The King's Daughter

50 Ill Intent

• Louis' POV •

Startled awake by my cell door opening, I sat up quickly and nearly fell off the cot. Two burly men in gold and black uniforms entered and came right up to me. One reached down and grabbed me, yanking me to my feet.

"What's this? Who are you?" I demanded, feeling like a midget next to these giant muscular men.

"Keep quiet and this'll be over soon." One said as he forced my arms behind my back.

The other stood in front of me, sizing me up. I didn't know what was going on or what their intentions were. I still had days until my execution. The uniforms they wore weren't familiar to me, but before I could ponder why they looked different from the other guards, the guy in front of me jammed his fist into my stomach.

Grunting, I doubled over in alarm. The guards had never done this before. Why would the king order them to do this now? I didn't have time to think before my head was jerked up by my hair and a fist struck my face hard. I tasted blood. Instinctually, I tried pulling my arms free to protect myself, but the man holding me was too strong. What the hell was going on?

Lifting my legs, I attempted to kick the one hitting me. He stumbled on his feet, but retaliated with a harsh blow to my side. The wind was knocked out of me. A few punches to my stomach and several more to my face brought me to my knees as I groaned in pain. I was beginning to think they wouldn't stop when I was yanked up and my head was slammed against the bars of the cell. I flopped onto the floor, wondering if they were here to kill me. It didn't really matter if they did. My end was coming soon enough. My only regret was that Aria wouldn't be able to say goodbye.

But as I prepared myself for death, the two stepped over me and left the cell, locking it after them. Just as quickly as they'd come, they disappeared. Gasping for breath, I held my stomach which I assumed would be badly bruised tomorrow. I felt so helpless and I hated how I wasn't able to defend myself. Could I even defend myself, legally? These were the king's guards beating me up for fûck's sake.

With difficulty, I managed to crawl back onto the cot and lay there breathing hard. I tasted blood in my mouth and felt some dripping from my forehead. I didn't think it would be wise to close my eyes after several harsh blows to my head, but I couldn't keep them open and soon fell asleep.

I wasn't sure what time it was when the dungeon door opened again. My head was killing me and with every move I made, my bruised ribs would errupt with pain. I tried to ignore it as I hoped whoever came down here wasn't going to beat me up again. I'd rather they just kill me.

"Get your hands off me!" A familiar voice exclaimed and I scrambled from the cot to lean my face against the bars, trying to see down the corridor.

Harry and several other familiar faces were being escorted by armed guards into a cell near the dungeon door. I was so excited to see him I nearly shouted out his name, but why was he here? How did they catch him? Deciding it would be better to wait until we were alone, I waited for the guards to close the heavy doors behind them before I called out into the shadows. I couldn't see him because of the stone walls between the cells.

"Harry!"

It was a moment before he responded. "Lou?"

"What the fûck are you doing here?" I exclaimed.

"Rescuing you, you fool! How the hell did you manage to get arrested?" Harry replied.

Sighing because I knew he wouldn't understand my reasoning, I turned the question back on him. "How could you get arrested? You were supposed to stay in hiding until I could come get you."