Arranged (7 page)

He tensed for a moment before taking his hand back. "Do not fear me," he said.

The sound of him speaking her language surprised her so much that she jumped and gasped, trying to shield her face. "Don't eat me!" she whimpered.

She heard a soft rumble and realized that he was laughing at her. She swallowed hard. "I do not want to eat you," he said gruffly, his voice thick with an accent from his strange language.

She dared to meet his eyes, raising her chin bravely. "Then let me go."

His grew silent, watching her. "I cannot."

She felt hot tears threaten again. "Then why am I here?" she asked in a shaky voice.

He growled softly as he stood, straightening himself. "For now, you are a prisoner. You killed a Vidarian warrior."

"Killed?!" She gasped. "I killed no one!"

He studied her for a moment crossing his arms over his chest, "I hope you are right. You will remain here until the council has decided your fate." With that, he turned on his heel and left the cell.

The door closed behind him and she listened as a bar slid into place. He had left the lantern behind. She quickly grabbed it, her chains clattering as she moved. Her hands shook as she turned the flame down to save the oil.

She felt a little better now that she could see, but she was unnerved by that creature. She chewed over what he had told her. They thought she murdered one of them. They probably meant the body in the ravine.

It was an accident!
Her mind screamed.
It was chasing me…

She sucked in a shuddering breath. Would they believe her? Would they even ask her side of the story? Her eyes searched her stone prison as she lifted the lantern to help her see. There was no way to escape when her legs were chained to the wall. The cell was large enough to house more prisoners than herself. Chains decorated the walls; however, no one else was in with her. For that she was thankful. Who knew what manner of creature she'd be imprisoned with.

The walls surrounding her were damp and cold. It was obvious she was in a dungeon. She shivered, fighting the bone-cold that suddenly swept through her. She should have never run away. She should have stayed and tried to reason with her uncle again.

Her mind wandered to James. How could her uncle be so foolish as to think that she would ever agree to marry him? She wondered briefly if they had discovered that she was missing yet or if it was still too early for them to be awake. It was impossible to tell time when locked in a room with no windows. Even if it had windows, she was in a cave; she highly doubted the sun made an appearance in here.

Fighting to keep her mind from hopelessness, she brought the lantern to her ankle. It was definitely broken. It hung limply to the side and her ankle was beginning to turn a sickly green color. She grit her teeth in pain as her fingers grazed it. She had no idea how to set bones or splint so that it could heal. She had no supplies to work with. Then it hit her, she was going to die.

Her shoulders sank with a new heaviness. She had realized it before, but now she had a moment to ponder over it. These creatures would not listen to her; they would kill her and probably eat her, drinking her blood like the vampires she'd heard in legends from William, her father's friend. Even the thought of his kind face did nothing to sooth her. She tried to direct her mind elsewhere, but it was no use. She rubbed her hands quickly up and down her arms, but the cold seeped all the way through her.

She shivered violently as she wrapped her arms around herself. They had taken her cloak. What she wouldn't do for it now. The heavy material would feel heavenly. The thought of warmth only made her colder. Tears demanded to be released, but she fought them back. She couldn't lose it. She had to stay alert to every opportunity to escape. That was her only hope.

Sleep came, but it was not the blissful escape that she had hoped for. Instead, she had nightmares of being led to some strange altar and sacrificed. She constantly woke from one dream, only to fall into another, her hope for sanity diminishing with each dream.

Qwinn grit his teeth, his hand tightening around his goblet of wine as he thought of what the council was demanding. It was true that one of his best men was found dead in a ravine. They had found his body cold against the rocks. As his men set on a quest to bring the body back to the city to be given a proper burial, the council had convinced themselves that the human girl had killed him.

He couldn't believe it, Alison was kind, though she had also bested one of her other men by knocking him unconscious. The solider returned in shame, throwing himself into rigorous training.

Qwinn was sure that he knew Alison better than anyone else did and she had never shown a violent bone in her body. He was convinced that the death was an accident.

He slammed his goblet down, running his hand over his long dreadlocks. Adalia, his sister, had strung beads onto strands of it this time, insisting that feathers were not as popular any more. Qwinn paid no mind to the passing fancies of his people; feathers and beads were not what they needed, they needed a Queen.

He grit his teeth, having half a mind to march into the council and demand her freedom. She was his choice, surely the law would make an exception. Anger made his vision hazy. For a moment, he simply breathed deeply. He knew that he could never do such a thing without being thrown into the dungeon himself. The council consisted of the sacred members who upheld the law.

He sighed, resting back into his couch, remembering the first time he had laid eyes on Alison. She was much younger then, only a child and he was still a prince, awaiting the day his father would hand the Kingdom over to him. She had come to the forest with a stuffed rabbit tucked safely under her little arm. She spoke to it as if it were a real person. He had pitied the child; it was obvious that she had been through things no child should go through. Something in him warmed toward the tiny human girl. He felt a strong urge to protect her from the harshness of the upper-world.

She skipped through the forest, her tiny foot catching on a root of a tree hidden beneath the leaves, her rabbit tumbling away into the bushes. She cried softly to herself as she rubbed the ache from her foot. Without thinking of the consequences, he crept from the safety of the tree he was hiding behind.

She gasped when he came into view, freezing in fear. Qwinn smiled down at her, holding her rabbit out as an offering. Little Alison stepped forward cautiously, snatching the rabbit from his hand and clutching it tightly to her chest. She tilted her head slightly to the side as her big green eyes studied him in fear and fascination. She wondered if he was real. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but a voice rang out through the forest.

"Alison!" a maid called from the house. She turned toward the voice, frowning at the trees. When she turned back around, he was gone. She eyes scanned the trees and she looked behind the tree he had appeared from. He was gone.

Many things had changed since then. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, and he...he had grown cold.

Qwinn sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. He had never appeared to her again, before now. He had not wanted to scare her. What if his father was wrong? What if she didn't soften toward him? He couldn't think of that now. He had to convince the council that she was innocent.

There was a heavy knock at the door.

"Enter," he growled in his hissing language. Someone entered, but Qwinn's eyes were closed as he tried to relieve his ever-present stress.

"They wait for you," a deep voice said. Qwinn stood, straightening his clothes and royal sash. He followed his servant, Jabr, a man who was part dwarf, part Vidarian. Jabr was short but held the fine toning that all Vidarian people had; however, his beard grew nearly uncontrollably, a trait from his dwarf father. Today he had trimmed it close to his face. No doubt by sunrise it would be touching his chest. There was no one Qwinn trusted more, besides his Father and sister.

They made their way through the halls to find that the palace was strangely quiet. Qwinn placed a hand on the shoulder of his servant and friend. "I will go alone."

Jabr furrowed his bushy brows in question, but nodded and turned to continue in the opposite direction.

Qwinn needed more time alone to think and continued at a slow pace. His mind ran over numerous ways he could battle them, however two things remained true; they would either release her into his care or they would order her execution.

He cringed as he thought of the second possibility. He would not let that happen. It had taken him a long time to find her; there had been others; however, he was sure that Alison was perfect for him. His father had insisted that he would simply
know
when he found the right one. The Vidarian people mated for life, so it was very important that he be certain. He was positive when it came to Alison.

Too soon, he reached the large council doors. He sucked in a deep breath to clear his head. He had to be level headed and sharp if he was to convince them to remove the death sentence from her head. Without wasting another minute, he pushed the doors opened and entered the council chambers.

The creatures were closing in. Alison screamed as she ran through the endless woods. Fog rose from the frozen ground, making it hard for her to see. One hissed beside her, brushing her shoulder. Her heart leapt.

They were getting closer. She could hear the hissing around her as it grew louder, similar to the whispers in the mind of a crazy person. She swallowed her fear, she had to live.

The fog grew denser, making sure she was running blind. Suddenly, she felt hands on her back, shoving her. A scream ripped out of her throat as she fell, the earth disappearing from under her. Her hands lashed out desperately for something to hold onto, but she only touched cold air. The fog cleared as she tumbled head over feet. Her eyes widened as fear froze her heart. She was falling into the ravine, the body of the creature now a skeleton on the jagged rocks. She was helpless to stop her descent. The rocks were calling her swiftly to her death.

Alison shot up from her cold stone bed with a strangled scream. It took her a moment to realize that it was only a dream. She clutched her chest, trying desperately to slow her heart. The cool air in the dungeon chilled the sweat on her skin.

After a few deep breaths, she calmed enough to look around the chamber. The shadows were long, but as far as she could tell, she was alone. The lantern flickered with the last remains of life at her side. She wished she were back at the manor around the fireplace. She would be allowed to cuddle into a blanket and warm herself.

She laughed bitterly, never expecting to wish to go back to that place. And here she was, missing Jackson's manor in the trees. With a heavy sigh, she curled into a ball on her side, trying to huddle herself together for warmth. Though she feared more nightmares, her body lulled her back to sleep.

Qwinn didn't move from the shadows that concealed him in the corner of the dungeon until he saw her chest rise and fall deeply, indicating that she was asleep. After the trying council meeting, he had desperately needed to see her. When he had arrived moments before, she was having a nightmare. Though it unnerved him to see her suffer, he knew that if he touched her, she would wake and be even more frightened of him than she already was.

Now as she slept, he crept forward silently and laid his hand on her forehead. She wouldn't wake now, she was too deep into sleep. He took a deep breath, summoning his powers to shift pleasant thoughts into her mind. Instantly, her brows slowly relaxed from their tense position as a soft sigh escaped from her lips and she curled a little more.

Qwinn swallowed as he watched her. This was only the second time he'd dared touch her. His heart jumped. He pulled his hand back from her forehead before he could feel anything else. She would have no more nightmares this morning.

He stood after a moment, not sure if he trusted himself to leave her, but also afraid to stay. He knew that he needed to get some sleep before sunset. With one last glance, he let himself out silently of the cell. He frowned as he thought about how they would not allow him to move her to a more appropriate room. He grit out an order to the guard outside the cell to get a blanket for her and left.

As he walked through the halls, he barely noticed how the walls glowed green with the strange moss that seemed to cover his whole kingdom. His mind wandered back to the council meeting, replaying everything that was said.

Bartus, the councils oldest elder, banged his staff to quiet the room. All of the council members were there, including his father, who stared straight ahead with his pale black eyes that almost seemed to glow with a blue light.

When Qwinn had reached his manhood, his father had protected him in a battle, and in turn went blind after being sprayed in the face by a Torin warrior's acid. However, the earth filled his father with power. He called upon the magic in his blood and of the earth to give him sight through his senses. He defeated the warrior, but he would never have his eyes again.

Bartus stood, all eyes on him. "The meeting has begun," he said in his low voice. Though he was old and crippled with age, when he spoke, the words hit with as much impact as a man in his prime. Bartus' yellow eyes scanned the members until they fell upon Qwinn. "You may speak," he said.

When Qwinn stood, the old man eased himself back into his seat, giving the younger man the floor. Qwinn cleared his throat. "Alison is innocent. I have watched her from when she was a child. She is nothing but kind."