Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride {Book 2}

Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride {Book 2}: Chapter 17

We trained a lot before Gemini left and we grew close. She was my first real friend here who wasn't a supervisor or a maid or anything like that. She wasn't too interested in me being a princess, she only wanted to know how it came to be. To be honest, she was just very eager to teach me to be like her. She taught me how to fight and how to lie extremely well. They were skills I'd keep under my belt in case something happened, but I was good at it now.

The day she was due to leave, Gemini was buzzing with life. This energy seemed to pass on to everyone as the base seemed to have more life to it, there was more noise, and more being done. I guessed everyone was glad something was being done instead of sitting it out.

"This is my first major job in a while!" She exclaimed. She leaned in and pulled at her bottom eyelids to make her yellow eyes wider. "Are they shaking? My eyes shake when I'm excited."

I nodded, it was strange to see. But it clearly meant she was ready for her job. I was a little nervous for her though, a lot was at stake here. She'd done her reading on Austin and she knew him like the back of her hand. Conning people was all she knew. She could do it.

Just before the elevator door closed between us, with a big grin on her face, she promised to bring me back a souvenir.

"Hopefully that asshole's head," joked one of the soldiers in the elevator with her, referring to Austin.

A couple of weeks later, the General informed me I could go to the surface to get some air and stretch my legs outside. He seemed reluctant to do so. I found out on my way that after some convincing from both Leandra and Charlotte, I was allowed 30 minutes.

I was grateful for the time on the surface and the natural breeze that came with it as opposed to the artificial one which quite frequently made my nostrils very dry. Leyton said he'd accompany me for the 30 minutes we'd been permitted out. We sat together on the hilltop, facing away from Nox Aterrima and into the trail of lights that led up to this base. The stars shone faintly in the distance, dimmer than usual. It was the first time in months that I'd seen them.

Even with the rooms with artificial sunlight, simulation rooms which made it seem like you were outside and grassy areas the size of three football pitches, it still didn't match the feeling of the freedom the outdoors permitted.

"How are you holding up?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.

"As good as can be I suppose. There's not much I can do."

He huffed and began pulling strands of grass up from the ground and tearing them in half.

"You confident in the plan?" He questioned, his tone was flat and lifeless like the torn grass blades.

"I'm confident in Gemini, she never fails."

He snorted, almost sardonically, like he'd lost all faith in this mission, in rescuing Alexander. It blew all words from my stream of thoughts and I was left with emptiness. Maybe it was the place draining the life out of him, or maybe he was tired, but I'd never seen him so pessimistic before.

"Sorry, I'm just tired. It's a lot of work and even more pressure. If I was there when he ran off into the city, we wouldn't be in this predicament."

His dejected emerald eyes locked with mine and my heart sank for him. I brought my hand to his back to try and console him as best as I could. Of course, it was a lot of pressure, he was so young, and so were the others, yet they had to help win a war without getting the prince killed. He'd had to put on such a positive facade all this time and now it had built up.

"But anyway," he began, perking up a little and breaking eye contact, "the Queen was finally moved elsewhere for protection. She hated it here. I don't blame her."

"I honestly don't even blame her," I joked, forcing a slight smile from him.

The remaining 20 minutes flew by, with small conversations cropping up here and there, but there wasn't much to talk about. The watch Leyton had been given started to alarm, signalling it was time to go back under. He sighed as he pushed himself up from the ground, and then offered his hand to help me up. My butt felt numb, and I think Leyton's felt the same as he patted his own and shook his legs as we headed back to the door in the hill.

The following few weeks were a blur, with Gemini already gone, all that was left was to wait.

And then the box of horror addressed to me arrived.

They say they'd slowly been getting less news from Cornelia, and then it completely stopped without her telling them. It was clear the General and Iyeong were growing anxious and impatient. Iyeong warned me as I passed her in the hallway that it might soon be my turn.

*

I'd been called into the planning room by General Phaeus, it was the same room we were in when Iyeong devised the plan to have Gemini befriend Austin. As I entered, everyone was already there, even the King, and in the middle of the table was a red box wrapped in a gold ribbon about twice the size of a shoebox and considerably heavier. I analysed the tag and the all-too-familiar handwriting:

To Arianne,

I knew that writing like I knew my own- the large circle to dot the 'i' and the joining of the 'n's that made them look like an 'm'. It almost instinctively sped up my heart rate and made my hands tremor as I held the tag between my thumb and index finger.

"How did this get here?" Was all I could ask, everything else in my mind seemed to disappear.

"It was found at the castle, one of the guards brought hit up here. It's lined with lead so we can't smell what's inside," said Charlotte.

That didn't reassure me one bit. This was a gift from Austin, lined with lead so obviously, he didn't want them to see or smell what's inside the box. But the lead-lining was off: why was he trying to conceal its contents?

Once more I took in the gaunt expressions of those in the room and how their eyes remained targeted on the box as if it was live prey, before pulling the ribbon loose from its bow and slowly tearing away the paper.

Now, sat in front of me, as still as the air in the room, was a black box with the letter 'G' engraved in italics. My hands gradually lifted the lid and as they fumbled around trying to get rid of the white and red shredded paper, they came in to contact with something cold and soft. I instinctively brought them back to my body, not liking the disconcerting yet very familiar feeling.

Leandra's slow approach towards me made me realise the impatience everyone must have been feeling so I grabbed the last handful of shredded paper.

My eyes locked on to a pair within the box.

The cry that emitted from my body was unexpected as I collapsed to the floor and everyone rushed over. Tears soon followed and short fast breaths took over me as I sit a crumpled mess in Leandra's arms. I tried to keep my eyes locked shut as my brain did its best to purge the image of the blood, of the eyes... of the decapitated head before me.