A Kingdom of Bloodshed (A Crimson Court Series)

*¬*Chapter Seventeen*¬*

               Pain rips through me, from my wrists all the way down to my elbows. The smell of mildew and rot notified me that I'm no longer in that dusty attic room. Trying to sit up, I groan as waves of dizziness throttle me. My throat is thick and dry, my tongue feels like wood and I can barely lift my neck long enough to take in the unfamiliar room. The mattress in which I lay upon is filthy and thin. The springs dig into my ribs and back but the metal cuffs around my wrists send waves of pulsing pain into my bones.

"God what the hell happened?"

"Oh good you're awake." His voice makes my teeth ache. Augustus steps into view, the fuzziness from my eyes now slowly slipping away. The events from the night before come roaring back.

Kaz. He was just left there on the floor bleeding. The chains on my wrists echoed on his. I hope he's ok. How will he get out of that mess?

Augustus kneels before me, his eyes roaming over my face, "Glad to see you coming to your senses. I'm sure you're wondering where you are."

To say the least. He grips my chin and jerks my face towards him, gritting my teeth against the pain in my system. I spit, "Where am I?"

He laughs, trailing his eyes over my damaged wrists before tutting, "I told you not to squirm so much. Now it'll take forever for that to heal since I won't be taking the cuffs off." If I had the strength to move, I'd bite him. "Where am I, Augustus?" He chuckles darkly once more, "You, dear Althea, are in the same room, or cell whatever you wish to call it, that Myra was kept in a millenia ago by my ancestor Xavier."

The words shock me. "I'm where?" Augustus brushes hair from my face before grinning, "You are in a prison cell at the base of Mount Voiceless, within the ruins of the long lost Kingdom of Shadow, or formally known as Nefaris."

The words make no sense to me. I don't understand any of it. Nefaris? Fifth kingdom? "What?" Augustus shoves me away, his hands leaving my face as he stands before turning to the door. An iron door that creaks open and a short, portly male steps inside. "Sleep Thea, when you wake, Fen here will tell you what to do. I will be back to visit you later this evening." As the dizziness slips back in and the ugliest Fairy I've ever seen takes a seat on a moldy stool in the corner of my cell, I swear I could feel the ground shaking.

⤗

             Quiet fills my head. When the shadows slip away and the heaviness of sleep begins to fade, I reach out to him. Hoping he can hear me. Hoping he can find me in this iron prison.

I focus on the bond that's between our minds. Like a bridge of sorts, tethering us together. I can see it, this long bridge of violet and silver, connecting both of our souls. At his end, a fortress of black. A wall so powerful that it would take forever to get through.

Upon reaching that wall, I place my palm upon it and call out to him.

Kaz?

Silence.

It's weirdly quiet. There is nothing but strong black adamant waiting for me. Trying once more, hoping my voice reaches him, I wait for his response. Again, nothing.

A small tapping on my skull pulls me back across the bridge and away from his mind.

Something keeps tapping at my brain, pulling me back and back until...

Gasping awake, I blink blearily into the gray light that streams from a singular window far above. That incessant tapping seems to have stopped, vanishing into thin air.

Someone is whistling in the corner of my cell.

Grunting, as I force myself to sit up, I pause when I see a short, portly man staring at me. "Who the hell are you?"