Thanks to those who waited for this chapter :) my Harry Potter story is all finished so hopefully I can focus more on this story! I'm afraid this isn't a particularly eventful chapter and it's a shorter one, but the next few updates will be building up to Morgana running away, so I think it's needed. Hope you like it!

Please review :)

Chapter 7

Truth or Freedom

"Bound to your side I'm trapped in silence,

Just a possession."

- Apocolyptica, SOS (Anything But Love).

As she gazed at the bleak sky, Morgana realised today was the one month's anniversary of her marriage to Kasim. But there was to be no celebration, there was not even a notification that there was an anniversary at all in the household. The Lady Morgana had not been seen out of her chamber for most of that month, mainly because she hadn't had a choice. Ever since she had accidentally revealed her magic to her husband, she had been locked away in her chamber. The door would only open when a maid came in to bring her food, three times a day, and make sure she had everything she needed.

When she was asked this, Morgana longed to say that no, she didn't have everything she needed, because she needed freedom but that had been torn away from her. For the first time, she didn't fear her magic, she longed for it. She wanted to be able to control it, to know how to use it, so she could blast the door open and run off into the night. But no, there hadn't been a glint of gold in her eyes since that fateful night. She even longed to have one of her strange dreams again, as it would tell her that the magic was still there, locked away inside her. But no, her sleeps had been dreamless. Morgana spent her empty hours sometimes trying to teach herself to pick a lock, every now and then wondering if she might only get her freedom when she found some way to unlock the door, or else she would rot in there forever.

In these moments Morgana tried to convince herself it could have been a lot worse. Kasim could have killed her on the spot for using magic against him, she could continue living in the rest of the castle but face possible physical harm from her own husband every day. He could have told everyone in the castle and all his friends, and they would mock her mutation and either despise her or make her do tricks for them like an exotic animal. At least she still had dignity.

But though these were true, Morgana also knew that things could be a lot, lot better, than being locked away in a chamber day and night. She sometimes wondered if this was what the rest of her life would be like. A decorated prison cell.

Today however, Morgana was in for a surprise. On her anniversary, she would have a glimpse of freedom.

The door to Morgana's chamber was suddenly unlocked and opened, making her jump and quickly turning from the window. There in the doorway stood her husband. He looked rather disgruntled about something, but she could see in his eyes, with a small sense of delight, that he was still afraid of her.

"King Odin is coming to visit today," he said as way of greeting.

That was not what Morgana had been expecting him to say. It took her a few seconds to realise her mouth was hanging open. She closed it quickly and composed herself. "And why do we owe the pleasure?" She asked.

"We've been married for a month, he wants to meet the happy couple and find out how we are doing." He replied, his eyes focused on the floor.

"Well you can tell him that I am doing fine, for someone who is being locked away like a prisoner," Morgana dared to say. She knew she was taking a risk and one wrong word could leave her with more bruises, or worse. But Kasim's fear and reluctance to step into the room had given her a little more power, she wondered if the man could feel guilt.

Kasim gave an irritated sigh, "There's no need to be like that, and you can tell him yourself." He opened the door wider.

Morgana eyed it with suspicion, "What do you mean?" She asked.

"If you behave when we meet the King, you won't have to stay locked in this chamber. I am prepared to give you another chance as my wife."

Morgana pushed away the feeling of joy that was rising in her chest. She still had to be Kasim's wife, and she could tell there was something her husband wasn't telling her. What was in it for him? "But what if I don't?" She questioned, "If I refuse to leave this room or tell Odin that the first night we spent together after your campaign you hit me?"

She was sure Kasim had flinched at the word 'hit', and for a moment she wondered if he did regret what he had done, but he composed himself quickly and said, "Then you will stay in this room, and I will tell the King how his ward somehow is able to throw a man across the room with just a gold light in her eyes."

So that would be the price for Morgana misbehaving, this was the decision she had to make. The truth or freedom. But Morgana knew that she had no choice. She couldn't risk Odin finding out about her secret, she dreaded to think what he might do to her. Use her as a weapon? Have her executed on the grounds of treason? He would probably never forgive her, and he would probably say Kasim was right to punish her and lock her away and should continue to do so.

Regretfully, Morgana nodded. "Fine, take me to the King, and I promise I'll behave." She said through gritted teeth. "Just as long as you keep your promise too."

Kasim didn't reply, but when he turned away and left her once more, the door remained open.

Just over an hour later, Morgana was making her way down to the Great Hall. She thought she would be relieved to see more of the castle now she had her freedom, but her home still seemed eerily unfamiliar.

She heard Odin and Kasim talking loudly and joking as she approached the Great Hall, both had their backs to her, she hesitated by the doorway and knocked. Both men turned round to see her standing there.

"Ah Morgana, late as usual." Kasim said light-heartedly, as if this was a little joke him and his wife shared often between themselves. Morgana smiled but did not laugh.

"I wanted to look my best for my King," she replied in what she hoped was a similar light-hearted voice and she walked into the Hall, bowed to the King and joined her husband's side. She hated how she had to act. Like an obedient dog following its master. How she would love to turn round and bite them, how she longed to run away from both masters. But she felt chained to their side.

"And you are looking well Morgana, has Kasim been treating you well?" Odin asked. He looked just the same as he always did, Morgana supposed little had changed in his world in the past month, but for her it had been turned upside down.

"Yes, my Lord," Morgana said in an oddly high pitched voice. Her eyes bored unblinkingly into Odin's and she pursed her lips. She might not be able to say to him what her husband had been doing, but perhaps she could still tell him. She longed for the bruises to still be around her neck from where Kasim had tried to strangle her, she wished she still had her bruised nose so the King could see she was not being treated as well as she claimed. Then he would see what her life was really like, then he would realise not all was well.

But time had healed the visual wounds, and now all she could do was hope that Odin could sense that something was wrong. He had known Morgana for years, she was the closest thing he had to a daughter, surely he would be able to see that she was lying, that her eyes were pleading with him. Perhaps there was still some faint mark of mistreatment that he could spot.

But Odin saw nothing. Instead he smiled and said, "It's good to know that someone is taking care of my ward, and are you two happy together?"

"We couldn't be happier, it has only been a month but things are going well," Kasim replied before Morgana could respond.

Odin's eyes glanced at Morgana once more as he said in a voice as icy as his eyes, "It's good to know someone can control her."

As the conversation followed, the King's ward silently despaired. For one, desperate moment Morgana thought she could have told the King that something was terribly wrong, and maybe he would have done something about it. But no. He only saw what he wanted to see, and he would not help his ward. Even if he realised she was being mistreated, he would tell himself that she deserved it, and Kasim would back up the lies.

In that moment Morgana realised that if she wanted to survive her marriage and if she wanted to avoid imprisonment, she would have to do it alone.