Destined to Be | Arthur Pendragon

Help Me!

Cold.

Hungry.

Thirsty.

Aching.

Burning.

Over and over again, Adeline went through all the things she felt in the one-room cottage. She had no idea how long she had been there now. Days? Weeks? Months? Adeline had no clue. After the first two days, everything faded together. Every morning the sun would rise, she would wake up, and he would be there, waiting for her.

Whoever this man was. It was not Arthur. The impostor might have looked like him and talked like him. He was anything but. There was no way her Arthur would do what this man did. The things he made her do and the things he did to her. It would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. The scars would never go away. The burns would never go away. The memories would never go away. 

"I am so sorry, Princess," Aldous Brewer's voice broke through her wandering thoughts late in the evening, once the impostor left her alone. "This is all my fault."

"You are not to blame, Aldous," Adeline whispered, her throat recovering from another horrendous day of suffering. "You didn't know."

Seeing the man shackled on the opposite side of the room when she woke up on the first day was the second biggest shock to the princess. Not only had she been kidnapped, but the husband and father of the two individuals she believed to be behind the conspiracy were chained up with her as well.

"I knew something was wrong," he sobbed, the chains clanking loudly. "My wife and daughter were disappearing so often, and I turned a blind eye thinking nothing of it. If only I- I- oh, I hope you can forgive me, Princess Adeline."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Aldous," she wished she could go over to the poor, distraught man, but she was confined to her side of the room, too. One ankle shackle kept her restricted to her small "bedroom." If one could even call it that. "I do not blame you."

Aldous continued to sob loudly. The princess' kindness knew no bounds. Even in the most revolting of situations. How could she say such a thing after all she'd been through? After all Petra and Beatrice did to her, and what they made the impostor do to her.

"Arthur, the real Arthur, will find us," Adeline gazed hopefully out the only window. "And when he does, whoever is pretending to be him will wish they had never been born."

The door slammed open, immediately silencing Adeline and Aldous. Both Beatrice and Petra stepped inside, sickly smiles on their faces when they saw the sorry state of their two prisoners. 

"Well, isn't this cute?" Petra was the first to speak, taking a seat at the small table across from Adeline. "Have you been enjoying yourself, Princess? I hope the accommodations are to your liking."

"We aren't here for small talk, dear," Beatrice rolled her eyes, turning her attention to the cauldron hanging over the small fire. "We need to continue with the next phase of our plan."

"Haven't you done enough already?" Adeline asked.

"Oh, darling," Beatrice started adding ingredients to the large, black pot. "We're just getting started. Petra, if you please."

Rising from her seat, the young woman grabbed hold of Adeline's head, tugging very aggressively to make sure she ripped out a decent-sized chunk of hair. The princess gasped loudly, wrapping her hands around her now throbbing scalp.

"What happened to the daughter I raised?" Aldous cried. "Where did she go?"

"Silence," Petra waved her hand over the man, muting her father in an instant. His hands went to his throat while he continued to speak, but nothing came out. "There, much better. How long do you think this will take?"