Chapter 42: Chapter 42

REYNA

I felt the cold bite of iron on my wrists before I was conscious enough to know where I was. I blinked repeatedly at the brightness, trying to make sense of what was going on and where I was.

The smell of antiseptic and bleach told me I was on a bed in the infirmary. My heart pounded as memories flooded my brain.

~Casvan! Where’s Casvan?~ I needed to go to him.

I tried to sit up but found I couldn’t. My hands and feet were tied to the bed with chains.

At least now I had a hospital gown on.

“Don’t exhaust yourself, child, your struggles are futile. Better save your strength for what I have in store for you,” Dr. Elizabeth said coldly.

Mark, Lydia, and four guardians were all inside the room with us. None of them tried to help me or question why I was tied up like this.

“Doctor, I really don’t think it’s wise to do that. Reyna is the heir and blood of Marlene. The people would revolt if any harm came to her.”

I recognized that voice. It was Dr. Benjamin’s, though I couldn’t see him.

It seemed he was part of the group of people who were going to decide my fate.

“I know what I’m doing, Ben. Though the Marlenias founded this queendom, they weren’t alone. There are others who contributed just as much,” Dr. Elizabeth said.

“She’s just a young woman and the people here love her, maybe what she needs is a little time and a guiding han—”

“She’s already tainted. When I show them the truth about this little traitor, they’ll hate her. By then it wouldn’t matter who takes over the queendom. Cassandra has lost her touch and she can no longer lead us. I really would like your support so I ask you, again, are you backing out?” Dr. Elizabeth asked.

“No, I’m not. But it doesn’t mean I have to stay and watch you. I’m leaving. If there’s anything more, I will be in the observation room,” Dr. Benjamin said and strode out.

Well, there went my only way of escape.

“Lydia?”

“You have my support, doctor, as always,” Lydia replied.

“Thank you, Lydia. I promise your loyalty shall be rewarded,” Dr. Elizabeth said, smiling at Lydia.

My brows scrunched at the implications of what was going on.

“What is this? A coup? You’re going to overthrow my mother? Cassandra would never let you.”

“I see you are finally ready for us to begin,” Elizabeth said, without looking at me.

I yanked the chains, making them clang and rattle, but nothing else.

“What is the meaning of this? Have you gone crazy? Where’s my mother? I want my mother. I know she would never allow this,” I yelled angrily, pulling at my hands.

Elizabeth’s back was to me, but when she turned around, there was an evil, almost maniacal glint in her eyes. A bag of light blue liquid, like an IV, was in her hands.

“You know I would never have even thought about doing this if Cassandra hadn’t given me her permission. She knows, dear Rey Rey, and she doesn’t care, she hates you.”

My heart sank lower. My eyes misted with tears, but I refused to let them fall.

I couldn’t let it go. Casvan was somewhere probably dying…no, I couldn’t believe that. He’d pass out due to his injury and blood loss, if I could get my mother to make Amara heal him.

Casvan would be okay again. He’d be safe and I’d do anything to make sure he stayed that way.

“You’re lying, my mother doesn’t hate me. Earlier tonight she told me she was very proud of me.”

“That was before I showed her everything you did. When she saw you with that beast, she realized you’re exactly like the man who abused and raped her.”

“My mother wasn’t raped. And my father didn’t rape her, he’s not a monster, he was killed during the second blue mist outbreak. My mother told me that herself. Let me go now, you can’t keep me here, Elizabeth!”

“Oh, don’t fret. I have no intention of keeping you here. I will let you go, after I show you who the real monster is,” she said with a smug smile.

I struggled in the chains when I saw her approaching with that bag of blue liquid and a giant syringe filled with what looked like tar.

“What are you doing? What the fuck are you going to do to me?” My voice was filled with panic.

“Bringing forth the monster within,” Elizabeth replied, then nodded at the guardians.

“Hold her down,” she ordered harshly.

So many hands pressed me down on the bed. Fear and confusion made me fight more violently, trying to stop whatever Dr. Elizabeth was trying to do.

Dr. Elizabeth lifted the syringe and stabbed me straight in the heart. An agonizing pain instantly lanced through me, searing me from head to toe. Pain I’d never felt in my entire life flooded me.

I could feel something happening deep inside me, at a cellular level. I didn’t know how long that agonizing pain lasted.

Somewhere, deep growls filled my ears. My bones felt like they were breaking. I strained against the chains.

My gums hurt; something sharp protruded from them, cutting into my lips. The tips of my fingers hurt.

“Oh shit! She’s changing, hold it down!” someone screamed.

~Who’s changing? What is going on?~

I screamed and whipped out my hands, breaking one of the chains around my wrist. Something warm and coppery sprayed down on my face.

Hands grabbed at me and something smashed into my head. A second later, another syringe plunged into my neck.

My body jerked. I convulsed, then finally slumped.

“Abominable monster” was the last thing I heard before I drifted into unconsciousness.

When I next opened my eyes, I felt as weak and heavy as a newborn foal, a slave to Elizabeth’s drugs. I could still taste something metallic on my tongue.

My eyes fluttered, sight blurry; it took a while for me to fix my gaze on the old woman’s face.

“Though she didn’t love you, blood still mattered to Cassandra. You were the heir, the future queen of Marl; it was why you were spared from the same fate as the others.

You were supposed to be strong, rule, and when the time comes take a consort, so you can bear the next heir that would carry on the line, but you turn out to be such a huge disappointment!” Dr. Elizabeth said conversationally.

She hung up a bag of blue liquid on the long iron pole before injecting it into me intravenously.

“Your great-grandmother Marlene must be turning in her grave. That her own blood is such a hideous beast must enrage her. But no worries, I will make sure you pay for betraying our queendom. It’s going to be such a great surprise, oh the irony,” she continued with an evil laugh.

I wished I could move so I could strangle her. I wished I could talk back, ask her what she was talking about, ask her where Casvan was, even if what she’d tell me would be bad.

I could only moan. I remembered tasting blood and fighting the guardians while they held me down for the crazy doctor.

I had never known pain like when Dr. Elizabeth stabbed me with that syringe. Whatever it was, it was not good.

I thought I was going to die. I never thought I would survive that agony, but it gradually subsided until it was a dull ache in the back of my mind.

It left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Now that I was no longer screaming and writhing in pain—

I wondered if Casvan could feel that pain as well. I really hoped not.

I would never wish anyone that kind of agony, and maybe that was why both my mother and Dr. Elizabeth considered me to be weak.

The emergency lights suddenly started blinking red, accompanied by loud sirens. The loud, blaring sound was deafening.

The red, flaring light was a sign our perimeters had been breached. Even in my current state, I tried to sit up, tried to get away and find my mother so she could save Casvan.

So I could ask her if everything Dr. Elizabeth said was true. I just couldn’t believe Cassandra would let Dr. Elizabeth torture me this way.

My mother couldn’t have known. And yet, despite my denials, I couldn’t deny that Dr. Elizabeth’s words had gotten to me.

There was so much doubt, so much I didn’t know about myself. But that would have to wait.

Finding Cassandra and saving Casvan—that was what was most important to me right then. But how was I going to do that when every part of my body felt like jelly?