The guards gave each other perplexed looks and hesitated for only a second before they were on me.

Two held their swords to my back while the other two grabbed one of my arms each and roughly dragged me through the doors to the castle.

The halls were deserted, sure, it was the middle of the night, but there was usually a servant or someone walking through the halls.

Something was different.

There was a chill in the air, my breath clouded in front of my face. The guard's fingers were stone cold against my arms.

"You really don't have to restrain me you know. I handed myself over, remember? If I wanted to escape, I would."

They didn't even acknowledge that I had spoken.

I didn't recognise many of the halls I was dragged down, but I did my best to remember the turns we took. We walked and walked and walked.

It's strange to think that the last time I was held captive in this castle; it was Dimitri walking me down these halls to whatever hell awaited me. So much had changed since then.

Finally, we reached a door (not a cell), my guards opened it and shoved me inside without another word.

A feeling washed over me once my senses returned to me. I knew this feeling. I had felt it once before in Dimitri's cell. But this wasn't a cell; it was an expensively decorated room.

I was on my feet in an instance.

I found myself in a sitting room, there was a grand fireplace, but it held no wood, coals or flames. Already I knew that anything that could be used as a weapon had been removed.

One door lead to a bathing chamber and another lead to a bedroom, it held a large four poster bed and I hated to admit, but it was beautifully decorated. There were also bars on the windows.

It was dark in these rooms, the only flickering light coming from a glowing candle in each room, placed there as if to mock me. I knew it was futile, but that stubborn part of me reached out to the flames and willed them to turn into an inferno big enough to burn this castle into dust. Nothing happened.

It was due to the low light that it took me so long to realise that I was not alone.

There was a figure slumped in the darkest corner of the bedroom.

My hand strayed to where my sword was strapped to my back, but of course the guards had rid me of all of my weapons. Instead, I simply clenched my fists as I approached. Whoever it was didn't look like they could put up much of a fight anyway.

I carried one of the candles with me so I could see better. It was only when I was crouched in front of him that I recognised the man.

"Adrian?!"

No wonder I could barely recognise him, he was so thin his clothes seemed to be hanging off his body; his usually styled-to-perfection hair was greasy and stuck to his damp forehead. His chest only slightly rose and fell.

I lifted his chin and gently pulled his eyes open. They were completely lifeless. I was by no means a doctor, but I had fixed myself and a few other people up enough to know that when the pupil changed size when exposed to light that it was a good sign.

"Adrian." I said louder this time, shaking his shoulders roughly. His eyes fluttered and his head rolled to the side. An alien like sound came from his mouth.

"Adrian!" I repeated even louder, and this time I smacked him sharply on the cheek.

This time his eyes shot open and he shoved my hands away from him with more strength than I expected considering his small size.

I took a step away from him so there was a good amount of space between us and held my hands out in front of me with my palms facing him so he knew that I posed no threat to him.

"It's me, it's Rose." I said gently, my voice had turned light, like how you might speak to a startled animal.

"Rose? I didn't mean to dream you up." He said, his voice was rough but barely came out as a whisper.

"You're not dreaming, this is real." I told him, taking a tentative step forward.

"No, no. It's another one of the stones tricks. It takes everything away from you, makes you see things. Takes everything but only gives you madness back. It's good to see you, Little Assassin." His rambling voice gave out at the end as his head slumped back against the wall. All of the fight had left him. And I just knew that if I didn't get out soon, he would be dead and I would end up exactly the same.

I had to get us both out of here.

I hadn't considered Adrian being held captive with me when I thought up my elaborate and dangerous plan; I thought he would be with The King. He had turned against his own son.

I sprung into action at once; there was no time to waste. The King might not even know I was here yet, if I was lucky.

I tried opening the door that the guards had brought me in through, of course it was locked. There had to be guards stationed outside. I banged my fists against the door as hard as I could. "Hey!" I shouted against the thick wood. If I had my powers I could simply burn the door down, or turn into a spider and crawl under it. "This kid is about to die, you can't leave me in here with a dead body!" The King must still want Adrian alive for something, or he'd have just gotten it over with and killed him quickly.

"Get back against the far wall and we'll remove The Prince." A gruff voice responded.

I did as they asked, but where I stood in the room really made no difference to them. They must be the most stupid men I've ever met.

Two guards walked through, their swords drawn. Two guards. The Kings two most prized possessions and he puts two guards outside the door? I should have been insulted.

The guards were barely through the door by the time I had used their own weapons against them. I didn't enjoy killing them; I thought of Eddie and Mason, the two guards from my first time in this castle, I had grown quite fond of them. Would they be part of the fight when it came? And what of Alberta, the maid who had helped tend to my injuries? I hoped that they had chance to escape.

I wasted not one second once the guards were down, I retrieved my weapons and threw Adrian's arm over my shoulder and hoisted him up, he wasn't exactly heavy, but he was still taller than I was which made it difficult. I just needed us to get through the door.

I felt a wave of power course through my veins as soon as we were over the threshold of the room. I used it to transform my muscles into stronger ones, so that Adrian's weight barely slowed me down.

I noticed a difference in the Prince too as I weaved my way through the silent halls. All the tension had left his shoulders, and his breathing had evened out. I didn't know the layout of the castle exactly, but I knew enough to get us outside without being seen.

I finally got us outside of the castle; we came out to a vast open expanse of grass surrounded by woodland. We were almost to the tree line when I heard laughter behind us.

"Did you really think I would let you escape? Did you really think I was stupid enough to leave only two useless guards outside that room?" I turned to see the King, dressed in full armour. Behind him stood his entire army, all armed to the teeth.

"Honestly? I really did think you were that stupid." I faced him; I was prepared to take him on alone. It was too late, my plan had failed. I had run out of time. If I could just take the King with me to the fiery depths of hell, I could die knowing I had achieved something.

"Give me my son back."

"So you can lock him in a cage again? I'm taking him away from here, if he wishes to return and take his seat on the thrown, then he can."

"And what about me?" Asked the king, that awful sneer lifting up the corner of his hideous mouth.

"You? You'll be dead." And I unleashed the inferno of fire that had been building up inside of me. The king only just managed to bring up a wall of ice, but it only protected him and some of his soldiers, some of them burned. The sounds of their screams and the scent of their burning flesh was not a pleasant one to me.

The King sent arrows of ice straight back at me, aiming for his son who was now slouched on the cold earth as well as me. I sent up a wall of burning flames in front of Adrian, protecting him from the spears of ice that came shooting towards him. I didn't waste my flames protecting myself though; instead I used the other skill in my arsenal. After all, I was an assassin before I found these powers. I threw myself into the air and twisted my body to avoid the ice arrows; I felt the air stir as they flew past me. We all knew I liked to put on a show.

I looked back to the King and his army, I noticed that some of his soldiers didn't look as tough and brave as I first thought. There was a thread of doubt within them and it was starting to spread. The King was losing his control.

"You cannot possibly think you can win against me and my army alone."

"That's your problem. You're always underestimating me." I felt the air shift ever so slightly behind me. And knew that my plan had been successful.

"And also, I'm not alone." I said, and couldn't keep that cocky grin off my face.

I had no idea how they managed it, but suddenly the mirage dropped and behind me stood hundreds of people, ready to fight against King Ivashkov. I had an army of my own.

Dimitri stood to my right, dressed ready for battle. Thunder clapped somewhere far off in the distance as his bottomless eyes took me in. I could see that he wasn't happy with me, but relief shone like starlight in his eyes. His hand brushed against mine and it took all of my willpower not to throw myself into his arms.

Abe stood to my left, and cleared his throat gently. "Thank you, Dad." I whispered to him. He had spent all his time calling in every favour that was ever owed to him.

And then I turned and took in the group of people who were willing to fight with me. I recognised many of them, and there stood Christian Ozera, a sword in each hand and mischief dancing in his ice-blue eyes, black mist curled around his fists and at his feet. I was thankful to see that Tatiana and Lissa were nowhere to be seen, though I knew they travelled with the army, I was so grateful that they managed to pull this off.

When Queen Tatiana promised me her help, I had no idea that I would actually need to take her up on that offer. But when I sent out that letter, I knew deep down that she would not fail me. We were family, after all.

I looked back to the King once more; I could see the fury in his eyes. Ice now coated the grass where he and his army stood, ready to strike.

The King nodded his head, and his men charged for us. I coated my hands in flames, and when I started to run towards the oncoming army, everyone at my back came with me.

The two sides met in the middle, and chaos ensued.

There we have Chapter 33! I've had a bit of a terrible few weeks, I blame wanting to be a nurse during a global pandemic. But I was off yesterday and feeling sorry for myself when this scene came into my head, so I just started writing. I'm sorry it takes so long for me to update, but I know where this story is going now. I'm starting new studies on the 1st of February so that's bound to make me even more stressed, so I can't promise when this story will be finished, but I know I'll complete it at some point.

In other news, I made a bookstagram! That's right, it's a real thing. For those who don't know, it's basically an instagram account for all bookish things, my is thattravellingbookworm for anyone interested, feel free to drop me a message!

Anyway, I don't know if there's anyone still interested in this story, but for those of you who are I thank you so much for sticking with me.