Chapter 2

Julian’s POV

I knew I was doomed. The guards would come, and they would take me away.

"It was my mistake, a horrible accident! I didn't mean to!" I begged as I stumbled over my words to get her to believe I didn't kill her father.

I glanced around the room for a way to get out, but saw no escape routes. I was screwed, and I knew it.

I pleaded again, "I didn't mean to kill him, I swear!"

"It was a mistake! Please have mercy!" I wailed, tears running down my cheeks.

But her face showed no mercy. She slapped me hard on the face, pulling my hair backward. I hollered in pain as she stared me down with disgust.

"You killed my father, you will pay for this." She said hatefully.

The guards were pulling my arms, trying to drag me away. I was fighting against them, but I was quite outnumbered.

As they dragged me away I watched Theodora shouting while holding her father's dead body on the floor. The very sound of her voice echoed in my ears. I thought it would never go away.

I was thrown into a cell, dark and desolate. The moment they slammed the door behind me, I felt like the weight of the world had disappeared. I could feel the rage awakening inside me, and I slammed my fists into the stone floor. This is what it feels like to struggle against an alpha and lose.

******

I rested my back against the wall in my cell, which was too cold and dank with too much moisture. All my body parts hurt from head to toe. I was starving. I haven’t had food for two straight days, and I wonder how I’m still alive till now.

I felt too exhausted to move any further. The palms of my hands felt warm while the blisters on my lips burnt like dry ice. My eyes felt empty, and my skin too clammy to touch.

The emotional pain I had endured was nothing close to the physical torment I’d endured for 48 hours. I’d been subjected to never-ending torture.

Theodora had given the order to use every trick in the book to break me. From beating, whipping, starvation and worse. I’d actually lost count of how many times I had fainted from the agony.

I couldn’t believe that just a few weeks ago, I was a princess, living in comfort.

I had everything I could ever want, even though my family hated me. But all of that was ripped away from me in an instant.

I was nothing but a prisoner imprisoned in a cell, waiting for certain death. That was almost too much to digest. The loss of everything was extremely bitter, to be “everything” and then cast out into the nothingness around me by cruel hands of fate.

The fabrics coated with my tears recall the thoughts of every memory I have lost, which reveals my tattered family, captivating home and freedom transformed nothing. Life was an adventure, and now it's staring deep into the abyss.

I closed my eyes, feeling tears fall and releasing all my sadness. My body shook, but my muscles felt too weak to move. I felt exhausted, hungry, and trapped. The darkness felt overwhelming. Will it last forever? Only time will tell.

I heard footsteps coming towards me, and my heart filled with dread. I backed away, pressing myself against the wall for support. My body trembled with fear. “Are they here to hurt me again?”

“I will not be able to last,” my self wished to whisper, knowing every drop of concocted tears made the willies more vibrant.

My thoughts were interrupted as a figure clothed in fragrant perfume erupted to my cell, which then revealed Theodora.

She had her hair styled in the exact way it needed to be for her face, she looked like she was going to an important meeting.

The guards opened the gate for her and she stepped carefully into the cell, peering around the small space with contempt.

"I guess this isn't the ideal abode for a princess," she said, her tone dripping with hate.

"You smell like vomit." She hawked up phlegm and spit it on the floor while expressing disgust with her face.

She told the guard to bring a chair, and the guard obeyed swiftly, he placed a fancy chair directly in the centre of the cell. From the moment she sat down, it was clear she had some mastery of grace and sophistication. Theodora waved her hand as if she were brushing something away, and the guards stepped back and let us to be a little more alone.

Tears began to well in her eyes, and for an instant I thought I saw a flicker of sadness. Then her anguish turned into cold, hard anger.

"You murdered my father," she spat.

"You murdered the only man that treated me like his own. I'll never forgive you."

But then, something unexpected happened. Theodora's expression transformed, an evil smile curling up her lips.

"Well, well, well," she whispered. "You just made it easier for me. How clever could you be? I just couldn't bring myself to do it, but you just did. Bravo."

She leaned forward, her eyes bright with malice.

"Tell me, how did it happen," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I am curious. How did you manage to kill the one person who stood between me and the throne?"

My eyes went wide in disbelief. "Wait, what?" I said, trembling.

Theodora's smile widened. "Well, let's just say, he's an old man. I wanted to make his death uncomplicated, but you had to do what you do best. Oh, so sad."

I couldn't believe it. Theodora didn't even look capable of harming anyone, let alone killing her own father.

"Oh well, my time here is up." She stood up and smoothed her dress. "I couldn't stay here anymore; I don't want to smell like this cell."

I dropped to my knees, surrendering to desperation. "Please, just let me go. I am begging you, I will never come back. You'll never hear from me again."

Theodora's face turned steely and calculating. "Oh no, darling, this is only the start of your terrible nightmare!

You will pay for killing my father and for what your father did to us.”

With that, she turned and left. “Please, just let me go!” I cried.

“Shut up, Julian!” her voice echoed as she walked away.

Just then, one of the guards came in with a tray of food. I grabbed it quickly and started eating because I was starving. The food was my only concern. After I finished eating, I noticed there was a note on the tray.

It read, "Thanks for making things easier for me. Your Highness, Theodora."

I knew exactly what she was referring to, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that I had eaten.

But as I leaned back against the wall, my stomach began to churn. A searing pain shot through my abdomen, and I felt a wave of nausea wash over me. I stumbled forward, vomiting up the food I had just eaten.

That's when it hit me, I had been poisoned.

I doubled over, clutching my stomach in agony. The pain was unbearable, a searing burn that threatened to consume me whole. I tried to cry out, but my voice was hoarse and barely audible.

My vision began to blur, and I felt myself swaying, my body weakened by the poison coursing through my veins. I tried to hold on, but it was no use.

With a faint whisper, I collapsed to the ground, my world going dark as I lost consciousness.

*********

Pain. That was the first thing I felt as I drifted between consciousness and oblivion. A deep, searing pain in my stomach, burning like fire from within. Theodora’s poison had done its job well, I was too weak to move, too weak to fight. But I wasn’t dead. Not yet.

The heavy doors to my cell groaned open. I kept my eyes shut, forcing my body to remain limp as the guards entered.

“She’s dead,” one of them scoffed. “The princess lasted longer than I thought.”

Princess. The word meant nothing now. I was no longer Julian a princess, I was nothing but a discarded body, a burden to be disposed of.

“Take her to the execution grounds,” another ordered. “Let the crows feast.”

Rough hands grabbed me, hauling me up as if I were no more than a sack of grain. My limbs dangled uselessly, my breath shallow. I fought the urge to gasp as they dragged me through the dim corridors, the scent of damp stone and blood thick in the air.

Then, chaos erupted.

Shouts rang through the castle. Metal clashed against metal. The guards dragging me cursed, their grips loosening. A sudden explosion rocked the halls, sending them stumbling.

I didn’t wait for answers. With the last of my strength, I rolled from their grasp, hitting the cold ground hard. Pain flared through my body, but I forced myself to move, crawling into the shadows as the guards ran toward the commotion.

The castle was under attack.

I didn’t care who had come, I only knew this was my only chance.

Through sheer will, I pushed myself forward, navigating the darkened corridors until I found a storage room. Inside, tattered cloaks and old uniforms hung from wooden racks. With trembling hands, I grabbed a tunic and pants, stripping off my ruined gown.

My reflection in a dusty mirror stopped me. Pale skin, hollowed eyes, dirty hair. A girl who had lost everything.

No. Not a girl. Not anymore.

I bound my chest tightly, flattening what little curves I had, and pulled the hood of a cloak over my head. Luckily, my body was too thin from weeks of starvation but that would help my disguise. No one would look twice at a scrawny boy in ragged clothes.

As fires raged outside, I slipped into the shadows, my heart pounding. The castle walls stretched high, but even though I didn’t know the paths well. I tried my best to find my way out through the chaos.

Under the cover of night, I fled.

I was no longer Princess Julian. That name had died in a cold, dark cell.

Now, I was Prince Jules, a nameless boy, a ghost in the wind.