Chapter 4

I woke up to the sound of arguing. I had fallen asleep against the wall where I had last sat when I had been talking to Christian. My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I found myself aching. I brought my hand up to my head slowly, a slow and steady throbbing beginning just above my temples. I felt incredibly light headed, like I might throw up or pass out. I ran my hand over my face and groaned, straightening my back on the wall.

   “Jesus Christian!”

   I recognized that voice, though I had only heard it once before. I turned my head to try and see where the voices were coming from, and then realized they were coming from right in front of me. I sighed, and then came to a realization. What were these two people doing inside the cage? I turned my head too suddenly and a wave of nausea rolled over me. I clutched my stomach and then vomited all over the stone ground.

   “Holy crap!”

   I felt hands on my shoulders and I was thrust back against the wall, my head lolling on my shoulder. I groaned, widened my eyes, pushed back the person and then vomited again.

   “Christian get a mop or something! She’s vomiting everywhere!"

   I clutched my stomach, desperately wanting to take off my sweatshirt so I could cool off. I was burning violently, sweat gathering on my face. The same hands pushed me back against the wall, but this time I looked up to see who it was.

   Rayne. His black hair fell over his face, his pale complexion more startling in the light then it was in the darkness. My brain churned. In the light? I hadn’t noticed that there had been a light on before. I was now very aware of a bright light shining directly in my eyes. I pulled up my hand to block the light, accidentally smacking Rayne in the face. He pulled back, cringing. I gasped, reaching for him, and then vomited all over his pants.

    “Will you get her out of here?”

    I saw Christian grab me and then drag me out of the cage door. I was too sick to be happy. He wound his arm around my waist, clinging me to him. I could barely walk, so he was more like half dragging me. My vision was blurry, and I couldn’t think right. All the voices had been so far away and slow. Christian was grunting and swearing under his breath, as if I were too heavy to carry. I wasn’t doing much of a job of helping him get to his destination any quicker. But that wasn’t really my fault.

    I heard rapid footsteps pick up behind me, and suddenly I was being supported on either side.

    “Jesus she threw up all over my pants!”

    “Could you not use the lords name in vain again?” Christian practically screamed.

    “Could you please shut up?” I heard Rayne hiss back. “Just get her to the infirmary.”

    “Fine, bossy.”

   “You sound like my mother.”

    “Maybe I am your mother.”

    “Christian!”

    “Ok, ok I’m moving as fast as I can. She’s not as light as she looks. It would go faster if you helped more.”

    I heard Rayne groan. “Do you not see me holding her?”

    Christian murmured something beneath his breath, but I couldn’t catch it. I felt a little better, but not good enough to walk. My brain was all fuzzy and we were moving too fast for me to take in our surroundings. Then I felt us stop, and my stomach violently lurched. I managed to get out some sort of noise of warning before vomiting again. Somewhere close by a door opened. I didn’t stay conscious long enough to get inside.

       

     When I woke up I was laying on a bed, the covers pulled up around me. My head felt much better, but it took a while for my strength to come back. The room was dimly lit, but I could make out a silhouette by the door. I turned my head and saw that the person was sitting in a chair, their elbow resting on the chair’s armrest and their fingers propping up their head. I wiped my hand across my forehead to find some fresh dew there, and I could taste acid in my mouth.

    Suddenly I remembered. I had been let out of my cage. I had been brought somewhere else, inside a room; this room. I looked to see the door. It was so close, and if I was quick and quiet I could sneak out and find my way out of this dungeon. I slowly pulled the covers off of me, and stepped down to feel hard tile beneath my feet. I inched my way off the bed and onto the floor, where I began my slow and steady walk towards the door.

    “And where do you think you’re going?” A shrill voice sounded from beside me. I swung around to see an elderly woman standing in the doorway of a connecting room. She wore pants up to her hips and a short tie-dyed shirt over them. Her hair was long and stringy and was done up in a messy bun. She wore no makeup other than mascara, making her eyelashes curve up to her eyebrows.

    I opened my mouth to reply, but no words seemed to make it out.

    “That’s what I thought, now get back into that bed. You aren’t going anywhere any time soon, not on my watch.”

    I inched my way back into the bed where I let the covers fall back over me. I exhaled roughly and crossed my arms.

    “Don’t be in such a rush to get out of here,” the lady said, making her way over to the figure in the chair. “Some may say you were lucky enough to be locked in a cage.” She sighed. “Though I’m not one to believe in war or locking innocent people up in dungeons. Even so, it’s not my right to state my opinion, especially when so many take it into little consideration. After all look at me, I’m the one locked up in the dungeon too after all.” When she finally approached the figure, she leaned in close. “Rayne!”

    I jumped at how loud her voice was.

    “Rayne! Rayne get up!”

    The figure jerked awake, startled as well. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

    “Goodness Rayne, you sleep so much like the dead sometimes it scares me. This girl could have walked out on you and you wouldn’t have woken up until she was halfway to China.”

    He chuckled slightly at her words. “Lighten up mom, jeez.”

    His mother?

    “Lighten up? She’s your prisoner; I have nothing to be uptight about. I’m not the one watching her, and yet still I was the one who found her almost to the door and had to send her back to the bed.”

    “Ok I get your point.” He stood up and yawned, stretching his arms. “I guess I’ll be leaving then?”

    The lady rolled her eyes. “Funny. You both will be leaving. She’s all healthy and fine. Just needed to get some liquids into her. You should talk to that queen of yours and get her to treat her prisoners more like people. It’s amazing people voted for her to be the next heir when really-”

    “Mom!” Rayne shouted, his eyes flickering to me.

    “Right, sorry, I got carried away.”

    “Yeah well don’t.” He looked over at me. “Are you coming or what?”

    I hesitated slightly before once again getting out of the bed, and making my way towards the door. Rayne opened it and stepped outside, waiting for me to follow.

    “I’ll see you later mom,” he muttered.

    “Yeah, the last time you said that was a month ago.”

    He sighed and shut the door, beginning his way up the hallway. I stayed glued to the spot, wondering where he was going. I had assumed he would take me back to my cage. He turned around when he didn’t hear me following and raised his eyebrows.

    “What are you doing?”

    “You aren’t…taking me back to my cage?”

    He laughed. “To that smelly thing? Last night you vomited all over it, it stinks like s**t.”

    “You’re actually putting me in a better cage because you didn’t want me to be in a smelly cage?”

    He smirked. “Please. We’re the ones who have to sit there and guard you. You think we want to smell that either?” He motioned with his head towards the hall behind him. “Come on.”

    I caught up to him hastily, stumbling a little. His strides were long and fast.

    “So that was your mom?” I asked. I might as well make small talk.

    He smiled slightly. “Christian said you would be nosy.”

    I glared. “It’s really none of your business what I talk about with him.”

    “And it’s not really any of your business about my business.”

    “You know, you’re a lot like Christian,” I mentioned.

    He shrugged. “When you spend a lot of time with someone you find yourself turning into them.”

    I took a deep breath as we continued down the hallway; the cement looking cleaner than it was back where I had been. The lighting was definitely better up here too.

    “So Constance,” Rayne began, “why are you so curious about us?”

    He was actually trying to make small talk with me?

    “I’m more curious about why you hate us.”

    “Oh.” His voice faltered. “It’s really not my place to say.”

    “Not your place to say?” I looked at the side of his face. “But you’re the right hand of the queen, you know everything. You’re practically royalty yourself.”

    He turned to look at me. “Not even close Constance, not even close.”

    I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

    “I’m more of the guard. I have to know everything. If I don’t know anything there’s no sense in doing my job. You can’t guard someone without knowing why.”

    “Not exactly,” I began. He cocked an eyebrow in response. “If you really and truly want to guard someone, you don’t really need a reason why.”

    “I’d have to disagree. I mean if something is going on around you and people keep telling you what to do but you don’t know why you’re doing it, your thoughts get jumbled up and you’re confused, and before you know it, the queen is kidnapped because you couldn’t concentrate.”

    “Well that’s their own fault if they couldn’t concentrate,” I replied.

    “Is it their fault they couldn’t concentrate when they didn’t fully understand what’s going on?”

    I shrugged. “It doesn’t truly matter anymore why this person couldn’t concentrate. The queen has been kidnapped, shouldn’t they go look for her?”

    He laughed. “I thought we were talking about needing a reason to guard.”

    I blushed slightly. “I’m surprised you’re talking to me at all.”

    Rayne scratched his chin. “One thing you should know about me is that I’m not paranoid, and I’m most definitely not Christian.”

    I laughed slightly at that.

    “Just because I guard the queen doesn’t mean I have to think of everything as a threat, that I have keep every single piece of information from being said out loud. Trust me, I’m smart. I know what I’m doing.”

    I shrugged. “I never said you weren’t. But if you’re supposed to guard the queen, whose guarding her now?”

    “I’m only her main guard, I’m not really on watch at all times. She has different guards, though she prefers me.”

    “Prefers you?” I asked.

    He licked his lips. “Because I can change into an animal.”

    I furrowed my eyebrows, only slightly realizing we were walking at an elevated angle. “I thought all demons could turn into animals.”

    “Only some,” he answered. It was implied in his tone that he didn’t want to answer any more than that.

    I took a deep breath and looked in front of me. “Where are we going?”

    “Up.”

    “Up?”

    “Up.”

    “Why up?”

    “Because you’re going to be staying in a room. Does it look like we have rooms down here?”

    “Well no….”

    He suddenly broke out into laughter and turned to look at me. “I don’t understand you. Why do you question being put in better conditions then you were before? Shouldn’t you just accept it without wonder?”

    “I’m a curious person.”

    “Obviously,” he smirked.

    “I’m just surprised is all,” I said weakly. “After all, I thought you guys hated me.”

    “Constance, we can’t hate you. We don’t know you, and the things you got locked up for, we don’t care about. I don’t judge, especially not at first glance.”

    “It seemed like you were judging me the first night,” I said.

    “I’m different around the queen.”

    “Why exactly?” I asked.

    He took a deep breath. “Because I’m a guard when I’m around her. When I’m not around her, I’m Rayne.”

    I started to feel a little bad for him, oddly enough. Here he was, being nice to me when all along I had judged him because he had to lead two separate lives. I suddenly felt awkward walking beside him. But then he stopped and turned.

    He licked two of his fingers and ran them across the wall. The wet marks became darker against the cement, showing two marked symbols. Rayne pressed his fingers against them and then pushed hard. The two symbols fell back into the wall, and then the wall opened, creating a door. He extended his arm inside the room.

    "Your humble abode."

 

Reviews

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I LOVE the way this begins, especially with Rayne and Christian's rfight and the mother part. Hilarious!! And sick, ewww, the throwing up!! But OMG, this is AMAZING!!!!