Chapter Two - Part Three

Dove.

My head felt foggy but my body felt better than it had in weeks, maybe even months, I couldn't remember how long he'd held me after the attack on the capital. When I opened my eyes a woman was leaning over me with a bloody cloth in her hand, her eyes fixed on wiping my left breast. I held back a shudder, any touch at all felt electric and terrifying after..

She didn't notice my eyes right away so I took the chance to study what I could see of the room. It was warmer than I was used to, a high glass dome ceiling with vegetation like a reverse greenhouse and small to medium sized stained glass windows. It seemed to sparkle with some hidden magic. The walls were lined with shelves that were populated by a variety of baskets, and jars. It struck me that maybe someone had come for me, someone had finally got me out of his grasp and then I was afraid to hope. Afraid that this was just another of his tricks and I couldn't bring myself to voice my question out loud.

The girl noticed my eyes were open and whispered in my ear, "You're in the Aviary and I'm tending to your wounds. You've been badly beaten and flayed." I closed my eyes. The name sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. An aviary was a birdcage wasn't it? Was I in a zoo?

When I tried to open my mouth to ask a question my throat felt dry and hoarse like I'd spent too much time screaming. I didn't remember even the last time I'd spoken to someone. My thoughts drifted back to the dungeon. I shook the thoughts out of my mind and forced the question out anyway. "What is the aviary?"

I could hear her stumble over the words, slightly stuttering, before soaking a rag for me to suck on. I tried to thank her silently for her empathy. She opened her mouth and closed it, pausing to clearly think, before saying "a whorehouse." I didn't know if that was worse. In all the time the usurper had kept me his prisoner he'd never raped me. It seemed his stomach for violence didn't extend to that and I'd been thankful for that at least even as he beat me senseless.

I didn't know I was crying until I felt the droplets roll down my cheeks. I didn't know there was anything left to take from me. My family were murdered. My life at the palace was gone. I kept my eyes shut and pretended to sleep.

It was a long time before I heard any noise but I steadied my breath. The door to my right opened and I heard Raven stand up swiftly. "You best not have been sleeping child," I heard an old woman shout.

"Just stretching madame. Dove woke earlier and asked where she was but she's been silent since." The girl caring for me rushed.

"Raven" said the older woman threateningly. Raven must be her name. "She understood me well enough to ask where she was, so she's probably not slow." Raven again rushed. She was afraid.

I could hear the woman drag a bad leg and the thump of a cane as she came to stand over me. I opened my eyes to look at her and she visibly gasped before quickly regaining her composure.

The woman looked to Raven before quietly hissing, "You didn't say just how green her eyes were." Raven looked confused. The old woman pressed the outside of her hand to my brow and then leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Rest princess. You are safe here."

I didn't believe her, but I didn't have the strength to correct her either, so I slept anyway. My life already forfeit.