Aisling

My mind was empty, I couldn't even bring myself to scream anymore. After seeing the man bring the butt of his gun down on Adam and watching as his body fell limp against the wall I knew there was no one left to save me. Immediately, my eyes were drawn to the flash of silver I could see just under my chin and I felt resignation flush through my body.

I hadn't heard what the man had said to Adam moments before he knocked him out but I knew my life was inconsequential in all of this. I felt the man tense and the knife shifted against my throat. I knew this was it. I would be with Flora now.

Just as I thought my world was about to end something collided with the man holding me and we both tumbled to the ground as the space erupted with the loud noises of guns. Each shot sounded as if it was tearing at the very fabric of the world, as it tore the skin of the men around me. As the man fell with me the knife slipped and I felt a distant pain in my arm before warmth spread through it.

I was tossed from his arms, slamming into the wall, laying motionless as pain and numbness travelled throughout my body. I clenched my eyes closed and cradled my arm as the frantic noise increased. I didn't dare look, afraid of what I might find.

'Get to the prince,' I heard someone order but it didn't sound like the man before and I wondered who had saved me moments before. All of a sudden I heard someone groan beside me and I gingerly opened my eyes to find Adam stirring.

'Adam,' I gasped trying to move closer to him but I couldn't seem to move my body. I felt a weariness settle over me but I tried to fight it off. My eyes were heavy, my body even more so and all I wanted to do was sleep.

'Adam,' I tried again but my voice was even weaker this time and I was sure he couldn't hear me but then his eyes cracked open and rested on me.

'Aisling?' He asked in confusion before his eyes settled. 'You're alive.' We were quickly interrupted when two men pulled Adam to his feet, moving him down the corridor before he even knew what was happening. He shouted for me but the men refused to stop no matter how much he protested. I realised the fighting had died down and the men holding Adam were palace guards, not members of the rebels who had tried to kill me before the fighting had broken out.

'No,' I breathed when I felt a strong pair of arms lift me from the floor. I tried to twist in their hold but it was useless, as if something had stolen all my energy from me. 'Please,' I begged, trying to open my eyes only after realising I had closed them.

'You're safe now miss,' they soothed in the same voice that had shouted the orders only moments before when I had been thrown from the man's arms.

'No,' I repeated as we moved quickly through the corridor they had taken Adam down.

'Shh,' the man hushed, keeping me tucked against his labouring chest, my eyes falling shut again. 'Stay awake miss,' he instructed, his voice becoming more distant with every step he took.

'I can't,' I tried to say but my lips barely had the energy to move. My body was numb.

'In here captain,' I heard someone shout in the distance and suddenly we weren't in the corridor anymore. I heard a door slam and then a familiar voice filling the now silent room.

'Aisling,' he shouted and then I heard rapid footsteps until Adam's blue eyes filled my vision, black dancing at the edges.

'Adam, I know you're worried but I need you to step back so I can help her,' the man holding me instructed. I watched as Adam nodded reluctantly and in the back of my mind I wondered why this guard acted so familiar with Adam.

'Adam?' I whispered, wanting him back by my side.

'Aisling,' the voice said calmly, lowering me to a bench, his face the only one in my vision and I realised he had green eye just like my own. He was older than the other guards I had seen, grey streaking what I assumed was once dark hair. 'I need to clean and bandage this wound on your arm and the one on your head. Can you tell me are there any others?' I shook my head, not even knowing I had a cut on my head until he told me.

'Now, all I need you to do is keep your eyes on me, even when it hurts or you feel tired I need you to keep your eyes on me,' he emphasised. 'Can you do that for me?'

I nodded again in reply keeping my eyes focused on his green ones as he started to clean my arm. The pain was a dull buzz for my tired body and it was over quickly and he was wrapping it tightly in a clean cloth with expert precision.

'One down Ash, we're halfway there,' he encouraged as he started on the cut on both my throat and apparently my forehead. He tenderly pulled my hair out of his way before inspecting the cut the man had made when he pressed the knife to my throat.

'Nearly, there Aisling,' he promised, but all I could think about was the knife against my neck, his meaty hands clutching the blade. Suddenly, my body started to shiver and my heart beat erratically in my chest. I felt the man's hands still at my neck and he cursed under his breath.

'She's going into shock,' he shouted, moving to my bandaged arm and cursing again. 'I need anything we can use as a blanket.' I vaguely registered him removing his jacket and resting it on the floor. Then I was in he arms again for a moment until I was resting on the floor on top of a warm jacket. As soon as he settled me, jackets, blankets and towels were piled on top of me until a reassuring pressure sat on my chest.

'Adam!' The man yelled and suddenly blue eyes were swimming before me, a gentle hand trailing down my face.

'Aisling, shhh, you're all right,' he soothed.

'Adam,' I breathed my voice shaking with my shivering body.

'I'm here little dreamer, you're going to be fine,' he promised lifting my uninjured arm from under the blankets and placing a warm kiss on the hand he held tightly in both of his.

'Adam, it's too deep, I need to stitch the wound,' the man said gravely and I watched as Adam's eyes looked at his with worry.

'Have you done this before?' He asked clutching my hand tighter, my heart rate beating irregularly again.

'Several times,' he answered as someone handed him a box. 'I need you to try and keep her calm and still Adam, this is…it's going to hurt.' I saw Adam nod and then the man moved my injured arm, unwrapping what he had just done and I saw him move it aside realising it was soaked in blood, my blood.

'Aisling, I'm so sorry but I have nothing to give you for the pain. Whatever was in here is so outdated it would do more harm than good.' I tried to mutter something in reply but my body was entirely uncooperative, the world blurring into an unidentifiable haze.

Adam's face blurred and then there was a piercing pain in my arm causing me to shout out in pain. I tried to pull my arm away from the man but he held it firmly. My other hand was clutching Adam's tightly, wishing he could take the pain away.

The world tilted and darkness filled my eyes until all I could see was a pinprick of blue and all I could hear were my screams. My body was dancing on the precipice of consciousness and all I wanted to do was fall over the edge and find the bliss of nothingness that came with the darkness.

Anthony

'Anthony, you can't do this,' my father shouted as I stormed from his office, fury constricting my chest.

'I'm not going to sit here while the people who have Amberly do who knows what to her. I'm going after her father.'

'And how are you going to find her Anthony?' He asked chasing after me. 'For all we know she isn't even in the country anymore.'

'I'm going to find her, I don't care how long it takes.' I growled staring straight ahead determinedly.

'You are the crown prince-'

'And she will be my princess,' I shouted, turning back to look at him leaving my anger unrestrained.

'Anthony you need to let our men look for her. I can't have you out in the streets risking you life.' He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

'I can't lose her dad,' I breathed, feeling my anger seep from me.

'I know Anthony and we're going to find her, I promise.'

'You promised me she would be safe, I...I promised her she'd be safe.' I answered bitterly.

'We will find her, every man we have is looking for her. They can't hide her forever Anthony,' my father reasoned, resting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I knew he hadn't been handling this well either and only moments before I had stormed out he had called Amberly's parents who were devastated but the news. Queen America was almost hysterical when learning of her daughter's kidnapping, emitting a sound that was almost animalistic.

'What will they do to her while they do have her?' I asked flatly staring at the ground as my father allowed the silence to grow between us.

'Your majesty,' someone shouted hurriedly and I looked up to find one of the men from my father's office run out. 'They called, they're on the phone now.'

'What?' My father and I demanded at once, moving toward the man.

'The kidnapper's, they're on the phone. They called, they want to speak to you,' he gasped as my father and I pushed past him to get back inside.

As soon as we entered three men looked up at us in shock and alarm a phone sitting between them on my father's desk.

'Where is she?' I demanded, staring at the black phone with an intensity that should have made it melt. I vaguely heard my father's warning voice but I ignored him, my sole focus on the object that could hold the answers to where Amberly might be.

'Ah, you must be her prince,' a smooth voice came through the connection. I noticed it had a slight accent to it but I couldn't quite place it.

'Where's Amberly?' I repeated, anger barely hidden beneath the surface.

'Be patient prince Anthony,' he chuckled darkly and I felt my frustrations grow. 'Let us talk first and then you can speak to your precious princess.' I stood silently waiting, forgetting the room around me, my vision narrowed in on the phone which was holding the answers I desperately needed.

'We want something from you, young prince,' he began his voice dripping with condescension. 'It's something small, a simple…exchange.'

'What do you want?' I growled impatiently, moving forward until my hands held tightly to the edge of my fathers desk.

'Well, you see we have gone to a great deal of trouble to get your little princess but she isn't what we really want.' He answered casually, drawing out ever word.

'Prince Anthony, we will give you back your princess willingly, we simply ask that you convince the Illean royals that they need to return to the caste system.'

'What?' I asked in alarm, what kind of person would want the renewal of such a segregated, oppressive society?

'We have been trying to rid ourselves of the monarchy for years now but they are impenetrable. We believe given the right incentive you can convince them of our plan.'

'Who are you?' I ground out through my clenched teeth.

'How rude of me,' he laughed and I felt disgust rise through my body with pure revulsion for the man who had stolen my love from me. 'We are the Elite of Illean society, we simply want the return of what was taken from us when that idealist red queen took the throne decades ago.'

'Anthony,' my father whispered in my ear. 'You can't make these promises. Illea can't return to what it once was.'

'But, Amberly,' I hissed. 'I'm not going to let them hurt her.'

'How are you going to convince Maxon and America to reverse everything they have built their rule upon?'

'I don't care,' I answered.

'Prince Anthony,' the man's voice cut through mine and my father's argument. 'I'm a generous man, I'll give you the next twenty-four hours to deliver what we have requested, if not…well, I'd consider looking for a new wife.'

'No, you can't,' I shouted.

'I can do whatever I choose prince Anthony,' he sneered and endless possibilities played across my vision of what they could do to Amberly.

'I want to speak to her,' I demanded.

'We did have a deal,' he reasoned before the phone was filled with static and the distinct sounds of movement, then the most heartbreaking voice filled my father's office.

'Anthony,' she croaked and I knew she had been crying even if she was trying to hide it.

'Amberly,' I breathed, moving as close as I could to the machine which was giving me the most beautiful and terrifying sound I would ever hear.

'I'm not scared Anthony,' she assured me.

'I know love,' I smiled weakly at my brave princess. 'I'm going to find you Amberly, I promise.'

'I know,' she answered and I could hear the doubt hiding in her words no matter how she tried to mask it. 'Don't give in to them Anthony, I don't think they're who they claim.'

'What do you mean?' I asked hurriedly. 'Do you know where you are?'

'There's running water, I don't know a stream or something. It was so dark and I didn't wake up till they brought me in here. I think I'm still in London but I don't know.' She answered and I could hear the anxiety creeping into her voice.

'Amberly, don't panic love,' I tried to sooth. 'I'm going to find you.'

'Please hurry,' she whispered, tears in her voice.

'Is there anything else you can tell me?'

'His name is-' She was cut off abruptly and a loud noise rang through the phone line, her cry of pain distorting the noise.

'Amberly?' I asked in alarm, gripping the phone tightly.

'You've spoken to her,' the man's voice said, filling the line again. 'Now, if you want to see her again you need to do what we have asked. You have twenty-four hours.'

'No, you can't do this,' I yelled and suddenly the line went dead and I was left shouting at nothingness.

I know it's a little shorter than usual and it doesn't really reveal much but I wanted to give you something.

Sam, I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that I have your attention. I was kind of really excited to write these chapters that I even managed to forget a few things in them. Oh well, they weren't really essential. Hope you enjoyed this little chapter :)

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing :) Happy reading beautiful people