The Crowned Captive
The Haunting Past

Morana woke up screaming. Her hands frantically scrubbed at the blood that had coated her. The men still stalked the room around her, coming for her next. When the door burst open, she screamed once more, hands flinging up to protect her from their fists and knives.

“Morana, Morana, it’s okay, it’s okay,” someone murmured, holding her close to their chest. She crumpled into them, pine and earth wrapping around her like a blanket. They held her whilst she sobbed. Around her, people talked and left the room, but the person who held her never did.

It took her a long time sobbing before her senses finally came back to her. Finally, as if her mind was finally freed from the spell fear had woven over her, she took a deep breath, stilling herself. She was not with Mama. She did not have blood covering her. She was with Cordan. Safe. Nobody would hurt her here.

She finally pulled herself from his embrace, wiping the wetness from her face. She looked around the room. Her guards outside were just reaching their posts, two at her windows, and she knew two stood just outside the doors, and the other two along the hallway. She had sent them all scurrying for a stupid dream. Her nightmares were frequent, but never this bad.

“Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” Cordan asked, turning her face up to his.

“I am fine. It was a stupid nightmare,” Morana replied, her voice still raw.

“It can help to talk through it. I am here if you want someone to listen.”

She nearly refused, not wanting to dredge up the memories that haunted her. But this was Cordan. Safe Cordan and friendly Cordan. The one person who had told her she could talk to him about anything and he would listen. She sighed, knowing it best. Rowan already knew by far harsher means. She may as well tell Cordan so he didn’t panic the next time she woke up screaming.

“I dreamt of my Mama. She was a witch who helped the village nearby, but nobody liked that. When I was only young, maybe four or five, men came. She knew they were there before she could even see them, and she hid me away under the floorboards and told me to keep especially quiet. I don’t remember how, but I knew they weren’t good men. So I hid and tried not to cry as I peered through the floorboards. They beat her first, and I did nothing but lay there and watch. They took out knives and daggers and butchered her. They killed her, and the blood dripped down through the floorboards, and I lay there. I still don’t remember how, but I got out after they set the house alight. I was found and taken off to an orphanage the next morning.”

“I am so sorry, Morana. That would have been horrible to witness,” Cordan replied, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close again. The sobs wracked her chest again as he held her and the images flashed through her mind once more.

“I sat there again tonight, behind the bars and frozen as he butchered them all. They heard the fighting up the hall, and they all stood to protect me whilst I cowered there behind a bedsheet. All I could do was watch as he paralysed each of them with that damned blade, and then he tore them apart. They were alive, in pain, as he hacked them apart, telling me all the things his Lord wanted to do with me once he got his hands on me. He made it as painful as possible for them all, and I couldn’t look away. He laughed at that, thought it all the more amusing.”

“I am so sorry I wasn’t there to help Morana, words cannot explain. I don’t think anybody could have anticipated the attack. But your guards are there to die for you. It is their duty, and what many of them would rather die doing. I know I would rather die protecting somebody as amazing as you than from some disease, or gutted in the forest by a pig, or protecting the king even.”

“That isn’t comforting, Cordan,” Morana said, frowning. “I don’t want people dying for me when all I do is sit there and watch. I want to be able to fight, to protect myself, maybe to just save one.”

“You are in luck, then, because that is what we aim to do with our training. If you make sure you do your exercises, we might be able to start with some wooden swords by the end of the week.”

Morana glared at him then, frowning even more when he laughed at her. His amber eyes shone with affection as she looked down at her. That damned smile was infectious, and she turned away as the corners of her lips turned upwards despite her still puffy eyes.

“You know, if you keep pushing your luck, I will ask Rowan to train me again,” she teased. The laughter fell from Cordan’s face.

“Talking about Rowan... Do I need to talk to him about last night? He can be, to put it frankly, a dick when he gets worked up like that.”

“No, no. I, um, didn’t refuse the kiss. And he gave me every chance to turn down that massage. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He ran like a bat out of hell as soon as he saw me coming back. Are you sure he didn’t do anything?”

“He refused to say a damned thing about me being a princess, stalked around the room like he owned the damn place, then ran when I finally worked up the courage to see if he wanted to take it further. He left before I could even say anything,” Morana grumbled, heat rising on her cheeks. Had it been anybody else, she would have simply said nothing happened. She doubted Cordan would try and embarrass her with the information though, and may even help her with the damned mess she had found herself in.

“I am glad, then. He must have had some semblance of sense left. Morana, I know it isn’t exactly my place to say, but be cautious with him. I love him like my own blood, but it doesn’t take a genius to see he has a habit of using women for his own pleasure when they want something more than sex.”

Morana nodded, a sickening feeling setting in her stomach. She didn’t feel like Rowan was using her, but he was a potentially centuries-old faerie, and she was a naive young woman who hadn’t truly had a serious partner in her life. Ever. A naive young woman who hadn’t even known herself a full-blooded elf of the royal line until a few hours before, she realised.

“How long until I am meant to be up for training?” Morana asked, deciding not to continue the conversation line. She couldn’t think about that right now.

“Another hour and a half yet. I have half an hour left of my shift, but I do feel like Rowan is going to be here any second now. He won’t have slept last night.”

“Could you stay with me, Cordan? Just until I fall asleep.”

“Of course I can,” Cordan replied, settling down into the bed and tucking her head into the crook of his arm. Morana let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, savouring his warmth. In his embrace, it was mere moments before she slept again.

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