In the Dark

Chapter 16

Leon didn't know how long he spent in his forced solitude with the cold creeping in under his very skin. It seemed that however the palace was heated, the dungeon was not deemed worthy of the same luxuries. It was still warmer than it had been outside, but Leon huddled, shivering under his blanket, wondering if he was really expected to be healthy enough for whatever freaky experiments the vampires had planned for his blood. Then again, maybe he should count it as a blessing that no one had considered how the cold would affect his health. He may die before they had a chance to do anything with him.

"That'll f-fucking show them," he muttered, teeth chattering.

Somehow, he managed to fall asleep despite the temperature, and when he woke, he was ravenous and left wondering how much time had passed. There was little for him to do but keep huddling in his blanket, clutching it close and shivering as he stared into the pitch black around him. He had no idea what the length of his cell was, or if he even had a chamber pot for pissing in.

With the nothing at all to occupy his mind with, his thoughts turned to home as they often had since he'd been taken by Mahvash. It would be a little brisk from winter there, but the first snow wouldn't have yet fallen. He and his family would be pulling out their winter coats for the first time, though, discovering little tears that needed patching up. His mom would insist on taking them all herself to sew up, but his youngest sister, Celine would end up helping, anyways.

They'd be pulling in the last fruits and vegetables of their garden, and he'd be helping his papa candy a lot of it to sell. Their candy sales were looked forward to year round as was his mom's homemade apple cider. It was a fae quirk that their foods always came out well when they cooked, but Leon was sure it would be delicious even without the quirk helping.

And when he and his papa were done candying and selling what they could, they would return hometo eat whatever his eldest sister Genette had hunted with the local werewolf pack. Leon wondered if she'd married Amarok yet. She'd had a crush on him since they were teens, and when Leon had left home they'd just started courting. The last letter he'd received from his mom had indicated it was getting serious. He hoped they were doing well.

They'd join the rest of the family for dinner, though, and he'd see his brother, Louis, home from his schooling and joining the rest of them. Leon would ask him how his day had been, if he'd learned anything interesting, and Louis no doubt would have some new fact about the stars and the fates and the family would be fascinated by whatever he'd learned.

After it all, they'd end the night with music as they sat in the living room around the fire. He could hear the sound of his father's lute clear as day, and feel his piccolo in his hands as he harmonized with his sibling's voices.

After it all he'd go to sleep in his bed, warm and full and loved. And he'd never leave home again. He would never see vampires again. He would never be terrified of his life coming to a dismal, painful end ever again.

"I should have listened to you, Maman," Leon murmured with a sniffle. "I shouldn't have followed Dagon away."

It was at this moment, he heard footsteps, and he picked his head up, squinting in their direction as if it would help him see anything.

"He should be in the first cell," a man's voice said. He heard a grating, metal sound, and then the footsteps and rustling of clothes coming closer, approaching him on his bed. "Come on. Get up."

"Where am I going," Leon asked, sitting upright as he did.

"Not your place to ask questions, is it," the man said, and then commanded again, "Up."

Leon sighed heavily, but got up to his feet, nonetheless, leaning heavily onto his good leg as usual.

"He's going to need help up the stairs," another voice said from further away.