chapter 39: lily's torture.

The cold dungeons of the palace seemed to draw out the heat of my heart. With each step I took, the thrill of uncertainty and fear forced me to stop. The hourglass slowly ticking away my last breaths. Moans and screams ripped through the air, from those unlucky enough to suffer Malachai's cruel pleasure.

A shrill laughter shook the walls of the torture chamber I was shackeled in. I could taste the sweet aroma of iron and fear that thronged the halls. My feet dragged along the cold stone floor as I looked around at the instruments hanging on the walls.

Far in the next room, I heard the agonized cries of my brother, Arthur. His words radiated with pain and dread, his muffled cries punctuating the thick silence of the room.

"Ah, Lily," said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a boy with piercing black eyes and a cruel grin. Malachai.

Since the day we first met, Malachai had taken an unnatural interest in me. Despite my multiple attempts to rebuff his advances, he stayed persistent in his endeavours to court me. No matter what I did or said, his smile never faded.

I shuddered at the thought of the sadistic fiend that he was. Pride was etched in every inch of his face, with a sinister smile too delicate to be real. He was the son of the Dark King, with ambitions to control the world.

"Do you think that you're worthy enough to compete with me?" He jeered.

My silence shouted with defiance. I fixed him with a steely glare, determined not to surrender.

"That's too bad," he said, his voice dripping with a primordial pleasure. "I want to make you mine, Lily. I want to break your spirit and make you bend to my will."

He began to circle me, like a vulture waiting for its prey to die. His presence sucked the air from my lungs, making it difficult for me to breathe.

I heard a soft whimper from behind me, and looked to see the maids cringing in fear. If I succumbed to Malachai's unimaginable cruelty, the fate of the entire kingdom would rest on my shoulders.

Malachai gave me a twisted smirk and threw me into the torture chamber. My body hit the ground with a loud thud, and I felt the eyes of the maids on me.

The torture chamber itself was a bleak and dingy room, lit by an oil lamp. The shadows it cast were a message of my dismal fate, only broken by the occasional shafts of moonlight that poured in from the window.

My terror began to boil as Malachai approached me.

"Your time will come soon enough, Lily. Until then," he said as he circled around me, "I'm going to have some fun."

I could feel Malachai's eyes burning through me with a heated passion, the kind of lust you could feel through your skin. He had a sickening ease to his gaze - his eyes flickering with a sadistic pleasure. I had only ran into him once before and I had already decided that I didn't want to see him again. Yet here I was, a few steps closer towards my own demise.

My brother's cries echoed through the walls; a reminder of the pain I'd have to face if I stayed here.

Gripping the cold stone wall for balance, I was met with an ice-cold sensation that seemed to seep into my very soul. A chill had crept into my bones, and the freezing sensation seemed to be worsening as I shivered.

Slowly, nodding his head as if in agreement, Malachai spoke with a voice as sinister as his gaze,'At last, I can claim that which is mine for all eternity.' He gestured grandly to the torture chamber and drew a malicious grin.

Despair invaded my bones as the days turned into weeks, with no sign of hope in sight. My body numbed and my spirit wilted as the torture sessions continued.

Deep down, I knew I had to stay strong and not lose faith. I had to fight back against the darkness that overshadowed my life. I had to do whatever was necessary to survive and protect the ones closest to me.

I averted my eyes from his twisted smirk and glared in defiance. I wasn't about to surrender now, not when my brother and the rest of the resistance fighters depended on me to save them. I could feel my fists tighten with determination as I thought of all the innocent lives I had to protect.

'What do you think?' Malachai questioned, an eerie calmness emanating from him.

I refused to give in to his toying. Planting my feet firmly onto the ground, like a mountain refusing to move no matter how hard the winds tried to blow, I simply retorted a cold, 'No,'

Malachai's smirk evaporated into a hateful grimace as he stepped even closer to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder with a light but forceful touch, his sharp claws digging into my skin, enough to make me gasp with pain. 'You don't have to be so uncooperative,' he hissed into my ear before pushing me back with a malicious, yet strangely playful grin.

I glared right back at him as I tumbled back, adjusting my stance again with an icy determination that shook me to the core. My brother's cries pounded in my ear, reminding me of all I had to fight for.

The air around us seemed to grow even colder, and lay heavy with the tension of a thousand silent whispers. With a loud, echoing thud, Malachai slammed his fist onto the cold stone wall. His anger and raw power pulsing through the chambers.

The howls of the prisoners within were drowned out by Malachai's sinister cackle. He found pleasure and pride in others' pain, and this was only beginning.

Thick and heavy dread filled my veins. I'd been given a choice, and there was no escaping it. I was sure this was the last thing I'd ever do, and I had no intention of being taken in by his sadistic charm.

And so, the battle of my fate began.