Love and War

18: Anastasia

Anastasia's POV:
The old castle came into view and my heart pounded in my ears. Jonah grabbed my hand and I intertwined our fingers. Landon held on tight to his sword and we started walking towards King Santiago's palace.

The moment has come.

To no one's surprise a group of soldiers bombarded us. One grabbed me but I struggled not wanting to let Jonah's hand go. He didn't want to either until the other soldier ripped our hands apart. My hand felt empty afterwards but I still let the soldier drag me into the palace. That was the goal after all unbeknownst to the guards.

"Everyone stay calm. We'll be fine." Landon said although I think it was more for his benefit than ours.

The castle got closer and closer and I saw in the corner of my eye Jonah struggling against the soldier's grip on his arms. I took a deep breath and we finally entered the palace. The place was nothing like King Ian's palace. This place was old and ugly. The marble walls had multiple cracks in it and they had no décor. No paintings and barely any furniture.

It was dark and dirty. Rats ran across the hall and I inhaled sharply. I hate rats.

I gulped nervously as they shoved me into the arms of another soldier. "Take them to the executions dungeons for trespassing." The man said and turned to leave.

This other soldier grabbed my arm but I shoved him away and straightened my dress. "I can walk myself thank you."

Jonah and Landon stood slightly behind me looking worried and the soldiers dropped them in front of these other soldiers. They stood up defensively. These soldiers had the same dark uniform just more pins on their shoulders. I assumed they were more qualified to do whatever it is they do than the ones who brought us in.

I faced the soldier in front of me and realized we had no plan.

Yeah we're here but what now? We're getting sent to the executions dungeons!

The man looked me up and down and grinned. "So beautiful." He said. I glared at him and he tsked his disapproval at the look. Disgusting. "Considering I'm the only thing standing between you and death... you should be a lot nicer." His eyes roamed my body but stopped at my neck. "What is that?"

He grabbed the dog tags and ripped them causing me to wince. The other soldier leaned in and looked at them. "They belonged to Murphy. You knew Murphy?" He asked.

I nodded and Jonah and Landon did as well following my lie. They hesitated before saying "Fine. We'll grant you mercy and won't send you to the executioner. Only because Murphy wouldn't have given it to you had you not mattered greatly to him."

If only they knew...

They'll know soon enough when word arrives of his death. Hopefully we'll be out of here in by then.

He turned to the other soldier. "We'll assign them jobs. It's not a great position but oh well." He said.

I nodded pretending to be grateful and Jonah scowled next to me.

They hand cuffed us so we wouldn't run and motioned for us to follow them. As they led us down the hall I saw 4 women passing us by. They were young and looked scared. They were all in chains and walked together, heads hanging low. They were all beautiful and looked well taken care of except for the chains. They wore nice dresses and looked well fed. However one particular woman caught my eye.

Serena.

Her white hair was in a braided crown and her big silver eyes had dark bags underneath. I only recognized her because of her resemblance to her mother.