183 Chapter 183 : Sympathy knows no race.
The sound of doors being unlocked made Renly weakly crane his neck up. He wondered what day it was, he wondered what time it was, heck, he had actually lost count of how long he had been in that small underground room that was now his prison. His two nosferatu captives really took precaution when selecting his place of detention, the room was completely devoid of any windows, the only inlet and outlet of air it had were the cracks on the locked door and the small vents up on the wall, whose openings where meshed and small that not event insects could enter. So even if he turned into a bird, Renly would have no way out.
The man with raven black hair heard the rattling of keys and then after the door cracked open, revealing the nosferatu woman who had been tending to his calcified arm and bringing him food. Well there was one thing he was grateful for about his bondage, ever since he had been locked up in here, he had not encountered the man from the woods who haunted his dreams and turned them into reality.
“How was your night little bird?” Theodora spoke while setting the plate of food on the small table beside the single bed Renly was sitting on.
“Is it morning?” Renly mumbled as he gazed up at the vents that hardly let any light in, “I can never tell, mornings, nights.. mondays or Sundays.. I can never tell the difference anymore all the way down here.”
Theodora pulled out a chair from the small table and sat down facing the man, “all of this can be resolved if you just give prince Aiden the information he requires.”
Renly sighed and cast his eyes at the plate of food on the table, “may I?” He asked the woman who nodded in approval. The man moved to sit on the other chair and picked up the spoon with a little less difficulty than the previous day. Since his right arm had been calcified and rendered immobile, he had had to teach himself to eat and clean up with his left, but honestly he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. But at least the food was good, Theodora must have been bringing it straight from the royal palace.
As the man struggled to eat, Theodora looked away, she sometimes found herself pitying him and it appalled her. Why in the gods’ good names would she pity a human? They deserved to suffer, but here she was fighting the urge to grab the plate from him and feed him herself so she wouldn’t have to watch this pathetic scene.
“Prince Aiden is growing rather impatient with you little bird.” The nosferatu woman turned to look at the man and sighed, “if you delay relaying the information about his wife and child, he will do bad things to you.”
“At this point death doesn’t seem like so much of a bad thing,” Renly responded.
.....
“Death is mercy, he wouldn’t let you die,” Theodora rose from her seat and walked about the room slowly, “he would tourture you untill you begged for death to come. The prince bares no pity for humans, they have taken everything that meant anything to him, so he will not show mercy.”
Renly put down his spoon and looked up at Theodora. The look in her eyes showed that she too had had some rather troubling experiences with humans. “And what did our kind do to you?”
Theodora turned to Renly and scoffed, “why do you ask? You want something to gloat about?”
Renly looked to the floor, “No, of course not.” He actually didn’t know why he wanted to know, obviously she wouldn’t want to share what the humans did to her to another human, that was stupid.
Theodora strode to the door and opened it, “I will be back before sunset to see if you have changed your mind about disclosing where you are keeping Estel. I really do hope you do, I wish not to witness the things prince Aiden will do to you.”
When she closed the door and locked it, Renly stared at the handle for a long time. Did she not want to witness Aiden’s torture because it was that horrid? Or was there a slim chance that she took pity upon him?
*
“Did you hear? The baker from down the street gave me this.” The woman handed her friend a paper that announced the coronation of the crowned prince of Gavaria, prince Gareth Burchard.
“Gareth? I thought the crowned prince was named Adam?”
“Rumor has it he is an elf.”
“Gods, another one of them to rule over us? Haven’t we been through enough with that tyrant Elric?”
“But the king who sits on the throne is king James Burchard, and he is human.”
“He is merely a figure head, the one inforcing the rules is the lycan. You honestly think one of our own would let us waste away like this? I bet the elf prince being king will now only make humans suffer even more.”
“But we don’t have a choice, he is the heir by right of birth.”
“This is how the great continent of Ronia Cresus falls, at the hands of these creatures.”
Meanwhile in the royal Gavarian palace, some maids were adding some final touches to Gareth’s attire for the coronation. Finwe was sitting on a chair in the far corner watching, and couldn’t help but notice how the two human women blushed every time they touched the prince as they clothed him.
When they finished, they both stepped back and curtsied, their cheeks still dusted pink. Even though they had worked for the prince before and helped him dress a hundred times or more, now in his eleven form, he seemed even more handsome and enticing than he was before, and they couldn’t help but be giddy at the thought of being close to him.
Gareth walked to the mirror and inspected his attire after which he nodded in approval at the two maids. “Thank you ladies, you’ve done a remarkable job.”
“It’s our absolute pleasure your grace,” the women responded while flirtatiously giggling at him. The sight made Finwe roll his eyes, it was ridiculous how women would toss their dignity out the window at the sight of his brother. He hopped that his charm would work on the masses he was about to address after his coronation as well.
“Exuse us ladies,” Finwe spoke as he rose from his seat, “I’d like to speak with my brother privately.”
The ladies giggled and blushed as they curtsied at Finwe and left. Even after the door was closed, the blonde prince could still hear the two women chattering about which of the two elven princes was more handsome.
“Are you ready for this?” Finwe asked his brother whose mind seemed to be far away.
“I am, but I can’t stop thinking about those notes Finwe.” Gareth moved from the large mirror and sat down on a sofa next to the flickering fireplace. “I keep getting the feeling that someone somewhere has been watching us and maybe even pulling the strings on our lives.”
“I understand your concern.” Finwe sat down on a chair opposite his brother and glanced at him, “if it calms your nerves, I had some of our men scout out the palace grounds and we found nothing suspicious. They are still at it of course, so if anything eerie comes up you will be first to know.”
“I see.” Gareth threw his head back and sighed heavily.
“What is it? I know this mysterious note writer isn’t the only thing bothering you right now so out with it.”
If Gareth wasn’t feeling so disgruntled he would have smiled at how well his brother had gotten to know him over the months. He sat up straight and wiped his hand over his face before speaking. “I know you’ve heard this many times but... I miss her Finwe, and I worry about her.”
“But of course, she is your blood half.”
“I just need to know she’s doing alright,” Gareth added on, “Is it possible to send one of ours in disguise to Meria and try to find out how she is?”
Finwe scoffed, this is exactly why he stayed away from the dating scene. He didn’t have the mental stamina to sustain a relationship, his was travel and battle, that was where his love lay. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Gareth looked physically less distraught at Finwe’s assurance. It was just a matter of time till him and Melissa could be together again, but until then, he would have to be okay with just knowing that she was safe.
Finwe rose to his feet and pat Gareth on the back, “let me see how the preparations for the coronation are coming along. Try not to be attacked by the swarms of maids who have fallen in love with your pointed ears.”
“I’d say the same to you,” Gareth responded, “I’m already taken so I have an excuse to break their hearts, what’s yours?”
“My heart belongs to travel,” Finwe responded as he walked out the door, “and my mistress is the battlefield.”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢