Flames of Fury

Chapter 6

Happy Friday!

**Content Warning: Assault**

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Magnolia

I'm thankful that it's not Gorm who escorts us back from dinner. Instead, we are escorted by another guard of similar build to Gorm, but with honey brown hair cut shorter and styled like he cares about his appearance.

"My Queen, I am Griffin. I'll be showing you to your quarters." The guard tells me and Ember as we make our way for the exit.

I didn't stay to eat after Ian left, how could I? I blame the nausea I feel entirely on him, I couldn't stomach anything after hearing his vile proposal. Not that I've been able to stomach much this past week, now that I think about it.

"How presumptive of you, Griffin," I practically snarl. "I am not your queen."

He looks back at me with a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes and bites back the words that look ready to fall off his tongue. I get the strange impression that he wasn't trying to provoke me, but I shake the idea off as quickly as it comes.

"How'd you get stuck babysitting? Gorm have the night off or something?" I ask with mild disinterest. I'm sure between now and my escape Gorm and I will exchange blows.

Griffin arches a brow while one corner of his mouth lifts up in amusement. "Or something."

"Here," he gestures to a rustic, wooden door. It looks only mildly out of place set among the earth and stone walls around it.

Ember doesn't stop with us, she continues on past the wooden door and softly bids us a goodnight.

"I expected the dungeons to be down deeper than this," I mutter to Griffin as I pass him to push open the door.

Beyond the door, however, is the exact opposite of a dungeon — it's a suite. There's a king size canopy bed with delicate sheer white curtains draped across the ends and hanging down from each corner.

Through an archway there's a smaller adjoining room that houses a bathroom with a white and gold clawfoot tub in the center of it. Candelabras on the walls give the rooms a soft glow, the flicker of the flame is a disturbingly soothing comfort. Dragons can't help but be drawn to fire and heat.

But for as much as we love flames, we also love the sky. This room may as well be a prison, this whole hollow in fact. There are no windows, no natural light, no moon or stars. Just a hole, a pit, a hollowing of the earth that traps everyone who dwells here within it.

"If there's anything you need that would make you more comfortable, just give a holler." Griffin starts off seriously but his discipline cracks and a smile paints its way across his face. "Literally, just shout. This place is an echo chamber."

Luckily he doesn't notice how I flinch when he whips around to face the heart of the hollow and hollers out a "woohoo!" which reverberates and echoes endlessly within the cavern.

If he wasn't Ian's right hand man I think I'd find his playfulness endearing. In fact, he reminds me a little of Xander; playful, doesn't take anything too seriously — especially himself.

I'll have to add Xander to the list of people who will undoubtedly be upset with me when I get home. I tricked him, used him, to escape on my own. He'll wear that as his own failure, it'll weigh heavily on his shoulders and in his mind until it settles into his heart and cracks him open. Then the only thing left to fill that void will be pain and fury.