The Rebel (#Wattys2016)

34. Hatred

This chapter is dedicated to Aprilflower14 for commenting on the last chapter! Thanks for commenting and showing me your reactions! Hope you all enjoy!

"We have a traitor walking among us." The Prince repeated, staring at the bed, thoughtful. Out of nowhere, he stormed out of the room, and Adeen followed him. "I am going to find that rat."

"Skander-."

"And when I find it I will slowly kill it and-."

Adeen practically ran behind him through the dungeon's corridors, the prisoners' screams stopping at the sound of their fight.

"Skander!" Adeen screamed but the Prince paid no attention. She finally had enough and grabbed his hand, causing him to turn around. "Skander, stop."

His electric blue eyes settled on her, and Adeen finally saw bags underneath them and the redness in them. He frowned, his eyes frantically roaming her face, as if he was trying to remember Adeen's every detail.

"Skander, I know who the traitor is."

His eyes widened. "Who?"

Adeen stared at him, her black eyes staring deeply into his blue irises. She knew deep inside himself, Skander knew. Finally, realization hit him, and he paled.

"It's my father." He said quietly, looked down. When he looked up again, his eyes were ice hard, and for a moment they could have been the King's. "My father ordered you killed."

"Yes." Adeen breathed the word, partly scared of the harshness in Skander's eyes, partly relieved to finally tell him the truth, or at least part of it. "The man told me back there, but I didn't know who to trust. I didn't know who to tell, so I told no one."

"You could have told me." Skander said quietly, his hands holding Adeen's. "You know that. Why didn't you?"

The anger in Skander's eyes was replaced by sadness, so raw Adeen had to look down to her feet. Her blue high heels stood up against the stone floor, their surface reflecting the white lights and her face, looking down when Skander looked at her.

"I don't know. I guess after all I kind of..."

"Kind of what?"

Adeen bit her lip, knowing Skander wouldn't like where the sentence ended, but unable to find a way to fix what she'd said.

"Deep down, I suspected that after all you were like him."

Skander stiffened, his blue army shirt tightening around his muscles. He took a deep breath, released it. Adeen didn't dare look up, she knew if she did, she'd see the betrayal in his eyes. Instead, she watched his reflection on her heels as he looked up at the ceiling and shook his head, probably trying to keep himself from saying what he thought. Finally, he took a step back.

"It's dangerous down here." His voice was so polite, and Adeen knew she'd never shake the sound of politeness in his voice from out of her head. She'd never forget that politeness had replaced their trust. "Let's go upstairs, I think we both need some rest."

Adeen looked up at his blue eyes, which looked back. She swallowed as Skander extended his arm, and as she interlaced her arm with his, she knew they'd lost something because of her. He lead her through the halls, as quiet as the prisoners around them, who had stopped to listen to them talk, no doubt enjoying the free spectacle. With every step, Adeen's heart hurt a little bit more, and her scars suddenly hurt where Skander had kissed them, and her eyes filled with tears she could control at the moment but would pour out the moment she'd be alone. When they finally made it to her room, Skander bowed politely to her outside her door.