Chapter 68

I crept down to the dungeon. Samuel rested his back against the dirty wall. His hands and ankles remained shackled, his head was lowered, staring at the filthy floor.

"I'm back. You may go." I told the guard, he gave me a nod and left.

"How are you liking it down here. Cozy, isn't it?"

"You think you're funny."

"You've been down here for over a day, are you ready to talk?" I asked.

"Never. Kill me, I will never talk."

His eyes were lined with bags, he didn't sleep. His blonde curls were filled with dirt. He had no internal peace.

"You know what I think, Samuel?"

"I'm dying to hear it, Princey."

"I think you would rather die than sit in your own thoughts. Sitting, thinking, remembering, is enough torture. That's worse for you than getting the life beat out of you, isn't it?" I stepped closer to him, peering down at his exhausted, ocean eyes.

"You think you've gotten me all figured out."

"Not entirely, just a step in the right direction. I won't hurt you, not physically, anyway. I'm going to leave you down here, alone. For days. Weeks. Months. Whatever it takes. Either way I will find the king. I will kill him."

"Can you just shut the FUCK up?" Samuel roared. "I can't listen to your ridiculous hero speech, it's pathetic. Vendov will crush you like a bug, even with your new abilities. Just go and get yourself killed, so I don't have to listen to you anymore."

"I'd need to know where he is for that, wouldn't I?"

He was quiet, sullen. It was like something had changed in him. He was snappy, radiating confidence just hours before. He always had the ego the size of his castle.

Perhaps he was playing me, I thought.

"Do you think Vendov is coming to rescue you? Is that why you're holding out?"

"I can assure you, nobody is going to rescue me. I am going to die down here, one way or another. If you hadn't taken my weapons, I would be dead already. I would rather die at my own hand than yours."

"If you're trying to get me to feel sorry for you, it won't work. You will never change my mind about you again."

"Can you please. Just end me? I'm dead either way. If I did find a way to return to Vendov, he would kill me in fear I gave away his secrets, even if I insist I didn't."

"Where's the dragon? Why wasn't it with you? Does he have it?"

"Who else would it be with? Fucking Charles?" He snapped.

"Alright, so he does have it. Where is he?"

He fell quiet again.

"You will help me. I lost too much because of you. I lost everything!" I started again.

"I LOST EVERYTHING TOO!" He screamed at me, tugging on his chains toward me. His face was red as a tomato.

"You aren't the only one." His sullen tone returned and he leaned back against the wall. He turned his head away from me.

I kneeled down to his level on the dirty ground.

"Samuel, please. Be genuine, for once in your life, even if it's the last time. Please. What are you talking about? What have you lost? Has he hurt you, too?"

Silence, again. He took a hefty breath, and exhaled. His head fell back down to staring at his shackled ankles. His elbows rested on his knees.

"I wasn't lying to you when I first arrived, you know." He was looking away from me as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"My father had died only a couple weeks prior to my arrival. He got sick, I was his only child, I had no family left. Before he died, I was a prince who got to do whatever he wanted. A lifestyle I took for granted. He didn't last long with the sickness, same with the rest of my people, as you can remember, many died. For some reason, I never got it. Unfortunately, I survived.."

He sighed, still not looking at me.

"I was scared. My people were dying, I had nowhere to turn. No one to tell me what to do. A lifetime of princehood could not have prepared me for losing it all so fast. Everyone was dying. No one could work, our kingdom was going bankrupt.. I couldn't afford to feed my people."

"Then, the Great Ray Vairo, King of Vendov, came to the Mullis Islands. He heard of what happened, he preyed on my despair. He told me he was planning his empire. He heard of my father's passing and extended his hand. He asked me to be the first to join his empire, he said he would help me find a cure for my people. He promised he would take care of them, but of course, he wanted something in return. He had heard of my persuasion, my charm..

"He told me about the dragon, that he believed it could have been resurrected. I thought he was mad, but who was I to argue with him? He told me his plan to have me infiltrate Lafayette, gain your trust, and find the dragon.." His voice trailed off.

"Everyone fell for my charms, but you. I knew you needed more persuasion.."

"You didn't get orders? To do that to me?"

"The king told me if I wanted a chance to save my people, I would infiltrate Lafayette, no matter what it took. I knew I had to do so, whatever the cost. I needed you to like me, to care for me. I needed your love."

"And when you killed my parents? When you looked at them and commanded the dragon to torch my castle? To kill everyone?"

A reenactment of that day ran through my head. I remember the shock paralyzing my weak body as Samuel forced the dragon to puff out fire. The image of their sliced throats haunted me.

"He told me to humiliate you, to humiliate your parents. To declare Lafayette in his name to be the last thing they hear. He told me to be cruel."

"And you certainly were, weren't you?"

"You all were supposed to die that day. You weren't supposed to make it out. That's my fault, and the king hasn't been forgiving for that mistake. He hasn't helped cure my people, now I'm sure he never will."

I listened deeply to Samuel's words. Even if he was telling the truth, did it really change things? My parents were dead, their blood stained his hands, along with the orphan children that resided in the castle. Not to mention the castle staff, and everyone else in my kingdom who now had to live under Vendov's reign.

Yet, perhaps my anger should have stayed on course to the Vendov king. I couldn't help but wonder, was it truly all a lie? Every moment of our time together? The tavern, the mountains, the boat. The tiresome journey in which we only had each other. How could he feel nothing from that?

I attempted to refrain from asking my pointless question when more pressing matters were at stake, but it didn't escape me.

"I'm only going to ask you one more thing. Was it all fake?"

"What do you mean?" He looked at me.

"The moments we had together. You saved me countless times. The coronation."

"I had to gain your trust somehow."

"There was never a minute? A moment of realness with me?"

"If you're asking if I ever felt bad about what I was doing, then yes. There were moments of doubt, but I always reassured myself it was necessary for my people. But if I ever felt a moment of likeness? Affection for you? If so.. I don't know. Physically, I was calling for you. Mentally, I was reserved, and shut down any doubt in my mind. I couldn't doubt what I was doing , it was too late for that."

The moments we shared, and none of it was real. There was always a sliver of doubt, perhaps hope, that Samuel wasn't entirely manipulating me. I was wrong. It's all he knew, it was etched into him, perhaps it wasn't entirely his fault. The Vendov king backed him into a tight, lonely corner and exploited him. He was a hungry bear slashing salmon after salmon. He was a dragon, setting a castle of children on fire.

"I hope my answers satisfied you, Princey." He said, his voice croaked with exhaustion. Under his eyes were layered with despair, perhaps years of it. I had never seen him so weak, so defeated.

"Thank you for the first honest moment we have ever shared. Where is the king?"

"He will kill you. There will be no escape, there never is."

"Just tell me where he is, then. Let me go off and die."

His head lingered low.

"Solaris. He took their kingdom by force, and he's been staying there with the dragon, basking in his latest conquest. I do not know if he's received word about your attack on the castle."

"Does he know about the attack on Salkon?"

"Unlikely, hard to pass word quickly when you're across the sea."

"Great. If you'll excuse me, I need to leave."

"You aren't going to kill me before you leave?" He asked.

"We'll see when I get back. But for now, I like where you are."

I left Samuel alone and chained. I didn't request a guard to study him, I left him alone, allowing his thoughts to attack his time.

I would like to believe his honesty was genuine, but it came too late. I wondered if things would have been different if he told me all that time ago.

For a moment, I let myself imagine a different time. I imagined if he told me while we were in his kingdom, when my parents were alive.

I pictured us in his bed together, getting ready to summon the dragon. I imagined his defeated voice telling me he couldn't do it anymore. That he couldn't lie to me for another moment. That he needed to come clean. If he did that then, I believe I would have forgave him. I would have told him we would figure it out together.

But there was no point fantasizing. He didn't make any confession then.

I left the dungeon and went to our chambers. I  threw weapons into a pack, as well as a set of clothes.

"Where are you going?" Mavis asked, standing nearby.

"Solaris. It's where the king is."

"And Samuel?"

"In the dungeon, send some food down for him when you have the chance."

"You didn't kill him?"

"Not yet. I have grater kings to kill."

Daniel knocked and entered.

"Daniel, protect the castle, Salkon could still come. Get everyone on guard, understand?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"Please come back to us, Zander." Mavis said.

"I'll do my best."