Within the Walls

Chapter 12

Falling in and out of unconscious, Ruben sits with me in the dusty dungeon. I am not sure how long. Agony licks my back like shock waves as I groan and tremble, with Ruben's hand grounding me in place.

"I feel like my mother would have admired you, Elle," he says, while my eyes remain closed. He must think I am asleep. "I still don't understand why you put yourself at risk. But I hope you will trust me enough to tell me one day. My mother would have admired your courage and stupidity." He chuckles to himself.

"I understand your struggle to trust me. And why should you? I work under Lord Sneya and Hatchman. But I did not get a choice. I'm not like them. I care about people. And I care about you, Elle." He pauses, gently brushing my hair out of my face. "I'm only not sure how I can help people."

A deep, echoing thud rumbles around the dungeon and I jolt awake.

"What in the devil are you doing, boy?" Hatchman growls, the sound bouncing off the stone walls. He snatches Ruben by the shoulder and hoists him up, dragging him towards the door.

"You can't just leave her like this!" Ruben protests.

"You have no business with her, other than to do as you 're told."

Their voices echo throughout the underground until they disappear altogether.

Larissa comes in next. My thoughts solidify into coherency and throw her a wary eye. She refuses to meet it. Scurrying in, she wraps the sheet around my exposed body and helps haul me to my feet.

"We have to get you ready for your next meeting with Lord Sneya tomorrow," she mutters, her voice a pitch too chirpy.

She guides me out of the musty tunnels and into the palace, leading me towards the same room she prepared me in yesterday. Larissa draws me a bath. Instructing me to get in and clean off the dirt, she closes the bathroom door.

"I'll be waiting out here!" she sings, and I roll my eyes.

Peeling off the dirty, blood-stained sheet, I step into the warm water. Lowering myself in, I shudder and wince as the water washes over my wounds. My blood tints the water musty pink. I grab the yellow sponge and pump body wash into it. Pain swallows me whole as I wash my body, gently scrubbing away the soot and dried blood from my skin.

I lean back, wincing as I duck my hair into the water and scrub my scalp. Larissa had left me shampoo, a product still new to me. After I wash my hair and rinse myself, I rise, step out, and towel myself dry. I slip on a dressing gown hanging on a hook and step out of the room.

Larissa flicks her gaze up to me, but she does not meet my eye.

"Hey, are you okay?" I say, staring firmly as she lowers me into a chair.

"What? Of course," her voice shrill. She steps behind me and begins drying my ringlets with another towel, with quick frantic movements.

"What is wrong?" I say.

"Nothing, Elle," she snaps, and I clench my jaw, fumbling for the right words but finding they've betrayed me.

She massages a thick cream into my hairs and untangles the ringlets. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping. I have a lot on tomorrow and I'm a little stressed."

"You don't say."

Larissa helps dress me in a blue gown. All the while, a panic brew behind her deep brown eyes. I flinch at the sudden sharp knock on the door. Hatchman throws the door open before Larissa can let him in. His icy eyes fall on me and his face pulls into a smug grin. "Follow me."

Reluctantly, I traipse after him as he steps out of the room. I recognise we are in the quarantine's hallway and research wing of the palace. We pass the familiar room that I used the first time I arrived here, and the one where Ruben tricked me into thinking Isabelle and Aston were. We stop at the last door on our right as Hatchman unlocks it.

"Right, get in."

"Do you actually have any plans with me, besides locking me up?" I say.

His thick brows knit together, and he grins with malice. "You're a flaw, Miss Fallon. Perhaps, stop asking questions. You don't deserve it."

Bewildered and angry, I turn around to the extra room I am in. It's small, with a narrow bed in one corner and a tiny bathroom in another corner. There is a bench against the wall with a flask of water and a dozen salt crackers. Above the bench is a small square window, barricaded off with solid bars as if I could fit through.

Muttering a frustrated curse, I tread over to the bed and notice yet another fresh blue gown, folded neatly at the end. Snatching it off the mattress, I shuffle into the bathroom and gently peel the current gown off, tossing it to the floor. My eyes shift to my reflection in the mirror and my jaw goes slack.

My body's a war zone. Deep-set lashings sewed together. Swollen. Purple and red. Grimacing, I slip a new gown over my head. Even a war must rest, replenish its weapons and soldiers for the next battle. And so, I climb into the bed; the springs creaking as it takes my weight. I close my eyes and at last, let my war zone rest.

"Elle!" A sharp voice and a rapid knocking on the door jerks me from my unconscious state. "Elle, wake up!"

It's Ruben. The lock clicks, and he stumbles into the room. "What the hell, Ruben?"

"Elle!" His voice is shaky, desperate, and his eyes are alight with terror. "Get up, put your clothes on. Quickly. We have to go." He tosses a bundle at me.

"Go where?"

"Just do it!" Panic laces his voice as his eyes glint with terror. I scramble to my feet, take the clothing and stumble into the bathroom. Changing into my familiar black pants and singlet burns my back, and I bite down hard on my cheek so Ruben doesn't hear my groans.

Shrugging on the coat and drawing the laces on my boots tight, I hurry out of the bathroom. "Sword?"

"No time for that, Elle." Ruben snatches my wrist and yanks me out of the room. He breaks into a jog as we get to the hallway and I follow him. We hurry through several corridors before entering the major part of the palace. We run through the ballroom and the foyer, the Tranqs at the main doors do not even stop us and instead, open the doors for us to sprint out.

My panic claws its way up my throat. What the hell is going on?

We tear through the streets of the Concave Sector; the people shrieking and yelling profanities at us as we sprint by. The River comes before I know it and the drawbridge is down. Ruben does not even hesitate, leaping onto the drawbridge, running across. "Hurry, Elle!"

Adrenaline courses through my veins. Blood flushes my face. The wind whips at my hair and my legs drive me forward. Ruben and I enter the outskirts of the Convex Sector and hastily navigate our way through the bustling streets, shoving through the crowds.

At long last, we arrive at the square and Ruben skids to a stop. I am forced to do the same as a large crowd has built around the stand. I desperately crane my neck to see the subject of the scene.

At once my heart seizes, and my breath catches in my throat, horror stamping down on me like a boot.

My sister is on the stand. A Tranq aims a rifle at her, and they strapped her hands behind her back to a wooden stake. They smeared an X in black ink across her forehead. Her lip trembles and her deep, soulful eyes brim with terror. Then her gaze shifts to me, our eyes lock and tears stream down my cheeks, my heart thundering in my chest.

"I love you," Isabelle mouths.

"No!" I scream.

But it is too late.

The Tranq pulls the trigger.