Charades

Chapter 22

     I peeled my eyes open. It was freezing. The hard cement ground I lay on felt like a glacier and I jolted up, my eyes wild as I remembered what happened.

     Emir caught me. My uncle had won.

     My eyes gazed around the jail cell I was in. There were metal bars across room, blocking me off from a dimly lit hallway. There was nothing in the jail cell either. Merely a single bowl for bathroom duties and I gulped, my heart pounding at the sight of the cold, enclosed space I was in.

     Ronan.

     My eyes darted to the cell next to mine and there was Ronan. He was laying on the ground shivering, looking almost lifeless. His face was coloured with blues and blacks that littered his jaw and temple and they were blossoming across his face, expressing the wounds inflicted upon him. My heart clenched at the sight of him, so painful I felt like I was on cardiac arrest.

     "Ronan," I whispered.

     Ronan stirred and groaned. He pulled himself up to sit and gasped, his teeth gritting. He turned to look at me, his hair wild and his body sagging against the cement ground. It was dark in these cells. Only the hallway in front of us was lit with these dim, orange coloured lights, and it was barely enough light. Especially when it was night time and the one, tiny window at the back of my cell was full of nothing but the night sky.

     "Are you okay?" Ronan whispered.

     I shook my head. "I should be asking you that."

     Ronan and I stared at each other for a moment, our eyes filled with emotions I couldn't quite read. I couldn't believe what I did to Ronan. Devan was right. Because of me, I brought pain to Ronan and I was about to ruin his life.

     Devan. The sight of him chasing us, confessing what he'd done was like a nightmare, repeating in an endless loop. I opened my mouth to tell Ronan what Devan had done, but then my mouth fell shut because I couldn't do it. After everything we'd been through, I couldn't break Ronan's heart again.

     Our eyes flew to the hallway as we heard feet thumping down stairs that had a clanging sound to them, as if they were made of metal. And soon, both Uncle Azad and Emir emerged out of the darkness of the hallway, their faces full of mischief as they gazed down on us. There was a savage look to Emir. As if we were his feast he was ready to devour.

     "Well, well, well," Uncle Azad. "Hello, niece. It's nice to see you again after you betrayed us."

     My jaw clenched. I wanted to scream, to shout, to tell him to go to hell, but I bit back my tongue. Like I always was when it came to my uncle, I was too scared to speak.

     "You were a fool to run away," Uncle Azad hissed. He stopped in front of my cell and grabbed the cold metal bars that blocked my way to freedom. "You should have married Prince Emir. I would have given you everything. I would have made you a ruthless ruler that everyone would both fear and love. But, you lost that. You will now be nothing, but my puppet."

     "I was always your puppet," I spat. "I rather be in these cells than let you use me as your pawn to rule over Narakha."

     Uncle Azad glared at me, his eyes growing wild with fury. I shrunk back and I hated myself for shrinking back in his gaze.

     "Don't speak to me like that you worthless woman," Uncle Azad hissed. "I'm your uncle. I'm a man and you're nothing. Just useless waste of space."

     I held his gaze. I may not be able to fight, but I wouldn't show him how much his words left me wanting to cower.

     "Hello, fiancé," Emir said, walking to my uncle's side. Emir motioned for my uncle to step back and my uncle listened. I tried to hide my surprise as I realized already, Emir had some control over my uncle, who I'd never seen listen to anyone. "I missed you."