𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. sam uley

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

❧

Being thrown in a dungeon lost its flare years ago, but Aro managed to do it with the same amount of dramatics as he did last time. Sage's back smacked against the wall, and Aro had his hand wrapped around her neck, cracking and suffocating her before she could decipher what was going on.

"Sage, my love," he purred, adding pressure to the most sensitive part of her skin. Sage knew he was putting all of his strength into it; even her invulnerability quirk was not aiding her this time. "What have you done?"

"I have done n-nothing," Sage explained, her voice a wheeze. "Please, Aro, I beg. It was but a foolish mistake. I had mistaken him for someone else. It will not happen again. I promise."

Finally, the hand released her from the prison, and Sage sagged into the wall, defeated. Aro wished for her to be on her knees in front of him, begging for his forgiveness, but she bit her lip and remained upright, staring at him. He snarled a smile.

"Of course, it will not," Aro stated. He took a step back towards the arch of the dungeon—the exit. "You shall remain here, so we can see it so. I had known it foolish for you to come with us, but alas, you convinced me otherwise. What a sneaky little demon you are." He laughed a nasty guffaw. Felix met him at the entrance. "Make sure she does not leave this room, Felix. Do not disappoint me as she did."

"Yes, Master."

Sage had not broken any rules, yet she was still being punished. The trial had ended with the Cullens innocent, and although Sage had known her early dismissal from Aro's cloak had not been ideal, that had not been her own fault. Here he was, though, throwing her into her catacomb, her own dungeon, and punishing her as though she did it on purpose, just to shame him.

Frankly, she was aware as to why Aro was punishing her, but her mind was still reeling with the fact that Elis was alive. He was a vampire. He wasn't dead; he was undead. The plague had not taken his life from him as it did others. Somehow, he had been saved.

But the fact remained—he did not know who she was. Sage was an unfamiliar face to him though his was unforgettable to her. Her eyes were those of a murderer while his only brought a feeling of comfort to her. He was her brother but to him, she was a part of the Volturi, and that was the evilest thing she could have done.

The cement cracked underneath her punch. Sage groaned into her knees, curling up. Her neck still ached from where Aro had a fierce grip on it, but the pieces were melding back together to form a flawless structure once more. She closed her eyes, thinking about what she should do.

"Do not do anything rash, little one," Felix said from his post; it was almost as though he had heard her thoughts. His voice was a whisper, but Sage caught onto it just as she did the warning in his tone.

"I am not an idiot," Sage retorted, gripping her knees. Water dripped onto the floor beside her, trailing down to where she was sitting. The bottom of her pants were wet. "Aro would have my head on a platter before I even made it outside of the castle. But Felix, that was my brother."