TAKEN PART TWO, CHAPTER 1: FREEDOM
Sneakpeek
RETTACUS POV
We ran as far from the castle grounds as we could in the dead of night. My heart pounded inside my chest, sending many shockwaves through my rattling bones.
What have I just done?
My actions had barely felt like my own when I had snuck into the castle’s jail cells, stolen the keys, and broken a prisoner out.
I had deceived Lazarus, promising that the King had told me to relieve the poor man of his duties for the day!
Not only that, but I had gone against the King’s orders, too.
He forbade me from returning to the castle after learning of my interactions with Clarice, and yet I felt compelled, too.
I felt as though I had to go back.
It was almost as if everything I had felt towards Clarice, and then some, had traveled through my system and zapped my heart awake.
In fact, creeping through the castle, I felt none of the emotions stir inside me towards Clarice that had once been ever so abundant in my heart.
All I wanted was to follow the voice that I heard whenever I closed my eyes and tried to leave the castle, as per the King’s orders.
I tripped into the mud, landing on my knees and elbows in a big, wet splash. It was raining, and I checked over my shoulder at the giant castle.
At my past.
Through the windows, I could see the flickering flames of the candlelit ballroom, along with the silhouettes of bodies dancing back and forth.
Icy rain pattered on my head, drooping my hair over my eyes.
“Rettacus, darling, please get up!”
It was the same voice that had compelled me to enter the castle’s prison. The same voice that had taken control of my mind.
I glanced up to see the most dangerous prisoner that had ever existed.
Clio, the witch sister of King Cerberus Thorne.
“You heard me, didn’t you, dear Rettacus?”
Indeed, at the sound of her voice, all worry inside my heart vanished. A wave of calm swept over me, and I found not even the cold rain to be bothersome.
Clio smiled at me, and I merely shook my head, confused as to what was happening.
“Yes,” I finally answered, breaking away from my eye contact with Clio, “I have heard you, though I do not understand why your words charm me so.”
Clio smiled ear to ear and seeing her do so made my heart beat faster and numb my worries.
For whatever reason, looking at her smile changed me.
She was extremely beautiful, far more beautiful than any woman that I’d ever seen. Her dark skin shined as the rain pattered against it, and her thick black hair was kept in a short bob.
She wore tight leather pants and a large white hooded shawl that exposed her midriff.
From just the way that she stood on that cliff side, her back straight and chest out, it made sense to me she was the sister to the King.
Clio approached me and extended her hand outwards.
“It is okay, Rettacus,” she said, her eyes shifting from a deep cerulean to the colors of soft and summery ocean waves.
The closer she got to me, the brighter her eyes became.
Such a transformation in her stunning eyes could only mean one thing, and I was not ready to accept that it was the case.
Still, Clio’s voice was sultry and sweet, and even mesmerizing.
“You know who I am already, darling,” Clio said with a large grin.
Each word made my heart flutter, and my hand gravitated toward hers without my control.
“Are you putting me under some sort of spell?” I asked, my throat growing dry.
For a moment, the only sound between the two of us was the crashing of the downpour. In the distance, the faint echoes of those celebrating in the castle could be heard.
That, or the guards are assembling and on their way to kill us!
Clio only smiled at me.
“Tell me!” I cried out, pounding my fist into the mud. “Is this a spell that you have put me under? Is that why I think you might be my…”
Clio shook her head. “Take my hand, and all shall be revealed.”
