Weather Control

Chapter 15

The prison was nicer than I remembered, but that might've been because I wasn't cuffed this time.

I went without complaint. I still wasn't happy about it. The commander seemed sure I was not the one that unlocked the kitchen door and assured me that it was just protocol. As if he cared.

I paced the room. This could either end very well or very, very bad.

The prison guard stopped my thoughts. It was his job to explain rules and such. He came up to my cell. I flinched when I saw who it was. It was the man from the whipping: Sebastian Azotado. He looked surprised to see me as well.

"Jackson?" he asked.

"Azotado." I said. It was answer enough. I was surprised he was even still working for the king.

"Do I need to explain to you how things work here, or do you remember from all those other times?"

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I think I remember quite well, thank you."

His smile looked equally strained. We had not parted on good terms, or, more exact, we had never been on good terms to begin with.

"At least I'm on the right side of the bars Jackson." 

I narrowed my eyes. I had told him just that three years ago. Just under an hour before I was sentenced to death.

I sighed and sat on the cot. I was the only piece of furniture in the cell. My picks were still tucked underneath my wings, but there was no point in trying to escape. Too many guards. That meant I had to be patient and wait. Not something I was good with.

I figured I would do something useful. I could hardly go back to sleep after the excitement, so I tried to summon lightening to my fingers as I thought of some plan to save my life.

I sat quite a while without any sign of this new power. I ground my teeth. There was nothing. No trace of what I had done before. To be honest with myself, the first time was an accident. I didn't even remember how I had done it. Kim would only laugh harder at this fact.

I got a lonely spark to travel between my first finger and thumb, but that was it. Now that I knew for sure I could do it, I focused harder.

The lightening came much easier this time. Sparks danced between my fingers, but it was difficult, to say the least, to keep the lightening there. I could feel how much it wanted to go somewhere else, how much it wanted me to lose control.

I tried something bigger. I put my hands a shoulder's length apart. I concentrated as hard as my mind was capable. Lightening shot from my left hand to my right, resulting in a soft crack. I cursed the sound, but a smile was plastered across my face. I had done it.

I sat back, truly tired this time. I was nowhere near perfect, and these powers would be no use in a fight.

The guards came for me an hour later. The king must be a busy man. The fear I should have felt had vanished. I would not die a coward. I let the guards cuff me. They were young and would be able to bring them down with little effort. They wouldn't be expecting such a thing from me.

They walked me down the prison hall, but I looked at none of the men and women in the cells. I couldn't help them and they couldn't help me. Before I went up the stairs, Azotado had more to say.

"Keep your head up, girl," he growled at me. He was almost angry with me. Almost.

"Shut your mouth, old man," I hissed in reply. He shrugged and went back to reading his book. Good for him.

I was told to sit down on a chair placed in front of a desk. The king's desk. 

I waited, and I was not scared. I was going to remind this king exactly who I was and how much he needed me. I was priceless to him. I was everything.

And I was going to make the king regret banishing me.

The king walked in, but he did not sit at his desk. Instead, he approached me. I was helpless to do anything as he grabbed my wrist and ripped off the cloth with a knife. First my right hand then the left. I said nothing.

I was branded like cattle, and the king knew why. Yet he sat down without saying a word.

He picked up a paper from his otherwise empty desk. He only used this one for meetings. His curly hair was now more gray than black and his shoulders seemed burdened. He had changed, but so had I.

The king finally looked at me with somber eyes. "What in the world am I going to do with you?"

"The death sentence is always an option," I responded, my accent thicker than normal, "but you really can't banish me again, now can you?"

The king's eyes widened a fraction, and my lips quirked up. My revenge, as small as it was, made me happy.

"You could go about it many ways, really. Hanging would be efficient, but it may be too fast. Maybe you could flog me to death. That has flair. Or–" 

The king cut me off. "Just stop. Thorne, just... please." He looked sick and his emotions matched. "I can't kill you. At lest, not publicly."

I schooled my emotions. "Do you want to kill me?"

He glared at me. "And what better alternative is there?"

"I'm glad you asked," I said.

He was gripping his chair so hard his fingers were white. Poor man.

"Tell you people I am dead."

His head jerked up in surprise. 

 I laughed. "That's right, father." I spat the last word at him. My fake father. Nothing like Mr. Chase. Nothing like a real father at all. I knew in some way, as twisted as it might be, the king loved me. I wish I didn't know that simple fact. It would be easier to hate him.

"And how will that solve any problems?" the king asked me. He looked defeated.

There was no trace of a grin on my face anymore. "Announce my death, make my brother heir, I go to the Frosticker prison, rescue my brother, and he comes back to you. Problem solved."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are the heir already. Why rescue him?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Everyone knows me. Not as a princess either, mind yourself. Do you really think anyone is going to stand for that? Do you? A thief as queen" I was standing now. "He actually deserves to live. Isn't that what mother said?" Fake mother, fake, fake, fake. "Didn't she say Sage would make a better ruler than me? Didn't you agree?"

He looked helpless sitting in his chair while I stood over him. "Rose.." he started.

I hissed "Don't call me that, your majesty. My name is Thorne Jackson." Always was, always will be.

"Fine," He said. "You have a week until a call to check banished weathers. Two weeks after that, I will announce you to be found dead. My son will be heir." He looked at me. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

He released me and even gave me new cloth to cover up my wrists. I went back to the room. It was almost morning. I winced at the though of all the explaining I would have to give to Sunshine. He al least deserved to know why he would not have a partner to work with.

The countdown began. I had three weeks to break into the prison and steal back my brother. I cursed myself and the king all at once.