And it all Went Wrong

P A R T | 10

THORNE ROLLED HIS EYES WITH A SIGH, propping his chin on his fist. He drummed his fingers against the tabletop of the glass table and followed the queen with his gaze. "For the last time, Your Highness, I don't know."

He was lying though, of course, because, obviously, he did know where Cinder and Kai were. Alright, maybe not exactly, but he had an overall idea, given the fact he had just heard about the mass amount of guards' bodies found in the palace dungeons. It seemed like an aftermath a provoked Cinder would leave.

"You will address me properly, Cadet Thorne. I am a queen, not a puny princess," Levana said, glaring.

Thorne scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. "Sure you are, princess. Don't flatter yourself. And, if we're talking about addressing ourselves properly, then you should know I'm a captain." He winked.

"Do you wish for me to submit you over to the torture chambers?" she breathed out, a finger to her temple.

Thorne smirked. "Depends on what type of torture we're talking about here. Because if you're talking about putting me in front of a mirror bigger than that one, I'd love that."

"You disgust me, and I'm sure your capture hasn't even, in the least amount, affected the others," she spat, all of a sudden slapping Thorne across the face.

He clenched his jaw, keeping anything stupid from spilling out. Keeping the words that were bouncing around in his mind from coming out, because they'd make him look vulnerable. I know my disappearance doesn't matter, he wanted to say. Do you think I haven't already tormented myself about that? I was never really that important to the whole plan.

And that simple fact pained him.

"Now, Cadet Thorne, I will ask you this one more time." She set her palms down on the table in front of him and forced him into looking at her. "Where are they?"

Thorne shrugged. "I told you I'm not sure."

Levana looked at him for a while, her face filled with anger, but her eyes filled with fear. Finally she clenched her jaw and walked out of the room, leaving Thorne alone once again. This room was better, he would admit. There at least was a bathroom, so he'd taken care of that problem, but he was still alone and mostly defenseless. If he were to be attacked, right then and there, he could last a while, at least. Maybe a few minutes, but he'd loose eventually, probably.

Thorne sighed leaning back in his chair. He wasn't in chains either, so that was an improvement. And there was still a mirror, which Levana had made sure to avoid. Thorne chuckled at the thought that such a powerful nation was afraid of something so simple as a mirror. And it wasn't until he had thought the words that he realized they were, indeed and unfortunately, true.

The Republic of Luna was a strong nation. And they would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

"Well, aces," Thorne mumbled, a headache beginning to form. He tapped his foot against the ground in rhythm as he hummed, then the humming turned into whistling, and the whistling turned into a failing attempt at second era opera music. Which really confused him. Why opera? He'd never liked it before. But then his heart winced and he remembered why opera music had started streaming out of his busted lips. He felt a heavy weight fall upon his shoulders and he groaned, loudly. It wasn't like him to feel that way when thinking of someone. What the aces was wrong with him? "Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Aces. Holy spades, aces!" he yelled, kicking his foot against the leg of the table. He kicked it, again and again. "Aces, Cresscent, why?"

He had never felt that way, not in a long time at least. Not since... No. He had never felt that way. And it made him mad, made him feel weak. He wasn't supposed to have feelings for anyone. That was the whole point to Carswell Thorne, for stars sake. He most definitely was not a one-woman-guy. He had girls falling at his feet, he enjoyed that.