The Princess & The Lord

Part 1

Disclaimer: All characters and previous stories belong to SJM

My name is Elena Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I will not be afraid she thought to herself. All thoughts seemed to allude her. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how long she'd been in this hel, but she could hold onto to that thought.

Her chapped lips stung as she took a deep breath through the small slit before her. She swallowed and closed her eyes as she felt the burn snake its way down her dry throat.

She heard the stories of the tortuous device from her mother and anytime someone mentioned it, Elena could see the pain in her mother's eyes.

An iron mask was strapped across her face. Her arms and legs were bound together in iron chains and she lay in an iron coffin. She could only see the darkness of the cell beyond.

She could hear the loud thud of footsteps as a faint glow from the torch appeared above her. My name is Elena Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I will not be afraid. She knew what was coming next and it seemed to be the only semblance of safety she could hold onto.

There was a loud creak as the iron coffin swung open. The guard grabbed her chains and yanked her to a standing position faced towards the king. His eyes the absence of any color, only black obsidian.

"Where are they?" the king asked. "You can end this. You just need to tell me where they are, firebringer."

Elena didn't respond. She couldn't. She didn't know where they were. And even if she did, she would never reveal it to him. Elena wasn't the firebringer, but she was almost an identical twin to the firebringer, her mother. Elena was the spitting image of Aelin Galaythinus. She had long blonde hair that flowed down to her waist. Her eyes mirrored those of her mother and her uncle; turquoise with a ring of gold. Though long gone now, in her days in Terrasen she had tan skin and long muscular extremities. They had been replaced with pale skin and thin arms during her time locked away. She'd trained long and hard to rival both her mother and father in their combat skills. She has a honed, lethal warrior and yet she found herself helpless, restrained by iron, her only weakness.

After she was captured, she quickly learned her captors had mistaken her for her mother. The resemblance was uncanny and as the king had never actually encountered Aelin Galathynius, when he opened the portal on that fateful night, he had no idea he pulled through the wrong Galathynius. Elena never let it slip that she wasn't her mother. She'd rather keep her family and her people safe, so she continued to play along.

Elena looked down at her scarred hands. She hadn't seen her reflection since she was taken, but she knew her body was covered in scars from the lashings she received. Had it been weeks? Months? The king knew of her mother's time spent with the Queen of the Valg and had forced Elena to relive the experience. Every hour Elena wondered how her mother was able to endure it-how she was able to survive.

"If you're not going to tell me, I'll find someone who will," the king seethed.

"No." Elena said. The word barely came out. Her voice was hoarse.

"Then tell me. Where are the keys?"

Elena had no idea where the 3 wyrdkeys were. The last she knew her mother had locked them away and the gods with them. But somehow, someway the keys had returned as the king was able to open a portal through to her world. The king wasn't able to fully step through into Elena's world. The magic of the wyrdgates remained intact in that area, but the king was able to pull Elena into whatever helhole he occupied.

"Your silence and unwillingness to cooperate has brought me to my wits end. Open the portal," he ordered to his guards. The creatures began painting on the wall- the wyrdmarks she had grown all too familiar with.

"No!" Elena had to do something. She had to stop him and protect her family. She thought of everything her mother, her father, her family had fought for - had given their lives for and she couldn't let it happen. Not again.

Something inside her stirred. She could feel the endless swirling in her blood. A light began to form behind her. The king and his creatures stopped. They stared at her and the light in awe. The light began to grow larger and larger.

"My name is Elena Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I will not be afraid." As she spoke the words, the kings's face shifted from awe to anger as he took in the revelation. 

The light behind her began to form a dark core in the center. As the dark core grew, so did the gravity. The darkness began to pull her in. Anywhere was better than here. She wanted away from the place- away from him and his demons.

She could do nothing to stop it as the darkness swallowed her whole.