After a few minutes of attempting to break free of your restraints, you sighed and practically hung in defeat. Never in your life had you been in such a situation, having been the golden child of the village and never really acted mean towards anyone. The shackles hurt your wrists and you winced at the thought of them having bruises tomorrow. Your stomach growled, you hadn't eaten dinner last night or breakfast for that matter and you wondered if you were going to get any at all. You kept twisting and moving your arms every few minutes, restless and fearful. Your legs were already starting to ache and who knew how long those sick princes were going to keep you there for.

After it had seemed like an hour had passed you heard footsteps echo back down the stairwell and stop in front of your cell. You had re-assumed your previous position, staring at the floor, your (h/c) hair covering your face.

The creaking of the cell door met your ears, but you refused to look up until you saw a pair of white shoes stop in front of you. You looked up to see worried blue eyes staring back at yours.

"Micah?" You breathed, not sure if it was a hallucination caused by your lack of food.

He held a finger to his lip and held up a small square tablet in his hand.

"What is that?" You whispered, eager to talk to someone who had a shred of human nature.

"A food tablet," he said as he slowly unwrapped it, "The Princes give it to us when we have to work a lot of hours, it holds off your hunger." He waited a few seconds until you opened your mouth and he put it in.

Your taste buds immediately hated the bitter taste and you gagged, wanting to spit it out, but somehow you swallowed it, your face twisted in disgust.

"Sorry I should've warned you about that part." He said sheepishly as looked at you for a second before starting to head back towards the cell door.

"Wait!" You cried, but he shook his head as he reopened the cell door.

"I only knew you were down here because of your screaming," He said with a sigh, "And I knew you had never eaten dinner, so I risked coming down here to give that to you. I can't stay any longer or Florence or the Princes might notice. I'm sorry (Y/n). Just hold out, okay?" He gave you a timid thumbs up before quietly ascending the staircase again.

You let out another soft whimper before looking around the cell once more. It was typical with metal bars and a rough stone floor. In the row across from yours you could see they had a toilet and a bed, but yours had neither. You assumed it was like that because people typically were shackled to the walls in these. Not knowing what else to do, you softly started singing the same tuned you had hummed yesterday. You remembered your mom singing it to you on nights that you struggled with sleep.



A young man walked through the forest

With his quiver and hunting bow

He heard a young girl singing

And followed the sound below

There he found the maiden

Who lives in the willow

He called to her as she listened

From a ring of toadstools red

"Come with me my maiden

Come from thy willow bed"

She looked at him serenely

And only shook her head

See me now, a ray of light in the Moon-dance

See me now, I cannot leave this place...



You slowly stopped singing, as you felt the truth of the words hit you. Would you ever be able to leave the palace? Perhaps the palace was your willow tree and you would be forced to stay here for the rest of your life.

Connor and Aiden stood silently on the stairs, intending to check up on you after two hours, but upon hearing you sing, they stopped. Your song had seemed both solemn and serene and neither wanted to disrupt it, but you trailed off and they wondered if you had somehow figured out their presence.

The sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs made you go back to your hanging form, slightly hoping it was Micah coming back to see you after all despite what he had said. The door squeaked open and you heard two sets of footsteps come in, your heart sinking.

"(Y/n)?" You heard Connor ask softly as he came up to you. You bit the inside of your cheek and kept your gaze to the floor. You felt two fingers lift your chin up so that you were looking at him in the face.

"You were crying..." he trailed off as he wiped something off your cheek.

Were you? You didn't remember it, but suddenly you felt extremely homesick. Only a day had gone by and you already missed Alex, Nadia, and your parents.

Aiden looked at you, a soft expression on his face, "What's wrong? Does it frighten you down here?"

You shook your head violently as you shot him a glare.

"You know my dear," Aiden continued as he stepped next to his brother, "Your glare loses its edge with your eyes that are red from crying."

You looked at the ground again, "Will I be able to leave?" You asked quietly.

"Leave?" Asked Connor, "This cell?"

You shook your head, "The palace. To go back to the village. I miss..." You sniffed and forced your tears back, "I miss my friends and family."

"Dear (Y/n). Its only been a day and-"Aiden started.

You harshly looked at him, "And I never got to say goodbye to my mother and father. Your guards dragged me out of Alex's house and I never got a moment to say goodbye to them. You picked me up and transported me to a place that I never wanted to go. You dressed me up like a doll and sent me on little errands!" You yelled, your figure shaking as you breathed heavily.

Both brothers seemed taken aback by your outburst, but Aiden recovered quickly.

"With all do respect Miss (Y/n)," He snapped as he grabbed your cheeks between his hands, "We get what we want. And we wanted you." He whispered the last word in your ear and you threw a kick in anger. He caught it, leaving you to awkwardly hop to regain your balance before he let you go again.

"(Y/n), you must be hungry. Do you want something to eat?" Connor asked as he picked up a bowl of oatmeal you hadn't noticed before. You shook your head and realized that you really weren't hungry either and sent a silent thank you to Micah.

"Humph, starve then. It makes you lose your strength which is easier for us." Aiden commented, eyeing you to see some sort of reaction. Instead, you had gone back to staring at the floor, ignoring them.

"Alright then. Are you comfortable?" Connor asked as he started walking towards the cell door. You scoffed, of course you weren't comfortable. Your legs were burning, but you refused to let them know that.

Aiden shared a look with his brother before they both exited your cell.

"We'll check on you later." Aiden called as they went back upstairs. You sighed, wondering how you were going to pass the time.

A few hours had passed, and your legs ached with the effort of holding you up continuously. You clenched your teeth and thought about anything else but the pain. Your mind ended up dwelling on Alex and Nadia, reminiscing on your favorite memories with them. Before you knew it, you were crying again. You truly did miss your best friends and so far, the palace had been less than inviting, except for Micah and Florence. Aiden had evaded your question as well, never answering. Your soft sobs echoed around the room as you wondered how you had gotten into such a terrible situation.

More and more time passed, and you barely had the strength to hold yourself up anymore. Aiden and Connor realized you would be probably near your limit at this point and sat on the stairs, waiting for you to start calling for them.

You trembled with the effort of keeping yourself up, knowing you couldn't hold yourself up with your arms. You would end up dislocating your shoulders if you tried that. But after a few moments you could feel your strength quickly draining. Your knees started bending and you inwardly protested.

Stop! You screamed internally; You have to stop (Y/n)! You can't do this. Just hold out for a little more time. They can't keep you here forever. But your confidence in that statement was small. You had to have been down here for around 5 hours now, and it didn't seem like they would let you out anytime soon. Suddenly, your legs gave out and you fell towards the ground, but the shackles stopped you. The sound of the chains clanking echoed around the room and you let out a soft yelp as they pulled on your arms. It felt as if someone was taking a blade and trying to disconnect your arms from the rest of your body. You clenched your teeth, trying to ignore the pain and stand up again, but you couldn't and after a few seconds the pain was too much to bear.

"Aiden!" You screamed, "Connor! Help, please! I-it hurts!'

The twins shared a smile before turning and walking down the stairs, looking at your hanging figure.

"Whats wrong (Y/n)?" Connor asked innocently.

"Help," You gasped, "It hurts...My arms hurt."

"Hurt? Oh yes, I'm sure that's quite a stressful position. Especially on your arms. They could probably just snap after a while." Aiden said in a monotone voice as he stepped inside the cell.

"Make it stop," You pleaded, "Please!"

Connor tusked, "Well, (Y/n), you pulled quite the act earlier. I think you owe us something, that is if you've learned your lesson." He raised an eyebrow.

The pains started to invade your mind and you squeezed your eyes shut, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please make it stop!" You yelled.

Aiden came over and bent down next to you, "Promise you won't pull something like that again (Y/n)."

You barely heard him over your internal yelling and tried to formulate a sentence.

"Oh. Still being rude?" Aiden grabbed a chain and yanked it up, forcing the left side of your body to go up with it. You screamed before shaking your head.

"Okay! Okay! I promise! Please!" You felt the tears streaming down your face at that point.

Connor pulled something out of his pocket and a small click resonated through the cell, your right arm fell limply to your side and soon your left joined and you went crashing down to the floor. Not caring where you were, you curled up into yourself silently cursing your luck, the pain, and what had happened to you.

Slowly you felt yourself being picked up and carried out of the cell and up the stairs. Glancing up, you saw Connors soft expression as he gazed down at you, and you quickly turned away.

Dread filled your stomach as you wondered what they had in store for you next.