Accidentally Fated

Chapter 16

From that day on, no one bothered her. She received her disgusting meals, cursed the queen and shoved it down her throat. The meals, as horrendous as they were, were hearty. And seemed to help her regain her lost weight and strength. Something she did not expect the queen to take well.

With no more chores to keep her busy, Celaena was unable to differentiate the days. The assassin hadn't been fetched for the queen since picking out the lentils. With no sun, with no light, there was no telling if it was day, if it was night. Time had all but ceased.

This would have been the perfect time to summon her embers, to practice, to train. But alas, the assassin hadn't been able to summon a flicker of her magic. Celaena was not sure what was stopping her. It had been a very long time since the girl had tasted her fire, since she felt it burning in her veins, since that warmth had embraced her. Perhaps too long, far too long to come back to her.

The thought would have been depressing if Celaena could feel.

But alas, the assassin could not. How could she when she had no humanity left? What monster could feel?

So she just sat there, and chatted with her friend.

"Are you bored? I'm bored." The assassin was currently lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "At least you get a bit of fun every now and then," Indeed, her friend was taken out of their prison occasionally. Noted, the screaming every time the guards came to escort them out, it was most probably for some torture time. Still, at least they were doing something.

"...talking..."

The mumbling almost made the assassin roll off her stack of hay. Celaena got up from the floor and pressed herself against the cell bars. She still could not see anything, but she hoped to hear more clearly. "Gods, you're real. I was beginning to think you were all in my head."

"...stop talking." the voice was still very quiet, and Celaena had to strain to hear.

"This is the first time you've honored me with a reply, and it's 'stop talking'?" She pouted. "Do you not enjoy my company?" The very thought was too ridiculous for her to even entertain.

"I want to bash my head in because of you," The words were muddled together and rasped, but it was very distinctively male.

"That's very rude,"

When he was quiet, Celaena opened her mouth again. "All those days wasted in silence when we could have passed the time together."

Surprisingly he laughed. "What's the point? You're here, which means that your death is pending." His voice was louder, stronger.

"So what? Should I rather sulk in my last few days like you?"

"You seem oddly cheerful for someone so close to death."

"That's because I have yet to accept it. I'd like to see Amarantha try."

"You're a fool. Pissing her off will only quicken the pace."

"You're wrong about that. The more I piss her off, the more she prologues my death. Besides, we have a bargain. She cannot kill me until I complete the trials."

"Or die trying to."

"Tsk, you're such a pessimist."

"Do you honestly think you'll survive them?"

"Words cannot describe just how insulted I am by your insinuation."

"You're but a human-"

"And how do you know that?"

There was a moment of silence. She could hear water droplets falling from the ceiling. Could hear shackles being dragged on the floor as the male moved. Why did he have shackles and not she? Did they think she was so little of a threat that she did not need them? It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Word travels."

"Oh? And do you receive gossip from the guards that torture you or through note?"

When he did not answer, she frowned. "Buzzkill."

"Yes, you keep calling me that."

"Because you don't answer me." She narrowed her eyes at him in accusation. "I thought you were too wounded to answer back."

"No, you're just too loud."

"Gods, do you have any friends with that attitude?"

"None like you,"

Celaena grinned. "Does that mean we're friends?"

There was a pause and then, "Why the hell not, we're both going to die anyway."

"See, isn't this better than sulking in sadness and despair?"

"You do realize that you're currently imprisoned?"

"Of course, but what's one more cell?"

He did not answer for a while. "How did you get here?"

"It's a secret." Even to her, apparently.

"Are you one of the Children of the Blessed?" He whispered, as if afraid of anyone hearing in the empty dungeons.

"A what?"

"You don't know? Where are you from?"

The questions were becoming increasingly uncomfortable and Celaena needed to a way to dodge them. "Interrogating me soon? Scandalous; we've only just met."

"You don't seem afraid of the fae. Or Amarantha for that matter." He remarked, ignoring her mocking comment.

"Hm, did you learn that from your little gossip as well?" When there was no reply, she added, "Why should I?"

"Does magic not faze you?"

"Should it?"

"Yes, when it could torture you in so many ways."

"You could torture a person without magic."

"Yes...yes you can."

The conversation was taking a rather dull and depressing turn. Switched positions on the ground, Celaena leaned her back against the bars and asked, "So, what have you done for the oh-so-gracious heavenly queen to throw you in here?"

"She's hurting me to punish my friend."

Sudden memories of Sam swept into her mind. Memories of what Arobynn had done to teach her a lesson- or so she thought. There was no concrete proof, of course. But months of thinking about that dreadful day, the assassin had come up with the only likely situation.

"How cruel." Her voice was unusually soft. "I detest her more and more with each day."

"Make sure she does not hear you say that, lest she unleashes her wrath on you too."

There was an edge to his voice. Wounded, frightened. The queen had done something to the male. Something other than just torturing him. "What did she do to you?"

"I once told her to go back to the shit-hole she'd crawled out of." There was a humorless chuckle. "She carved out my eye as punishment."