Crime and Punishment

A Chapter by Honey21

Sorry for the delay, I have been really busy. Please vote and comment and let me know how I am doing, I would love to get your feedbacks so I cn improve my next chPters. Also tell me what you think of the new cover? Is it better than the other one?

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POV Roxanne

Darkness. I knew that it took time for my eyes to adjust to it, but somehow I did not want that adjustment, I was comfortable embracing the blackness and the silence that occasionally broke by the sound of rats squeaking. I kept my eyes closed, maybe to pretend I was asleep and this was another nightmare, but it was not, the terrible smell and coldness of the wall I had leaned on kept me in reality. It was not a nightmare, I was really in the dungeon.

Surprisingly, since entering this cell, I had not been crying. I went numb the moment I was thrown in this smelly room so I just crawled to a corner, hugged my knees and closed my eyes. When the door closed on me, the small lighting was also gone, it was pitch black but I did not mind, I really did not want to see what might have been in this horrible room. It was what I assumed, a stimulation of death. Something that I was expecting to come next.

Of course, I had predicted this to happen. I knew it when I was planning to kill Alexander that I would end up like this, what I did not know was how much scared I could be. In my mind, it had sounded heroic and easy, I was to do a job and end up in dungeon and then be executed in front of people, I had even shed a few tears for myself when I had thought of my last moments and what I could say as my final words, but the reality was so harsher. There was not an executioner waiting for me to behead me in the presence of people, just a torturer who would make sure I stay alive to pay for what I had done.

The cold was getting to me now and my dress was not helping at all. I had not eaten anything since entering this cell and hunger added to my nausea. I had no idea how long I'd been there, nor did I want to think about the time I was going to spend in this hole. There was no way of running away from this, the gods' curse had finally caught up with me and after destroying my country and my family, it was my turn to pay my due.

I heard foot steps getting close, my blood froze in my veins at instance. He was coming. I tried to move but could not do it. There was a silence for a moment and then the door opened with a long creak. I remained motionless hoping to become invisible, when I heard a warm voice calling:

" Princess. It is me."

I was shocked by the voice, surely it was a dream. Slowly I lifted my head and opened my eyes, my vision blurry from the sudden light coming from a torch in his hand.

" My lady, do not fear. It is me."

His voice poured warmness inside me, I got up at instance and ran to hug him tight.

" My dear Farhad, you are alive! I can not believe this.... I thought you were killed the day they captured us.... You do not know how much I have missed you..."

I was just mumbling words between my sobs as he stroked my hair. My head rested on his shoulder and I tried to inhale his scent, just to make sure it was really him. He smelt of good old times, of safety and security, he smelt of home.

He let me cry for a while and when I stopped, slowly took my chin and lifted my head. Suddenly I became conscious of the fact that I was unveiled. I avoided his gaze and let him watch me carefully under the torch he was carrying.

" what has happened to your cheek?"

His voice was trembling. I looked at his eyes which were filled with concern, and touched my cheek. A sharp pain stroked my face. I had forgotten about it. Frankly, my mind had tried so hard to erase all the memories of that dreadful evening. I shook my head and my tears flew again.

He gently touched the scar on my cheek and wiped my tears away.

" How long am I going to be here?" I asked between my sobs.

" I do not know my lady. But the wedding is due in two weeks."

" Ah.... Why does not he kill me instead?"

Farhad drew my body to his and then sat down. I sat beside him, leaning my body on his as he continued to caress my bruised face. His voice soothed my inner pain:

" Have I ever told you the story of a dream your father had before you were born?"

I shook my head.

" It was a month before your birthday, the king was ill as he had been those days, always with a fever, so there were always doctors and priests who watched over him day and night. Then one day, he woke up in the middle of the night and sent for me straight away. I was so worried, my initial thought was that he was dying and wanted to give his final testaments. Your brother at the time, was fighting in the Northern borders.

So I rushed to the castle and found him in his bed, upset and disturbed, but otherwise physically fine. He sent everyone out and told me that he had had a weird dream and he needed to know what it meant.

In his dream, he saw his land covered in ash and dust, there had been no trace of living creatures, human, trees or animals. Everything had turned into a lifeless desert.

Then in the middle of this dead soil, sat your mother. Beautiful and majestic, she was holding something in her hands, carefully protecting it in her palms.The king slowly approached her to see what she was hiding. She was not looking at the king's direction when she suddenly opened her palms.

A baby bird flew out, small but really beautiful. Your mother watched as the small bird flapped its wings hard and fast until it slowly zoomed into sky. All of a sudden the small bird grew into a huge phoenix with colourful feathers. It was so big that the king got scared and tried to hide but the bird had covered all the sky above our land with its majestic wings. That was when the king had woke up.

Your father was scared princess, he did not know the meaning of this dream so he had called me and asked me to bring the best priests to him to interpret what he had seen. There was only one person who could tell the king what that dream meant and it was a priestess who lived far away in a convent and she never came out. The king sent me to her with a message asking her to explain the meaning of his dream. After reading the message, the priestess told me that your mother would give birth to a child who was destined for greatness and the faith of our land would be held in her hand."

I had stopped crying a while ago, just listening to every word. How come I had never heard of this? Why did not they say anything to me? My mother? Farhad? And everyone else who knew?

" This is why I keep telling you that you have a great destiny princess. You shall save our land and this people from misery."

" Why did you never tell me this before?" I was hurt and angry. I knew so little about my father, no one has ever told me anything about him and now I was told he dreamt that I was going to be the saviour of our country.

" We were waiting for you to be ready."

" Ready for what? Why do you think I am ready now?"

" Ready to evolve, and you are ready princess, because I saw that you sacrificed your dignity for a peasant girl. This is a sign."

" I do not understand, what can I do? "

He pushed me away from his embrace gently and stood up. I was angry and confused, my mind was hazy from all the recent events, hunger and lack of sleep.

" What you did was wrong princess. You should not have done it."

His words were a slap in my face.

" How could you say this? He got what he deserved, you know what he had done to us, to our country. Darius is still in a cell here in this dungeon waiting for his death and I was going to be forced into a marriage to a murderer and you are saying I made a mistake?"

I was screaming, anger and desperation pouring out of me. He stood there in silence, waiting for me to finish.

" There are other ways to deal with your anger princess, other methods for revenge. You should have considered other people in your decision. What you did was a technical mistake."

" Then what do you suggest I should have done?"

" You should have married him."

I froze for a moment, my eyes scanning his face to find any sign of joking. There was none. I opened my mouth in protest but he stopped me.

" shhh, listen to me, Roxanne. We do not have much time, no one knows I am here and we could get caught any moment. You know me, you are aware that I love you like a daughter and I shall always be loyal to you. What I say is to your benefit."

I was too tired to argue, too worn off.

" When first the barbarian entered the castle, I came to fetch you so we could escape. I had plans for us to hide for a while in my house and then we could think of our next steps. We had options. We could contact other kings and ask for their help, but you know what happened. We were captured.

Princess, you can not run away now. Where do you want to go? I could have protected you before, but now you need someone stronger to look after you. They way you are, you can never just wonder off and start a life somewhere. This is unfortunately the truth. There should always be a man to protect you from others.

There is another war coming soon, the king of Eastern land is coming and he wants you. You see princess, this is your fate. These men will fight and kill to have you and even if you run away and hide, they will not stop. Think of all the people who are going to die.

When I tell you that you should marry Alexander, it is because it gives you a strong protection, a man you can rely on. It will also gives you a position as the queen who can be involved in the politics and hopefully take steps to help people."

It was a wake up call, gradually I understood what he meant, what he was asking me.

" If you are the queen, you can help your family. Maybe even save Darius. It will be easy to play Alexander as your puppet if he falls deeply in love with you."

I smiled, he was right. Farhad sat beside me and took my hand.

" It is your destiny to be a great queen and you shall be."

A thought crossed my mind. I sighed.

" It is too late now, he will not want me. He sent me to dungeon and said he would torture me."

He laughed.

" Do not worry princess, he wants you. He just...."

" what the hell is going on here? Who let you to come in here?" A cold voice cut our conversation. We both turned to the door where he stood with anger all over his face. He looked formidable in his black outfit. I shivered in fear, remembering what I happened the last time I saw him.

The moment I brought down the sharp hair pin, he turned to me. The pin was plunged into his shoulder instead of his back and blood gushed out, colouring his outfit and mine. He screamed in pain and fell on his knees, trying to take out the pin from his body.

I was shocked too, I could not believe what I had done, but worse than that, I was scared to death. He had not died and this meant I should have been ready for my punishment for attempting to murder the king. I watched with trembling body as he took out the pin with difficulty, his face twisted and discoloured with pain. He was breathing heavily and I expected him to faint any moment. His white shirt was now a bright red with the blood that was pouring out of the wound. But then he use all his energy to get up.

His knees were wobbling and he could not walk steady, but still he came straight to me and slapped me hard with the back of his hand. The last thing I saw before his hand hit my cheek was his eyes, those deep seas that now seemed stormy. I was thrown back on the bed, my head spinning from the stroke and my eyes went black.

Then I heard his voice. I slowly opened my eyes and he was standing over me. My whole body was shivering in fear of what he wanted to do.

" Is this the best you could do princess? You could not wait until I am asleep beside you to finish me? You could not wait to plunge a dagger in my heart while we are making love? Your chance could have been much higher then you know, I thought you were smarter than this."

He was waiting for an answer. I hated to admit that he was right, my plan was guaranteed a success if I went ahead with it when he had really trusted me and I was in his bed. I opened my mouth.

" I did not want you to touch me."

He bend over my body and brought his head down, so close that his breathe was caressing my skin. My body was caged between his arms and there was no way for me to get away. Fear filled my mind as I realised he could dishonour me right here and now and no one would come to my help. He drew his face to mine, his lips only an inch away from me. I quickly turned my face away and closed my eyes.

" You do not want me to touch you? I assure you princess, soon you will beg for my touch."

Then I felt his tongue on my cheek, right where he had slapped me. The skin was split by the ring he was wearing. He licked the blood. A burning sensation spread in my tummy as he explored my skin with his tongue slowly. I kept my eyes closed, ashamed and embarrassed of what he was doing. Then he stopped.

I slowly opened my eyes just to see his smirking face above mine. I could feel the wetness of my dress which was now stained completely with his blood. He brought his lips close to my ear lobe and said huskily:

" You are scared, are not you? You think I am going to take you now but you are wrong. I told you that you shall be punished for all your disobediences and I am going to punish you." his lips closed around my lobe and his teeth sunk into my flesh. I screamed in pain.

In a split of second he stood, grabbed my hand and pulled my body up. Then he opened the door and headed for the dungeon, dragging me behind him. I did not have my veil and for the first time in my life, I was leaving my room without it so instinctively, I Hid my face behind my hair. The servants and guards watched in surprised as he stormed into each room and corridor until we reached the dungeon. The guards opened the door and soon enough he threw me in a dark and smelly cell.

" you shall stay here because you disrespected me. I let you reside in your room and be free but you still chose to plan an evil plot to seduce and kill me. Maybe you prefer to stay in the company of rats and cockroaches for a while until you appreciate my generosity. Until you are ready to apologise and make amends you shall stay here. Oh, and yes, you will be tortured, I will torture you myself to make sure you have learnt your lesson."

He said these and then closed the door behind him, leaving me in the darkness. Now he was back to do as he vowed, to torture me, and worse than that, he had walked in the moment Farhad was consulting me in his arms.

Farhad stood immediately:

" My Lord, I came to see how princess is doing. Forgive me but I was concerned."

" How dare you come in here without my permission. Have you forgotten that you are only a servant in my court?"

Farhad bowed apologetically:

" Of course not your. Majesty, I am begging your forgiveness for what this humble servant has done."

I stepped in, not being able to stand any sort of punishment for Farhad, he was only there to help me.

" Do not punish him my Lord, he was just concerned about my health."

His eyes pierced into mine as I held his gaze.

" Are you ready princess?"

I froze:

" Ready? For what my Lord?"

He smirked.