The air was cold, and Hugo was tired. Sofia had been taken out of the cage the night before and had yet to return. To make matters worse the man who had captured them was forcing him to clean their house. It was a regular occurrence, whilst they used Sofia to fulfil their needs, they used Hugo like a maid. The teenager honestly didn't know which was worse at this point, listening to Sofia beg them to stop or being physically beaten every time he did something wrong. Then he heard Sofia scream and decided that hearing Sofia was worse. It was the only thing that stopped him from overpowering his guard and running. He couldn't leave Sofia; he could never leave Sofia. Still, cleaning was exhausting, especially when he had not slept properly in days.

He had been cleaning for a few hours when his guard suddenly grabbed him and threw him into a cupboard. Hugo landed on the floor with a sickening crack but managed to pull himself out of his daze. He looked through the crack in the door to hear another man enter the room, he tried seeing who had entered but the guard blocked him. Too tired to stand any longer her fell to the floor. He sat there for a while until he heard Sofia's name. Curious he leant closer to the door only to hear a voice that sounded surprisingly similar.

"Is she okay?" the voice asked. The guard grunted

"Since when do you care? You are the reason she is here" his guar chuckled. Hugo was confused, he still had no idea why he and Sofia was taken. If what the guard was saying was true then it wasn't a random attack.

"I know what I did Fergus, I had to protect the kingdom. I had no choice" the voice spat. This made Hugo more and more confused, Sofia and himself weren't a threat were they?.

"Still, selling out your baby brother and the princess was cruel, even by our standards," Fergus said. Hugo gasped; it couldn't be possible. Axel wouldn't hurt him; they were brothers for god's sake.

"It was them or the kingdom Fergus"

"That may be true now, here Is the gold you oh so nicely requested. I suggest you leave now. Wouldn't want the girl to see you." There was a moment of silence before Hugo heard any movement. He heard footsteps and then the distinct sound of a door slamming shut. As he fell backwards to the floor he had one thought on his mind.

What the hell had Axel done?.

Hugo shot up in his bed, hot and sweaty. It had been a while since he had thought of that day, the day his faith had been well and truly shook. He tried remembering what had happened, he remembered seeing Axel but not what happened afterwards. Suddenly a thought struck him, maybe he had come back for Sofia!. With that in mind, he threw his covers of the bed and started sitting up. He was met with a warm pair of hands pushing him back down. Axel tried pushing the hands off him, but they wouldn't budge. He began panicking and looked to his captor only to find the queen. She smiled at him with soft eyes.

"It's okay Hugo, you're safe" she reassured. Hugo, however, didn't care himself, he looked around the room wildly. The queen seemed to understand what he was worried about however and put his mind at rest.

"Sofia is eating in the dining hall. She woke up a couple of hours ago, she didn't want to leave but I made her. She's with the guards and her family. She's safe." Hugo looked down at the word family, guilt written all over his face. The queen felt her heart crack at his guilty expression, did he really think that what happened was his fault?.

"Hugo…" she started; she was cut off when Hugo started to cry. He kept repeating sorry and started pulling at his hair. Miranda grabbed his hands so that he couldn't do any additional damage.

"Why are you sorry Hugo?" she asked kindly. Hugo gulped

"I… I brother, sof… I no… undastan" he choked up. Miranda stared at the boy. Two years ago, she knew him as a little boy with a big ego but now she thought he was a strong man. He had suffered more than anyone could imagine and was still alive to tell the tale.

"Hugo, you didn't know that your brother planned to have you kidnapped. What happened was not your fault!" Hugo flinched at the fieriness in her voice. For a minute Miranda was reminded of how Sofia flinched at loud noises, she sighed sadly.

"Oh, Hugo what did they do to you?" there was a strained moment of apprehension. Hugo for the first time didn't want to keep it in, he was exhausted. They had hurt him and now they weren't there and were still killing him. Hugo bit his lip, hard.

"They… hit…. Burn… me. I-I-I clean, lock in the cage. S.. sof keep me alive. I get a hurt lot. She clean cut. They hurt me to hurt her. Scary" his voice began to break. He tried to continue his story but couldn't, the queen, however, got a pretty clear picture of what they went through and felts sick. How could anyone do that to a child? She pulled him into a hug and for once Hugo didn't flinch. Miranda ran her hands through his hair, whispering soothing words of encouragement. It was then the queen decided that this boy was now her son and if there is anything the queen would protect till her dying breath it was family. Hugo had suffered so much, and the queen was going to help him get better even if it killed her.

All to soon Hugo pulled away and began fiddling with his blanket. He seemed to be contemplating something.

"Trust dad… mum no trust" he said finally. Miranda nodded and called the nearest guard over, relaying the message. She then turned back to the boy

"Right you, get some rest. Sofia will be here after dinner and you best believe she'll want cuddles of you" at Miranda's wink Hugo blushed but did what she asked.

After everything he had gone through Hugo was scared to trust but it seemed that the queen loved him regardless of his trauma and for now that was enough.