Chapter 110: Chapter 110

“Gently get the girls to wake up. We're leaving. Pick up everything. Leave no personal belonging behind,” Dakar warned strictly. The two men nodded and darted into their room.

“Where's Verona?” Avril asked.

“I'm here,” she replied and showed up too. Verona looked agitated and vigilant.

“I can't believe I was such a fool to bring you all here,” Dakar said to himself and looked as if he could slap his own cheek. The candlelights were enough to show the look of regret on his face. He held Avril's good hand and led her out while Verona also darted inside the room. The others were already frantically moving and packing stuff.

In less than ten minutes later, everything had been packed as affirmed by Camper. They then quietly started out without a word or sound from anyone.

They got to the throne room which was empty and dark too. Instead of them going through the main entrance, Prince Dakar turned them to a different direction. He tugged gently on what was like a door and a secret passage opened beside that door.

“Lead the way, Camper. Check to see once again,” Prince Dakar ordered. Camper slowly walked past them and into the passage that was a flight of stairs going underground or so it seemed. But before he could take three successful steps, he was thrust backwards with a mighty force of heat and pressure, taking him through the air and banging him on the floor several feet away. Frightened sounds erupted from the girls.

A very high-pitched, ear-bleeding laughter rumbled through the hall. It was magnified like the owner was using speakers and it came from everywhere.

“Where are my guests going?” Athena's magnified voice asked.

“Leaving without a proper goodbye? After feeding you and playing the good host?”

Prince Dakar held Avril and protectively bound her to his side with his arm.

Camper groaned in pain as he tried to get back on his feet.

“Well, everyone else can leave. I don't f*ucking care about them. But you, my loves, must stay until you're out for real,” Athena said as she walked into visibility. The lights came on, and she was in a catwalk from her throne. Had she been sitting there all this time?

“Prince Dakar and that filthy human by his side are mine!” she erupted and stamped her feet to the floor. Instantly, everyone else disappeared leaving Avril and Prince Dakar behind.

And Avril was no longer beside her Prince. She found herself in an icy cage with the temperature inside below zero degrees. The cold instantly embraced her like an obsessed lover, not letting go. Her throbbing palm went numb with cold, her blood turning to ice within her. A terrible wind gust blasted into her, pushing her over unto the floor covered with snow. She gasped for breath but ice began to rain down with near-ice water accompanying it. It was almost like freezing rain, except the rain was already frozen into thin shards that sliced her and drew blood.

“Get her out of there!” Prince Dakar barked but Athena laughed.

“Oh how I love to see humans suffer,” she exclaimed and laughed some more.

Prince Dakar ran to the cage and grabbed the bars which were freezing up.

“Avril! Avril!” he screamed as she struggled to stand but the pressure and icefall were opposing her. He shook the bars violently in an attempt to pull them off and save her.

“Quit the racket. She's not leaving there until I say so,” Athena drawled and sat on her throne.

“Then say so!” Dakar yelled.

“Well, I do think she's suffered enough so no more icefall.” She waved her hand in a lazy manner and the ice rain stopped. Avril groaned on the floor. Her skin had turned to dark grey and she was freezing, literally.

Dakar fell to his knees as he held the bar.

“Avril, Fiorella,” he cried as he watched her struggle to breathe. The misty cloud as she exhaled breath kept decreasing as she laid on the snow shivering.

Dakar got on his feet and turned towards Athena.

“What do you want?” he asked with firm resolve.

“I want lots of things. Like a horse. I always wanted to go horseback riding in the snow you know. But I am not sure horses can survive here for long,” Athena replied and smiled.

“What do you want me to do in return for letting her go? I'll do anything. Just let Avril live... please,” he pleaded. Athena began to tick her index finger on her teeth. The sound resonated through the hall.

Dakar glanced back at Avril and his heart rate spiked up. She was motionless.

“Please, Athena I'm begging you. I'll do anything. I'll be anything. I'd be your toy if you desire that. Just please, let her go. Pl-plea-sse.” His voice cracked as he fell on his knees to Athena. She grinned brightly.

“You can be anything?” she asked and got up from her throne.

“I would if only you save her. Let her live, then let her return safely home and unscathed with everyone else. Please.”

Athena walked slowly to where he was kneeling.

“Swear you will do everything I say you do,” she said in a sinister, icy tone.

“I swear I will do everything you say I do if you let her live,” he swore.

Athena nodded and clicked her fingers. The bars of the cage fell down with a loud bang. Prince Dakar rushed to his feet and sped into the cage.

“Avril,” he whispered as he gently scooped her into his arms.

“I've got you. I've got you,” he said and kissed her ice-cold forehead. She was unconscious but still alive. Dakar ran to the empty fireplace and before he could even do anything, it sparked to life. He looked behind him to see if it was Athena but she was returning to sit on her throne.

He set a kettle of water above the already blazing fire and shifted Avril closer to it. When the water began to boil, which happened faster than was normal, he poured it out into a bowl that wasn't there before then brought out his handkerchief. Gently, he dabbed the water despite its temperature on Avril's pulse points to revive them. Then over her face and tummy. She wasn't even wearing any protective clothing because she had been in bed.

“Please, don't do this to me,” he pleaded as she was not responding to anything. Her color was still ashen. He found the cut on her hand and hastily removed the bloody bandage. He dabbed the knife cut with more hot water, instilling the heat and pain into it.

Avril's fingers shivered at the sudden pain from a fresh wound causing Prince Dakar's eyes to widen with exhilarating surprise. He went back to work, massaging her skin and rubbing her face until her color was slowing returning.

He felt a presence behind him but didn't care to look back.

“Just look at you, as mighty as you are, with all the power buried inside you, with all the terrible things you can do. Look at you, scared as a wet rat, shivering like a fish out of water, miserable like a deer with an arrow through its neck.”

Athena slowly moved around them, her steps making no sound on the marble floor.

“Why has this mighty man fallen to his feet to beg and swear his existence to someone else?”

Silence reigned. Prince Dakar's throat worked up and down, his fists curling like he would punch her any moment.

Athena walked to his front, putting Avril between them. She lifted her foot and placed it on her tummy.

“All because of a human woman. Pathetic!” she barked and pressed down with her foot, making Avril jerk and groan. Prince Dakar's vision turned to red at what Athena did. Before he could think, he waged up, grabbed Athena by the neck and threw her off like a rag doll. She hit her throne with a whack and screamed in pain.

“If you lay one more hand on her, I won't hesitate to end you, Athena,” he growled in a low but monstrous voice. Athena got on her feet almost immediately. She gave him a sinister smile.

“You've seemed to suddenly forget that you swore to be anything I want you to be.”

“If you let her go unscathed.”

Avril groaned again, and Dakar wheeled back. Her eyes were struggling to open, and her lips were already partially parted.

“Avril, Fiorella,” he called simultaneously as he bent down to her. He cupped her in his arms and rose up.

“Give me a few days to tend to her, then I'll send her on her way. Afterwards, you have me to do as you please,” he said to Athena.

“By now, dear nephew, you should know I cannot be trusted.”

Dakar's eyebrows furrowed deeper as he stared at her with pure loathe in his eyes.

“But take care of her, then you'll be mine.”

She dismissed them with a wave of her hand in the air and returned to sit comfortably on her throne. Dakar exhaled to steady his breath, then he took Avril upstairs.

“Dak...”

“Shh, don't say anything. You'll be fine.”

He cradled Avril against his chest, placed a kiss on her forehead then laid her down on the bed he had slept. He brought water and made her take little sips then tucked her with more blankets.

He entered the kitchen and prepared spicy soup for her in a hurry. When he returned, she was sitting up looking exhausted.

“Fiorella,” he called and placed the soup on the bedside table.

“My throat hurts,” she croaked. He grimaced as if he could feel the pain. Then he handed her warm water.

“Sip gently.”

She did, and he fed her the soup himself. Shortly after, she dozed off, and he laid her down.