Princess of Nothing — Chapter 12
A fantasy tale of magic, struggle and survival — Draft 1
Looking for a different chapter? Click here.
Chapter 12
Gwyn and I have been talking for hours — talking — the way normal people talk. The way, I believe, friends talk.
Healing her has changed something between us. She’s less guarded. So far, most of the conversation has been focused on me. Gwyn asks question after question about my life here. I don’t mind her curiosity — it’s enough that someone wants to communicate.
“How long have you been trapped in this place?” Gwyn asks over the shouts and applause echoing through the corridor, courtesy of tonight’s event in the pit.
Funny, no one’s ever asked me that before — no one cared enough to. Sitting against the cold stone wall, my hands on my knees, I frown at the ground, where over two hundred tiny scratch marks can still be seen, made from repeatedly scraping the side of my chain into the stone. “I know it’s close to a year. I used to have a better idea in the beginning. I kept track of when I slept. Then later, I would count the cage matches. On average, I’d find myself fighting twice a week…but then…” I trail off.
I hear the scrape of her chain across the stone as Gwyn approaches the small window. I feel her gaze on me. “But then what?”
My eyes meet hers — two golden orbs, glimmering in the dim — and I shrug. “After a while, it only made me feel worse. I used to think I would find a way out…but for every day I didn’t make any progress…” I shake my head to clear it. “In time I learned it’s not as simple as that. No one escapes here unless you’re sold, traded, or dead.”
She frowns. “So then you’ve truly given up?”
My muscles tighten, and warmth fills my cheeks as I push myself to my feet. “Survive here for a year and then tell me how you feel about it.” I don’t tell her that it takes everything I have to keep sane — to keep myself from wondering if perhaps death would be better. I do not tell her I tried to escape again — recently. I think of the agonizing pain, Rec’s sick smile as the enchanted bracelets lit up my nerve endings — how I projectile vomited blood.
I don’t like to think about that evening. When I think about that evening, I think about that crown. I think about the vampire whose ring I still wear and how he died because of me. I think about my father who thinks I’m dead.
I’ve failed in so many ways.
I wonder what the mimic would think of our conversation — if he feels the same way I do about this place, or if he, too, would judge me for losing hope. Does he have hope? My eyes flicker to the empty cell across from mine — but he isn’t there. He’s currently fighting for his life against a pack of hellias-hounds.
Rec’s a sodding bastard.
“Missing him?” Gwyn asks gently when she sees me staring.
I wrap my arms around myself. “It’s just — I want him to survive.”
“Don’t play coy, Faeling — it’s clear you’ve got a soft spot for the mimic.” I jump at the sound of Rec’s cold voice. It’s both lilting and calculated. Amused, yet — there’s something vicious to it. Maybe it’s because I know what he’s capable of.
With all the noise echoing down the corridor and my thoughts on my failed escapes and then the mimic, I didn’t notice the door scrape open, nor the creatures in the neighboring cells growing quiet.
“But I’m sure it has to do with those pretty exteriors he favors. I don’t suppose he’s shown you his real form?” Rec waits for my confirmation. “…No?”
The truth is, I have no idea what he looks like. I don’t believe many have seen a mimic as they truly are. I’ve always gotten the impression it’s something guarded. Secret.
“Sounds like jealousy,” Gwyn mutters. Shock ignites my system. I want to hiss at her to stay quiet — to not draw attention to herself. But of course, Rec hasn’t forgotten about her. He simply says, voice contemplative, “Why would I be jealous? I own them both.”
I glare at Rec through the bars as he stops before my cell, dressed in a suit — its finely textured red fabric is so dark it’s nearly black, yet still manages to remind me of blood.
His acid-green eyes find mine — hold them — as he says, “Mimics are monsters, you realize? They are things of nightmares, featured in children’s tales to keep them in line, so don’t be fooled — he has much more in common with the rest of your cellmates than he does with you.” His gaze slides to Gwyn, his serpent’s eyes lingering too long. “Aside from our newest addition.” Gwyn meets his gaze coolly, but her rigid posture betrays her.
Rec takes a step toward her cell. Then another. Another.
I don’t like the set of his jaw, the prominence of his veins.
“Whatever his appearance, he’ll never be as monstrous as you,” I say flatly. Dangerous words — but necessary ones — to get his attention off of her.
Are you brave or masochistic, half-breed? The thing in the cell beside me idly wonders.
Gwyn pales, and I know she heard it too — but Rec doesn’t react to the disturbing voice at all. He — he didn’t hear it. Perhaps he wears some artifact that protects him. I know he uses several. The different rings decorating his fingers do various things — one opens a portal — but what about the rest?
Rec raises his dark brows, his lips twisting into something resembling a smile yet lacking amusement — a perverted turn of the mouth, he wears to frighten — as he looks at me in a way that has me regretting my choice of words.
Rec’s presence this evening is a mystery. The mimic is currently in the fighting pit, so he didn’t come to retrieve one of us for a match… Hellias, it’s too late to be cautious now —
“Why are you here?” I ask.
“Feigning ignorance, my sweet?” Rec says. “It doesn’t become you.” He raises his arm, scanning his scarlet tattoo. “You’re a smart girl…”
A dreadful chill creeps down my spine. My door unlocks. My breathing accelerates as he nears, but Gwyn is watching closely, and I don’t want her to see me cowering before him if I can help it.
Rec comes so close, that I wonder if he might try to kiss me. The scent of his pheromones — vetiver, black pepper, and something else — floods my senses when he leans into my ear and whispers, “Has this one’s presence emboldened you, Faeling?” He looks me in the eye, his smile falling away, nostrils flaring, just as I realize the third scent is vampire blood — whose blood? “Now what am I to do about that?”
I used to think I was safe from most of Rec’s abuse. Aside from the occasional backhand or him grabbing a fistful of hair — for whatever reason, I was off-limits to the worst of it. But after the last time, when he came into my cell and held me by my throat…
Rec’s tongue flickers out. “I’ve missed that.” He doesn’t have to explain what that is — the scent of my fear.
He steps away, heading toward the window, and looks at Gwyn. “Congratulations on winning your very first match. It’s impressive that a pureblood fae fresh out of The Seelie Court would know exactly how to kill a carnavorce bull…”
A bull!? Gwyn never specified that! The males of the species are so much larger and deadlier than the females — but they’re rare. Then again, if she’s never faced one before there’s no way she could have known the difference —
I let out a gasp of surprise when in seconds Rec’s standing before me once more, moving with a shocking speed that matches that of a vampire’s. He raises his hand, calloused fingers stroking my cheek, and I feel like simultaneously vomiting and slapping him for it. “Then I thought, now, how would she acquire such information?” His voice is filled with mock ignorance.
His eyes narrow. “I bet a great deal on her losing, Faeling.”
“Her recruiter wouldn’t pair her with something that would kill her on her first match — ”
Rec barks a laugh, the sound startling me. “Her recruiter is overconfident in her abilities. This…” he trails off, the last letter sounding more like a hiss. “…was your doing.”
I don’t even have time to react before he punches me in the stomach. I double over — and crash against the stone. He’s so much stronger than I thought. The poor mimic —
“Nyxalia!” Gwyn shouts.
Rec grabs my hair and hauls me up, his pupils blown wide from inflicting pain. His breath intermingles with mine. “Nyxalia?” He echoes through clenched teeth, my name sounding awful on his lips. I never want to hear him say it, again. “Do you think a name means you matter?”
I know better than that.
“She does matter, asshole!” Gwyn shouts, and my lips part in surprise. Rec’s smile is pure evil as he releases me.
He leaves my cell and goes straight for Gwyn’s.
Her wings flare as she takes on a fighting stance, but doesn’t she understand she’s chained? That she is weak from lead and he’s triply strong!? “I think I’ll do Magnus a favor and break you for him,” Rec says with that mockery of a smile.
Gwyn pales when she sees his viper’s fangs. “What are you?” She breathes.
“I’m shocked Nxyalia didn’t tell you. Glad to know she left at least some mystery.”
Rec grapples her — shoves her down with a knee on her back and barks, “Look at me, Faeling!” My eyes snap from Gwyn to him, his now black stare meeting mine through the bars as one hand grips the base of her wing, his fingers flexing into the sparkling membrane.
He’s preparing to tear it clean off — he’ll do it, too — without a second thought. “What use are wings on a caged sparrow?” he muses.
Gwyn tries to fight him off, but he only tightens his grip.
She stills, shrieking in pain.
Rec ignores the sound. “Of course, they will return — but tell me, Faeling, how mouthy will she be when I continue to take them from her, week after week? I can sell each regrown pair to the highest bidder…”
“Magnus will be furious…” I whisper, hedging a guess.
“Why?” He chuckles. “I’ll give him a cut of the profit.”
“She’s not one of yours…” I say.
“Magnus is not lord here!” he snarls, though I swear I see the tiniest glimmer of reluctance enter his stare.
I reach through the bars of the small window, the lead sapping my energy, sending a throbbing wave of pain through my bones. “Please, leave her — her only crime is wanting to live.”
“I do love it when you beg,” he says, forked tongue flicking. He eyes her wings again, the way an appraiser might look at a gemstone, and asks, “Where do you think they’ll end up? On a mantle? As a tablecloth? An art piece, perhaps? Or simply in the belly of a fiend?” A dry chuckle. “They’ll eat anything…”
“I’m sorry I helped her win the match, okay!!!”
The smile falls from his face as he lets me see behind his mask — all that glittering rage. “Be glad you don’t have wings, Faeling, I’d have done the same with yours long ago.”
Rec knows I suffer more when he hurts others in my place. This isn’t about Gwyn’s taunt — that was but a catalyst. An ember cast on a fuel leak. It’s not the real reason Rec’s in her cell. Rec pulls the wing back harder. Gwyn howls, the sound splintering my eardrums and tightening my chest.
“I’ll ensure you get double the dollari for what you lost!” I say, my words tumble out, loud and quick. “Triple even!” My brain works frantically to catch up with my mouth.
Rec angles his head, his hold is unyielding. “And how would you ensure that?”
“By winning my next match.”
To my shock, Rec releases Gwyn’s wings. She remains where she is, panting, her face pressed into the stone.
When he enters my cell once more, Gwyn scrambles to her feet to look through the window. “People bet on how long you will last, Faeling. No one expects you to win.” But he’s standing before me — I’ve gained his ear.
“Exactly — imagine the money you will make when you bet on me succeeding, and for once, I actually do.”
Rec’s eyes narrow in skepticism. “I cannot throw your match. There are systems in place to prevent it — ”
“I’m not asking you to throw it — ”
“Then you will die, and I will be out millions, plus suffer the loss of my most popular attraction.” His gaze runs down the length of me, his various hungers competing. Which one will win? Lust or violence? Was there ever a clear line to begin with?
“You choose what I fight — so pick something that’s my equal for once! The power is in the advertising. I’m sure you can make it sound grandiose — think about it: A rare event! Something special! People will come to see the half-breed finally meet her match and die — but you’re smarter than that — you’ll win, making your lost dollari back and then some.”
Rec nears, his lips twitching into a smirk. “I knew you were a smart little thing…” Closer and closer he gets, until I relent, one step. Another. My back hits the stone as his lips frightfully close to mine.
He kneels slowly — too close, too close, too close — and grabs the second mannacle. “Then I’ll decrease your lead intake dramatically.” I know the routine with the extra mannacle, but usually, a guard does it — and usually, it’s proficient and doesn’t make my skin crawl like it’s some perverted proposal.
I slip my unshackled ankle inside and he tightens it. “Three days,” he informs as the lock clicks shut. Rec stands to his full height, looming over me. “Three days to contemplate if you just made the biggest mistake of your life.” The vein controlling his venom flutters in his neck, calling my attention to it in a way that I believe is intentional. He puts a knuckle under my chin and tilts my gaze to meet his. “And if this little experiment goes awry and you lose, Faeling, you’ll wish I allowed your opponent to kill you.”
Gwyn stares after Rec, only speaking when he’s completely out of earshot. “You are right. Your Recruiter is far worse than mine.” She says it so casually, I nearly laugh.
I approach the window but stop short. The second mannacle limits how far I can go. “How are your wings?”
She flutters them. “Sore. Not nearly as bad as the other night though — thanks to you. But you shouldn’t have done that, you know.”
I think she’s underplaying the amount of pain she’s in. “Yeah, well, you stuck up for me, too. If we don’t watch each other's backs, who will?”
Gwyn stares at me, her expression unreadable. “Do you think you will win this time?”
My eyes dart away. “I have to.”
Thank you so much for taking some of your valuable time to read this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. If you like it, please consider sharing it with a friend, or becoming a subscriber.💌
❤ Please visit our Project Rollplay publication and website where you can read more about mental health and TTRPGs.❤
