyl ties up his sandy hair in a bun with a scrap of leather.

"I think today we'll go through hand-to-hand combat," Ramon says, his voice gruff from drowsiness, "there's been an increase in assaults and your guards need to be able to deal with the attacker without harming the victim." I nod, making an unintelligible noise, not bringing myself to utter a word at this ungodly hour. His dark skin shines in the candlelight. He must've gone for a run before anyone woke up. Damn, is everyone more in shape than me?

Anwyl pours the tea and puts a mug in front of me, before trying to tame my hair into a braid. I let him, for once, the pulling on my honey coloured mess a sharp awakening. A few strands get caught on the metal bar piercing my eyebrow and ear- as well as the three small silver hoops lining the border of my ear.

"You know you don't need to do this for me everyday, right?" I say, my voice scratching against my throat. "It's been nearly ten years."

"I am aware, Faye, however, I know that otherwise you would leave the house looking as disheveled as your father and your fiancé." I huff a laugh appreciatively. After he finishes his gruel, Ramon stands and gives his husband a kiss before saying, "I'll see you in the training hall in exactly half an hour, or you'll be doing laps for the rest of the week." I roll my eyes and groan. Calling his goodbyes, he heads off to open up the Hall for my guards to train in, leaving Anwyl and I to the dishes. Before he can hook me into drying, I make my exit- saying I need to freshen up before my training session.

"You really think I buy that?" Anwyl smirks, throwing a dishcloth my way and dunking his hands in the suds. I begrudgingly take it, and trudge back to the sink, awaiting the pots and pans.

"You nervous for next week?" He says, throwing me a sideways glance, which I already know is full of concern. 

"I'm coping." Kole and I are getting married in exactly eight days and seven hours.

"You're coping rather well for an eighteen year old, I must say," he goes on, "better than your fathers." He chuckles at his own joke, but I can see the worry behind his eyes.

"So you don't have a problem with me facing murderers and criminals everyday, yet my wedding sends you into a tizzy?" I nudge him with my elbow, trying to cling to our easy morning conversation.

"I've never said that I don't worry about you everyday. But, like with Ramon, I've had to learn to hold my tongue. My worrying doesn't make anything better, it only makes you two more pissed in the process." I laugh. Anwyl's always had a twinkle in his eye whenever he makes you laugh. It makes you want him to like you. Luckily, I've had over a decade to get him to like me and I think it's safe to say we've formed a pretty tight bond. 

"Here's another thing I didn't realise throughout the many years I've been planning this holy matrimony," he goes on, "You're getting married on the day exactly ten years since Ramon found you." I already knew that. I was six years old, and nearly dead- as Ramon has told me several times. Our house was being robbed and our parents were out of town. My brother did what he thought was best for me. He didn't count on the fact that I couldn't swim. Ramon and his husband found me approximately two weeks later, wrapped in his cloak. 

"I need to get ready, I can't be asked to run laps today and I have about twelve meetings to attend." I pull my uniform off of the rack in front of the fire where I left it last night. I had to wash it after yesterday's arrest including mud, rain and a butcher.

"Oh the horror of being Captain of the Guard!" Anwyl gives me a swift kiss on the cheek, still chuckling at his own joke before I tug on my uniform and make my way out, grabbing my brother's cloak. Luckily it matches the King's symbol adorning my chest and earrings. I trudge in the damp morning, dew still clinging to the grass outside of our modest cottage. The honeysuckle climbing up the brick walls mingles with the ivy. It's secluded, away from everything. Away from the castle, the King, and my duties. Unfortunately, I have to abandon this sanctuary in favour of doing my job. 

It's a steep climb to the castle, it's turrets reaching up to the heavens, it's grounds covering hundreds of acres. I've barely explored half of it. Kingsmen- my men- line the gates, but they part to let me through. I do my best to look awake and alert, and navigate my way to the Training Hall where Ramon awaits, probably baring gifts of exercise and other fun forms of torture.