Something With a Prince

Chapter Thirty: Bothered and Bewildered

Lansing

I hadn't realized I moved. There was no way I could have gotten to her or broken the bonds around my wrists, but I had. She was staring up at me like I was a stranger, both of us breathing hard, and bewildered by what just happened. Yet somewhere inside I felt this sigh of relief. Like I had passed a test I had been studying for all my life. However, that relief was short lived when I realized I had just thrown myself in front of a giant floating blade without thinking.

Saorla clapped her hands together, "Oh, what fun!" her voice echoed off the walls. "I've been waiting for you two for such a long time. I think we'll celebrate tonight with a little dinner."

Thea and I hadn't stopped staring at each other. Her blue eyes wide and somewhat betrayed. As if I had just broken a promise by saving her. That's when I looked away and dropped my arms, turning away to gape at the glass that was supposed to be driven into my back.

What is happening?

Saorla was standing by us now, releasing Thea from whatever hold she was under. "Then we'll start the test." Her eyes traced over Thea, "We have to make sure you're absolutely perfect."

Whatever Thea was thinking, it wasn't visible in any of her normal tells. There was nothing but an icy exterior and piercing eyes. Her hands were shaking behind her back, and I felt the air grow rife with tension. Those blue eyes slid over to me, slowly, then down to the floor where the glass was, to the broken window behind us, and back to me.

Her upper lip curled, baring her teeth.

Snap!

Thea's hands were tearing out from behind her as she ripped a piece of glass from the wall and overtook Saorla. The two of them clashing on the floor, Thea's knee digging into the witch's chest hard as she brought down the piece of glass with all her force. I found a shard of my own, tucking it away before I ran toward an arrow jutting out of the wall and ripped it out. The two creatures from the cellar were quick to meet me from behind the throne. Both pictures of terror, with featureless faces of grey and blue and bodies thinner than humanly possible. Just like the thing in the forest. Each limb was long and barren, like a skeleton barley fleshed. Whether it was their throats or their bones that made that clicking noise, I didn't want to know.

One lunged for the arrow in my hand, letting out a screeching noise that made my teeth buzz in my skull and my ribs shutter. The arrow was old, the wood incredibly rotted out, but it would have to do. Swinging down with all my strength, I plunged the tip into where I imagined an eye would be.

Its body writhed on the floor, black liquid-like tar oozing from its face as it tried to pull the arrow out with its grotesque hands. Then it shuddered to a stop and bled out. Leaving me with a black splattered face, and shard of glass no bigger than a dagger blade to defend myself. The second creature reared up at the other's death and crawled across the floor on all fours, scurrying faster than I could track with my eyes. Everything in my spine went rigid, my legs readying themselves for a fight. This one was much bigger than the last. More thoughtful in its attack.

What are you scared of prince? A voice slid into my mind, like someone licking the inside of my ear. It was wet and cold and made me shudder from the inside. Can't you see me?

I whipped around, feeling it scurry behind me.

You aren't watching your girl either.... You're going to have to choose.

Saorla had Thea's wrist in her hand and began to laugh in this scratchy disembodied way that made the room echo in a crowd of laughter. Spiders scrambled over the floor, up Thea's knees and arms, but she didn't think twice, using her weight to push down the glass shard. It pressed down into the witch's skin, dripping with Thea's blood, and the witch laughed harder.

"Lansing, run!" Thea called through gritted teeth when she saw me looking at her, "Go, I'll find you!"

Then, the glass went through the witch's throat. Into and under her skin, like she absorbed it. Saorla licked her lips, and moaned a very-not-okay noise, eyes bleeding out into that red. The witch threw Thea off and stood up, gripping Thea by the hair. She continued her laughter as she ripped Thea to her feet and regurgitated the shard of glass back up.

Better decide. She's about to be skinned alive. The creature laughed, knocking my legs out from under me.

Thea stared at the witch in horror, and I chose her, forcing my muscles to propel me into action. Skidding across the floor and plunging my piece of glass into Saorla's lower spine. The witch howled, arching her back violently and dropping the shard in her hand, but still holding Thea by the hair. She turned on me, and without looking at Thea once more, threw her back to the floor where two creatures wrestled her down.

"Ungrateful wretch! You just don't stop do you?" Saorla growled, dropped to her knees, gripping me by the ankle, then my thighs, crawling up my body and pinning me to the floor. Her fingers grew out like tree roots, stretching over my shoulders. I didn't know if I was breathing, but I could hear Thea, fighting hard against those grey creatures, screeching profanities.

Saorla's skin flooded a blue- black, and her jaw swung low as she spoke, "I should have taken your tongue that night in the forest. Maybe then you would have learned your lesson."

I spit into her face as a last resort.

Her eyes flared, shooting with crimson veins. Her teeth sharpened into points as she moved her hand down over my heart, her fingernails digging into my skin. As if she was prepared to rip it from my chest right then and there.

"Now that I don't need you anymore," her voice was made up of a thousand voices, all guttural and wailing. "I think I'll take your tongue now...and make you watch as I rip this pretty little body apart. Piece by piece," Her hand wrenched my jaw open, "And how delicious it will be..." her eyes gleamed, "Because you'll not remember how to scream without it."

Everything curdled inside me as her nail met my lip.

"Wait!" Thea's voice ripped into the moment, "I'll take the test! I won't fight, I'll do whatever you want, just let him go!" Her breathing was harsh, it made her voice crack, "I'll take the godforsaken test, just don't hurt him!"

"I don't believe you," Saorla sang, another nail knocked against my bottom teeth.

"Saorla, I swear it!" Thea tried again, straining against her captors.

This made the witch pause. Then she withdrew her hand, purring at me as she replied to Thea, "Very well."

Her eyes melted back to what a normal human's looks like, a startling brown color, and pushed some hair off of my forehead. I hadn't realized I was sweating, that my heart was palpitating with adrenaline. She leaned in close to my throat, where my pulse was hammering, and took a deep breath, a sick smile curling her face as it went back to that beautiful, human façade. "Until dinner, little prince."