an: Thanks for the reviews so far, guys! It really means a lot! Anywho, here's the next chappie! Enjoy!
It isn't long into my captivity that I finally lose it.
We are all sitting around the table once again, eating in a silence I've grown accustomed to since my captivity. Cassius has been trying to engage us in conversation, yet no one speaks but Daphne, who clings to every word the Prince has to give. I take it all with good grace, moving my food around my plate and staring at the wood grains of the table.
"Oh, Cassius," Daphne giggles, "you're so funny!"
Cassius merely smiles before turning to look at the rest of us. "Anything you ladies would like to add to the conversation?" he asks politely.
Gabrielle and Kinsley shake their heads in unison, not looking up from their plates; I simply continue to move my food around my plate, waiting until we're dismissed and I can retreat back to my room.
"Something wrong with the food, Sophia?" he asks me, motioning toward my untouched food.
"Not really hungry," I say.
"You've hardly eaten since you got here." Is that concern I hear in his voice?
I look up to meet his gaze and feel my heart falter for a moment. He truly is handsome. "I'm fine," I say.
He still looks at me with a furrowed brow, but drops the subject, seeming happy enough that I at least spoke to him. "So where are you originally from?" he asks me, a look in his eye that makes me almost believe that he is genuinely curious.
"A small town in Kansas," I merely say.
Daphne snorts. "Figures," she mutters.
"Where were you from?" I automatically ask her.
She sits up proudly. "Las Angeles. I was very popular where I came from."
"You must miss it terribly," I say a bit too sarcastically.
"It's funny," she retorts, "how happy I am here with probably hundreds of people back home mourning my disappearance while you're here acting like the world is about to end because you left your small hick village behind you.
I am out of my chair a second later. "Those hicks back home are worth one hundred of you," I say.
"Oh, don't get your trailer trash in a twist" She waves a hand airily. "You're making a scene."
My hands ball into fists as I sit myself back down.
She looks at Cassius sitting next to her, who is studying me as she whispers in his ear. "How like a small town girl."
Oh, I'll show her small town girl.
Within the next few minutes I have thrown my chair back, tossed my plate into a wall, and stormed out of the House without looking back.
I run until I am in the midst of trees in the forest. I fall to the ground and stare up at the sky through lowered lashes. I don't know how much longer I will be able to take being in this world. I feel like crying, but my eyes remain dry.
Cassius drops down next to me on the ground and crosses his arms over his legs.
I huff out an exasperated breath. "You always think that crowding me will help. It doesn't."
"I, unlike you, am looking out for your life. I think you'll thank me later."
I rip out a clump of grass, frustrated. "I don't see how you teasing me will help ease my death sentence any."
"If I'm with you while you're past the Gate, than you're technically still following the rules," Cassius says in a matter-of-fact tone. His eyes are wide and sincere when he speaks, none of the cold calculations he usually wears when around others.
The air smells of pine and soil, it lifts my hair when it blows past my face and throws it gently over my shoulders. I close my eyes and think that I am home.
But Cassius, as he always does, brings me back. Lightly touching my shoulder, he says, "It isn't that bad here, Blondie."
I let my breath out. "I don't think I can take another one of Daphne's ridiculous attempts to get under my skin and under your clothes." Like I'd care.
He laughs, carefree. "Jealous?"
"If only," I simply retort.
"No matter how green you get, you don't have to throw plates like a crazy person," there is a hint of his devilish smile when he says this.
"This place is making me crazy," I say. "I want to go home."
There is no denying the longing in my voice. It is a pain so real and raw that Cassius is silent for a few moments.
Then, "I wish," he breathes, "I could take you there."
I swivel my head and look at him.
"So at least you'd shut up about it," he finishes in his same quiet voice. He looks at me sideways and rolls his eyes. "Seriously, Blondie, get used to it here. You're not going anywhere for awhile."
Without another word, I propel myself up from the ground and move farther into the trees.
Cassius follows me without hesitation. "Daphne may be annoying, but at least she's accepted her fate," he says.
I stop and turn to look him in the eye. "She may have accepted her fate, but that's what makes her weak. You can't get me to give up that easily, Cassius."
If I expected an argument, I don't get one. Instead, I get a contemplative nod. "Suit yourself," he says. "You can play hard to get, Sophia, but it won't get you home any faster."
But before I can give my sassiest retort, I am brought to the ground by an unknown force. I realize almost immediately that it is a person. Did someone jump on me from out of the trees? I shove with all of my weight and sit up to see the man that had landed on me.
A violent scream rips its way out of my throat and I scoot away from the body as fast as I can.
Cassius is already kneeling before the dead man, inspecting it. He purses his lips as he checks the man over. "Definitely one of Peter's," he says quietly.
Something else falls from the tree to land in a heap next to me and I scream once more.
"Quiet," Cassius hisses, "you'll wake the dead with those screams." I am rewarded with his wicked smile.
I turn to see that what landed next to me is a length of rope. I unwillingly look to the body to see that there is a noose around his twisted neck.
Cassius flips the body over so that it is on its back. He sucks in a sharp breath when he sees what is spray painted onto the mans chest.
Gathering up my courage, I shakily stand and join Cassius' side. Written in red paint across the front of the man's uniform are symbols that I can't decipher.
"It's the language of the Pirates," Cassius explains to me. "I think the closest thing I can compare it to for your world is Ancient Greek. Or Russian."
Broad comparisons. "What does it say," I whisper.
"It's their motto: provotsirovatʹ. unichtozhitʹ. Meaning 'Provoke, destroy'."
"Cheery," I say.
His smile is faint. "That's one way to describe them."
A twig snaps somewhere off behind us. We both spin and look, but I see no one.
"They're still here," Cassius says quietly.
I hear a low whistling sound, and then a bullet hits the bark of the tree next to us.
"Go," Cassius commands, shoving me farther into the trees.
"What's going on?" I ask as I stumble forward.
Cassius grabs my hand roughly and pulls me after him. "If I stop to explain we'll both be dead."
I don't like where this is going.
an: There you guys go! I hope you enjoyed! Review and tell me what you guys think! Peace!