Eladea: A Hopeless Age

Chapter 35: Liam

Chapter 35: Liam’s POV

I'm back >:)

I'm excited for this one! We're at the beginning of the end now, pals. I cant wait! Anway, enjoy!!

This chapter is dedicated to my best friend and (platonic) wife captain--multifandom
Happy anniversary, dear!

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"W-what? You're lying." I say it confidently, but even so I can feel the fear returning, the hope that had burst to life just minutes before, slowly dying.

"You see, that's why you're here. With the Queen dead, that makes you King. But if you were to be here instead of there, well…New Eladea would crumble, wouldn't it? With no leader, no protection and no hope they won't even last a week. So as long as you're here, that's one less enemy I have to worry about once this world war inevitably starts."

"No. No, no, no, no." I stumble backwards, slamming into the stone wall. "It's not true."

"Oh it is. That little flower in your pocket? It's useless. You failed, Emmerson. Your kingdom has fallen and your people will die. What a pity."

"No! You lie! You treacherous, psychopathic, heartless, witch of a human! You will pay!" Kate cries from her cell, shaking the door on its hinges.

"Oh I doubt that. In just doing what needs to be done to keep my people alive. Unlike some people. Anyways, there's information you have that I want. And you're going to give it to me, Emmerson. I promise you that."

I can't take it anymore. I can't take any of this anymore.

"Goodbye for now!" She calls before strutting off the way she came. The door to my cell is unlocked and her two bodyguards step in, their faces stoic and unchanging.

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They get nothing out of me. I don't know how long they punch and kick and scream, but I say nothing. I feel nothing. There isn't a single thing they could do to me that would be worse than the pain in my heart.

Now I sit alone in the dark, dingy cell of mine. I listen silently to the sounds of rage coming from the cell across from mine. Kate had banged on the door to her cell and screamed my name as they beat me for so long it felt empty without the noise. Now she seemed to be blowing off steam by punching at the stone walls. She shouldn't be doing that, she can hurt herself. I should tell her. I need to stop her. But I can't. I can't force myself to speak.

Tasting blood on my tongue I close my eyes, hoping to drown out the sound of Kate's rage. It works a little, but it's instead replaced by even worse images. Images of her. Her small smirk that she reserved only for me. The pride in her eyes whenever I did something right. That exasperated yet slightly amused glint in her green eyes whenever I pulled a prank on her. The sadness that always creeped on to her face when she thought no one was looking.

It hurts. It hurts too bad.

Talking with her for hours in the window sill of her room. Sitting in the courtyard and making up stories about passing strangers' lives. Losing at the occasional wrestle or fight. Long nights spent doing paperwork with no one's company but our own. Laughing with everyone after dark on that hill we used to gather to tell stories every once and a while.

Oh goddesses…I'll never do any of that again.

I fling my eyes open, the images too painful. Too painful.