The Dragon Brothers
Chapter 47 - Queen Maeve’s Dungeon

*Kingdom of Cait * Cyprian POV

I pull Molly out from under the bed and she has a huge gash in the middle of her forehead. There's so much blood that I can't tell how big or deep the gash is so I gather her in my arms and take her straight to the army camp doctor, Doctor Finnian. I trust him more than I do King Rufus' castle doctor. I've given Doctor Finnian an apartment in the castle with an office, supply room, rooms that will accommodate several army men, and a special room for Molly or myself. "Doctor Finnian, Molly has a bad gash on her forehead. Can you look at it to see if she needs stitches?" I ask walking into his office and then down the hall into the king's royal room.

I lay Molly down in the large bed and step away to give Doctor Finnian room. "Cyprian don't leave me! Please don't leave me!" It was the first words Molly had spoken to me since I came into the room looking for her.

I instantly move back to her and lie down next to her on the large bed. "Kitten, I'm right here. I'll never leave you. I was just giving Doctor Finnian room to examine you."

The doctor starts cleaning her wound and Molly winces at the pain. I know this is going to be painful so I take her hand in mine and with the other hand I slowly stroke the hair on top of her head. She stays pretty calm throughout the procedure as long as I stay close to her and keep touching her while telling her "it's going to be okay" and "not much longer now." She's finally all stitched up and ready to take back to our room.

I carry her back to our suite and lay her down on our bed. Molly wouldn't let me leave so I haven't had time to get a maid to come in here and clean. I tell Molly I'll be right back and go in search of a maid. I finally find one to come and clean up the glass and blood on the floor but as we wait for her to come to our room I want to talk to Molly about what happened.

I lie down next to her in the bed. "Molly, can you tell me what happened here?"

She shakes her head.

"Can you tell me why you can't talk about it?" I ask gently.

"I'm scared." She's crying so I sit up in bed and pull her into my lap and cradle her in my arms while she presses her head into my chest.

"What are you scared of? Punishment?" I almost feel like crying by now.

"Not just that but that you won't believe me or understand." Her tiny hands ball into little fists around my shirt.

"Kitten, when have I ever not believed you? How do you know I won't believe you or understand if you don't give me a chance?"

"Sometimes when I'm awake I start to relive my past in the present time. Think I'm crazy now?" She tells me with her head buried deep in my chest.

"No, I don't think you're crazy. I've known soldiers that have said the same thing following battle and have had to end up leaving the army." I answer honestly. When she doesn't say anything in return I ask something else. "Is that what happened with the mirror?"

"Yes." She barely squeaks out.

"Tell me about the memory." But before she can answer a maid comes in and starts to clean up the glass and blood. I just keep Molly in my arms rocking her, kissing her forehead, and telling her that I love her. When the maid finally leaves I repeat my question to Molly. "Tell me about the memory."

"I was cleaning Lady Avila's vanity while putting away her products and my back was hurting from working all day so I sat down on her bench. Lady Avila comes up behind me and starts screaming at me for sitting down while I was working and then grabs me by the back of my head and slams my face into the mirror on top of the vanity. Earlier today I was sitting at the vanity that you bought for me and everything was fine and I looked in the mirror and there was Lady Avila screaming at me. The next thing I knew I looked up and the mirror was shattered and there was a piece of glass in my forehead." Molly tells me about her experience while crying.

"So, why did you crawl under the bed? Oh, and just so you know, I do believe you." I'm trying to be as gentle and soothing as I can be through this whole discussion but it's hard when I want to punch a hole in the wall over what Lady Avila did. But I have to put Molly first and expressing anger like that would only cause her to regress right now.

"I was afraid you would punish me because you just bought the vanity so I hid from you." I knew she was more afraid now because her whole body tensed up.

"No, I wouldn't have punished you and I'm not going to punish you now. Is that why you wouldn't come out from under the bed?" This is always the hard part of the conversation for me because she's so stuck on being punished. I've never raised my hand at her, come at her in anger, raised my belt to her, and I've never punished her so I know this fear is totally irrational. It's just something that I have to work through with her on.

"Yes, that's why I wouldn't come out from underneath the bed. I know you said you wouldn't punish me but I've had masters who have said the same and then would double the punishment especially when I was young and would hide from them." She's barely crying anymore but her body is quite stiff and rigid while she's talking about being punished.

"But baby don't you know that I'm nothing like them?" I lift her face up to look me in the eyes and I can tell she does but it's a matter of her heart telling her brain.

*The Castle at Arkala; The Capital of The Neopatras

Quentin POV

"Elena, my love, are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?" I don't know how much that man had already done so I don't know if she needs medical treatment or not. "No. I don't want anyone to know what happened. I just want to be here with you." She's still shaking and crying.

"Can you tell me all of what happened?" I ask gently.

"If you really want to know he forced me to give him oral sex and then he turned me around and forced me to bend over that table and that's when you tore him off of me." We're laying facing each other in bed and she buries his head in my chest.

"I'm so sorry. I wish I had come sooner. Rape is a crime and carries the death penalty. He got what deserved. I just wish I had been able to stop it faster." I kiss the top of her forehead as we talk in bed. "I need to leave tomorrow for Drakor. I would like it if you would come with me."

"Okay, I don't want to stay here alone right now." She answers honestly.

"Yeah, there's a few things that we need to talk about when it comes to you staying here alone. But it can wait until tomorrow or another day." I tell her as we settle down to sleep.

* Unknown *

Emily POV

I wake up in a dungeon of sorts. To my back is a stone wall, to my left, right, and front are iron bars. The smell is toxic, it smells of blood, mold, decay, and death. It's dark in here, there is one small window in each cell with iron bars but it's so small it barely filters in light at all. As my eyes become more accustomed to the darkness I can see into the other cells. I swear some of the other inmates in here aren't alive anymore and some have to be knocking on hell's doors. Some inmates are cuffed and shackled to the wall while others, like me, are not. From what I can see each cell has a cot to sleep on, it's filthy and smells bad, a bucket to do our business in, mine is already half full, and that's about it. Guards walk by every hour and bang on the bars why I'm not sure and I think it's mainly to annoy us. The guards are ogres, smell horrible, and can barely distinguish their talk because of their thick lisp. We get one meal a day and it's this soup concoction, that's mainly broth, and is served lukewarm. I've begun talking with another inmate, his name is Gabe, and he's an angel who's been imprisoned for two years. He said we're at Queen Maeve's castle in her dungeons. I don't know why I'm here and that scares me.

Please drop me a comment and let me know if you like the story or the chapter. I love all feedback both critical and complimentary. You can also go to my facebook page for chapter updates and updates on new projects. https://www.facebook.com/Sammi-From-Anystories-1020524119915