Secrets Intertwined

Prologue

"Aislyn of Bane."

I grinned at the man peering at me through the cell bars.

"How could you tell?" 

I ran my hand through my hair that had long ago matted into a lump on my head. 

It had been four, long months since I had bathed. 

And I had the smell to prove it.

"You went off on quite the rant when you were caught. The men who brought you down were quick to tell me the identity of the infamous Azure."

"Quick to tell you and every other person they came across too, I'm sure," I replied, resting my head against the bars, hooking my arms through the gaps and leaving them there to dangle.

"The men who caught you," he continued, giving me a look, "are my men on the Council.  They won't say anything because I told them not to."

"If you expect me to thank you, President Elijah, you're barking up the wrong tree."

Elijah took a step towards me and hunched over to my eye level, "What would big brother Jackson have to say about you being the big bad Azure?"

It was a question that had often wormed its way through my head but, as much as I  hated to admit it,  Jackson hadn't entered my mind once in the last six months. 

Six months I had been here, with nothing to do except stare at the ceiling and not even then had I thought about my family.

There were only two people in my mind. One was dead and the other would be soon too.

Elijah, fooled by my calm exterior, was caught off guard when I pounced forward, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and pulling forward hard enough for his head to bounce off the bars.

"I don't know, but acting like a dick won't make yours any bigger," I retorted, spitting in his face.

I released him where he fell on his back with a satisfying smack.

"You're vile!" growled Elijah, wiping his face, gagging, rightfully so, at my vile-smelling saliva.

I threw my hands up in the air and exclaimed, "What do you expect? You throw me down here for months with nothing but diluted piss-water to clean my teeth with. I ain't exactly going to be smelling like roses."

Elijah only glared at me.

"If you think that's bad, don't look in that bucket." 

Anyone could guess at what infected that corner from the sheer smell that would water the eyes of the strongest of stomachs.

A series of cheers and banging on the bars erupted from her few fellow inmates, who echoed her sentiments.

Aislyn beamed at Elijah, who got to his feet, smoothing out his clothes.

"I see you're not.. sane of mind," he started, beginning to walk out of the prison, "it's a shame really because I was going to offer to drop the charges."

"What?" She spluttered.

Elijah slowly returned, this time, keeping his distance.

"I was going to offer to release you from prison, forget about all of your crimes and release you back into the custody of your brother."

That had been the last thing she had expected to hear fall from the lips of the president.

"Bu- But why?"

"Well, your beloved Leaders of your Bane Community haven't been paying their dues since you were... taken."

"You don't believe I was kidnapped?"