Hearts Locked in War

X ~ NU

What if this was just a rouse? Alex was not the type to show he was vulnerable; she had fought him long enough to know this. Nu was aware that Alex would rather carve out his own organs then allow people to know that there might be a problem. However, it was by some instinct that she allowed him to enter he fortress, walk through the long hallways, glimpse the strategies that she had fought so hard to keep a secret, to use against him and his army. Then finally she had led him into a room that only had one exit. In an emergency, her chance of running was limited. Yet, she trusted him. Why? She did not know.

The interrogation rooms were drab, with little furniture and little lighting. A beaten wooden table and two rickety chairs sat in the centre of the room. The walls were and awful shade of yellowing-cream, and the floorboards were beginning to chip and splinter. A mirror hung on one of the walls but from one look, anyone could tell that the mirror was two-way. Behind it was a small room, entirely empty. If you wanted to listen to a conversation from the other room, you had to stand and hope to catch something through the slits in the wall that sound was expected to travel through. Nobody would be in the connecting room at this hour, there would be no point in checking.

"Take a seat, Alex."

Her voice came out hoarse, but her tone was firm, even if he were yet to attack her, she still had to show that they were not in Avooke anymore, they were in Nevish Tue, and Nu was the empress.

Alex stood just inside the doorway, eyes sweeping the room. He was also aware that he was in the dark depths of a castle that he did not know how to navigate if he had to.

His steps were slow and uneven, his left foot dragging across the floor as he limped over to the chair Nu gestured for him to sit in. A quickly sucked in breath, a grimace of pain. Nu noted that as Alex sat, he lacked his usual entitled composure. Atop of horses, around the Avooke dining tables, Alex had always had a way of sitting like there was no person above him, he wat at the top and all those around him were lower than him. For years, his smug mature had made her skin crawl and made her blood boil. Who did he think he was, sat like a royal? He wasn't even emperor yet. Now as she looked at him, the only thing she felt was pity. Alex's golden hair brushed to perfection every time he saw him, was dishevelled, his emerald eyes lacked their mischievous glint, looking hollow. Not to mention the bruising. His eyes and one of his cheeks were bruised, his other being cut and bloody. His bottom lip was split, bruises on his neck stood out against his pale skin. It looked like someone had been... strangling him.

Nu had reamed for years, that one day, she could teach Alex what being a ruler was really like. She hated unnecessary violence, even if she was in a constant war, but Alex made something inside of her erupt in a flame of anger and brutality. Yet, as she looked upon the now bruised and beaten Alex, she couldn't stand it. The sight of him in pain, even while sat still, gave her a sick feeling. How could this be the boy she had been dancing with only a few days ago?

"One second, O'Quinn."

Taking the risk, she left Alex alone in the unlocked room. If he wanted to run now, he could, she would find out when she was back. Nu opened the centre door and stepped into the observing room. Just as she thought, it was empty, but that's not what she came into this room to check on. The observing room had little furniture, only a battered chair and a medicine cabinet. A two-way mirror hung on both walls, looking into either of the interrogation rooms. Glancing into the left one, she could still see Alex sat in the interrogation room, wincing with every breath. Nu thought about the mount of times she must have stood in this room, watching people's conversations like some psycho. The empress life was so dishonest, she struggled to live with herself. Opening the medicine cabinet, Nu looked upon the meagre supplies and pulled out a small first aid kit. There should be bandages and ointments Alex could use in there.