A Solstice Surprise

Chapter Sixteen

Lucien stood there, at the bars of the cell, long after his brother had left. The severity of their situation slowly starting to sink in. Of all his brothers, Titus was the one who always had the most amusement when it came to the time they were made to come here. Titus would often volunteer the most in participating down here. He had a way of getting into the minds of the people imprisoned down here.

Slowly, it started dawning on Lucien, the situation he and Elain had found themselves in. He was familiar with the sights of the walls, the sounds of the echos, the feel of the cold air. But what he wasn’t familiar with, was being on this side of the bars. Suddenly, he felt as though his reality, everything he had known, had been ripped out from under him.

Stumbling back, he was remembering what went on down here. Losing his balance, he fell back, landing on the ground, knowing even his mother didn’t know of this place.

“You need to learn how the Vanserra line has been keeping the fae in the Autumn Court in line for centuries. You’re ten now. Plenty old enough to start learning. But if you let your mother know, you will find your mother and yourself down here before she could think to reassure you.” a young Lucien walked, silently, next to his father.

He knew he shouldn’t speak out of turn with his father. No one in lesser status was to speak around his father out of turn. Even a birthday did not permit that. All Lucien had done was nod his head, letting his father know he had heard and understood him.

It wasn’t a long walk. Just down a hidden path off the two large maple trees behind the pond. There were small stones indicating where the path led, that were hidden mostly, but not completely, by leaves. After they got through the path, there was a cave, which Lucien didn’t expect to walk into, as he had always been told, by both parents, that he should a;ways be presentable as a High Lords son. And caves were dirty. They would drip water, and they were dark, and who knew what puddles he could slip in and land in mud. He was sure his father wouldn’t make him go in there.

But, much to Luciens surprise, his father walked in the cave, and with a moments hesitation, a moment he hoped he wouldn’t suffer from later, he continued to follow his father. Surprisingly, once he crossed the caves entrance, it was like he had walked into a house. It was clean, with walls, and had rugs. It was nothing like how a cave should be.

“This cave is heavily warded. No one will be able to find anyone in here. Once anyone comes in here, it is as if, we are no longer existing. Until we walk out again.” His father had explained.

Lucien was pulled from the memory when there was a hand gently placed on his arm. His first time here, it had started with him thinking his father was showing him a place where he did business. His father had done business here alright. Just not the kind where it involved books, or budgets, or paperwork.

“You look frightened.” Elain had said, noticing, how Lucien had come back to the present, she gently removed her hand, before moving to sit across from him. “Where did you go?”

Shaking his head, he tried to push himself back, knowing she normally would be doing what she could to keep the distance between them. “No, you- you don’t have to be kind to me. You don’t have to pretend. This is not going to be a good place. This is not going to be a fun time. For other of us. I will do what I can to keep Titus away from you. But you don’t have to make it harder for yourself, and force yourself to be kind to me.” He said.

Lucien saw some emotion flicker across Elains face, but he had looked away, refusing to allow himself to try and decipher what the emotion was.

“I’m not- Lucien, what- what happened here?” Elain asked.