Chapter 5

Aylin's POV

I didn't know how long I had been unconscious. But a wave of heat brushed against my face and I jerked awake. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying in one corner of a squalid dungeon, sunlight pouring through a tiny window high above me.

"What is this place?" I asked, struggling to rise to my feet. I scrambled upright, only for something cold to bite into my ankle. I looked at my right leg, a chain was coiled tightly around it. I attempted to move, but the chain snapped taut and pain shot through my leg, forcing a cry from my lips.

"Awake already? Oh good."

I raised my head to find a dark figure standing at the entrance of the cage, behind the bars. His voice was deep, calm, almost bored, and his broad shoulders swallowed the doorway.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

"Not me, them. The people who are paying me for you."

"I don't understand. Did Kael ask you to do this?"

"Oh no, " he shook his head. "Kael and I have no dealings whatsoever, never again.".

As he stepped into the light, I caught sight of dark hair, hard eyes and a face carved from stone. He did not look like a jailer.

He looked like the sort of man who buried people without remembering their names.

"Sovereign Howl," I whispered before I could stop myself.

"So you know where you are."

The memories came rushing back.

Kael's rejection. His proposal to Cersei, the arrows, the trap hidden beneath the leaves.

The strange voice before darkness claimed me. The realisation hit me quickly. I have been kidnapped by rogues, and if this was their leader, then the man before me is the infamous

"Dorian Blackwood."

A gasp escaped my throat, but he neither confirmed nor denied it. Panic clawed at my chest, heat crawling under my skin.

"You've made a mistake."

"Have I?"

He folded his arms and rested against the cage.

"Look,. You've got the wrong person"

The darkness covered his face again, and I scooted closer, ignoring the pain in my legs.

"I have nothing to do with your war. If this is about Kael..."

The words vanished from my throat. No, Kael would already be looking for me. He had to be. Whatever happened yesterday was not the man I knew. Cersei must have poisoned him or bewitched him. My essence still flowed through his veins, the bond between us could not simply disappear.

"The people who hired me arrive tomorrow morning. You'll leave to meet them." "

My blood froze ran cold.

"...People?"

"Yes, you'll be handed over when they do."

Everything inside me went still, even my heart stopped beating.

Someone had paid for me, not killed me, bought me.

"Who are they?" I asked. "What do they want for me?"

"You ask too many questions, and I actually don't know."

"But I deserve answers."

"No, you deserve whatever your buyer paid for."

He turned and started walking away.

"No." I gripped the bars until my knuckles hurt. "Please. Tell me who wants me."

Dorian watched me with unreadable eyes, and I could feel the hate in his eyes. Of course who wouldn't be mad at the tyrant's wife? But not anymore. I am now the same as the other victims in this part of the land. Denied justice, cast aside and trampled upon.

I sprang to my feet, but the chain snapped around my legs, fresh pain jolting through me.

"I understand that you might be mad at the king who has let you and everyone else here suffer, but I have nothing to do with this." I wanted to add that Kael already rejected me and threw me out of his court, but I held back.

"You will travel tomorrow morning." The dark figure's voice echoed. "And I'd go back to sleep if I were you. I'd need all my strength."

"But I don't get it." I snapped back. "You have no right to keep me hostage. I don't even know you.."

"Maybe," Dorian Blackwood scoffed. "But it isn't my business."

"Wait, Mr," I shouted after him, banging on the iron railings. "You can't leave me here, please, I'm begging you. I haven't done anything wrong. "

But all I got was the echoes of my own voice and the faint receding footsteps of the giant man. My legs gave way and tears, hot and blinding poured down my eyes. With each passing day, I am forced to regret my decision to leave Olympus. First I was in a castle, a gilded cage with much hostility. Now, I'm in a dungeon reeking with rot, what more would these mortals do to me?

With no other choice, I began to cry to the moon goddess again. She'd seen me, and no matter how badly I behaved I was still her child. She couldn't leave me here, I'd suffered enough to prove her point or hadn't I?

I closed my eyes and tried to connect to her, luckily the dungeon was quiet enough to allow concentration. Slowly I felt my spirit levitate, I saw past the gate of Olympus, I was even able to enter the palace but suddenly a force pushed me back. The impact sent a ringing sensation through my head. My heart shattered into bits, strength vanishing from me, no response from the other end.

"You are truly as weird as your appearance." I opened my eyes to find a tall lean lady with brown hair standing in front of the cage. "Dorian would never cease to amaze me, " she muttered, eyeing me. "What is this supposed to mean?"

"Yes, you are right." I quickly answered, crawling closer to the open door. The chains were strapped tightly around my leg making it impossible for me to contemplate an escape. Even though I still had enough strength to push her out of the way.

"I am not meant to be in here. Who are you people and what do you want?"

"I don't know," the lady answered drily, stepping into the dungeon. "I was sent to feed you and clean your wounds. "You have to be in perfect shape for the journey."

"What journey?"

She rolled her eyes and shuddered, as she reached for my sore leg. "I don't have anything to do with the king."

"Who is your darling husband is he not?"

A dark smile crossed this lady's face, but amidst it I couldn't be more surprised that the news of last night hadn't reached this part of the Kingdom. Didn't Cersei want to be queen that desperately, why wouldn't she announce it?

"My husband is not going to come and save me. There is so much you don't know. I'm of very little use to your cause. Let me go and I might find something for you. Any amount of money you want."

She didn't say a word to me in response, instead, she focused on strapping my sprained ankle and applying burning ointment to the sores. Just then she stood up and headed to the door, but she turned to me.

"I don't know who you are, "I've known Dorian for years. He doesn't explain himself. He doesn't answer questions. He doesn't even look people in the eye when he's delivering a job. Yet he stood here listening to you. Don't try to take what is mine, and you might as well pray to the goddess for death."