Red as the Dawn

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was obnoxiously loud in the mess that afternoon, but it drowned out the slow thud of my heart that was aching in my chest. I'd unintentionally left a part of it down in the cell with Cal, and now my mind was missing it desperately and demanding that I retrieve it immediately. I wasn't planning on going down to that cell anytime soon though, I wasn't ready to have another conversation with him that ended up being an embarrassment.

The chair next to me scrapped against the ground and Shade dropped heavily into it, making it creak under his unexpected weight. I barely glanced at him while I took another small spoonful of the broth that was being called lunch. He leaned his arms against the table and watched me expectantly for a few seconds, his words turning circles in his head while he looked for the right way to say them. Eventually he picked up his spoon, opting for the not-so-subtle small talk approach, and while he waited for his spoonful to cool down he inquired, "did you enjoy your conversation with your little silver friend?"

I gripped my spoon tighter and cursed the twins that were on guard duty. It shouldn't have been a surprise though that they let it slip, at the same time, I didn't need Shade, or Farley for that matter, knowing I was sneaking around. Shade glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and tried to play it off like he was looking down the table for someone. I slammed my spoon down in annoyance, making the young girl across from us jump in surprise and then scoot a little farther down the table. Shade set his spoon down softly, his eyes hardening as they met mine, and he whispered so no one could hear us, "don't blow a circuit now."

"Did you hurt him Shade? I swear if that was you-"

"Yes, I did," he interrupts, his voice filled with icy fire that threatened to freeze me in an instant. I sputtered for a second then, surprised that he would readily admit to something that I was obviously not okay with. He sighed and then running a tired hand thought his hair he whispers, "I'm doing my job Mare."

"And beating a prisoner is in the description or something?" I growl, my fingers twitching, my body itching for a fight. Shade rises from his seat then, towering over me, he warns, "watch what you shout around here."

"Why? You don't want people to know that you have a silver prince locked up in the cells below-" He clamps a hand over my mouth and yanks me out of my seat and through the benches where people have started to stare at us curiously. Bree arrives just as we are leaving and tries to grab Shade when we pass but my older brother teleports us into a different hallway; his shoulders shake as he pushes me down the hallway ahead of him. I flip around on him and shout, "why would you do it?"

"Like his kind haven't killed hundreds maybe thousands ours for information. He should be grateful he's even still alive!" Shade threatens as he advances on me. I place my hands on his chest and push him, hard, into the wall next us. He grabs my wrists and growls, "he's dangerous Mare, why can't you see that?"

"What if it was you! What if you killed dad and had to live that that?" I scream as I hit his chest with my fists, even though I know I'm not doing any damage. He catches my wrists eventually and whispers, "Mare, you have to understand that you're not in that place anymore, he's not a prince anymore."

Tears streak down my cheeks and he gently reaches up and wipes them away with his thumb, continuing softly, "he can't be trusted."

I turn away from him, I know that already. I know that Cal is more dangerous now that ever before, but I still can't forget that desolate look in his eyes as he kneeled in the blood of his father and gazed at his blood stained hands. Shade pulls me into a tight embrace and whispers into my hair, "it's going to be okay Mare, we're going to be okay."