5. When there's no escape....

Tic

Toc

I sighed in frustration.

Tic

Toc

The clouds in the night sky were starting to look unmoving.

Tic

Toc

I smiled nervously as I heard the grandfather clock strike midnight. It meant it was time. I grabbed onto the ledge of the window near my bed. Once I climbed out there was a rope tied to a pole underneath my window. I didn't have time to question how it got there. Using the instructions I was given, I grabbed onto it and tried to climb my way down, slowly. Not to slow, I was told so I didn't get spotted by the guards. Once I got down, I ignored the pain that was in my arms and suddenly ran into the direction of the stables. I was told to keep close to the castle walls unless it was necessary. I found a lantern on near the maids quarters and I started to steer clear of it until I saw who held the lantern. I walked to him and hugged him.

"It's not over yet." Malik warned me and I nodded. "But good job. I knew you had it in you."

"Thank you." I said but I knew that if wasn't for the little training he had given me, I would have died trying to climb that wall. We walked in silence to the stables and tried not to startle the horses once we got there. I found Winter who immediately perked up once she saw me. "Hello, my lovely beauty. Did you miss me?" I whispered as I petted her muzzle. I hadn't been seeing her since I had been locked in the castle. She made a low noise of agreement. I opened her stable and let her out. I waited at the door as Malik got one of the castle's horses. We put on saddles before we got on top of them. Once we opened the door, our horses walked out . I looked at the moonlight then the castle. I was done being princess of Astraea.

"We're heading to the forest and then make out a plan from there." Malik told me.

"What about Phillip?" I asked. He was still in the dungeon and I felt so sorry for him. He did not deserve to be there.

"I have a plan for that." he replied.

"Okay." I said as I gave Winter a little nudge on the side and she started to gallop. I trusted Malik to get Phillip out since I knew I couldn't it myself. I started to feel happiness as we went straight to the gardens. No guards were usually stationed here so we wouldn't get caught. I looked at Malik and smiled and he did the same before it all went wrong.

Raging blue fire appeared out of nowhere in front of us. The horses got scared and dropped us on the ground. My arm went first to the ground and I hissed from the impact. I tried to stay calm as the pain in my arm got worse. Winter and the other horse ran away and we watched as soon as the blue fire came, it vanished. I felt fear creeping in. I had never seen blue fire and I knew it didn't exist. Malik was right on his feet when he saw it and got into a fighting stance. I tried to look in the darkness but I couldn't see a thing.

"Get up princess. Something is not right here." He said seriously and I did. He took my good hand and we ran through the garden but there was no use. I could hear the guards behind us as they got near to us. I knew I wasn't a fast runner, I wasn't athletic. The fire appeared in front of us again and we stopped coming into a halt. Tears started to run down my face. I knew we weren't going to make it. "Listen to me carefully." Malik said as he turned towards me with his hands on my shoulders. "Obviously, there's more here than just guards. There's some magic being used."

My eyes widened, "Magic?"

"Yes, it has to be a shapeshifter or a fire elemental. I'm going to leave now but I promise I'll be back with a better plan. Okay?" Malik said and I nodded. He kissed me on the forehead and that was when the guards came storming in. What was a shapeshifter? A fire elemental? I had never heard such terms. But the more I watched Malik run into the darkness, the more I realized he was more than just a stable boy. The guards roughly picked me up and when one of them gripped my hurt arm, I screamed in agony.

Malik, I'll be waiting for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next two days were silent. The guards that were at my door were replaced. Metal bars were put on all my windows. I got daily visits from Anastacia but she didn't say much. She just sat in a chair for ten minutes watching me as if I would suddenly talk to her. They let Louisa still serve me but she barely said a word to me. But I understood. If she spoke to me they would kill her and I wouldn't wish that life for her. She was a wife and a mother meaning she had other people who depended on her.

I had hope that Malik would come back even though the castle was heavily guarded now. It was evening when the guards opened the door. Louisa came in to give me dinner even though she knew I wouldn't eat it. I was scared that the food had poison since she was not the one who cooks it. It wasn't long before the door opened again and Lykos walked in. I glared at him while Louisa bowed. I had not seen him since the ball weeks ago and I had wanted to keep it that way.

"The guards told me you're not eating Ilene." He said as he stood a distance from me with a frown.

"I do not see how this is any of your business." I told him as I crossed my arms and looked away.

"It is my business. You are my fiancée."

I scoffed. "Fiancee ?I'd rather eat snails than marry you."

"Be careful what you wish for." He said as walked towards my bed and I started to back away.

"What do you mean by that?"

"No one has ever punished you. Your father let you roam free and do whatever you wanted. He must have been a horrible father." He said and that's when I got off the bed and walked towards him. I slapped him.

"Don't you ever speak ill of my father!" I told him and I watched the surprise appear on his face. He grabbed my arm and squeezed it. I had not fully healed and my arm was still sore. I winced.

"I guess I will be the one to teach you manners." He said as he placed his hand on my bosom and grabbed it. I screamed and tried to free myself from his grasp but he didn't let go. I heard a loud bang behind him and I watched as he let loose on my hand and fell. Louisa stood behind him with a kettle in her hand. I immediately went to straighten my dress as I tried to wipe the tears that were falling down my face.

"My princess, you have to leave! You have to escape!" Louisa whispered.

"Everything alright?" A guard asked from the outside.

"Everything is good. I dropped the kettle on purpose." she said in a confident voice.

"Louisa, I can't run away from here by myself. It would never work." I said as I started to pace.

"Of course it wouldn't. I'd come find you myself." Lykos said as he stood up and I backed away from him. He went straight for Louisa and punched her in the mouth. I screamed. When he punched her again, I rushed and tried to hold him back but he was too strong. He pushed me to the ground and continued to punch her. A guard peeked into my room and when I tried to talk to him, he quickly went behind the door, closing it.

"Stop hitting her!" I shouted as I stood up again and tried to get him off her only to be pushed away. Somehow I landed on the other side of my room. I sat there and watched as he continued to hit her even though she didn't fight back. His fingers were suddenly longer and with one hit blood decorated my walls. I stood up slowly with a plan in mind. I had to save Louisa. She had been kind to me since the day I met her and I wouldn't let her die because of me. I laughed inside painfully at the thought of me running away with Malik. It was impossible now. This would become my life." Lykos!" I said as I placed my hand gently on his back. Somehow that stopped him.

I tried not to show my fear as I saw his eyes. His pupils were red. I could visibly see his canines protrude out of his mouth and they were razor sharp. "Yes beautiful." He answered.

"Please let Louisa go." I said calmly.

"That's not good enough." He started to turn away from me.

"If you do," I started and took a deep breath. I tried not to cry as I said, "I will marry you with no complaints. I'll marry you willingly. I'll behave. Please just leave her alone."

I watched as Lykos smiled and his eyes went back to normal. "We must seal this with a kiss." he said happily. I thought of refusing. I still remembered how Malik's lips felt. But before I could say anything, he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me to him. He roughly placed his lips on mine and I didn't move mine till I felt five sharps things prick my back. It was where his hand was and I knew that had to be claws. I kissed him back as passionately as I could, but my tears still fell down my face. His tongue forcingly opened my mouth and I adhered to it. His tongue was everywhere in my mouth and I continued to kiss him back. After a few minutes he stopped and smiled. "Goodbye beautiful." He said and left.

I ran to my bell and rang it. I ran back to Louisa and held her in my arms. She was unconscious and still bleeding. "Hold on. I hope they send someone to help you." I whispered as I held her tightly and cried. I couldn't lose her. She had been a close friend of mine since I was young, almost like a second mother . "Somebody help!" I screamed hoping the guards would have mercy and help us. It wasn't long before Eleanor and the royal doctor came rushing in. Eleanor helped me stand up and that's when I finally realized how tired I was. I could also feel a headache coming.

"Your highness, your back is bleeding." Eleanor said and I could feel myself starting to sway.

"It is?" I asked before I saw darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'~~~

A week had passed before I had finally healed. Apparently I had a lot of bruises from when Lykos was throwing me around. Louisa was still unconsciousness , my new maid informed me and it worried me. Everyday was a struggle to wake up knowing that I had to go through this hell hole. My hope for Malik's return was starting to wear out. I started to believe that he had probably just ran away, never coming back. I mean I would have done the same. I still couldn't get the blue fire out of my head that night. I wondered if it was Lykos. Malik had talked of a shapeshifter. I asked the maid to get me fantasy books from the library and only one had talk of a shapeshifter.

It was a creature or a human that could turn into an animal. That meant that Lykos or Attor could have been the dragon shifter that caused the blue fire. I needed more signs but I knew I couldn't make either of them shift. I slowly got out of bed and rang the bell. A few minutes later, my maid came rushing in and helped me shower since I was still sore and helped me dress. Lykos had invited me to breakfast at the main hall. I had no idea if Attor and Anastacia were going to be there but I guess it didn't matter. One guard had now been stationed to my door. I didn't know if it was because what I had said to Lykos or that they were needed somewhere else.

My maid walked behind me incase I fell or something. I was still sore but Lykos had insisted on this breakfast thing. I looked outside the windows as I walked to the main hall and frowned. The skies had been looking gloomier and it was summer. Once I got to the main hall, Lykos was waiting for me. He led me to a seat at the table. He looked excited which was weird coming from him. "Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Not really." I replied

"I am sorry. Sometimes I can't control my temper." I looked at him to see if he was being genuine but he had a stoic face. He was probably not. Anastacia and Attor came walking in and we all bowed. They sat down at the ends of the table. It was a silent breakfast until the end when Lykos walked up to me. I panicked wondering what he was going to do. Was he going to hurt me again? I watched as he went down on one knee and I froze. I could hear Anastacia squealing a little like a little girl, and Attor chuckling. "Princess Ilene of Astraea, will you marry me?"

I felt bitter. Why was he proposing? I already knew that I was going to get married to him by force. "Yes." I tried to say as cheerfully as I could. I knew one frown and Lykos would hit me again. The ring was one I had never seen. The band was silver but the moon and the wolf howling to it was made out of a precious stone I had never seen. Then the servants near us started clapping and cheering. He stood back up and that's when I decided to hug him tightly. He seemed satisfied with my response because he hugged me back before softly placing his lips on mine. I tried to stay calm and not look revolted when he backed away. At least he didn't hurt my lips this time.

"This is wonderful." Anastacia said with a smile.

"Now all we have to do is send her to Kakon to prepare for the wedding." Attor said as he walked over to us.

"What?" I asked.

"You're going to go first before we do because you're the bride. There's a lot of traditions back in Kakon that you have to do plus you have to get used to the castle." Attor replied and I tried not to show my shock. They wanted to get rid of me. I grabbed Lykos' hand and squeezed it. He looked surprised when I looked at him and I tried to look frightened.

"Why aren't you coming with me?" I asked in the best scared tone I could come up with. I was not going to Kakon Empire alone. If the men there were exactly like Lykos, I would not survive.

He looked flabbergasted by my question. Who knows? If I kept this act up, I might be able to find a chance to escape. "I would but...."

" He cannot." Anastacia said with finality as if she saw right through my act. " He is needed here."

I frowned as I sat back down to finish breakfast. Lykos gave a quick peck on my forehead before he sat down. If I went to Kakon, how would Malik get to me if he was coming back?

Malik, please hurry up.