"I liberated the city for you!" Nadri blubbered to the man lounging in the stone chair in front of her. She knelt across the broad, marble steps in an elegant, purple dress tight around her curved frame. A golden dragon's tail necklace with a crystal laid within it, pulsed furiously, as it laid in Nathaniel's hand. "I helped you. I protected you. I killed the King for you." Nadri's throat felt as if it was going to close up, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. His thumb brushed over the amethyst that beamed in the necklace, closing his hand and gripping it hard in his palm. "You don't know the forces you are messing with here, regardless of tahloniik."
"You did your job well, Nadri." The man congratulated her with a cruel undertone. He enjoyed the previous occupier's throne comfortably, his cape draped down the arm of the throne as the crown sat crooked on his head, made of dragon's teeth and a row of obsidian gemstones. "You were good and you could be so much more." He raised up proudly, puffing his chest as he pulled the sword from its sheath, the swords metal gleamed as the lit fire reflected from it. "I will do what it takes to have power, my dear and that means controlling you."
"You cannot take my heart." Nadri refused heatedly and the new-coming King raised the sword above her head, threatening her if she continued to go further. "You can't kill me, don't you understand? You traded my power to place my soul in a human body, no longer a Dovah. All magic comes with a price, Nathaniel."
"You will address me as your King!" He screamed furiously, Nathaniel took steps down to her, dragging the sword along beside him and lifted it to her face, the point digging into her cheek. "I am your King, Nadri. You got us here, you should be proud of yourself!" He laughed mechanically.
"That was the plan wasn't it?" Nadri whispered, feeling overwhelmed with betrayal. "You turned me into this being because you didn't want me to do what I did to our King. You didn't want face my power." Nathaniel laughed darkly, scoffing.
"You served your purpose." The pointed blade dug further. "Now I have made you into nothing." He flashed his teeth, proud, relishing in her weakness.
"You fooled me." Nadri corrected, the blood trickling down her cheeky slowly and dripping into the fabrics of her dress.
"It was easy." He bellowed and dug the sword into her face harder. "You were so desperate to be loved, to be wanted as a beast. Now, you're not even wanted as a woman."
"The elves will find you." Nathaniel snorted. "You may laugh but if you kill me, you will regret it." Nadri bravely breathed out only for Nathaniel to bring the sword back away from her cheek and rest it against her slender neck, teasing the skin with the blade.
"Shall we find out?" Nathaniel raised his eyebrow, sly betrayal in his eyes as he clutched the gemstone close to his chest.
"Are you sure you want to try?"
Hades lounged in his throne, his feet parked up on a stool and relaxing whilst sipping on the crystal glass of wine that had been freshly poured and admiring the woman that sat kneeled on the rug next to the fireplace in front of him. He smirked to himself, twirling the wine around in the glass. He cocked his head at Nadri as she stared up at him with waiting eyes, wondering what was going on inside of her beautiful head.
"I think I prefer you better like this." Hades finally spoke after a few moments, Nadri feeling the thickening tension break between them. "Obedient."
"You only have yourself to thank, Hades." Nadri coldly replied, her face still heavily bruised as well as the rest of her body. The dress she had been wearing before had been cleaned, Hades determined for Nadri to look her best in his presence. "I knew nothing of the raaviir escaping."
"You see-" Hades stood up suddenly, making Nadri jump at his sudden movement. He lurked around her, drinking from his glass and his dark eyes looking over the young woman on the ground. "I don't believe that. My guards have him kept him…comfortable for now. How escapee just wonder past your cell, unheard, but Cerberus found him easily?" Hades continued to circle her, like a lion hunting down and ready to attack its prey. He reached to her hair, her scalp already red and sore from being dragged across the throne room previously, only this time gently stroking her head. "Do I have to control you in order to get the truth? All I have to say are those little words Nadri and you will be spilling every secret."
"I am telling the truth." Nadri gritted her teeth, knowing full well Hades could just command her through the spells laid within her bracelets but chose to ask her humanely first.
"Do I need to be more extreme with you?" Hades knitted his eyebrows together, his hand travelling down to the back of her neck and gripping it gently, Nadri leaning back with the feeling of being subdued. "Do I need to fuck that-"
The throne room doors swung open heavily, the handles hitting the stone bricks of the walls. Two Underworld guards, their pointed helm had a face guard shaped in the face of a raven and the breastplate was made from diagonal layers of leather with rounded edges and decoration pieces, came storming in the throne room with a barely conscious man between their arms.
"Have you people ever heard of knocking?!" He raised his voice to those who entered, turning around to the doors. Nadri let out a sigh of relief when she felt Hades pull his hand away from her neck, leaving her to storm towards his guards who had brought in a man that had been beaten a far lot worse than how he had first arrived in the Underworld, he could barely walk without limping and his face had been looked like he had been beaten up previously and then scratched and bitten at by a larger animal.
"I'm sorry my Lord, the pirate was getting restless."
"Was he now?" Hades spat sarcastically. "He is a prisoner not a pet. Leave." He ordered, the guards threw the man onto the floor, clutching his side as he felt the ribs crunching together. Killian landed next to Nadri, her eyes widening in horror after she had seen what they had done to him further since she last set her eyes on him. Ferocious cramps completely crippled him and they didn't seem to stop as he rolled around. His eye was swollen shut further with his eyebrow slit open and now weeping blood. He could barely breathe. "Oh, this is going to be quite an exciting day."
"What have you done to him?" Nadri ghostly whispered, the man struggling next to her. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, concerned for the life of his soul. Killian's one bearable eye blinked at her weakly, looking up at the woman who was leaning over to access his injuries. Killian stared at the woman in front of him, wrapped up in the deep purple scaled dress that almost made her seem that she had walked out of the darkness itself. He could see the gleam across her pale skin, most of her body exposed by the dress. Her hair draped below her shoulders, perfectly curled. Her face was pale, smooth apart from the scar that dragged along down her neck and across her throat with the accompanying bruises she had suffered earlier.
He couldn't break the stare with her, it almost felt like she was an angel guiding him to the light. He didn't realise the bruises at first, she still radiated underneath.
"I thought you didn't know who he was, Nadri." Hades held the evil glint of a smile that she had become so accustomed to. "We will continue your punishment later. Get up." He grabbed her by the arm roughly and hoisted her up from the floor, leaving Killian struggling as Hades pulled her away from him.
"Hades." Killian barely spoke, a pained whisper.
"Yes, it is me." Hades flashed a toothy smile, the older man running a hand through his hair to slip it back. "I understand you've met Nadri already." Killian furrowed his eyebrows, trying to bring himself up from the ground as Hades presented him with Nadri. "She's gorgeous isn't she? A lot less…intimidating in this form." Hades stood behind Nadri, his hands resting on her shoulders as she felt the cold energy shiver down her back.
"I've never seen this woman in my life." Killian denied with a raised voice, still disorientated and angry from being beaten further by the guards. He gazed at Nadri as she so desperately wanted to shake her head to get him to understand that he should not be talking at all.
She told him to go back to his cell, why didn't he just leave? Why did he have to try and be a hero and escape?
"Liar, liar, pants on fire." Hades lowly whispered in Nadri's ear, sending shivers further down her spine and feeling Hades stroke her shoulder perversely. Killian stared at the bracelets on her wrists underneath the scaled sleeves of her dress, golden, inscribed bracelets, replacing the ones she had previously. Nadri had a solid gold cuff around her neck with a space in the middle for a gemstone that had been removed carefully from the metal. There was something about her, her bright violet-like eyes stirred something of curiosity inside of him.
"You see though – Nadri here - was cursed with the life of a feeble little woman so she looks a little less intimidating like this." Killian felt the pit of hatred for Hades burn even further as he continued to look at Nadri, who only returned the stare with a broken smile. "You met her in the dungeon if you remember." Killian gawped like a fish when he thought back to him trying to find his way out of the Underworld's prison, coming by the door by chance and encountering a mythical beast that he had only seen less than a handful of times. She was chained up, constricted, controlled. She wasn't an apart of this, Nadri was a prisoner.
She was trying to warn him the whole time they were in that room together, whether he truly knew it or not.
Hades had been torturing an innocent woman, keeping her chained up to intimidate those who had entered this realm. He moved around to her so he could face her, enjoy seeing her wince from the searing pain in her face as he touched her, stroking the bruises on her cheek as Nadri winced when his thumb traced the open wound across her face that had been caused with the end of his cane.
"She looks beautiful when she's hurt, doesn't she?"
Nadri whacked his hand away out of her personal space only to receive a returning backhander. The blow echoed through the room, Killian kneeling there despairingly as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He was powerless, unable to come to her aid and defend her. Killian could only sit and watch, clutching side with a shuddering breath, broken bones digging apart his insides.
"Will you admit it now?" Hades seethed at her, gripping her chin to force her to look at him. His eyes traced over her, Nadri feeling her skin crawl.
"I told him to run."
Hades threw Nadri to the ground in retaliation, yelping as she fell to the floor and landing on her front. Waves of throbbing, nauseating pain pulsed within her abdomen and she felt like her breakfast would return to her in an instant. The pain flared with increased intensity.
"Leave the woman alone!" He retaliated, Nadri heavily breathing next to him as Hades picked his cane up that was leaning against the throne. "What have you done to her?" Killian rebuked as he saw Nadri's intense bruising across her arms and chest, peering underneath the thin material that covered her modesty. Her eyes were full of tears from the horrors that she had been through. Killian wanted to reach out and throttle Hades, desperate to choke the life from him.
"Those who run get punished, such as you." He pointed at Killian. He had no need to feel anything towards the soul he had enslaved for centuries. "So please, don't think about trying to leave again. Either of you. Now, keep our guest entertained, would you?" Hades winked at the woman in his presence before lowering his voice. "I will deal with you later." He moved away, heading towards the tall, solid doors that entered out into the hallway, leaving them alone.
A tear fell from Nadri's eye when the door was slammed closed against the frame, letting out a choked sob that she didn't realise that was lurking in her throat. Still crippled with pain, she cried into the tiles where she previously laid beaten, her body shaking as the torment settled in. Killian watched from his side of the room, gathering the strength to bring himself up from the floor carefully crawl to the woman who once held the magic of a powerful beast. They were stuck in a room with guards around every corner and both had fought the mental battle of flight or fight.
They had both been at the brutal end of Hades punishments today.
"N-Nadri was it?" Killian stumbled nervously, shuffling around to Nadri. He cautiously brought himself back down to the floor, groaning and grunting as he sat beside her. Nadri took a shuddery breath, looking up at the man who was brave enough to come to her aid through the rolls of hair that had flopped over her face. "It's okay, love." She was hesitant, it had been so long since another soul had spoken to her with such soft words. Nadri swallowed hard, letting a tear slip as Killian continued to show his fear of her.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He soothed, reaching out to her but she still sat weary. She skeptically looked at him, unsure whether to accept his concern. His hair was ruffled, stubble growing long around his jaw and dimples that peeked underneath as he smiled sweetly towards Nadri, trying to reassure her. Nadri felt the ache in the pit of her stomach of sympathy when she saw the swelling around his face from the beating.
"I told you to run, Ruveyzun."