Reverie

3287 days, that's how long it has been since they locked me away, I don’t know where I am and I don’t know who locked me up, but I know one thing this time when I say I’m going to escape I mean it. I have attempted to escape three times before this, the first time was on May twenty third, eighteen fifty four, the day they locked me up in this strange place. My second attempt was on September fifth, eighteen fifty two, my sixteenth birthday. The third time was January first eighteen fifty. Maybe the new year would bring me new luck, but not this time. The date today was June second, eighteen fifty three and this time I was escaping for good. The last three times that I have attempted to escape I have managed to make it out of the building, but this place is surrounded by hundreds of guards. Luckily for me today was Sargent greys birthday, no one really knows him, but everyone loves him, even I have to admit he’s pretty great. Since it's his birthday at exactly 3:01 PM, all of the guards will be gathered in the food hall, making this place completely free of guards, they all come back at 4:03 PM, I have tracked every guard's birthday, all of them were the same length, same time, every year. But sergeant grey was special, this used to be a prison that would beat its prisoners into silence and obedience. Now he somehow managed to make this place better and worse at the same time. They don't beat their prisoners anymore and the food is actually decent quality, but now it's some sort of asylum, where they steal kids from their families to test how the brain works. Now don’t get me wrong, I'm all up for brain and psychology research, but I really think that they should let us choose if we want to go to the research centre or not. I’m getting an average of about three hours of sleep per night. That is if I even get any sleep. If you’re wondering why it’s because they haven’t given me a bed, I don’t know why, but I guess my test is to see what happens to the human brain if it’s given horrible conditions. The second reason that I haven’t been able to sleep is because there is constant screaming all through the night. I guess some of the tests involve physical manipulation as well. I’m in a small white, sandstone room, it’s insulated and I’ll give it that. One of the walls in my cell is made entirely  out of glass luckily it’s just facing out into an empty hallway. Sometimes I see other prisoners, test subjects, whatever you want to call them, sometimes I see them walking through the halls,of course I never know where they're going. I suppose some other sort of research facility. Once I saw a kid no older than seven, small, scrawny, pale, being dragged by two of the guards, one holding each of his arms. Usually when I see kids I see them at least twice, but not this time, I saw him walk there, but he never came back, I will always remember that kid, the way he looked at me, his eyes full of sorrow, pity, and a mix of something else, maybe anger, maybe excitement, his nose was small and pointy, his eyes were large and seemed to like locking onto things, anything, maybe to ease the fact that he knows that something bad was happening. Later that day, I saw the same two guards who walked him over, they looked shocked, their faces were sprawled with a mix of emotions, regret, sadness. It’s safe to say that that kid is never going to walk back through that hallway again. Enough of the prison. It’s currently 2:53 PM the guards would be leaving any moment, and that’s my queue to escape. Some of the guards have already left, I’m trying to seem as normal as I can, but it turns out that’s pretty hard when your life is about to be changed forever. Finally all of the guards have left and are now in the eating hall. My cell is on the edge of the research Center. The eating hall was placed right in the middle of the Center, it's a five minute walk to get from the eating area to my cell.  When I was eating last week I snuck a safety pin into my pocket, well I wouldn’t really call it a pocket, I really just stuck it in my hospital gown, I managed to hide it well enough that no one noticed. I had one small window facing the outside world, it’s about twenty centimetres by twenty centimeters. I took the safety pin and started scratching away at the window. It was today that I realised that the glass was so thin. It took me about twenty minutes to scratch the glass out, if you’re wondering why I scratched the glass instead of breaking it, it’s because if I broke it they would here and come running, I placed the only item of furniture I had in my cell, a small chair by the window, and I quickly squeezed myself out. It felt like I had shed a layer of my skin, a sort of rebirth. After being locked in there for nine years I hadn’t smelt real fresh air in a long time, the feeling of grass beneath my feet was almost completely forgotten. The birds chirping gives my ears a break, listening to constant wails and mechanical whirring, the sound of the outside world felt so natural, peaceful and calming. I jogged across the perfectly cut grass, the earth squishing beneath my feet, the smell of dew, and rain, and water that wasn’t from a tap made me feel like I could finally breathe. My breath felt as though it had been compressed for the past nine years of my life. I quickly scaled up the wire fence and jumped down. My feet hurt a little as I landed, but I had no time to worry about that. I stood up and started running, running like I had never run before, there was a large amount of old thick oak trees a small way away. I sprinted, gasping for air, my lungs felt like they were on fire, but right now I honestly couldn’t care less, all I cared about was getting to the trees. Once I made it I temporarily slowed down, then I realised that stopping wouldn’t help at all, so I sped up again, this time it was harder the grass was overgrown and full of weeds, roots from the trees reached onto the path, reaching for my feet as I tried to escape. If I stopped they would still come looking. After what seemed like forever I made it to a clearance in the middle of the trees. It was less wild in this part of the woods. The grass was still overgrown and messy. But it covered the whole floor, not leaving patches of sticky mud. The trees stopped around the small circle of peace. The leaves seemed to reach out, covering the sky enough so that the rain couldn’t get in, but not enough to block out all of the sunlight. In the distance I suddenly heard a horse running towards me, I braced myself for yelling, handcuffs, all of that stuff. But then I remembered the facility only uses buggies, not horses, they say it’s too old fashioned, and you get too attached, if your horse dies in battle it will set you back, if you crash your buggy you can leave. I sat up straight,now filled with both fear and anticipation. Suddenly a boy rode in. A navy blue cloak placed on his shoulders, his skin was pale and fair. He had wavy black hair and dark eyes that looked like they could hurt you and never look back. He looked around, his face looked intimidating, his horse's hair was dark, its eyes were wild, it was jumping up and down. He saw me quivering in the corner, and suddenly those dark and fearsome eyes seemed to lighten, a smile rose on his face. His horse calmed down. He jumped off its shiny back, that’s when I saw that he was wielding a pistol. His hair was combed neatly down. He started walking towards me, his hand on his pistol, His smile was wide, friendly, and welcoming. I thought that this would be the end of my story, but he stood in front of me, bowed politely and started to speak. “Hello, I’m Lucian, may I ask what your name is?” He questioned, extending his hand to help me up. “Reveri” I replied sheepishly. “Beautiful name, for a beautiful girl.” He said,” May I ask why you are out here on your own? This part of the woods is dangerous.” He asked, his eyes darting around, a small glimpse of panic was appearing, like he knew something bad was going to happen. “Research centre, took me as a child, today I actually escaped. I need help.” I briefly explained. Standing face to face with him I could see how tall he actually was, he was at least half a foot taller than me. He stood there for a moment, processing what I had just said, before I could say anything more he responded with, “Get on the horse, I’ll take you to safety.” His smile was fading away, as he looked back into the distance, his eyes darkened. He helped me onto the horse and jumped in front of me. One whip of the reins and the horse took off fast. He grabbed my hand and placed it on his shoulder, I was holding on as tight as I could, his horse was running fast, faster than I’d seen anything run before. We weaved and ducked and jumped, Lucian seemed unfazed, but after any jump or weave he would glance back, a smile spreading across his face, his harsh eyes glowing as he saw me. We were riding steady for a long time until we rode behind a large mountain. At first it seemed like a normal mountain until something crawled out of the shadows of a nearby cave. A large wolf, its teeth beared, eyes dark and terrifying. More slowly crawled out of the cave, two, then three, four, five, six, by the end there were at least ten wolves chasing behind us. I had accepted my fate, we were going to die unless this horse knew how to go any faster, which I highly doubted. The wolves were catching up quickly, and suddenly he moved my hand off his shoulders. I felt a sudden knot twist in my stomach, a bad feeling was brewing in my gut, was he going to betray me like so many other people in my life had. Push me off the horse and save himself. He quickly moved my hand to his waist, he pulled the other hand down too, he wrapped my arms around his waist making sure I was holding on. He quickly untied his cloak and threw it behind us, the wolves all started ripping it apart. He looked back at me and smiled once more, then said “Hold on.” Before I could question what he had just said, he pulled on the reins and we started to climb the mountain, it was rocky, constant jumps terrified me. I pulled myself into Lucian’s back as we neared the top of the mountain. He reached back and pulled me in, making sure there was no chance that I could fall. As we reached the top of the mountain he pulled us into a cave. He quickly jumped off the horse and pulled out his pistol. “Where are you-” I started. “I can’t risk you getting hurt, stay here, I’ll come back.” He said quickly. He sprinted down the hill and left me on the horse's back. I heard gunshots in the distance, scared, I buried my head into the horse's neck. The sound of gunshots and growling filled the air, but suddenly everything went quiet. Then someone touched my back, I winced out of fear. “Why did you do that?” Lucian asked, “Are you hurt, are you okay?” He added, turning me around and looking over my body. I looked up at him, and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god your okay.” He sighed, pulling me in.  I leaned into him, his arms wrapping around my body, he was so much bigger than me, hugging him gave me a sense of comfort, a sense I haven’t felt in a long time. “What happened?” I asked, “They’re all dead, they can’t hurt us, are you cold, all your wearing is that flimsy gown? Here take this.” He said, before I could say anything he took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders, “That should be better” He said, he was right, I was freezing. “It’s getting dark, we’ll set up camp here for the night, we’ll keep going tomorrow. Okay?” “Okay” I said. He lifted me off the horse and gently placed me on the ground. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry, thirsty, anything?” He asked. “Some food would be nice, the last time I ate was yesterday morning.” “What?” He asked, “Give me one minute, I’ll go get some food.” And he walked away again, whenever he leaves, I feel like he isn’t going to come back. I sat on the damp floor of the cave and wrapped his coat around me tighter. It was the middle of winter, and I wasn’t used to anything colder than 20 degrees Celsius. I heard footsteps again, expecting Lucian I didn’t move, but who came around the corner wasn’t Lucian. His face was covered and he was holding a gun. “Don’t move.” He said. I slowly raised my hands. When I heard footsteps coming back, heavier faster than any other footsteps, I could tell that each of these steps were purposeful. I started to silently cry, all the guns used in my life were meant to kill. I thought that this was my last moment. Then one gunshot. I closed my eyes thinking I was about to die. I heard heavy breathing, maybe someone else trying to capture me, but then a familiar warmth wrapped around me. He clutched me close to him, he briefly moved back and looked at my face. “It’s okay, I’m here, it’s okay, you don’t need to worry.” He leaned back to sit down and pulled me in closer. I leaned into him and started to cry, for a moment we sat there, as I tried to catch my breath. Eventually I calmed down enough to talk. “What happened?” He asked. “He just came and pointed the gun at me, he said not to move, I didn’t know what to do, I was so scared.” I responded “How did you know to come back so quickly?” I asked him. “I don’t know, I just had a gut feeling.”  “Thank you.” I whispered. “As long as I’m here no one will ever be able to hurt you.” He responded. “I’m going to light a fire, and then go back to getting food. But this time you're coming with me, okay?” “Okay” I replied. I sat behind him and watched as he skilfully lit the fire, he did it so quickly, and effortlessly. He swivelled on his heel and turned to me, he smiled sweetly, and sat there and looked at me for a minute, not the way that guards did, they looked as though they were looking at something worthless, he looked at me as though he was admiring something special. He stood up and walked over to me, once more extending a hand to help me up. “Should we walk or should we ride Cassius ?” He asked. Gesturing to his horse.“I feel like Cassius needs a little break, let's walk.” “Whatever you say” He said, reaching out to grab my hand again. I didn’t notice last time we passed here how beautiful this place was, perhaps that was because I was fearing for my life. We walked to the bottom of the mountain. To my horror, I saw more wolves, I jumped behind Lucian, but he started laughing, he swivelled around to look at me again “They’re dead, remember?” He pulled me back to his side. “Oh yeah” I replied, “We have to eat these tonight. I hope your okay with that.” He said, awaiting my response. “Yeah, that's fine.” I replied. He sighed, “That’s a relief.” He bent over to pick some of the dead wolves up. I looked to the side, a beautiful flower was sitting on the floor. It had large purple petals, they got darker towards the centre, eventually turning to a colour almost like the night sky. I carefully plucked it from the ground. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around quickly, “Yes?” He asked, I placed the flower behind his ear, “It looks great on you.” I said. “Then it’s never coming off.” He replied. Everything was calm and peaceful. Suddenly there was a faint blaring noise in the distance, it sounded familiar, they had noticed that I was gone. My heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?” He asked. “They’re coming, they want me back.” He stood straight. His eyes darkened as he looked back in the direction that we came from,“We’re leaving, come on we have to go.” He dropped the wolf and started sprinting with me up the hill. He pushed me onto Cassius’ back. That familiar darkness coming back into his eyes. I wrapped my hands around his waist and we set off faster than last time. I pushed myself into his back again, this time if we stopped. I wouldn’t be able to leave again. We rode past the mountain range, and deeper into the forest. We kept riding inwards. We went deeper and deeper. In the distance I could see a tall building, white peaks on the edge, vines winding around the exterior. “Is this where we-” “ Yes, into here, this way you’ll definitely be safe.” As we got closer I heard shouting, not the bad kind this time, the welcoming kind, like they were welcoming someone important back from a long time away. “King Lucian!” I heard one person call out. “The king is back, open the gates!” Yelled another, the closer we got the more people were worshiping some king Lucian. “Who does he have behind him?” I heard one man exclaim. “Is that a girl?” “What is she wearing?” Screamed one more. We rode through some gates and heard them quickly creek shut behind us, once we were in the chanting was very clear. They were definitely chanting “King Lucian!” Over and over. We slowed down a little, and I lifted my head. There were at least one thousand people gathering and chanting about some King Lucian. We kept riding until we made it to a large castle in the middle of this strange kingdom. He leapt off once more, then gently placed me on the floor again. He held my hand gently, and squeezed it once. “Try to ignore them, they’re going to have a lot of questions about you, I’ll answer okay?” “Alright” I said and smiled. A short man with curly silver hair wearing a suit and tie walked up. “Beautiful, this is Lukas, Lukas, this is Reveri.”  “Pleasure to meet you Reveri, but King Lucian, who is she, why is she wearing your coat and why is she coming into the castle?” “She’s Reveri, She’s wearing my coat because I gave it to her, and she’s coming into the castle because it’s my castle and I can bring who I want in.” He looked down at me and smiled, one of those smiles that he did when he first saw me, like he was looking at something special. Then someone came up and placed a lopsided crown on his head, it was gold with blue and red crystals implanted around the crown. He seemed unfazed by the crown.“So many questions!” He whispered to me, I giggled a little, the first time I’d been happy in a long time. A young man walked up on my side and started looking me up and down with a certain look of disgust on his face. I pulled in closer to Lucian, and linked my arm into his. “What’s wr-” He started, he looked at the man that was staring at me, he pulled me in closer and wrapped his arm around my side. “Jeremy,” He hissed “Back off,” “Your majesty, may I ask why she is here?” “Because she’s mine, and it’s my castle, I decide who comes. and goes.” He said with a hint of anger in his voice.“I’m sorry your majesty, but she does not look like a woman fit for a king like you.” I leaned my head into his shoulder, he looked down at me and smiled that precious smile. “Don’t listen to him, you're my princess, and you’re more than fit for a man like me.” I smiled back. “Now Jeremy, stop talking to her before I make sure you’ll never be able to talk again.” He threatened. As we kept walking down the seemingly endless hallway more and more people kept looking at me. We made it to a set of marble stairs, with the finest red carpet. Lukas came back and asked “Your majesty, would you like a room for her, do you need anything, do you want a dinner set out?” “Dinner please Lukas, and make it a big one, place our seats together this time.” He responded. “Of course your majesty, right away your majesty.” Then he ran off and started yelling about preparing a buffet. “ Lucian?” “Yes beautiful?” “Why does everyone keep calling you  “your majesty” or “king Lucian”?” “Oh, I didn’t tell you, did I, so one small thing I might have forgotten to mention is that I am King Lucian." “What do you mean?” I asked “I am a king, and this is my kingdom. The only thing I’ve been missing is my queen.” He responded, I stood there for a moment, processing what he had just said, he smiled down at me again, “Now shall we get you into something a bit warmer?” He asked as he clapped his hands together “I would love that.” I responded, “Great,” He added. We walked into a large room, it had hangers on every wall, all hanging up a different suit or dress or coat. “Come and sit down.” He said gesturing to a couch in the corner. “What’s your favourite colour?” He asked. I thought about it for a moment, “Probably blue.” I added quickly. “Perfect, I have just the dress for you.” He handed me a floor length light blue gown, with long sleeves, the skirt was flowy and beautiful. It’s truly a dress fit for a princess. When I came out wearing the dress, Lucian let out a gasp, he clapped his hands to his mouth “You look stunning.” He said. “You really think so?” “Of course,” he replied. I smiled. “Now we can finally match.” He said, pulling me in close. “You are my world.” He said, as he planted a kiss on my forehead. He held me in close for a moment more and observed in the same way that he did earlier, like he was admiring something beautiful. Just at that moment Lukas came back in, “Your majesty, dinner is served.” “Perfect,” He said “Just on time.” He added, planting one more kiss on my head, “Let’s head down shall we?”  “We shall.” I said. He interlaced his fingers with mine, and together we started to walk to the dining hall. As we walked in people were staring at us this time. Instead of looking ashamed Lucian pulled me closer, and proudly walked us to our seats. He pulled out my seat and whispered in my ear “They won’t hurt you, you can trust them.” That eased my nerves. The banquet consisted of roast chicken, beef, pork, lamb, vegetables. Too many salads to count, and hundreds of drinks, champagne, wine, beer, cider, water, and many more. After the banquet had finished it was around 10:00 PM, he pulled my chair out and grabbed my hand. “We’ve had a long day, let’s head up to bed.” “Okay.” I replied. He walked me up the stairs, and around countless corners, down endless corridors. He finally opened the door to a large room, there was a four poster bed in the centre of the room. Floor length curtains covered the windows that stared out into the city. Curtains were tied up on all of the posts of the bed. Lucian walked to a small cupboard in the corner of the room, he reached in and pulled out two silk outfits. One silk gown, and one silk pair of shorts and a t-shirt. “Would you like to change into something a bit more comfortable for the night?” He asked, holding out the shiny gown to me. As I got a closer look I saw feathers surrounding the sleeves, neck line and bottom of the gown. I reached out and grabbed the gown. “There's a dressing room in the corner if you would like to get changed.” I walked over to the room and quickly slipped on the gown. The silk felt nice on my skin, probably the best fabric I had felt in a long time. I walked out of the small room and sat on the bed. Lucian was already sitting on the bed awaiting me. He jumped to the other side of the bed and lifted the blanket. I slipped under the blanket as well. It was the first time I had slept in a bed for too long. I turned on my side to face the edge of the bed, Lucian pulled me closer and wrapped his arm over my side. And I placed my arm over his. He suddenly leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. “I just want you to know, I would kill one thousand men for you. You are my world.” I turned to face him, I smiled at him, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. He started blushing furiously and looking away. He pulled me into him. I smiled, then drifted off to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling cold. I looked over to where Lucian should have been lying, all I saw was an empty bed. I sat up, in my life being alone means being in trouble. “Lucian!?” I called out. No response, now I was seriously getting worried. “Lucian?!” I called out again, where was he? Then I heard footsteps, slow, calm. The door slowly creaked open, “Lucian?” I asked, the door slammed shut, but who walked in wasn’t Lucian, they looked like the could fight. “Come back to where you belong” he said and started walking towards me. Then suddenly footsteps, heavy, hurried, then the door burst open. A sword pierced through the man's body, Lucian stepped out from behind the man. He was wielding a sword in his hand, blood soaking through a cut in his shirt. His eye was bruised, and blood was pouring out of his nose. “What happened!?” I exclaimed, jumping out of bed. “Hush you’ll wake the whole castle.” He woosily replied. “Right now, waking the whole castle is the least of my concerns! Now what happened?” I asked again. “Nothing, I’m fine.” He replied, dropping his sword onto the ground and sitting on the bed. “No you’re not, I’m going to ask once more what happened?” I pushed. “Fine, about an hour ag- TSSS!” He exclaimed, clutching the left side of his rib cage. “What’s wrong?!” I asked. “Nothing I’m. Fine,” he said through clenched teeth, doubling over. “Lie back.” I said. “No I’m f-” “No you’re not!” I said, pushing him back. I ripped his shirt off and looked at the cut, it was a deep and long gouge. I scrunched up his shirt and pressed it to his wound. “Hold this here. I’m going to get someone.” I ran out of the room and around the corner I saw a room with a sign saying staff quarters. I opened the door and announced, “King Lucian is dangerously injured, anyone with medical training please come and help him!” Five people stood up and ran out of the room with me. Two went to go and get supplies, and the other three followed me. We walked into the room and Lucian was sitting upright on the bed, biting his cheek, he looked at me with stubborn eyes. “Move the shirt.” I said, “I’m telling you I’m fine.” He said, removing the rag, “Your majesty, that is not fine!” One of them exclaimed. The two that went to get supplies walked into the room. They immediately ran over to the bed and asked me to pin his other arm down. The two people with the supplies started to work on him, while two pinned down his feet. One of the supplies people pulled out a needle and a spool of string. “No they can’t do that while I’m awake!” He screamed “Look at me.” I said. He turned his head to look at me “You know that they have to do this, don’t you?” I asked, he nodded. They started measuring out the thread. He glanced over to look at what they were doing. I turned his head so he was looking at me. “Breath, now tell me what happened.” “Okay, so about an hour ago-mgghh!” They put the first needle through his skin. “I heard a crash, like breaking TTSSS glass, I got out of bed, tried not to wake you, picked up my sword, and in the corridor someone was standing, I struck first. Somehow we ended up downstairs, they  struck me across the chest, I knocked down their weapon, they started punching, hence the face. God sake that hurts!”He paused.  “I heard you call my name, tried to finish off the fight.” He was sweating at this point, and out of breath from the pain. “Take a breath, and keep going.” I said “He said, that you have to come back to where you belong, I told him that you belong here, he said that more people will come. I told him he’d never manage to take you away from me. Then I finished him off.” He was on the verge of tears.  “Good job, the stitches are done.” I exclaimed. He pulled me in closer to him and whispered to me “Thank you.” “For what?” I questioned. “For being there, for taking the pain off of me, for making my lonely world less lonely.” He pulled me in and kissed me on the lips. “Promise me that you’ll be more careful, this is the third time in two days that you’ve killed something and nearly gotten yourself seriously hurt.” “I promise.” He responded “Your majesty, could you please sit up.” One of them asked. He pulled himself back up, one of the staff members started wrapping bandages carefully over his cut. He pushed them off. “I’m telling you I don’t need anymore help, you’ve already stitched me up, isn’t that good enough?!” He exclaimed “Please could I have the bandages?” I asked one of the staff members, extending my hand out to them. They placed the bandages in my hand, they were soft and warm. I moved closer to him and started to wrap the bandages again. “What are you doing?” He asked, his voice softer and calmer than he did with the staff. “You know what I’m doing.” I replied. “I don’t need the bandages, I’m- TSSS-” He tried to say. “If you were fine you wouldn’t be wincing.” I said matter of factly. He looked at me stubbornly, and let me keep wrapping the bandages. In two minutes I was done wrapping. He looked down at the bandages, “Not too shabby.” He said. “Your majesty,” Another staff member butted in. “ You mustn't get into any more trouble for the next three days, if the stitches break we will have to do this all again, and depending on if you get seriously hurt or not the consequences might be more severe.” “Yes I know, I know you said the same thing last time.” He responded quickly. Lucian not getting into trouble sounds like an issue, especially with me around. Not that I would ever be trying to get him hurt, but you know, I do have a few people after me. Since the agency said they would be sending more people that would either mean more fighting, or running. The thing with Lucian is that he seems to want to protect me, of course I don’t have anything against that, my only question is why does he do that? I haven’t actually known him for all that long. Maybe there’s a reason he cares so much about me. I guess I might find that out later. “Reveri.” He said, “Yes?” I replied. “I’m going to the bathroom, it’s down the hall, I’ll be back soon.” “Okay.” I said and smiled. He got out of bed and left the room. Suddenly someone came in through the window, I looked over to see what was going on. Standing by the window was Jeremy. He walked over to the bed. Before I could say anything he punched me across the face. Everything went dark. When I woke up I was in the back of some sort of carriage. My hands were tied behind my back, my feet tied together, I tried to scream but there was a gag in my mouth. Whatever road we were on was very bumpy. Suddenly the ride seemed to get smoother, then we stopped. Someone opened the door to whatever carriage I was in. I turned my head to see who it was and saw sergeant grey standing there. “I see you managed to escape this time.” He said and smirked. Two guards stepped on either side of him, one grabbed each of my arms and started to pull me back to the research facility. This time they dragged me into a cell in the middle of the centre. They untied my feet, maybe I would be given some freedom, but instead they put me on a chair and tied my feet to the chairs legs. My arms were now behind the chair. They pulled the gag out of my mouth, I looked around, sergeant grey walked into the room, he slipped on two shiny black gloves and started walking towards me. He pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat in front of me. Suddenly he pulled a small knife out of his pocket. “How did you make it out?” He asked, examining the knife in a threatening way. “The window,” I replied. “How did you get into the castle?” He asked. “I don’t know.” I replied. He sent a punch straight to my nose. “LIAR!” He exclaimed. Standing up and knocking down his chair. “How did you get into the castle?!” He asked again, the anger in his voice rising. “Lucian!” I yelled, he punched me in the eye, “What does that even mean?!” He yelled. He walked to the back of me, making sure I saw the knife he was wielding. “I’m going to ask you once more, HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CASTLE?!” “Lucian let me in!” I yelled. “Who even is Lucian?!” Before I even had a chance to respond he started etching something into my wrist with the knife. I let out a scream of pain and started crying, tears rolled down my cheeks constantly as I screamed for him to stop. But he wouldn’t. “Now everyone knows you belong here.” I felt the blood trickling down my hand. “You’ll never leave here again, this time I’m making sure of it.” He smirked in an evil way. “He’s coming for me.” I whispered. “What did you say?” He asked, "He's coming.” I repeated. “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!” He yelled. He knocked the chair that I was sitting on over and I hit the floor hard. Jeremy was standing at the door laughing an evil laugh. Sergeant Grey gave Jeremy a large sack of coins and he walked off happily. I was silently crying on the floor, hoping at this point that the torment would end. I heard the door creak open again. I closed my eyes, trying to stay calm. “One last thing.” Sergeant Grey's raspy voice came rushing through my ears. This time he lifted up my shirt, he felt along my right rib cage. “Stay still, will you?” He asked, but I didn't respond. He pushed something into my skin, at first it didn’t feel like anything, but then it started to heat up quickly, too quickly. It was burning, like falling into a fire pit. I let out a scream, the loudest scream I had ever screamed. Blood curdling is what some might describe it as. Once he moved away I looked down to see what he had done, The words, “RESEARCH FACILITY PROPERTY” Were burnt into my skin. Then he pulled out a pair of scissors. I expected more torment, but this time he roughly chopped my hair down until it was short. I tried to bite him, I missed but he still kicked me in the mouth before he left. Everything went silent, not a single sound through the whole facility.  I heard breaking glass, then footsteps, lot’s of footsteps. Like an army of footsteps.

Then one person ran by, then another, then another. Then a whole stampede of people were running down the hall. I closed my eyes, why were they here, what did they want? Then the door opened again. I closed my eyes tighter, bracing myself for something horrible. The door shut, the stampede of people who were running stopped, all of them, all after the door shut. There was a soft bang, soft but close. Not a gunshot bang, something lighter, I flinched. “Who?” Lucian's soft voice came through my ears. “What?” I whispered, slowly blinking my eyes open. “Who did this?” Lucian asked, tears welling up in his eyes, running to my back and cutting the ropes. As he pulled the ropes off I winced, the ropes pulled over the cuts on my wrist. “There's more?” He asked, his voice angry but calm, he moved my wrist around, observing the cuts that Sergeant Grey had made. He stood up, there was a loud crash. I closed my eyes and pulled my knees into my chest. “No. No. No. No. Please calm down, please.” He whispered reassuringly. He rushed over and uncut the ropes on my feet. He pulled me up and embraced me in a hug. “Ah.” I pulled back. “No, no, no what’s wrong?” He asked. I lifted my shirt, he observed the burn, he ran his finger over it, I winced again.  “I’m so sorry” He said “Now please tell me, who did this to you?” He asked, holding me in his arms. “Sergeant Grey.” I whispered. “How did you get here?” He asked me. “Jeremy.” I replied. “I’ll kill both of them,” he said. He helped me up and wrapped his coat around me. “Stay right here, I’ll be right back.” He sprinted down the hall, far away from my cell, now I was alone, and vulnerable. I looked around the room, there was a hole in the wall that wasn’t there before. There were gunshots, lots of them, one, two, three, four, five, more and more gunshots flew through the air. Then there were heavy footsteps, those familiar heavy footsteps. The lock on the door clicked open, then Lucian walked back in. He picked me up carefully, making sure to avoid all of my injuries. He walked outside, Jeremy was standing there, holding something behind his back. I rested my head into Lucian's chest, he pulled me closer to him. “King Lucian!” Jeremy called out happily, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Leave, Jeremy!” Lucian yelled back. He took me to Cassius, he placed me carefully on his back. He grabbed Cassius’ reins and walked her over with me on her back. His hand was resting on my back. “Lucian, my old friend.” Jeremy fake smiled. “What are you hiding behind your back?” Lucian asked “I don’t think that’s ve-” “What do you have behind your back?” He asked again. “Fine, I'll show you.” He said. There was a gunshot, my vision started going blurry, I didn’t know what happened, before I could say anything Lucian shot him down. “We’re leaving now.” He said, his voice full of panic. “Why?” I asked him, but he wouldn’t answer “Stay strong.” He said. I started to feel woozy “Lucian, I don’t feel so-” before I could finish my sentence everything blacked out. I felt myself fall into his back, I heard screaming, then everything stopped. I woke up in a bed, I slowly blinked awake. Lucian was pacing up and down my bed side. “Lucian?” I whispered. “Yes!” He exclaimed and ran to my side, he clutched my hand in between his. “What happened?” I asked quietly. “Jeremy shot you.” He replied. “How long have I been out?”  “Three days,” “Where did he shoot me?” I asked. “The chest, I thought I would never see you again.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “Let me see your hand.” He asked, reaching over my body to grab my hand. “RFP,” He whispered. “What does RFP mean?” I lifted my shirt to remind him of what it meant. “Why did he write that over your body twice?” “He said it was to make sure that I couldn’t escape.” I said “Well that definitely didn’t work.” He announced. “Clearly.” I giggled. “Now, you never actually told me what happened. Did you?” He questioned. “Oh yeah, So what happened was, he asked how I escaped, I told him through the window.” I said. “So how did it end in so much violence?” He asked. “I’ll tell you. He asked me how I got into the castle,”“How did he know you were in here?” He questioned. “Jeremy must have told him. I told him that I didn’t know how I got into the castle. Then he punched me in the nose, he told me that I was a liar. He asked me again and I said “Lucian” then he punched me in the eye and asked what that even meant, he asked again who let me into the castle and I said “Lucian let me in” then he screamed who even is Lucian, maybe because I didn’t refer to you as king Lucian.” “Probably that, but how did you end up with the markings?” He asked, “Well before I could tell him who you were he walked behind me and started cutting that into my skin.” I said, gesturing to my wrist. “Obviously I was tied to the chair so I couldn’t do anything but beg him to stop.” “I heard that, that’s why I came so quickly I left as soon as I realised you were gone.” He stated. “Thank goodness you came before he could do anything more. But then I told him that you were coming for me and he knocked my chair down.” “You weren’t lying.” He said, “I know, I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t think it was true. Then he left, he gave Jeremy a sack of money I think, then came back in and burnt this into my chest.” I said, gesturing to the burn on my side. “Then he cut all my hair off for some reason, I tried to bite him, I missed but he kicked me in the mouth. My only question is why did he cut my hair?” I asked without expecting an answer. “I know why,” He sighed, “I killed him for what he said he would have done to you, if he hadn’t said that I would’ve just taken you and left.” He said looking disappointed. “What did he want to do?” I questioned. “He wanted to do something called conditioning. They strap your arms and legs to this empty doorframe, then they see how many things the human body can handle,” ‘What do you mean?” I asked. “He specifically said that for you it would be how many whips until someone faints, how much acid does it take to dissolve human skin, how tight do you have to tie a rope around someone’s limb for it to fall off.” He stopped, “What’s wrong?” I asked, “It upsets me.” “What?” I asked again, “It upsets me to think of people doing that to you, it makes me physically sick to think about anyone hurting you. He pulled me close again. “They will never succeed, no one will ever be able to take you from me.” “Who’s they?” I asked. “They’re not the only base of these people, more will come, but I’ll never let you go.” I got scared at the thought of this, I don’t know why, I know that Lucian will always protect me, he’ll always come, but knowing that there’s people that want you dead is a scary thought. “Anyways, there will be a banquet set out for us today, you must be starving, go get showered, and I’ll come back in about forty five minutes.” He said, “Okay.” I replied. He helped me up and out of bed, then showed me to the biggest bathroom. “Everything you need should be in there.” I walked in and locked the door behind me. I looked at my face in the mirror. The bruises and cuts were worse than I thought they were. I could see a look of fear in my own eyes, seeing myself like this makes me wonder how Lucian could see beauty behind all the bruises and blood. This makes me think back to when Lucian first met me, his eyes lit up with such joy, from me, when I first came out I was pale, small, and scared, he managed to see beauty in that. I observed all of the cuts and burns on my body, the burn still hurt a lot, it hadn’t healed, it was still red and blistering. The cut on my wrist was red and tender, an inflamed patch spread like a circle around it. And finally I looked in the mirror at my bullet wound. It was red in the surrounding area, small black stitches covered the whole from where the bullet actually landed. I ran the shower hot, the water felt soothing on my skin, better than the cold wind outside. I stepped out of the shower to see a strange man sitting on the bed that I was lying on earlier. He looked like Lucian, but he definitely wasn’t, he had the same coloured hair, but longer, his eyes looked almost just like Lucian’s, but they didn’t light up like his. “Who are you?” I asked “The person who’s going to take you to where you belong,” He stood up. I was starting to panic, the thought of being taken to another place like the facility terrified me. He walked up to me calm, too calm. He pulled out a knife, “If you scream you’ll die, no chance of escape, if you stay quiet, there might be a chance of your survival.” I swallowed hard, if Lucian didn’t come back soon I might have to go through this again. He walked behind me and put handcuffs on me. He grabbed another pair of handcuffs from his belt and placed them on my feet. He pulled a small piece of fabric from his pocket, “Open your mouth.” He said I silently opened my mouth and he placed the fabric in and tied it behind my head. He pulled a chair out from the corner. “Sit.” He said. I sat down, I listened for one reason, from what I learned from Sergeant Grey, if you disobey you get hurt more than in the first place. Suddenly Lucian walked through the door, “Hey beautiful , are you ready for-” he started, the man walked behind me and pressed a knife to my throat. “If you try anything, I’ll cut her open!” He yelled. Tears were silently rolling down my cheeks. “I won’t try anything, just please don’t hurt her.” Lucian said, his voice shaking with a mix of anger and sadness. “Sit on the bed.” The man demanded. Lucian walked over and sat on the side closest to us. “Now,” the man started, “Tell me, who is this girl, and why don’t you want me to hurt her?” He questioned, “Her name is Willow, someone nearly killed her yesterday. You can’t hurt her, and shouldn’t be touching her because she’s mine, and if you hurt her, I will personally kill you.” The man flipped the knife to the blunt side and ran it across my neck, Lucian tracked the knife with his eyes, watching every movement the man made. “What’s this?” The man asked, looking down at the cut on my wrist, he ran his finger over it, I winced. “Don’t touch that.” Lucian said firmly. The man flipped the knife back to the side with the blade, he ran it down the other arm. “Back off!” Lucian yelled. The man pushed the knife into my skin, I let out a muffled scream through the gag. “Stop, you're hurting her!” Lucian exclaimed, tears were rolling down my cheeks faster at this point. Lucian's eyes filled with rage, as he watched the man smirk. He ran his fingers across my chest, I flinched as he touched the bullet hole. “What’s this one?” The man smirked, lowering my towel to look at the wound.  “I will end you,” Lucian muttered. I let out another scream as the man pierced my skin again, cutting through all the stitches, this time making a longer and deeper cut than last time. “Final warning!” Lucian screamed. The man flipped the knife again, this time to the blunt side, Lucian calmed down a little. He moved the knife back to my neck, “You wouldn’t dare.” Lucian said firmly. The man flipped the knife to the sharp side again, I started breathing heavier, the man made one long cut from under my chin up to my eye. “Stop!” Lucian screamed, he pulled out his gun, “I’m serious,” he muttered. The man went back to behind me and put the knife back to my neck, it ran across the cut and I let out a single tear, I closed my eyes. The man pushed the knife harder into my throat, I started crying again, one shot, the knife fell onto my lap. I opened my eyes, Lucian was already behind me untying the gag. He turned the chair so I was facing him and pulled me into him. He stroked the back of my head, “It’s okay, he can’t hurt you anymore.” He walked to the back of me and started picking the lock of the handcuffs. “Lucian,” I whispered, “Mhm,” He replied, “Thank you.” “For what?” He asked, he sounded genuinely confused. “For saving me,” I added. “Why would you thank me for that?” He asked, he finished picking the locks, I tried to move my hands forwards, “Wait,” Lucian said, he carefully observed the cut on my arm, “That is a big one.” he took off his shirt and used it as a bandage for the cut on my arm, “Okay, you can move your hand forward.” I rubbed my wrists, the man tied the handcuffs tight. Lucian moved in front of me and started to pick the locks on the handcuffs he put on my feet. “But why did you thank me for that?” He asked, not looking up. “Why wouldn’t I, you saved my life,” “Hardly,” he replied. He finished picking the locks on the handcuffs around my ankles. He stood up. “Let me see.” He said, I pulled down my towel to show him the cut, “That bastard,” he muttered, examining the cut on my chest. “What do you mean you hardly saved my life?” He took a towel from the wall and started cleaning my cut. “I mean I barely did anything, I should’ve stopped him earlier.” “TSS,” I winced as he rubbed the towel over my cut, “I’m so sorry. For God’s sake, he’s opened the bullet wound right back up, that was just starting to heal.” Blood trickled down my chest and onto his hands, “What, Oh WHAT! You didn’t tell me that one was that bad!” He yelled, pointing at the cut reaching up to my eye. “It doesn’t feel that bad,” I replied, “My love. He’s cut so deep the bone is showing!” He yelled. I reached my hand up to touch it and see what was happening, Lucian batted it away. “You’re not touching that, and neither am I. We're going to the hospital NOW!” He picked me up carefully and started sprinting to the nearest hospital. I couldn’t see my eye, but Lucian's hand and chest were becoming soaked in blood, the vision in my right eye was starting to go red, I could feel the blood spreading into my eye. Eventually we made it to the hospital “Get me a room now, that’s an order!” Lucian yelled, he walked me into a small room with gentle yellow lighting and a small bed in the corner. He placed me carefully down on the bed. I looked at Lucian wondering why he rushed me here so quickly. His chest and hand were both covered in blood, he clapped his hands to his face and sighed. “Your majesty, are you alright?” One of the nurses asked Lucian. Probably because of the blood covering his body, “Yes, yes, I’m fine you need to look at her.” He gestured to me. “Oh my God that’s bad, what did you do?” She gasped. “Not what did she do, what did he do.” Lucian muttered angrily. “Excuse me?” The nurse asked. “I walked into the room to see if she was ready for dinner and some guy was holding a knife to her throat, thank god he didn’t slit her throat, but he did cut her arm, face, and chest. He reopened the bullet wound that was just starting to heal!” Lucian screamed and punched the wall. “She’s going to need stitches on all three of her cuts, we’ll work on the face, then chest, then arm.” She explained, “Okay, I want to be there.” Lucian said. “Sir I’m afraid-” she started. “I’m going to be there.” Lucian said firmly. “Okay,” The nurse said. “Just so you know we have to put her under general anaesthesia for the surgeries.” she said, “Love, is that alright?” He asked looking back at me. I nodded, “Okay,” Lucian grabbed my hand and squeezed it once, they slowly wheeled my bed out of the room and into the operating room. I looked up once more at the blood on his chest, I noticed the stitches from the fight he got into. “Lucian, how's your cut?” I asked, “You don’t need to worry about me, I’m just fine,” he smiled down at me. They put the mask on and everything blacked out. When I woke up Lucian was sitting at my bed, holding my hand and waiting for me, I slowly wiggled my fingers and he sprung up, “Reveri!” He exclaimed happily, “You’re awake! How do you feel?” He asked, “Not too bad, the stitches hurt a little bit but other than that I’m fine.” I told him “Oh good, I’m glad.” He still had the blood on his chest and hand, “You didn’t leave?” I asked him “No, why would I leave you? Especially now, this is probably the most vulnerable you’ve been since we met. If someone came now, I honestly don’t think the nurses would help very much.” I smiled, “Thank you,” I said, “Why?” He asked again, “For being there, for not leaving, for making sure that I’m safe,”  “I already told you, to stop thanking me for that, if you went, I would go with you.” He smiled down at me, “You’d be fine without me,”  I told him, “No, you don’t understand, I wouldn’t,” He said firmly, “You are my everything, ever since I met you, if you don’t survive, neither do I.” He said, planting a kiss on my forehead. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He said reaching behind his back and grabbing something from a table, “I got you a sandwich, you must be hungry, I always get hungry when I’m scared.” He handed me a small paper wrapped sandwich. I carefully unwrapped the parcel and took a bite, the flavours melted and danced on my tongue. “This is amazing. Where did you get it?” I asked, “You really think so, I made it myself, I always keep one on hand in case someone gets hungry.” He smiled like when we first met, friendly and big. He watched me eat the rest happily. “Do you feel good enough to go back to where you belong?” I shifted in my seat, those words made my flesh crawl, was his plan to gain my trust and then betray me, was he going to take me back to the centre? I moved back in my seat, just in case. “Wait no,” He said quickly, realising how he had worded what he had just said, “I didn’t mean it like that, do you want to go back to the castle, the castle. I would never take you back, please believe me, please don’t think I would ever betray you.” He said, pulling me into a hug, I breathed a sigh of relief, his hug still providing the same comfort it did when I needed it most. “Let’s go back,” I said, “Great,” he replied. He walked me outside of the hospital, the night sky was beautiful, the stars pricked the darkness, like they were hand placed there. The moon was large and bright, shining a spotlight onto those who stood under it. He interlaced his fingers with mine, and held on tightly. “You need to learn,” He said “Learn what?” I asked him. “I’m going to teach you how to use a gun, that way next time they take you, you can put up a fight before I get there, even if it only slows them down a little, anything helps, so we can avoid such serious injuries in the future, it pains me to see you like this.” He explained, “But what if something goes wrong?” I asked him, “I’ll teach you, that way nothing can go wrong. We can start tomorrow.” We made it to the castle, the large marble staircase still impressed me like it did when I first saw it. We walked up together, the bed was so comfortable, every time I leave I forget how nice it is. I guess my brain's idea is to set your standards too low so you don’t get disappointed. I fell asleep happy, tonight Lucian didn’t pull me in, I guess because of all the injuries, I think I must be some sort of injury magnet. I woke up soon after, I don’t know why, I looked around the room, Lucian was pacing up and down my side of the bed, there was another hole in the wall that also wasn’t there before. Lucian looked down at me, “Why did you wake up?” He asked, “I could ask you the same thing,” I replied, “I didn’t wake up, I didn’t fall asleep,” he added. “I have two questions now,” I started, “One, why is there a hole in the wall, and two, why weren’t you asleep?” I asked. “One,” He started, “That’s my fault, I punched the wall, I didn’t think it would break. Two I was mad, I couldn’t sleep.” “Now I have another question,” I said, “Why are you mad? Did I do something?” I asked, “No, no, no it’s not your fault, it’s never your fault. I was mad at myself,” He said, “Why?” I asked, “Because it’s my fault, it’s my fault that you got hurt, maybe if I came sooner Sergeant Grey wouldn’t have gotten the chance to do this to you, and maybe if I hadn’t left he wouldn’t be able to come, and you wouldn’t have the stitches.” When he finished, I sat there for a moment, processing what he just said, “It wasn’t your fault that I got hurt,” I said. “But it was,” he said, grabbing my hand. “I told you that you could trust my staff, I told you to let your guard down, I told you that they wouldn’t hurt you. But they did, He nearly got you killed, twice! It’s all my fault, I knew they don’t like new people, but I still let you believe that they would help!” He yelled, his voice shaking with sadness “It’s all my fault,” he sobbed. I pulled him closer and hugged him tight, “It’s not your fault. In my eyes you saved me.” I whispered, “You really think that?” He asked. “I do, if you hadn't come, who knows what Sergeant Grey would have done. And I could’ve been dead right now, but you stood up for me when I couldn’t stand up for myself.” He walked to the other side of the bed and slipped under the blanket. He actually went to sleep after that. When I woke up, he was standing at my bedside again, not looking angry, but instead looking happy.  “I have a surprise,” He said, smiling “Here,” He said handing over a small gift box, I opened it carefully, inside was a diamond encrusted necklace, it was shiny and beautiful. “Thank you,” I said, clutching the necklace to my chest, “Turn around, I’ll help you put it on.” He carefully tied the necklace around the back of my neck. “It looks so good on you!” He exclaimed. “Really, you think so?” I asked him, “Of course! Now let’s teach you how to use a gun,” he said. Carefully handing me a small black gun. I held it in my hands for a moment, the metal was cold and heavy, he carefully grabbed my hand and helped me out of bed. “This should be better for training,”he said, handing me a leather pair of pants and a long sleeved T-shirt, the shirt had a black hood attached. I walked into the bathroom and quickly slipped on the outfit, it fit perfectly. Lucian was leaning against the window, also wearing a similar leathery outfit. From the windowsill he pulled out another piece of clothing, “Turn around,” He said, he lifted my arms up and wrapped the vest around me, he pulled it tight, “Does that feel comfortable?” He asked, “Yes,” I replied “What is it?” I asked, “A bullet proof vest, just in case.” He said reassuringly. “Now let's go, the shooting range is waiting for us,” he said, tossing me the gun he gave me. We started walking there together, “Are you sure this is safe?” I asked, “Do you think I would tell you to do it if it wasn’t?” He added, and smiled down at me calmly. “What do you think?” He asked as we approached the shooting range, It was a large grassy field, filled with multiple targets. There were a few other people at the shooting range at the time. Lucian walked through the gates first, I followed him in slowly. As soon as Lucian walked in, the rest of the people at the range all put their guns on the floor and started to leave, “Why are they all leaving?” I asked.   “Because it’s the law,” “Since when?” I asked him again, “Since he shot you.” He said firmly, “No one is allowed to have guns near you again. I’m not risking it.” He said, like it was an average thing that people enforce laws to keep one person safe. “Anyways, shall we get started?” He asked, “Well that’s why we’re here,’ I laughed. “I guess so, the first thing I’ll teach you is how to load your gun,” He started, “Pull the bottom part out,”He demonstrated, “Pull the bottom part out,” I repeated. “Then put in the bullets,” He placed the bullets carefully into the chamber of the gun. “Put in the bullets,” I repeated again.  “Then close the chamber,” He slammed the chamber of his gun shut, I repeated it again. “Good,” He said, “Now how to shoot it, cock the gun, then pull the trigger.” He pulled the trigger and a loud bang rang out, I repeated it the same, another loud bang, “Great job!” He said, “Now we’ll work on aiming, from a far, then up close. First from a far. Aim for the head.” He cocked his gun again and shot the dummy right in the head. “Your turn.” He said, I cocked the gun, and pulled the trigger again, I hit the dummy in the head as well. “I did it!” I exclaimed, “You did it!” He repeated. “Now from up close, this one's easier,” We walked up to the dummies, and stood five metres away. One gunshot, two gunshots, two more holes in the dummies head. “You’re sure you haven’t done this before?” He asked, “Positive.” I replied, “Then you have some incredible natural talent.” He said, we practiced over and over, we practiced for months, until I could load and shoot the gun in ten seconds. “You’re ready.” He said. “For what?” I asked, “Nothing, you’re just prepared. But if we want all this training to pay off, then we need you to have a gun on you at all times.” He said, “That makes sense,” I said, after all, we didn’t do months of training for nothing. “How would you feel about going to a party tonight?” He asked “Where is it?” I questioned. “Just a five minute ride from here, it’s my brother Bren’s eighteenth birthday. As his brother, I have to go, but it would kill me if you weren’t there.”  “Alright,” I agreed. “Great, let’s both go and get showered and ready.” He added. We walked back to the castle, he led me again into that room with all the dresses and coats. He pulled one off of a high shelf for me. “This one should be good, there’s also a pocket for your gun, pretty handy if you ask me.” He handed it to me. It was a beautiful off white gown, a corset built into it, a pair of gloves were folded on top of it, the neck line was soft lace, there was also a small cream fan resting gently on top of the gloves. I walked into the bathroom and cocked my gun, I left it resting just outside the shower, just in case. After the shower I quickly dried myself off and put the dress on, it fit me perfectly, the gloves were long and elegant. As I stepped out of the bathroom Lucian walked in. He was wearing a white suit, a black and gold coat carefully placed on his shoulders, he was still tightening his tie as he walked in. “Do you want me to do your hair?” He asked, “Yes please,” my hair was grown out now, much longer than Sergeant Grey cut it. He tied it up into a neat bun, then he placed a small gold hair piece into my hair. “You look stunning.” He said as we started to walk out of the castle. “I could say the same about you.” I replied, he chuckled then helped me onto Cassius. Lucian seemed nervous, he kept adjusting his hair, and retightening his tie. I didn’t think much of it, maybe he was just scared to see his brother, he probably hadn’t seen him in a long time. Finally we arrived at his brother's house. It was big, not as big as the castle, but compared to most other houses, it was moderately big. He jumped off the horse, then helped me down again, “Lucian, long time no see,” A man said to him, bringing him into a hug. “Too long, too long.” He chuckled back. “Who’s this you’ve got with you?” The man asked, looking at me. “This is Reveri, Reveri, this is my brother Bren.” “Lovely to meet you,” Bren said, extending his hand out to shake mine. “Am I allowed to ask what the scar on your face is?” Bren said, gesturing to my face. “Oh some man tried to take me somewhere, he cut me while he was doing it.” I explained. “He didn’t just cut her there,” Lucian said angrily. “You’re still mad about that?” I asked “Of course I am, I haven’t forgiven the others either!”  He yelled, “Who are the others?” Bren asked. “These people that steal kids from their families to study on them, they nearly killed her for God’s sake!” He screamed again, “Calm down, that was ages ago now.” I said, “I’m still mad,” He said, "Reverie," Bren started, “You should meet my wife, Cassandra,” She stepped out from behind him, we shook hands, “Pleasure to meet you,” I said, “The pleasure is all mine,” She added, ‘Now shall I show you around?” She asked. “Sure,” I replied, “Bye,” I whispered to Lucian, “Bye,” He whispered back and kissed me on the hand. “You should come to my room, we should talk.” Cassandra said. “Sure,” I said, she led me upstairs to a beautifully decorated room, with a large plush bed in the corner. “Come and sit,” She said, “I insist.” I sat down on her bed with her.  “Let’s get to know each other, first, is it just me or do those brothers seem to want to protect their spouse?” She asked, “Oh my goodness no, I thought that was only me, he killed like ten people in the first week that we met.” I added. “Okay, second question, what did he mean when he said that the man didn’t only cut you there, and that he hadn’t forgotten the others either?” She asked. “Okay so, a few months ago, I escaped from this research facility, that’s when I met Lucian. After about two days of me being gone they took me again and did this,” I said, showing her the now scar on my wrist, “Someone shot me,” I added showing her the bullet hole, “They burned something into my side.” I said, gesturing to my burn. “Then this man came and tried to take me back, he cut me, for some reason, on my face.” I said, pointing to the long cut on my face. “And on this arm,” I said, taking off my other glove to show her the other cut. “And finally over the bullet hole, it’s kind of funny how much Lucian cares about this one.” I chuckled, showing her the cut. “Oh wow, I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Cassandra said to me. “Oh it’s nothing, it was so long ago now I barely remember it.” I said, slipping my gloves back on. Suddenly someone knocked on the door. “Come in!” Cassandra announced. “Ladies the party is about to begin,” A small old man said, “Okay, thank you Gerald.” She called back, “We best get going, knowing those two the party won’t start until we get there.” We walked down the stairs and made our way to the brothers. “Let the party commence!” they yelled in unison, Lucian walked over to the bar and took two shots “Whoo!” He yelled. I stood there watching, and laughing, until someone touched my shoulder. It was a man, he looked down at me and smiled, “Come upstairs with me,” He said, “Sorry, I’m with him,” I said, pointing to Lucian. The man pushed me into the corner and put his hand above my head. “Come on,” he said. “He’s so drunk he wouldn’t even notice.” Someone’s hand landed on the man's shoulder, “I’m still sober enough to kill you,” Lucian's voice called out. The man stepped to the side and Lucian grabbed my hand. Suddenly Bren started to play the guitar in the corner, everyone started dancing to the beat of the music, “You see Bren over there, he’s pretty good at playing the guitar,” I said to Lucian, “Of course he is, he’s my brother,” He replied. “Maybe I fell for the wrong brother,” I said. Lucian pulled me in, “It would be a shame to kill my last living family member,” He whispered. I laughed and Lucian gave me a kiss on the forehead.