Unyielding (The Ashborne Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

I followed anxiously behind the two guards as they escorted me deep into forgotten parts of the castle, toward an area of Old Ashborne I had never been permitted to enter. Much of the newer parts of the castle had been built just before I was born, however, there were still sections that remained from generations past. I had always assumed this area was simply the barracks for my father’s royal guard, but as we ventured through the winding corridors and hallways of this aged part of the old castle, I began to feel an undeniable sense of uneasiness.

I followed the two men past the resting area and mess hall for my father’s many private soldiers. Every guard we passed stopped to stare at me as I was escorted further and further into this unfamiliar place. Before long, we approached a guarded, stone archway hidden deep within the old barracks. Two men were guarding the large archway, and the men saluted each other as we ventured through it. Passing under the ominous stone framework that separated this portion of the castle from the rest, I could tell something wasn’t right. The walls looked different than the rest of the castle, and it
felt
different than the rest of the castle. It felt as if I was entering a place that was damned by the Gods.

“
What is this place?” I asked.

They gave me no replies as we continued walking through a seemingly endless maze of hallways and closed cell doors. With every twist and turn, I tried desperately to keep track of where we had come from. The stone walls of this imposing place seemed to ache and groan with the history they had witnessed. Whatever this place was, I knew that something unspeakable had taken place here.

We finally came upon a large rectangular room that was lined on one side with a handful of large gated cells. My escort pointed toward the cell at the end of the row, where two guards were seated against the wall opposite of it. My heart began to pound uncontrollably as I looked inside the cells I was walking in front of. Each one contained a wooden table with leather straps, and the gray stone walls inside were stained with a history of blood.

Oh, God. What the hell is this place? Am I already too late?
I wondered as I approached the final cell.

The two seated guards rose to their feet as I stopped in front of the final cell’s large, cage door. My heart couldn’t keep a steady beat as I looked inside. Its floor was lined with hay to soak up blood, and the ray of light from a small hole in the ceiling illuminated an empty, blood-stained table that made me realize that this room was built underground. I began to quiver nervously as they opened the cell doors; I didn’t see Emoren inside.

I looked behind me at the guards who had retaken their seats. Without saying a word, they gestured me inside. The hay crunched underneath my boots as I walked slowly into the dark of the cell. In these few uncertain moments, as my imagination ran wild with the fears of what state I might find Emoren in, I had never been more terrified in my life.

I slowly walked up to the edge of the blood-stained table in the center of the cell. “Emoren?”

I heard a rustling in the corner, followed by the sweet sound my ears had longed to hear. “Amber?”

There, seated on the floor in the darkened corner of the cell, was Emoren. As he came to his feet, I raced around the table and embraced him with all of my being.

“Oh, thank God. I’m so sorry, Emoren!”

Emoren winced in pain as we embraced each other, and it wasn’t until my eyes finally adjusted to the sole ray of light in this dark place that I noticed Emoren’s face was bruised and his lip was cut. As I helped him sit back down, I realized there were other injuries his clothes and this darkness were hiding from my eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’m all right,” he said as he brought the back of my hand against his cheek.

He closed his stormy-blue eyes as my skin pressed against his, as if my touch was taking away all the pain at once. My eyes began filling with tears as I looked upon what being with me had done to him.

“Oh, Emoren…”

Tears began escaping from my eyes and drifting down my cheeks as I crouched down in front of him. He leaned up and took my head in his hands, softly pressing his lips to my forehead.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered.

“
How can I not? Look at what I’ve done to you.”

He embraced me tightly, almost angered by what I had just said. “No. Don’t you dare shoulder the blame for your father, Amber. This is not your doing.”

“But had you not saved me… had I forbade you from coming to Ashborne, none of this would have happened.”

He kissed my forehead once more before leaning back against the large brush of hay that covered the stone corner we were seated in. “I choose my own path, Amber. I never gave you a choice in the matter. Besides,” he smiled, “I’ve known fierce, pig-tailed little girls who hit harder than your father’s men.”

I hit his leg as he forced a chuckle out of me, and my head darted toward the guards seated outside the cell. “Emoren! Don’t joke around! This is serious.” Even now, bruised and confined, he was still trying to comfort my ever-tormented heart.

“
Don’t worry. As long as we talk in hushed voices, they can’t hear us from there. These walls were made to muffle the sounds of what happens inside this room,” he said.

Curious, I ran my hand along the wall beside us. The stones were different from that of the rest of the castle - thicker, darker… colder. And he was right, and the guards seated outside the cell were still talking amongst themselves, oblivious to our conversation.

“I had no idea Ashborne housed such an evil place,” I said as I took in Emoren’s surroundings.

“
I take it your father found out about me?”

I nodded in disappointment. “Yes…”

“Does he know I’m from Shadowbark?”

“
No, he still thinks you’re from Saberfell,”

“
Well, that’s fortunate. I-”

“
Emoren,” I interrupted, staring dejectedly at the floor, “he’s using your life to force me to marry Alexander.”

Emoren closed his eyes and sat there silently for a few moments. I stared at him impatiently, my eyes begging for some kind of response. The expression he wasn’t hiding let me know that what I had just said was the very thing he was fearing would come from my lips. I just wished he would say something… anything.

“I feared that was why your father had me locked away instead of banishing me from Ashborne,” he finally sighed.

“
I haven’t agreed to anything. I’m not going to do it, Emoren. I’ll find a way to get you out of here.” I tried to offer him some reassurances in the face of what I had just told him. Even now, my heart’s only concern seemed to be making sure that Emoren would always love me. Not even death compared to the fear I felt when thinking about losing his love.

Emoren’s demeanor became charged with a steely resolve as he started rattling off some kind of plan. “Don’t worry. Just leave tonight and head to Shadowbark.”

“Emoren…”

“
I’ll figure out a way to get myself out of here,” he continued.

“
Emoren…”

“
Then, we’ll meet up with Belafor and hide in the forest where no one will ever find us.”

“
Emoren!”

He stopped at stared at me. “Emoren, I can’t leave... I’m a prisoner too.”

“What? What do you mean?”

I glanced toward the royal guards sitting outside the cell as I continued. “I have permanent military escort until the wedding is over, and my father has ordered the entire Ashborne army to make sure I don’t leave the castle grounds.”

Emoren let out a dispirited sigh as he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. Even though he wasn’t speaking, I could still see his mind working feverishly to formulate a plan.

“
What about your friend, Gentry? Hasn’t he been the captain of the White Torch for years? Maybe he can help you get outside the castle walls.”

“
Gentry? Yes, Gentry’s been the captain of the White Torch since before I was born, but I don’t want him involved, Emoren. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.”

Emoren reached over and placed his hands upon my shoulders. “Amber, you can’t shoulder the responsibility for everything on your own. Now, more than ever, you need to let the people who care about you help you. If Gentry has raised you as his own all these years, do you really think he has any desire to see your become the prisoner of a man like Alexander? I’m sure he’s already trying to find a way to help you, with or without your permission.”

Again, he was right. Hearing his words made me think of Gentry’s face when I told him of my father’s demand. It made me realize that asking Gentry to sit by and watch me suffer was as cruel a fate as the one I was currently faced with. I would quickly learn that Emoren always seemed to know just what to say to bring the light piercing through my darkened, guilt-ridden mind.

“
But, Emoren, even if I can figure out a way to escape, I’m not leaving without you.”

He smiled lovingly. “Don’t worry about me, Amber. Even if it costs me my life, I only wish for you to be safe. If you find an opportunity to escape, you take it, you hear me? Don’t hesitate for a minute.”

“No!” I protested. “Even if I can make it out and I’m able to find a place to hide, a world without you is not a world I’ll ever be willing to live in, Emoren. I just can’t! Don’t you dare ask me to!”

Emoren smiled sympathetically at me. Hearing the conviction and passion in my voice, he knew I was just as bound by my heart as he was, and that I would no sooner abandon him than he would me. He brought his hand up to caress my face, and I rested my cheek in his palm. My eyes closed as I savored his gentle touch.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “Just go see what you can find out and we’ll figure out a way to get out of here together, all right?”

Still holding the back of his hand with my own, I turned and kissed his palm before returning it to my cheek. “I’m never going to leave you.”

“I know you won’t,” he smiled.

I sat there silently for a few moments, losing myself under the spell of his touch. Even though I knew it was foolish, I found myself wishing that I could stay here, locked up with him.

He slowly brought his fingertips around the nape of my neck and gently pulled me in, pressing his soft lips against my own. I could taste the faint hint of blood from the cut he was carrying, but it only made me feel that this kiss was even more meaningful than the last.

And just as with our kiss before, my heart raced erratically and my breaths became shallow, wanting gasps; my body seemed to burst with delight anytime I was close to him like this, and I couldn’t control it.

Slowly pulling his lips away, he rest his forehead against mine. Unsteady, lustful breaths continued escaping from my lips as I kept staring desirously at his. Even here, in this cell, his kiss made me weak with desire and put my very being under his complete command.

“
How do you do that to me?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer. The delightful smirk on his beautiful lips seemed to be eluding to a playful secret that only he knew.

“Time isn’t on our side, Amber. You need to go.”

Hearing him say that, as tried to keep my lust under control, I could feel the tears begin trying to make their way back to the surface. I took a deep breath and kissed his forehead before standing up to leave. I knew that if I didn’t go now, I wasn’t going to leave, and despite the fact that I was about to break down inside, I needed to act strong in front of him. Being a mess in front of Emoren would only make this harder for him.

“I’ll come back as soon as I can, all right?”

He smiled and nodded at me. “Please be careful, Amber. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to you.”

As I exited the cell, the guards closed the gate behind me, and I took one last look at Emoren’s sweet face. I didn’t know what was going to happen to us, but I wanted to make sure he knew something before I left.

“
I- I love you, Emoren.” And with that, like the unsure, lovesick girl I was trying to hide, I quickly turned and walked away before he could respond.

# # #

With two royal guards never leaving my side, I walked back to my chambers in a daze. I had managed to keep it together in front of Emoren, but now, after seeing him like that, battered and bruised because of me, the weight of everything was finally starting to hit me. Staring blankly into nothingness, I walked into my room and closed my chamber door as the two guards took up post outside.

As I collapsed on my bed, all I could see was Emoren’s beautiful, bruised face smiling at me. I noticed that I had left his dark, forest-colored cloak lying on the edge of my bed. I pulled it over and wrapped myself in it.

It still smells like him.

With images of Emoren trapped in that cell dominating my thoughts, I clenched the cloak tightly against my face and began to cry.

I hated it; I hated that all I seemed to be able to do was cry. I had never been in love before, I had never had my heart hurt like this before, and never had I felt this helpless before. Despite my bravado in front of Gentry and Emoren, my messed-up mind had no idea how I was going to save him, much less myself. I repeatedly slammed my fists into the bed and cried out as each blow made impact. With all this anger, pain, guilt, helplessness and love swirling violently in my heart, I started to feel as if I could lose my mind at any moment. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I hated Ashborne for this. I hated my father for this. But, most of all, I hated myself for this. I didn’t know how to calm the hurricane that was raging inside me.