Chapter 85

Celia

I can only assume that a week has gone by from the way that the world goes from loud to quiet all around me. I am locked inside of one of the various rooms inside my father's old and run down manor in the woods. The windows have been sealed shut, curtains, hiding the sunlight that should be coming through the window, my legs chained to the table in the middle of the room.

There is no way for me to tear down the blacked out curtains to see and watch as time passes me by, leaving me to find more clever ways to pass the time. I'm trapped inside my father's old office. On the desk sits photographs of him and my mother, hands connected, and their smiles as bright as ever.

The room makes me miss them more than I could ever imagine. I wonder what they would think, knowing that their daughter has ended up in a situation like this one, a situation that has her life on the line, ready to be snapped away at any given moment.

I have been able to stretch my body as far as I can, my fingertips barely grazing the bookshelves that lineup along the walls. I have been able to snatch a few of the stray books on the wall, using them as a way to distract my mind from the slowly unfolding situation that I am trapped inside of.

Inside of some of the books were fairytales from Lycan mythology, whereas others were journals that my father had kept during his early years as the Lycan prince. I have particularly enjoyed reading his words, being able to finally understand why he made the choices that he did, to run away from the Lycan royal life and to find solitude from within the werewolf pack.

From inside the journals sat pictures upon pictures that my father has saved throughout the years. Of course, I am not in any of them, but it is nice to see my dead parents look and be so happy with one another.

I wonder what their life was like in the Lycan pack. I wonder what their dates were like and the moment they knew that they were in love with one another. Thinking about this is the only thing that is keeping me sane throughout this whole process.

As the hours passed by, all I can really do is sit here and fantasize and daydream about my parents in the life that they live before I came into the picture…before I ruined everything. I know that it is not really my fault that they left the Lycan pack. I was not even alive, merely inside my mother's stomach when they decided to make the move.

I do also know that they would not want me to feel any type of guilt for the outcome of their choice. They would not want me to wallow in my sorrow, to drown in the sadness that I have felt ever since they passed away unexpectedly five years ago. They would want me to be happy to live a life that I wanted just as they did.

These love letters and photos that I see only make me want to live more for them, despite not feeling any hope towards the outcome of the situation. I do not know if I will make it out of here today, if ever. I do not know if I will make it out of this place alive or if I will leave just maimed and disfigured beyond belief due to Bianca's cruelty.

She has not laid a hand on me yet. Well, she has pushed me around and slapped me a few times, but it is not enough to start an entire war over. I just hope that Soren can understand.

I look down at the love letters in my lap, wondering where Soren is and how he is doing. I know that this situation is dire, and that he is probably feeling much more anger and irritation than he is feeling rational and levelheaded. How can I blame him, though?

If I were in his shoes, I would feel the exact same way. I would want to burn everything to the ground in order to save him, to bring my fated mate back into my life. I would want him to be free from harms way instead of being subjected to the cruelties of his enemies.

My eyes catch a glimpse of the letters on the page, the handwritten words of love, making my heart swell with a hoop that Soren will find me just as my father found my mother amidst the chaos of Lycan royal life.

I will find you through space and time, my love. There is not a world in which I will abandon you. We will be happy in our own time. I will make sure of it.

Does Soren feel the same? Is my fated mate doing everything that he can to come and find me?

My stomach growls. I haven't eaten in three days, Bianca stating that their rations are running way too thin despite her putting on elaborate banquets and feast every night since I have been here to celebrate my capture and inevitable defeat. My mouth is so dry too. I would give anything just for a single cup of water to get me through these next couple of days.

I do not know when Soren will find me…if he will ever find me.

I know that I should not think of such drastic and depressing outcomes, but what else is there to do? I am chained to my father's office, a symbol of my parents choices now keeping me confined to a place that should be my home despite me not feeling like I belong. I can only sit here and think and wonder and daydream about all of the possibilities all of the chances and risks that people are taking to try and find me.

I do not know how much longer I can go on like this. I know that people are currently in worst situations than me, currently living in active war, zones or rain never having fallen on their barn land, so I should consider myself lucky that I have a roof over my head. It all just feels like the world is testing me, making me undergo tense trials so I can come out victorious.

I share the struggles with people that I do not even know. I share these struggles with people from my past, my ancestors, having been in tough situations like these before, and I hope that my future descendants — if there are to be any, that is — will not have to endure such a fate as I am at this moment.

Soren…if you are out there, if you were there listening, trying to reach me through our wolves, please…please come save me from my misery. Please come find me as fast as you can. I do not know how much longer I can hold onto the hope that one of the werewolf rogues will toss me a bit of scraps.

I am slowly losing hope by the second. The dark room has me going insane. If I am saved, what is there going to be left to me? Will Soren recognize me? Or will he see me as someone who has been changed far beyond recognition?

The thought shakes me to my core.