"Max, are you ok?" Fang asked holding onto Max's arms. She looked down and noticed an easy graze on her shoulder, but her head was still in place.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
They slowly walked to the edge of the cave and looked down to see people surrounding the cave with arrows pointed at them.
"Max, we have to go down there."
"What?! Fang, what are you talking about?! We have wings remember? We can fly away."
"No. You know we can't do that. My father will just hunt you down and drag me back. If we go down together we can both be saved."
"Your father will never let you see me again."
"Of course I will. We have wings remember?" With that said, they held onto each other's hands and jumped landing in the midst of the soldiers.
They took Max away and made her walk along with two guards while Fang rode away in a carriage along with the rest.
Fang arrived first at the palace giving the king time to lecture Fang. "What good can we get out of her? Nothing! She's caused trouble and chaos and you expect me to just let her live? She took you away!"
"No. She's my one and only friend! Haven't you realized that? She didn't force me. I'm with her because I love her!" At this, the King spun sharply at his heels to face Fang. You love her? You love her? You love her?"
The King was not a bad man. He was actually fairly reasonable to be the king, and he loved Fang, but only for one reason: to take over the throne. If Fang decided to love Max who is not in royalty, the throne would have to be passed on to a different family.
Fang watched as his father marched over to the high chair and slumped down with his head in his hands. Before another word was said, the doors opened and Max was pushed through. Her hands and she lost balance falling in a heap. There were lashes in random places in her clothing. They had whipped her again, but her face didn't show fear or sadness.
Since the relationship between them had already been shown, Fang didn't hesitate to rush over and help Max sit up. Fang's father's eyes flashed with anger, but then it faded as he turned around.
"Sam, you have disobeyed me. From now on, you will work and be guarded during the morning and escorted to your cell at night. Dinner will be provided. Also, Fang, I forbid you to interact with her. You may spend one night together. By tomorrow, Sam will be alone." The King of Montague turned to leave and gestured for the guards to leave them alone. Even though Fang couldn't see it, the word alone killed Max.
Fang untied the ropes and pulled Max into his arms causing her to wince from the fresh whip marks. "Does it hurt?"
Max smiled and hugged back, "No." and quietly whispered "But it will."
Fang heard but he didn't say anything back. The day was already dark and they didn't have much more time. In maybe half an hour at the most, the king would storm inside and drag Max away.
