The Risen | ✅

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dorian turned left and walked down a flight of stairs, beckoning me close behind him. Seeing as I had no choice, I followed close behind. The farther down we went, the colder the air seemed to get. It grew crisper and held an eerie chill to it. I was getting medieval castle vibes from it.

Suddenly, we stopped at a simple metal door. Dorian turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "You can act, right?" He asked seriously.

"What?"

"Because I'm going to need you to play the role of a distressed girlfriend." He continued, ignoring my confusion.

Before I could open my mouth to protest, two men, who I hadn't been aware of before, roughly snatched my backwards and held me tightly. I yelled in shock and struggled uselessly in their arms. One of them pulled out a gag and tied it around my mouth, silencing me.

Dorian smiled at me as I squirmed in his guards' grip before taking a deep, composing breath and turning back towards the door. "Showtime." He said, looking at me over his shoulder with a smirk.

He threw open the doors and waltzed into the room, grinning at whatever sight was underneath the balcony. I couldn't quite see, but based on the grunts and pained exclaims that I heard, I could tell it was nothing good.

"Hello there, Alexander!" My eyes widened at the mention of his name. I tried to pull away from the guards, but they pulled me back into submission and pushed me onto my knees.

Dorian winced. "You're not looking too good, are you?" I could see a sadistically satisfied look glimmer in his eyes as he spoke. It was as if he enjoyed looking at the suffering.

"I think you and I both know the reason you're in this situation." Dorian continued.

"My final answer, asshole, is no." I heard Alex respond shakily.

"Well, perhaps I might have a little...bargaining chip that might change your mind." Dorian motioned for the men to bring me ahead.

I let out muffled yells as the guards dragged me forward and shoved me into the railing beside Dorian. I shook off my gag and my eyes widened as I looked down at Alex.

One of his eyes was red and swollen, almost to the point where it was closed. Both his nose and the now opened wound on his temple continued to bleed and he was covered in scars and bruises. Two men were on either side of him, holding him down on his knees as he looked up angrily.

Even in his bruised and battered form, he maintained his fiery burning rage.

"Alex!" I yelled out.

Fear flashed in his eyes as he saw me and he tried to stand only to be shoved back down.

I turned back to Dorian with anger festering inside of me."What the hell did you do to him?"

"Nothing he didn't already deserve."

My eyes narrowed. "What is wrong with you?"

A small smile crept onto Dorian's lips. "A lot of good things."

"Let him go now." I demanded, ignoring Dorian's previous statement.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He began. "You see, he and I are attempting to come to...an agreement of sorts."

"An agreement? On what?"

"His survival, obviously." My heart dropped as he continued. "You see, I have something that Alex values very much. And he has something that I value very much. I'm hoping that, with his cooperation, that we can make a trade."

I already knew what Alex wanted: Me of course. But...what was it that Dorian wanted? Alex didn't have anything of value, at least, not that I knew of. I didn't see him bring anything with him. He had nothing.