1.13: Captured and Strung

"I didn't bring you here to accost you. I just wanted to spend some time with you." Niall said, his eyes brightening in honesty.

"I need to get to know you better." Setia replied. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She really knew little about Niall, other than he was a prince.

"What are your hobbies? What are you passionate about?" Setia asked, placing her hand on his arm. He looked deep in thought and furrowed his brow.

"I'm passionate about my people, and the kingdom. I want peace and happiness for all of my residents. I want to end the war with the Dark Elves." He gazed up at her from under his auburn locks. "I want to be loved, to love someone of my own." He blushed.

"I think those are admirable goals." She smiled. "What are you most afraid of?" She prodded. He scowled.

"Failure." He said, hanging his head.

"What if I'm just not good enough?" Setia sighed and turned to face him more directly. She took his hands in hers.

"I think the fact that you want to succeed makes you a great king already. You are trying your hardest and doing everything in your power to keep everyone happy. That's all you can do." She said. "Being ruler is difficult, not everyone will like you."

(Ding! Love meter has raised to 45% Mission meter has raised to 40%)

"These feelings I have for you, I haven't felt before." He said. "I've had a lot of dalliances." He admitted sheepishly.

He squeezed her hand and smiled. His gaze had softened. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. She sighed and broke away to lift her glass from the table. She took a deep, long sip.

She felt her throat tingling, her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. She frowned, adjusting herself in her seat. Slowly her breaths became more shallow. She felt like she was choking. She lurched up, reaching for Niall. Fear consumed her vision. Niall lept up and screamed for help. He looked at the wine bottle on the table, his still full glass. She fell to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her.

Slowly, as she saw the doors burst open, she descended into darkness

She drifted through the darkness, unable to see anything around her. Sounds, minute mutterings, filled her ears. The steady thrum of chanting. Warmth, power, it radiated through her. Her eyes burst open.

She was lying on her bed in her suites. It was dark save for the lights turned on in the bathroom and hallway. The room felt as though there had been people there recently.

"Eli?" Setia gasped, her throat raw. She lifted her wrist to gaze at her cuff. It beeped and Eli appeared on the bed next to her.

"Setia! You're finally awake!" He launched at her in a very undignified little dragon hug. His wings fluttered uselessly behind him. "That was a close call. You nearly failed!"

Setia blinked slowly, trying to gather her bearings. What happened?

"What happened?" She whispered. Eli clasped his hands.

"Someone poisoned the wine! The prince had received it as a gift." Setia groaned. I bet she knew who had given the prince that gift. But she would even put the prince at risk as well? This was insanity. Setia tried to move, but found she was barely strong enough to even sit up in the bed.

The handle of the room to her suite rattled. She gasped and lied back down under the covers, feigning being asleep. The door creaked open. A few figures walked into the room.

"Let's take her." One of them said. She burst her eyes open. Three hooded figures were standing around her bed, wearing dark cloaks, so she couldn't see them. She tried to sit up faster in bed. The world spun and her head hurt.

"Grab her, while she can't fight." A familiar female voice shrilled.

"Lina?" Setia said. The third figure threw a dark hood over her head. She couldn't see. She tried to struggle against them, but she didn't have the strength. They lifted her from her bed and she could feel them carting her through the deserted halls of the palace. That bitch was having her kidnapped!

During the travels through what felt like endless mazes of corridors, Setia drifted in and out of consciousness. She felt frazzled, weak, and drained. Eli trailed behind her, his face filled with worry, but he couldn't do anything to stop it.

When she was placed down again, the ground felt cold and wet. She felt hard stone beneath her hands, her eyes fluttered open, and she saw she was in some sort of dungeon, locked in a cell. The hooded figures stood outside her doors.

"She is helpless, look at her, we should take care of her now." Lina said, whining.

"Remember the mission. We need to make it look like she defected to the rebels." The gravelly voice of a man called. Shit, if they made the elves believe she defected to the rebels that are ravaging their lands, her approval will go to zero and she'll fail the mission! She growled and tried to rise, able to move more than before, but was still weak. She spat through the bars of the cell. They laughed and walked away, leaving her alone in the dungeons.

Setia examined her surroundings. She was in a dank and dingy little dungeon, likely somewhere beneath the palace, or a neighboring building. There were no windows, no light, just wet stones stacked into the walls. Chains hung from the walls. Through the bars of the cell door, Setia could see an open area with more cells beyond.

No light greeted her, only darkness. The darkness…. She shivered. It called to her. The shadows rose in tendrils and slithered along her body. They were going to kill her down here, leave her here to rot. They would make it look like she defected to the rebels, and then the palace would brand her a traitor. Especially so soon after being given an ultimatum by the king.

She felt the energy in her body thrumming as she sat in a dark corner. Feeling the shadows calling to her, her magic shined below the surface. She was weak now, but she knew in time, maybe she could do something.