Children of the Fallen: In Cold Blood (BOOK #2)

Chapter 8: Different

Dane Brooks

17 years ago

I awake out of my light sleep to the sound of the cell room's large metal door creaking open. My eyes remain closed but the click of the dim lightbulb being flicked on has them slightly twitching. Internally I sigh wondering if my guest is going to torture me or give me the smallest amount of blood possible to keep me conscious. Lucien won't allow me to have the peace of unconsciousness, he wants me awake to experience the pain of near starving. He just wants to drag this out and honestly I'm over it. Exhausted is an understatement to describe how I've felt the last two years.

While staying still, I listen to the door delicately shutting followed by light footsteps and keys jingling. "Dane?" The familiar voice whispers.

My eyes shoot open as I sit up to face her. "Morgan? What are you doing here? How did you get here?" I ask as she heads over to my cell with the ring of keys she took from the wall.

"Turns out I'm very fast when I need to be." She says quickly. I push through my fatigue and stand up, leaning against the back wall of the cell.

There's three keys on the key ring; one for my cell, one for the cell next to me, and one for the shackles around my wrists. She takes hold of one keys to try it on the lock. "Put those keys back." My voice strains.

She shakes her head shoving the key into the lock. "I can get you out." She twists it- it doesn't work.

"No."

She pauses. "No?" She furrows her brow, confused.

"I'm not going anywhere. You can open the door all you like but I'm not leaving."

She drops her hands to her sides with the key ring in her hand. "Why?"

"He'll replace me with you in here. I won't have that so put those back." I point to the keys in her hand as I trudge closer to the cell bars, the chains attached to me dragging against the floor. My muscles and joints ache with every step.

Reluctantly she returns the key ring then slowly comes back over finally allowing me to see her in the light of the singular lightbulb illuminating the room. Immediately I notice large scars with tinier marks trailing up the length of her arms. "What has he done?" I say unable to peel my eyes from the marks.

She takes a quick glance at the large markings on her arms, opening her hands to reveal they go to the center of her palms as well and her jaw instantly tenses. "I think a better question would be what hasn't he done?" She laughs caustically. Her tone is different. Harsher. Sharper.

"And those?" I point to the markings.

She curls her fists in and out once, putting her hands at her sides as her eyes dart around the room. "I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting a demonic witch." I encountered a demonic witch once in my life and it was one too many times. Demonic is the most accurate descriptor for them.

"How are you doing?" I ask not going to pry into that since she tensed at the mention of them.

"Good enough that he trusts me alone in the palace for a week." She looks at me and I finally get a good look at her eyes- the thing that worried me. It's been almost two years since I've seen her- eyes are a window and I have been a little bit fearful of what I'd find through hers. Morgan is a good person; she's caring, kind, compassionate but there'd been instances where I'd seen a hint of Lucien in her. A trace of darkness in her eyes that I pray remained only a trace.

Finally seeing them I feel a small chill run through me. The light in them fading, giving me a glimpse into how much of her humanity Lucien had torn from her. He knows how to hollow out a person and she's getting there. I lower my head for a second and take a breath before looking back up at her. Seeing what he's doing to her hurt way more than I thought it would. She looks me over and with a subtle shift in her facial expression knows exactly what I was looking for. She didn't say it but for a moment her eyes said, 'I'm sorry.'

Her stare breaks and she swallows. "I wanted to see you I just couldn't with him and his nobles wandering around." She says sitting down on the ground outside my cell.

"His nobles are gone too?" I ask following suit and sitting down with my elbows resting on my knees. Soreness in my whole body attacks me as I do so.

She nods, pulling her legs up to her chest. "Apparently there's been some hunter attack at his city in Greenland. They all flew immediately to end it."

"So only servants are around?" I ask.

"Some guards too, they're stationed outside the palace though. Even if any servants inside did see me come down here, they wouldn't say anything. I think most, if not all of them are scared of me." She says with an almost imperceptible amount pride in her eyes.

"Is Victoria still around?" Morgan's eyes flick to the blood stained ground momentarily.

"She's in her city. She uh..." A sudden grimness overtakes her eyes. "I know she'd want to do this herself but I don't know when or if she'll be allowed here. She didn't- completely betray you." She says and I crease my brow. "Grayson..." she bitterly says his name. "Made a deal with our father for your city."

"I'm unfortunately aware. Lucien was all too excited to tell me how all my nobles were killed, and that my title and everything would be going to him."

Her jaw tenses and a slight scowl flashes on her face before she continues. She went on to tell me exactly why Victoria did what she did, what she intended to do. Getting Pierce back, manipulating Lucien into letting her train Morgan, not wanting her to experience what we went through; I wanted the same. I can't deny that I wish it didn't come at the expense of my life but I knew the risks of this when I initially helped Aurelia. All in all, what I got is that this is all Graysons fault. Had he not gotten involved, Victoria wouldn't have, and maybe this could've played out better than it has. Morgan clears her throat. "She's more sorry than words can express."

I rub the bridge of my nose, then run my hands over my face as I take a deep breath. "I've wanted to be angry at her for so long. I've wanted to hate her but then I tried to rationalize why she'd do it. All I had hoped was that it was for a good reason. Even if it didn't work out, knowing she tried for you..."

"She meant well but I think it all just angered him more. I get the receiving end of it now." She absentmindedly looks down at the markings on her arms.

I follow her line of sight- however brief it may have been and I can't help but wonder what exactly they do. Given that they're from a demonic witch it can't be anything less than complete misery. "I know it's much easier said than done but don't let him get to you."

She lightly laughs looking back to me. "Definitely easier said than done."

"He wants you to be a monster... act that way, play pretend, don't let it become a reality."

She breathes out deeply. "I might already be there."

"You're not. He's making you do those things. He's forcing you to be someone you're not."

"Not entirely true." She bluntly states.

I shake my head. "Hold on to something, anything that grounds you and hold on tight. A person, a memory, a feeling, anything. Okay?"

She pushes her tongue against her teeth before nodding. "Okay." She says, standing back up. "I should head back but I'll try to come visit when I can."

I nod at her with as much of a smile as I could muster on my face. She turns around taking a few steps towards the exit. "You're a good person, Morgan." I say.

She turns back to me, the dim light in her eyes flickers. "I'm not too sure about that." She said with a melancholic smile. "But thank you for saying it." The deep sadness in her voice was hard to miss. She walks out of the cell room and the both of us are alone once again.