When The Stars Align

chapter thirty six | to the bone

LYSANDER COULD NOT believe what just happened.

He sat against the wall in his cell once again, every part of his body screaming for some kind of relief. The last couple hours of his life hurt him more than the last twenty-three years. He refused to believe that his sister spent the last decade of her life with these people. Was she treated like this on a daily basis?

No, he thought. In the short time he was here, he realised that Ansen Grey did care about his sister, in one way of another. As a father figure or - he gulped - a lover, he wasn't sure. But there was care for her, even if it was a sickening, obsessive type of care.

Lysander fidgeted with the rope around his wrists. He never thought he'd end up tied up. Hell, when he was designated as Captain of the Guard, he never thought he'd end up in the middle of a war, not after it was seventeen years before the last rebellion. He never really thought he'd become a prisoner of war, not when he refused to actually go out on front lines.

But here he was.

His leg was broken; snapped in half. He was in too much pain before to even recognize the break, but as the rest of his body grew numb from blood loss, his leg set on fire. He needed a painkiller, something that would make the pain stop.

And to make matters worse, there was a dagger in his stomach. The second it pierced through his skin, his father's words rang in his ears. If you get stabbed, do not remove the blade. If you do, you're more likely to bleed to death.

He wasn't sure if it was accurate. There was a generous amount of blood pooling around him, and Lysander lost the chance to remove it himself when he was brought back to the cell, hands tied together once again.

What he was grateful for, though, was that this time, his wrists were tied in front of him. He managed to pull the gag out of his mouth - of course, with pain still seizing through his body. At least now, he was able to breathe again.

"Do you think she's actually going to tell him what he wants?"

Lysander looked up to face the boy. He did his best to try and avoid to meet Leo's eyes, even though the kid really just wanted to talk to him. It was hard looking at him, Tori's firstborn son, someone he swore to protect from the moment he was born. Lysander didn't think he'd be able to look at Leo anymore without picturing the horrors he faced here.

That is, if they even made it out of here.

Lysander was seriously considering what it would be like for the jail cell to be his final resting spot. He wondered what it would be like for Sophia to anxiously wait for his return but never have it happen. He wondered what it would be like to never see his kids again. Maybe if he died in here, Soph would remarry, his kids would have a different father, and he would just become a painful memory.

And what pained him most - what it would be like for Victoria, who already lost Vera and just got her back. He watched his sister go into a spiral of pain already, blaming everything on herself. "I'm queen of Noatra and I couldn't even protect my baby sister." Insanity - that's what Victoria would go through. She'd lose a brother and a son in the same way, and who knows what would happen to Vera. Who knows what she's going through right now.

"I don't know, kid," Lysander said, trying to face the boy. He felt partially responsible to what happened to Leo. Even if Lysander tooks most of the blow, he should have found a way to take all of it. Leo already went through the pain before he and Vera even arrived. Yet, he stood ground and, for his kingdom, he decided to face the pain.

Lysander shouldn't have let that happen. Leo should never have been a part of that.

"She was put in a tough spot," he continued, his voice getting caught. "Since no one is here to further beat us to death, I guess she's co-operating."