1. A Secret of Snow and Ruin

Chapter VIII

Alistair Wardwell

The pain of the wounds on my back caused me to shiver. The cold of my cage was lonely but eerily calming to the pain I was dealt with. The chills on my body were the only shred of heat I could afford and as I was left powerless, I used this moment to just not think. I stripped away every aching wound from my past. I let it go because I knew I could be tearing through this manor with bloodshed. I was tired of this anger inside me and this need to always overcome. I then closed my eyes and fluttered them as my sleepiness was weighing me down an endless pit of despair.

When was this going to end?

"You still have hope?" A calm but death defying voice to my right whispered. The voice was scratchy with thirst but feminine with a sweet touch. Whoever she was before being imprisoned, I imagined her being a princess or a beauty who charmed men with just one glance.

With that thought on my mind, I am not fearful of whatever entity is before me. I turned my rigid body to the woman in the darkness with a slow pace. As my eyes motioned in the direction of her voice, it was as if my eyes were still consumed by the darkness. That's how devoid it was down here. At first, all I could focus on was the smells of urine and death but now I'm more accustomed to the eerie feeling of the dark and whatever creatures might lie in this lifeless crypt.

As I wondered my eyes, I couldn't see her through the pitch black of the dungeon but I could hear her labored breathing and growls.

She seemed crazy or in pain of some sorts but still holding on to a shred of what might have been left of her. Normally the prisoners down here were so mentally broken that they could not speak. Hearing her voice was off putting and unusual.

I was hesitating to speak but also still surprised that she could speak in the first place. I never gave the prisoners much thought but being here felt like an out of this world experience. It was as if I was living as somebody else.

"Yes. I propose you don't?" I ask, breaking the ice.

"I do strangely enough. You're here with me" I could here the cheeky smile in her voice. It didn't feel happy though, it felt assured and peaceful.

"What does that mean?" I question looking straight ahead.

"The powerful ones live here. Mistress must fear you..." She whispers in thought.

I gulp and only say, "I know that"

But even though I knew Isla's insecurities over my potential to rule, I still had further doubts that I was the only obstacle in her conniving way. "But why would she fear you?"

"I'm her biggest regret and greatest creation" She laughed. It was a piercing laugh that gave me chills.

I look deeply in the dark and almost flinch as I see a tinge of red in front of me. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you" The voice said. "I don't like violence for that matter"

"Why are you here then?" I ask.

"I was at the wrong place at the right time. Isla took me right when I was starting to make my life my own. She turned me into something unthinkable..." She trailed off in thought. "I don't want to talk about me. What about you? How did you cross the great mistress?"