(jaylor au) clandestine meetings in beautiful rooms

You'll Be Made Of Ashes, Too

"Good morning." I hear when I take a single step outside my bedroom door. "I'm glad to see that you're still here."
I just nod, crossing my arms across my chest.
"I have good news. We aren't staying here for much longer."
"Where are we going?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that just yet."
"What, are you going to drug me again?" I say bitterly. "Because, if you're trying to make me actually believe that you are in fact my brother, then you can start by acting like it. If you were my brother - you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't dare-"
"Yes, I would, actually." If this really is him, if it is Austin, why is he like this?
"Please don't, Austin." I am hoping that by calling him this, I will gain his trust. "Please don't do it. The brother I know would never do that to me."
"I can't have you making any unwanted noises." He murmurs, his breath cool against my ear. "I don't know how much I can trust you just yet."
"I'll be good-"
Too late. His hand clamps down on my mouth, and the sickly sweet scent overcomes me.
This can't be him, it truly can't. He wouldn't do that to me, wouldn't abduct me. He wouldn't do this. The little boy that used to go running through the passageways, the boy who would be scared of storms, of foreign diplomats coming to stay at the palace. The brother that I do wouldn't do this.

When I come to, my head is pounding, and I hear shuffling in the room. I don't open my eyes, just in case I can discover something about anything.
"King Austin," I hear a voice say, an unfamiliar voice.
"I am staying here until she wakes. I want her by my side at all times. There is no way I am letting them take her." He says, his voice, deep. "Not after I've just gotten her back."
"Are you sure that is the wisest decision?"
"I don't care. She is my sister and I know what's best for her!" There is a loud crash, and that jolts my eyes open, and I sit up with a start. I see that he is sitting at a table, and there are servants picking up broken pieces of pottery he must have thrown. He threw it. He got so mad that he threw something across the room. I can't believe him. This can't be him. It can't be.
"What about the original plan?" The other man says, unaware that I am awake.
"Not yet- Ah! Taylor !" Austin exclaims, immediately rushing to my side. He tries to take my hand but I pull it away quickly.

"Don't touch me."
"I'll... Uh... Leave you alone." The man says, backing out of the room, bowing before he leaves.
"You don't look happy." He says softly. "I thought that you would be happy to find out that I was alive."
I glare at him. "You thought that being abducted and held against my will would make me happy? You thought that taking me away from everyone would make me happy? You thought that drugging me not once, but twice, would make me happy? You thought that being here, with you, would make me happy?"
"But I'm here-"
"I don't want you to be here!" I scream, cupping my face in my hands. "I don't want to be with you!" I get up, backing up against the wall.
His face darkens, his eyes cold and distant.
"How dare you say that to me! I am your brother!" He yells in return, standing up and pacing around the room. He is furious, I can almost see it boiling away in his veins.
"You were my brother, but you're not anymore! This isn't you."
I feel his hand connect with my cheek, just like my mother's did when I ran away with Joe. Oh, Joe. I miss him so much. I want him, I need him. He is the answer to all of my problems. And now, his fiancé is dead, unless everything my supposed brother has told me is a lie.
"Oh my God, Taylor -" He tries to come near me again, but I hold my hands out in front of me. "I am so sorry-"
"Leave me alone! Don't come near me!" I scream.
"I didn't mean to-"
"Go away!"
"Taylor please-"
"No." I turn my back, leaning my stinging cheek against the ice cold wall.
"I have been nice to you." He snarls. "We have plans, you know. We have plans of what we are going to do with you. With my words, you will be sent down to the cells and-"
"If you were truly my brother," I say, turning around, so that he can see my eyes, "You wouldn't do this. You wouldn't have taken me away, you wouldn't force me to be here. With you. You wouldn't do this. You're not like this, Austin. What the hell did they do to you?"
"Guards!" He calls, and the door bursts open. "Take my sister down to the arranged room and leave her there."
"Don't touch me!" I yell as they grab my arms, and pull me towards the door. "I am still a princess and I command you to let me walk alone!"
"That title means nothing here, sister." He says, as the doors are shut, separating us.
"Where am I?" I ask the guards, hoping that any of them will reply.
They don't. They march me down corridor after corridor and as hard as I try, I cannot remember which way we have come from. I know I will need to know how I got here to insure I can get out, but I've got no idea. I can't remember which way I have to go.