Forbidden |18+

XXXVI: Tracker

XXXVI: Tracker

The days blend together with the nights, the stagnant feeling of merely existing within this cage has the gears of my mind continuously spinning. There is one thing I keep coming back to, and that's Odette was right that my family bloodline really doesn't know its heritage, otherwise...

...Eli would have been the one to walk out into the light and challenge Prince Rune for the throne. None of my family know they descend from the second branch of the direct royal bloodline.

The irony of my situation continues to baffle me.

Eli and I could have worked together to put our family bloodline in power on the throne, though if I tell him what our true nature is now, I'm not sure if that will do any good. At this point, it might be wiser to keep this information hidden.

Three...

I stare at the wall, my back to the front door of the silver-barred cage. Two lines and a third marking that it has been three days since Eli gave me a week to live. When I wake, it'll be the halfway point, the downward slope as I slip closer and closer to the fate which has been passed over me by his judgment. Setting one of the small stones down on the ground in front of me, I breathe out slowly, trying to keep my sanity.

I would be lying if I said my hope is strong and resilient...instead, everything within me is starting to flicker and fade out.

I'd seen Eli in the dead of night on day two, where he woke me up just to inject me with another dose of liquid silver. He doesn't want me to escape, that's the only sure thing I know because, without someone to frame for the soon to be deaths of Prince Rune and Liliana, outsourcing will immediately take place. King Seskel and Queen Arabella will order the entire Morðingi bloodline to seek out who is responsible for their deaths. With assassins like the Morðingi, the truth will be unearthed quickly, especially with Odette at the helm...

...however, that won't happen.

With the rate time is slipping, it seems that I'll be their scapegoat. I know I should have faith, I just feel completely helpless, and I hate this feeling, more than I ever have in my life. I wish I were brave; I wish I could turn the tables on Eli, though I can't.

Perhaps, it's wishful thinking that my knight and shining armor will come to my rescue at the very last minute. Leaving things to the very last second is stressful for anyone, and I might just have to accept the reality of the situation.

It's natural for one to panic when trapped and caged like an animal, waiting for execution.

Ulric...

Ever since that moment, Ulric has not connected with me the way he did before, and I'm starting to think I imagined communicating with him, to begin with. With the trauma I'm going through, and have already been through, it's no surprise I more than likely hallucinated earlier days. After all, silver courses through my bloodstream and binds me physically. I don't think any established bond can overcome a fatal weakness to one's species.

Releasing a soft sigh, with the third day ending, I lower myself onto the cold floor. Bringing my knees up to my chest, I wrap my cuffed arms around them, holding any warmth closest to my heart. Tears form in my eyes, the silence of the room deafening.

Sleep.

Sleep comes easily with the way my exhaustion is reaching its limit.

"Beautiful songbird, won't you sing me your sweet tune? A hauntingly chirp of sadness fills the whole room," it's a melodic sway in the sound of Jinx's voice that slowly brings me from my uneasy sleep. Her tune fills my head, my eyelids blinking slowly as they open gradually, pushing myself up onto my side as I sit gingerly.