This Is What It's Like To Be Lovers [ON HOLD]

11: Completely Blind Within

TW: This chapter contains descriptions of abduction and solitary confinement; please know that you've been warned, and you can skip if it's a trigger for you

• Unravel by TK •

Jun's sobs echoed from the four walls of the mammoth room that he was confined to, partly because of his separation from his beloved Princess, but mostly because of what these circumstances had brought upon him.

He looked around, his blurred vision allowing only a little clarity. His sobs had transformed into hiccups now. He placed his palms flat on the cold, cold floor in an attempt to crawl forwards but the rattling that this meager movement brought made him gasp and crawl back in fright.

He rubbed his eyes hurriedly, fixing them on the door. The faint light of a chilly Eiran morning came in through the only window in the room and shone on the wood of it, making the new varnish glisten like sweat. He kept looking at it for several moments, fearing somebody must have heard him.

When nobody came, he raised his wrists to his eyes and looked down at his ankles. Around them were cuffs, the adjoining shackles of which were pinned to the nearest wall. He still couldn't believe his plight.

He had been transferred from Liiva to Eira within twelve hours after the High Princess had disappeared through the floor of the castle. Emperor Laz was of the opinion that this young man of twenty two, who he had observed to have taken a liking to his daughter, was behind this disappearance.

He had concluded that the young soldier had persuaded Larimar to run away with him and that Queen Jade was nothing but a distraction strategy. He and his court had unanimously decided that keeping Jun hostage would easily lure her out.

Sillia had agreed, nobody had bothered to take the opinions of the Empress and thus, Jun had been confined to a large room, devoid of all furniture except for a sole mirror.

When he reached out to Lari the first time, it was out of helplessness. However, the ignorant Princess paid him no heed. She expressed dissatisfaction with being contacted, drowning all his hopes.

He spent the rest of the day shivering on the floor, for they had not lit a fire for him, nor given him a decent quilt. The pitcher of water they had left, had frozen in less than an hour.

He couldn't believe how unfortunate it was to have fallen in love with the One True Princess.

Hunger and thirst washed over him sleep, in which he fell through the curtain that separated earthside from everything Arcane, walked on the tightrope between realms, and somehow landed on the sandy shores of the Magician's side of the Universe.

"You have to help me," he spat the moment he saw his fox-faced benefactor. "Please help me. Teach me something, Magician. Anything. Teach me how to get these cuffs off my ankles, or change my appearance, or...or...how to take my own life. I'd prefer death over such humiliation."

The Arcana succeeded in calming him down and hinted at using the tricks Jun already knew to his advantage.

When light shone on the door again, the Emperor and his sister decided to visit Jun and he told them once again that he was not the one responsible for the Princess' elopement.

"However," he continued, "I can find out where she is and bring her back to the castle if you allow me the time and space to practice and hone my divine craft."

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