Despite the unusual prompt I've come to quite enjoy writing this. There are gonna be several parts. :)
This was her big day, the day she'd been waiting for all her life. She was going to get married, she was going to be queen. She'd been unable to contain her excitement for weeks now and she'd been eagerly planning and packing the things she would take with her to the Lockwood-kingdom for days, forbidding her maids to interfere for this was her life, her things, her marriage and none of them would get it just right anyway. So Anna and Rose just stood by, letting out the occasional sigh as she flitted around the room, arranging and rearranging her dresses and memorabilia.
But now, as she saw her mother climb into her carriage, her heart dropped.
Her parents, her maids, her friends – she was going to miss them. She turned around once more to look at her home, as she'd caught herself doing many times before in the past weeks.
But then she gulped down the emotion and a wide smile plastered her face again.
The time for goodbyes was later.
She wasn't exactly excited for the journey but the thrill of anticipation that had been accompanying her for quite some time now was strong as ever. She'd spend the ride dreaming of her new life.
Yes, she'd packed everything she needed. No need to worry.
She climbed into her carriage where Anna and Rose where already waiting for her and leaned towards the window knowing this was the last she was gonna see of home for a very long time.
She woke up at a loud noise. Next thing she knew, the carriage was falling as she felt herself flying on top of Anna, who now unfortunately buffered her fall. People were screaming and shouting and Caroline quickly climbed off Anna who was holding her ankle with a pained expression on her face. Caroline gave her a quick nod and then climbed out of the carriage to see what was going on. Yes, she was excited to be a queen, and she most likely enjoyed being a princess but she was no little girl and most definitely no damsel in distress. She leaned out of the carriage and then jumped to her feet, looking around. Several carriages had been thrown over, people were shouting and her father's men pointed their bows at the sky. She looked up.
Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted what exactly it was they were aiming at.
A dragon.
A big, black and apparently very fast dragon. She gasped.
To be honest she'd always been enthralled by the tales she heard as a child and the stories the wandering people shared. She'd never thought she'd get to see one herself. 'Snap out of it, Caroline! This is not a desirable situation!'
She gasped again when she realized the dragon was looking at her. At her.
Their eyes met and despite herself, all she could do was stare back at him, unable to process the information, let alone come up with something to do.
The arrows just ricocheted from his lizard skin. Obtaining an arrow was not an option.
Then, suddenly, he moved, so fast that she couldn't keep up with it. People were screaming again but Caroline barely heard them.
She felt claws digging on her shoulders, not forceful enough to puncture her skin but they ripped through her dress. She screamed in terror as suddenly she was lifted off the ground.
She blinked and found herself up in the air, the charade of royal carriages she'd just been a part of shrunken down to the size of ants and then she was even higher.
She couldn't escape, there was no way.
She grasped onto the claws, desperate to make sure she wouldn't fall.
Fuck.
Anger overcame her.
"YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"
She wanted to struggle, to flail around more than anything but she also didn't want to die so she held still as the dragon kept flying steadily into one direction. Strangely enough, she wasn't as afraid as she should be. Instead she found herself enjoying the view. It was spectacular, really. Everything was so small. Her breathing was steadying as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground, adrenaline rushing through her veins. She didn't even notice the cold harsh air against her skin, she was so enthralled by this new experience.
They landed on a tower, on top of a mountain. Quickly, she skimmed her surroundings. There was no freaking way for her to get down there without killing herself in the process. Great. Just great.
When he sat her down she was shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself, immediately noticing that her dress was ripped on the shoulders.
The dragon was sitting beside her. She glowered at him and then quickly looked around if there was anything she could use as a weapon. They were on some kind of terrace.
A chair. Good.
She looked back at him and then slowly retreated backwards. He looked at her, and she could almost see interest in his eyes. The, she quickly darted towards the chair, grabbed it and held it in front of her, glowering at him again.
"Look," she said, anger reverberating in her tone. "Just to be clear. If you try to eat me I will stick this chair into your eye." She held onto one of the legs to accentuate her threat.
The dragon looked at her in what she would interpret as disbelief and then a low noise came from his throat that she interpreted at laughter. Good, so he understood language. At least something.
He didn't move though, just kept watching her.
They stood like this for a few moments, then he sat up and started flying off again.
"What?" she screamed, as she moved backwards to shield herself from the waves of air blowing towards her. She almost fell backwards at the impact.
"SERIOUSLY! YOU'RE JUST GONNA FLY OFF LIKE THAT?"
But then he was gone, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
She sat down the chair.
Well, at least she was alive.
She sighed in exasperation and looked around again. There was a door and as she tried to open it she found that there was a room behind it. It was nicely furnished with a bed, a table even a closet and windows, displaying the spectacular view. They even had windows, just like hers back at home, except these were clearer, of a quality so fine she'd never seen anything like it before. She ran her fingers over it in awe. The furniture, too, was beautiful, made of a dark wood unlike anything she knew. The covers on the four-poster bed and so soft under her touch that she couldn't help but gasp again in awe.
Well, at least she was not going to be uncomfortable. And not dead – yet.
She'd found that there were more rooms to the building, all of them locked and the wood was so hard that there was no way to break through. She tried, though, but the chair she used in the process just broke in two. After having gone through all possibilities for her to escape, coming up with absolutely nothing, she sat down on the bed and waiting. He would come back and bring her food if he didn't want her to starve. Whatever the hell he even wanted with her.
There had to be someone else living in this place, there was no way this giant creature could have build this, let alone locked the doors. And the place wasn't even run down, everything was clean and in order, no, there had to be someone else in here.
The thought actually made her more uncomfortable the more she thought about it.
She let herself fall back onto the bed, closing her eyes for a moment. Just this morning she had been about to get married. This was supposed to be her big day, a live changing moment. Instead, she was trapped in a tower, abducted by a freaking dragon.
She didn't know enough about her circumstances to form an opinion about whether she was going to survive this. But she was not going to let this get her down. She needed to be alert and emotionally balanced to face this situation and get out alive.
She decided not to sleep and because the bed was so tempting she sat down on an armchair, waiting for whatever was to come.
Finally, she heard a noise at the door leading into the hallway. Quickly, she got up out of her chair, holding the leg of the one she'd broken earlier out in front of her.
A man entered. He was a little taller than her and much to her surprise, very handsome. He had short dirty blonde hair and his features were almost angelic, a blasting contradiction to the mirth she saw in his eyes and the smirk that plastered his face. He was wearing a tunic shirt, trousers made of leather and boots. The quality of his choice of attire was obviously matching the one of his furniture.
She backed away a little, glowering at him and raising the make shift stake even higher.
"Stay where you are!" she snapped at him, her voice firm and steady.
He chuckled as his he shameless looked her over, his gaze halting at the stake in her hands.
He raised his eyebrows. "I see you decided to vandalize my property. Not a wise choice, love."
She stared him down. "Who are you?" she asked, ignoring his words.
He chuckled again and took a step forward. She didn't back away.
"Do you really estimate this to be the right way to address your captor?"
"So you are the one that had me abducted then?" she asked, carefully eyeing his movements as he proceeded to walk towards her. She should back away but she didn't want to. She was not going to bow down to him that easily.
He smiled. "You could say that," he answered as he halted a few steps in front of her. "Now, aren't you going to beg me to let you go?"
She scoffed. "It takes a lot more to make me beg. Stay away from me!" she shouted, gulping and then finally took a step back.
He cocked his head to the side, the smirk widening on his face. "Well, that certainly sounds tempting, love. But for now…" And then, suddenly, he was in front of her, too fast for her to take up with him, and ripped the piece of wood from her hands. As soon as she could she backed away even farther, her backside hitting the table. Fuck.
He stalked up to her again, now slow but his stance was almost predatory. Suddenly, his expression changed. The smile fell from his face, revealing an ice cold expression that shook her to the bone. "I will only ask once," he said, halting right in front of her, too close. The smirk crept back onto his face, but his eyes were still icy. "Would you please refrain from destroying my furniture?"
She gulped, glaring back at him, unwilling to back down.
"Why did you take me here?" she asked.
He sighed and closed his eyes, the smirk still playing on his lips. He opened them again and took a strand of her hair between his fingers.
"If you insist," he said. "The Loockwoods took something of mine so I decided to take something of theirs."
She scoffed, slapping his hand away. "I am no one's fucking property! And I most definitely don't enjoy being treated as such!"
He raised his eyebrows, amusement in his eyes. "Who said this was about your enjoyment?" Despite the expression on his face, his tone was icy and menacing.
She closed her eyes for a moment.
"What are you planning to do with me?" she asked and then, suddenly, fear overcame her. She evaded her gaze and then looked back to him. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked, her voice smaller now.
Instantly, his eyes softened.
"I don't know," he said. "As of now your are hostage. So we'll see."
Anger flared up in her again, overrunning the fear. She scoffed again. "Well, that's just wonderful."
He chuckled and then suddenly backed away, turning on his heels.
"If you behave you will even get a meal tonight."
Then, he left the room, leaving her behind to deal with her ragged breathing that she hadn't even realized she'd held.
She rolled her eyes, her hands clasping onto the table, slightly shaky. She was glad that he was away from her now.
When night broke, she was really tired and hungry. Restlessly, she paced through the room. At the same time waiting for and dreading his return.
When he did he left the door open behind him, gesturing to her to follow him. She did. She had no choice anyway. She was led into a dining room, just as luxurious as the rest of the rooms.
There was food served on it, exotic things she'd never seen before. The smell was heavenly.
He moved a chair and gestured for her to sit down.
"Sit, love," he said, all charming and friendly now. She tried to find the mirth in his eyes but strangely enough, she didn't. She sat down silently and looked over the table as he sat down in front of her.
Without sparing him another glance she started putting things onto her plate, eager to take one of each. She also noticed a glass of wine sitting by it.
She looked up at him. "How do I know you're not going to poison me?" she asked.
He smirked. "Now, why would I do that? If I recall correctly I already have you at my mercy."
She scoffed and ignored him as she started to eat. She had to hold back a moan of pleasure at the exquisite taste in her mouth. She had never tasted anything like this.
He looked pleased, starting to eat as well but he kept his eyes on her the whole time.
Finally, she her head snapped up. "Seriously, have you never seen anyone eat before?"
He looked caught in the act for the briefest of moments, but then he smirked again and she saw the mirth had returned to his eyes.
"I am just glad you seem to appreciate my hospitality."
She looked down to her food again, taking another bite. "Why would I refuse food after having been locked in that room for the whole day? It's the least you can do."
He looked surprised and then genuinely amused. "Well, I could have locked you in a prison cell, without the comfort of expensive food or the furniture you seem to enjoy destroying."
She scoffed. "What kind of man would do that to a princess?"
He raised his eyebrows. "The kind that doesn't hesitate to 'abduct' her, as you call it."
She shook her head and continued eating, ignoring him until she was done. Only then did she take a small sip of the wine. She didn't plan on getting drunk and drinking on an empty stomach was always a bad idea if one wanted to evade that.
"A man without any notion of honor, it seems."
He took a sip of his drink. "Aren't we a little quick there, love? If I recall so far I have treated you quite decently."
She glared at him. "You abducted me. On the day of my wedding."
He raised his eyebrows. "Yes, you are quite right about that. One could even say I saved you from it."
She scoffed. "Seriously? I've been looking forward to this for my whole life. I didn't need to be saved from it."
He frowned at her, questioningly. "To be honest I wouldn't have taken you to be that stupid."
She stared at him in disbelief. "What?"
"Well," he elaborated, gesturing around suavely with his hand. "If we're talking of honor the Lockwood house isn't exactly the ideal place to search for it. Quite on the contrary, actually."
She scoffed. "Excuse me?"
He fixed his gaze on her, a serious expression on his face. "Or are you really that naïve? Pray tell, love, why are you so eager to marry that scoundrel of a man?" his voice was low.
She glared at him. "Don't you dare speak of him like that."
He chuckled and shook his head.
"And just for the record, I'm not looking forward to this because I want a beautiful wedding. Not all of it a least." She stared back at him, her expression serious. "I want to be queen," she said, her voice firm.
Despite her expectations he didn't laugh at her, instead she saw a glint of admiration in his eyes.
Then, his expression changed again. His gaze turned hard, no hint of a smile or a smirk anywhere.
"The old king, Tyler's father, has made a habit of having captured prisoner's fight each other for their lives. He quite enjoys seeing them bleed to death. He captured two of my brothers." His voice was icy. "One, he had impaled. He sat watching on his throne, eating and drinking the whole time while my brother slowly died an agonizing death. The other, he had burned alive."
She stared at him in shock, unable to move.
"And you know," he said, a menacing smirk returning to his face while his eyes still bore into her. "He has raised his son to be a worthy successor. Recently he had one of the maids stoned to death for allegedly stealing some of his mistress' jewelry."
Her eyes widened even more. "That's right," he continued. "He already has a mistress. Two, if I recall correctly. Now tell me, love, what is it you said about honor?"
She gulped heavily, evading his gaze.
Then she looked back at him, glaring. "I will not believe your lies."
He laughed. "While you have been living in your pretty little princess bubble, apparently you failed to take notice of the nature of the world you're living in."
She stood up, banging the chair behind her to the ground.
"I know very well what kind of world I am living in!" she shouted at him. "I am not stupid. Don't you dare take me for a damsel in distress!"
He looked up at her, his eyes softening. "Oh, but you are, love. Are you aware of the situation you are in?"
She scoffed, placing both hands on the table before her abruptly, producing a loud noise.
"Very much, thank you," she said, her voice low. "But you know, even if what you told me just now is true – I don't see how you are any better than him."
He frowned at her.
"You will abduct an innocent woman to get back at Tyler. I will ask you again: What do you plan to do with me, huh? Burn me alive, have me impaled, feed me to your dragon?"
She straightened up again, staring down at him, her lip curled up in disgust.
"I don't know why I should believe a single word out of your mouth. So far all you've done is steal my freedom and try to intimidate me. And now this," she gestured around, looking at the dinner table. "Why do you keep me in a fancy room and serve me this ridiculously expensive dinner?"
He looked at her for a few more minutes, the expression on his face unreadable. Then he got up, smirking again. "Would you prefer if I locked you in a prison cell, then? Because that's very arrangable."
She scoffed. "Stop dodging my question."
He raised his eyebrows in appreciation, the smirk widening. "The prison cell it is, then," he said, striding towards her. She backed away, quickly grabbing her knife from the table.
He chuckled and kept approaching her. "You should know better than that by now."
"Well," she snapped. "I can always try."
He came to halt in front of her, quickly snapping the knife out of her hand, too fast for her to follow. She frowned at him. "How do you do that?"
He raised his eyebrows mockingly and then grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the room. She tried to pry his fingers off her, tried to stop him by leaning in the other direction but to no avail.
"LET GO OF ME!" she screamed but he just chuckled.
She grasped onto the doorframe, but he just pulled her along like her weight was nothing, like she didn't possess any strength at all. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD, GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME NOW! I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL-"
Suddenly he halted, pulling her close. He stared down at her, his expression unreadable again.
"What is it you will do, go ahead and tell me love, I'm very much interested."
She bit down on the inside of her mouth, glowering at him, trying to tip her arm out of his grasp. He was holding on tight but not tight enough to actually hurt her.
"You need to give me a new dress," she sneered. "Your dragon ripped this one."
His eyes traveled downwards and his lips formed a smirk again.
"Maybe when I let you out of the cell again," he said and then continued dragging her along.
"NO!" she yelled. "NO! You will not lock me in a stupid cell!"
He chuckled, opening the lock of a door with his free hand. "Watch me."
She gulped, seeing the inside of the room as the door opened. It was really a cell, made of stone, with nothing in it, only a small barred glassless window in the corner.
He turned to look at her again, raising his eyebrows in expectation for her reaction.
She glared at him and he sighed, gently pushing her into the room.
"No!" she yelled once again, now slightly panicked. She locked her eyes with his, pleading now. "Please."
His eyes softened, a gently smile spreading on his face. "Now, that wasn't that hard, was it."
He let go of her arm and took a step back, allowing her to leave the room again.
Swiftly, she strode towards her bedroom, anger rising up in her again. In front of the room she turned again, glowering at him. "You're a disgusting, awful man. No wonder you live alone in an inaccessible tower."
She almost expected him to lash out at her, instead he just looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face again.
She gave him one last pointy look and then returned to her room, closing the door behind her.
Much to her relief she heard him walking away inside. She sighed heavily and went to the bed, burying herself in the covers. It was soft and huge and so wonderful, she'd never slept in a bed more luxurious than this.
She allowed herself to enjoy the comfort and drifted off to sleep. Keeping herself awake wouldn't make no sense anyway if she was going to stay.
And apparently, she had no choice.