Emerald and Gold

Chapter 7 – Emerald and Gold

*Prince Devin's POV*

                I walked down through the hall of the dungeon, my boots splashing in the small puddles of the muddy floors. I had sent my men down here to get the prisoners, and bring them to me for a trial. That was all, and for some god forsaken reason, they were still down here. I was growing impatient waiting for them, and decided to check on it myself, only to find a sight more disgusting than the faerie herself.

                One of my men was sitting on the ground and leaning against the stone wall, holding his face as his nose bled through his fingers. Another guard was standing over the older faerie, who looked unconscious as he laid still on the dirt floor of the cell. An obvious tussle between the three parties where my men came out on top, but that wasn’t the scene that sent fire raging down my spine, and my blood to boil over in my body.

Against the opposing wall the other two guards had the little faerie pinned like prey for a slaughter. One guard, Paulo, had her iron chain in his hands, and had her arms stretched above her body, pulling her tiny figured up high enough she was almost standing on the balls of her toes. While Antony had his hand clamped down on her mouth, and his knee wedged between her thighs. I could see him trailing his fingertips up the inside of her thigh, and watched as she tried to flinch away from him with no success. His rotten fingers drew higher to hook around her under-ware and snapped the elastic band back onto her pale skin, leaving a hot red mark on the pale flesh. I looked at her face then, to see tear drops slowly sliding down her cheeks, and I felt my heart squeeze in my chest. Her bright green eyes that showed so much rebellion yesterday, were dull and full of unrelenting fear. I could see her entire body trembling as she realized she had no control over what was about to happen, as she watched her father lay unconscious at her feet.

 I hated her. Everything about her. Her creamy skin, and soft waves of long black hair that framed the petite face. She was nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but it was hard to look at her now, as she was just a teenager who had been placed in a tough position in life. Sure, my father had some unrelenting rules with the Faeries, but they knew the price of their freedom. No one, not even this monster, deserved to be raped by two men in a dirty dungeon.

“Let’s get you out of this dress little bird.” I heard Antony drawl out, and could see his eyes hooded in lust from where I was standing beside the open cell door. He reached out for a handful of her dress and pulled. The faerie let out a small whimper as she slammed her eyes closed and I heard the sound of fabric beginning to rip. I quickly took two steps forward and grabbed Antony by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him away from her; knocking him to the ground on the other side of the small cell. I heard the other guard gasp at my sudden presence, and ignored him, instead reaching my hand out for the chains he was holding. He quickly obliged, and I turned my attention to the faerie girl. I gently pulled the dress down over her legs to cover her, and pulled her chains in front of her body to give her arms some reprieve. I felt her flinch away from my sudden touch, and open her eyes to look into mine. Bright greens and golds swirled as her gaze turned from fear to acknowledgment when she saw her fate had been changed. She moved her wrists in front of her, and I saw a quick flash of pain shoot through her fragile features, but was quickly replaced with her original determination. I glanced down at her wrists to see they were swollen and red beneath the iron holding them. I know iron was deadly to the Faerie, but I never knew it wreaked such havoc on their bodies. I quickly composed myself as I heard the grunting of my guard standing behind me, but did not turn to look at him. Instead finding more interest in the little faerie in front of me, and her golden flecked irises. Her gaze darted from me to Antony, and I felt her body pull away from me, like a scared and trapped animal.

“Stop Antony.” I said firmly, and his shuffling behind me ceased. I pulled on the chains in my hands, resulting in the faerie stepping into me, bumping her small frame into my larger one. My heart quickened at the sudden contact, and my senses filled with a light scent of vanilla. I inwardly shook my head at my traitorous body, as if I had never had a woman before. This has to be from the adrenaline of the recent events, this faerie is dangerous, not something to be pining after. With a sigh, I turned and looked at my guard that I had thrown across the room. “Your orders were to go into the dungeons, get the prisoners, and bring them to me.” I watched as Antony smirked and put his hands behind his back, bouncing on his toes like a toddler who had just been told to stop stealing cookies. My anger rushed through my veins again, sparking fury as it raged a war through my body wanting nothing more than to tear the throat out of this solider standing in front of me.

“Yes, sir. I was on my way to you sir.” He said, haughtily. The smirk still playing across his lips. My temper boiled over as I felt my skin flush in anger.

“Then explain to me Antony, why I walked down here to find one of the prisoners unconscious, and you standing between the legs of the other one.” I replied in large bellow, and I watched as he took a step back from me, finally feeling the anger that was rolling from me in large waves.

“They attacked us sir, we were just defending ourselves. You know what she did to Alphonso.” The guard sputtered, and I knew he was lying. I knew what she did to Alphonso, but with her hands trapped in iron, she was nothing more than a scared teenage girl, even though I heard her let out a low warning growl behind my back as he lied through his teeth.

“I will make myself absolutely clear this one and only time Antony,” I set my face hard as stone, and took all the emotion from my voice. “If you disregard my orders again for your own agenda, it will be you sitting in this cell next.” The guard looked at me dumbly before nodding his head, knowing fully well that this was no empty threat.

“Yes Sir.” He all but whispered back to me, “I will take her upstairs for you.” Antony reached his hand out to grab the chains from me. I thought about handing them over for a second, but I heard a loud snarl behind me, like a beast just barely contained. I’m sure if he grabbed her, she would not stand in fear this time, but take a chunk of his flesh off with her teeth. I almost chuckled at the thought. Antony deserved a proper punishment anyway, and I was about done looking at his sulking face.

“You are excused from this assignment Antony, please take over a night round shift for one of the guards at the west side of the palace.” I stated plainly. I just wanted him out of my sight so I could continue with my plans for the night. I saw him shoot a quick glance at the faerie behind me, and didn’t miss the pure hate in his eyes, but still, he did not move from his spot in front of me. I smirked at the continued disrespect, and continued, “Actually, you can take the night round shift for the next two weeks for this unfortunate event.

I watched as the guard’s face turned a bright shade of angry red, as he sputtered a reply to me, “As you wish sir.” Before quickly turning on his heel and stomping out of the cell. I let out a big sigh and turned to look at the mess around me. There was still a faerie unconscious, and three guards left that were anything but innocent in the previous events. In the end, the male faerie did fight one of my guards in an attempt to escape with his daughter, who killed another one. I still had a trial to give, and this unfortunate string of events will not faulter my resolve. I turned to my guards who stiffened under my gaze, and directed their eyes to the floor.

“Take the unconscious prisoner to the infirmary, I do not think he is gravely injured but just unconscious. He is to stand trial for treason against the Kingdom when he has woken.” I said firmly, and heard the faerie gasp behind me. I turned to look at her to see her face had turned a blanched white. She pulled on the chains that I held firmly in my hands. She thrashed and pulled harder against the bindings, trying to fight her way out, but I held them in a tight grip, my face set in a blank slate of stone. I remembered why I was here, to take this evil witch to trial. To end her life like she had ended one of my closest friends.

“Stop Faerie.” I commanded, bored of her thrashings. If anything, I was doing her a favor, ending her life and her fathers would save them both from the torture that laid beyond the walls of the palace. I took in her heaving form, dripping with sweat, with the sparkle of determination in her eyes.

“He had nothing to do with it!” She screamed in my face, and a watched as she threw her body to the side, slamming herself into the guard closest to her. He lost his balance and fell back into the dirty ground. I wrapped her chains around my wrist and pulled her to the ground, bringing her down to her knees into the dirt. Her face inches from mine, but not looking at me. She had her eyes locked on something else across the cell room.

“You will stop Faerie, or I will kill you myself.” I spat back at her. I was sick of this game, and it was time to end it. I was taken off guard though when she giggled at my words, the sound a blow to my ego for the second time. I could feel my eyes widen as she turned to look at me, the gold in her eyes taking over the green, swirling in a metallic dance around her dilated pupils. She took the chance and leaned into me, and pressed her lips firmly to mine. I stiffened at the sudden contact, my heart pounding in my chest, as the intoxicating smell of vanilla flooded my senses. I felt her mouth turn into a small smirk as she nipped at my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine. My body reacted without my permission, releasing a soft moan at the attention, and just like that the warmth left my body and she was gone.

I was frozen for a second, lost in my rapid heartbeat, when iron hitting stone brought me back to my senses. I turned to see her throwing herself over the unconscious Faerie. I jumped to my feet as quickly as I could, and saw her lips move in silent words. Her eyes glowed like molten gold, and I could hear energy snapping like a rubber band around the small cell.  I felt heat spread over my body as I watched a tear fall from her face and land on her Father. I launched myself in her direction, attempting to stop the magic she was pouring from her tiny body, and collided hard with her small frame. We rolled once, and I pinned her to the floor with my hands holding her wrists above her head. Fury overwhelmed me as I looked to see that the space where her father had been was empty, as if he had melted right into the floor that he laid. I whipped my head to look back at her, and saw that her eyes were back to the original green I had seen before, staring right back at me with a small smile on her face. I opened my mouth to scream at her, but felt her body go limp in my arms, and her head rolled to the side. I could feel the pulse in her wrist start to slow under my hands, and her breathing became shallow.

                “Get me a doctor.” I said quietly, releasing her wrists from my hands, and pushing my body from her unconscious one.

                “Sir?” a guard questioned. I whipped my head to look at him, glaring as they shrunk back from my gaze.

                “GET ME A FUCKING DOCTOR!” My voice boomed through the cell, and I watched the guards scatter out through the door. I felt a small flinch beside me and turned to look at the now unconscious girl beside me. Her breathing slowed to nothing, and I watched as her chest lifted itself off the ground in a twisted fashion that sent shivers down my spine. Her body shook morbidly and without resolve as the seizure took hold of her.  Her eyelids fluttering against the tremors that wracked her body, and her arms pulling themselves tight to her center.

I heard footsteps running towards down the hall towards me, and I quickly gathered the girl up in my arms as gently as I could. A man in a long white coat met me at the cell door, his long face and greying hair a mess as he looked at me with concerned eyes. He held out his arms to take her, and I instinctively pulled away from him, covering her body with mine. His eyes flashed in confusion, and he reached for her arm.

“Give her to me now Prince Devin, or she might not survive.” He said bluntly, no fear as he spoke back to me. I looked down at her form, still shaking and bending in grotesque ways, and nodded my head. I passed handed her gently to the man, and watched as he pressed two fingers to her throat, nodding his head. “She’ll be in the infirmary, but I need to go.” I nodded, and watched him turn and move swiftly down the hallway.

I hate this girl, but for some reason, I need to see those emerald eyes looking back at me one more time.