Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 6

She didn't know how long it took but by the time the guards had thrown Artemis to the cold stone floor of a cell there was small signs of sunlight shining through her cell window allowing her to faintly see the guards faces through the metal cell door. Her cheek was throbbing from making contact with the stone floor and her hands were still bound together by the handcuffs that had been tied on her since they left, well carried her from the pub. Artemis scowled at both of them and the one bared his teeth in return.

"You can stay in here for a little while. His highness will gladly see you shortly." The guard not showing his teeth to her said before turning and leaving, the other guard not too far behind him.

The teen listened as the two made their way down the hall, the door that let you access the rest of the dungeon closing behind them with a loud screech. Grunting the girl used her feet to push herself to the back wall that she planned to use to get herself onto her feet. Artemis felt the palm of her hands press against the stone wall as she used them like suction cups to pull herself up. Once achieving the goal of getting to her feet she didn't know what to do next. The cell door was locked, there were no holes on the walls that showed any signs if previous escaping, and the window in her cell was blocked by metal bars and even if it wasn't there was no way that Artemis was squeezing herself through it.

"There's no way of you getting out, I've tried to no avail." A soft voice murmured.

Artemis squinted her eyes in the direction she had guessed the voice to come from. In the cell a crossed the hall the teen saw the figure if a girl who looked almost the same age as herself kneeling on the floor. She had blue hair from what Artemis could see and a maid outfit fit over her body. The brunette walked closer to the door of her cell and saw that the girl looked abused and tired.

"Who are you?" Artemis questioned.

"J-Juvia. . . Juvia Lockser. Juvia is a maid here at the palace." The bluenette replied softly as if she were afraid to speak to loud and have something bad happen to her for it.

"Why are you in a cell if you're a maid here? I thought a dungeon was for people who commit crimes and stuff like that." Artemis said.

"Juvia doesn't remember commuting crimes no but she did upset his highness and had to pay for it so Juvia is stuck here in this cell for a few days." The girl answered squirming in what Artemis assumed to be handcuffs like hers.

Artemis didn't want to look away from the girl. She looked fragile the way she was, her kneeling position made it look like she was begging and her uniform was ripped in small places from what looked like a whip. That thought brought Artemis back to when she saw the scars on those girls at the pub. What human could torture so many people!?

"Can I ask you something Juvia?" Artemis paused and watched the bluenette nod her head before continuing, "Do you know a girl about my age? Her name is Celestine."

"Celestine! Juvia knows her very well. Juvia and Celestine are great friends because we both work as maids here. Do you know her too?" The teen answered quite excited at the mention of Artemis's cousin.

"Yes, Celestine is my cousin. That's why I came here from Magnolia. I wanted to see her for the first time in my life but I got thrown in here instead." The emerald toned eyed girl informed Juvia.

"A relative of Celestine? Juvia can see it, you two look slightly similar. You wanted to see her you say? Juvia is afraid that's a goal that could possible end your life now. His highness doesn't accept outsiders from anywhere unless they're a part of the royal families that have come to conference with him. We're all to think that everyone from the outside are nothing but our enemies. Though Juvia knows why Celestine knew so much about the outside and where she was getting those letters from. They were from you, Juvia remembers them now, and the one she let Juvia read was addressed from a girl named Artemis and Juvia thinks that's you."

"Yes that is me. Do you know where she is?" Artemis asked hoping the other teen would have the information.

"No Juvia is sorry Artemis. Juvia hasn't seen Celestine for the past two days since Juvia has been locked up in this cell for that long." The bluenette apologized.

"I see, it's ok Juvia, thank you." The brunette sighed taking a seat back on the ground due to the absence of a bed in the cell.

There was nothing else Artemis could do now. All she could hope for was that Gajeel and Levy found Celestine last night and that they were all safe, oh why was she worrying about them of course they're safe, Gajeel is the prince after all so what could go wrong? She had more important issues right now, like how she was getting herself out of this rotten cell.

Having nothing else to do Artemis sat against the wall watching the sun slowly pass her window. She guessed it was noon time by the time she heard the dungeon door being used again. Footsteps followed after the door's creaking and from what it sounded like they were heading right towards her and Juvia's cells. In only moments after there were the two guards from before and a man who she had never seen before standing outside her cell door, though with the help of his clothes and the headpiece called a crown upon his head it wasn't hard for Artemis to figure that he was in fact PhantomLord's king, King Jose if Artemis remember his name correctly from Celestine's letters. The guard to his right stepped forward and opened the cell door allowing the man to enter the small space before closing it behind him.

Artemis first impression of the king, she disliked him greatly. The smug look on his face made her face twist into an unpleased emotion. The look in his green eyes was of something vile and disturbing and Artemis felt it greatly. His hair that sat below his crown was very dark red hue almost black. Nothing about Jose looked right to Artemis and she wanted to be as far from him as she could at the moment.

"So this is the girl you found at the pub. What did you say here name was again?" The king asked tailoring his head a little.

"Artemis Elise sire." One of his guards answered.

"Artemis Elise, a very strange name for these parts indeed. I can already tell you're an outsider and my dear, we here in PhantomLord sadly don't take we'll to outsiders I'm afraid to say. From where have you come exactly?" He asked leaning down to get a better look at Artemis.

"I don't need to tell you." The teen spat at him very upset with how close he was.

"That so?", the elder of the two said before wrenching Artemis up from the floor by her cloak, "Now you listen my dear and you listen well, We don't let outsiders in and then let them leave, ever. That privilege is only for the royal families and sadly your clothes say you are nowhere near that social class. It would take a miracle for you to get out of here alive so I'll tell you now; you had better enjoy your last days in this cell because it'll be the last place you'll sleep."

With that Jose threw her to the floor, her face smacking into stone once more. The brunette let out a loud grunt that blended with the sound of her cell door opening and slamming shut again. She scowled at the man that held the same hue of eyes as her as he returned it before following his guards back down the hall.

"Hurry it up! I despise being in this filthy place and I must prepare for the royal families of Pyre and Sabertooth!" This was the last thing Artemis heard before the dungeon door slammed shut.

'The royal families of Pyre and Sabertooth?' She thought. The next thing she remember before passing out from the pain was the pinkette and the blonde she had danced with at the ball just last night.