The storm's grumbling grew louder, like the belly of a beast ready to devour the land. In the dim light of the dungeon, droplets of water that had seeped through the aging stone walls glistened like tears. Elara could feel the pressure in the air, each breath laden with the promise of chaos.
Aurelia's silhouette darkened the entrance to the cells, her posture rigid, the click of her boots against the stone floor as sharp as the cold grey eyes that swept over the prisoners. The air seemed to thicken with her arrival, and a chill, unrelated to the dampness, crept down Elara's spine.
"Princess Lyanna Silverwind and Captain Thane Westwind," Aurelia's voice sliced through the tension, "your misguided loyalty to witches will see you share their fate."
Lyanna met Aurelia's glare with a regal tilt of her chin, but Elara noted the slight shiver that betrayed her fear. Thane stood stoically beside the princess, his jaw clenched.
"Though I'd have preferred to rid the world of your treasonous sympathies days ago, Lord Edric needed time to send word to your brother and do all the proper diplomatic shit. However, now the storm has granted you a temporary reprieve," Aurelia continued, her lips curling into a smirk. "But now that you're excecution order has gone through, you are all mine now."
Aurelia smiled as she reached for her trusted whip, "Sympathizers get the same treatment as witches in this dungeon."
The whip cracked through the air, the sharp sound echoing off the stone walls. Lyanna flinched, her eyes widening in terror as Aurelia's cruel laughter filled the chamber. Thane grimaced, his fists clenched in impotent rage.
Elara, however, remained still. She closed her eyes, feeling the storm's fury inside her, channeling it like an unruly beast. The whip cut through the air again, and Lyanna's yelp of pain filled the air.
"Stop!" she cried, her voice shaking with anger and desperation. "You can't treat us like this! You can't do this!"
"Because it serves my master's purpose well," Aurelia laughed cruelly, her gaze flicking between Thane and Lyanna. "But remember, you all allied yourselves with witches. For that treachery, you will be punished."
"Ah, Aurelia, always the harbinger of sunshine," Elara taunted from behind the bars, drawing the operative's ire towards herself. "How kind of you to deliver weather updates along with threats. You're like a murderous little weatherwoman."
"Silence, witch!" Aurelia snapped, but Elara could sense the satisfaction threading through her defiance. She needed Aurelia focused on her, not tormenting the others. Elara needed Thane to have the strength to help the young princess back home, and she wasn't about to watch a child be tortured. She had to draw all of Aurelia's hatred away from those two.
"Tell me, does it ever get lonely, Aurelia? Being so... unlovable?" Elara prodded further, leaning casually against the bars despite the ache in her bound wrists. The mocking lilt of her voice masked the urgent glance she shot toward Lyanna and Thane—a silent command.
"Unlovable?" Aurelia scoffed. "I am feared and respected. Love is for the weak."
"True strength lies in compassion," Lyanna interjected, her voice steady, though her caramel eyes flickered with uncertainty.
Aurelia's voice dripped with disdain. "Compassion," she sneered. "See where your compassion has taken you, princess." She tightened her grip on the whip, prepared to use it on anyone who got in her way.
Elara sneered with delight, finding pleasure in the chance to ridicule Aurelia. "Isn't it just perfect that she's been assigned a room with such a beautiful view?" she taunted. "And let's not forget about the fantastic room service and never-ending agony." She paused dramatically before continuing her cruel remarks. "Now you're resorting to picking on helpless princesses? How far the mighty have fallen."
Aurelia glared at Elara, her eyes burning with rage. "You think you can defeat me with words?" she spat, her voice echoing through the dungeon.
Elara returned the stare, a smirk playing on her lips. "I'm just trying to make our time together a little more entertaining."
Her emerald eyes blazed with a fierce intensity as she glared at the person before her. The room seemed to freeze in that moment, the air thick with tension. Aurelia's lips curled into a disdainful sneer, revealing a hint of dimples that contrasted with her cold demeanor.
Her voice, like silk laced with poison, cut through the silence. "How dare you mock me?" she seethed, each word dripping with icy contempt. Her slender fingers curled into fists at her sides, trembling with restrained fury.
The wind roared outside, and the lightning flashed as Elara dared Aurelia to strike. "You're a coward, Aurelia," she hissed, her voice low and full of venom. Aurelia's eyes blazed with fury, her body trembling with suppressed anger. But she knew that Elara's words had hit a nerve.
Lyanna clung to Thane's arm, her eyes wide with fear. Thane, usually so stern, looked at Aurelia with pure hatred.
Aurelia's eyes narrowed as she looked over Thane, Lyanna, and Elara. "Once the storm clears, you will all face execution. Savor your final moments of this insignificant life." She scoffed before turning and leaving the cell.
"Thank you," Lyanna said softly, once they were alone again. Her gaze lingered on Elara, whose bravery was as clear as the resolve shining in her eyes, and then on Thane, who still looked uncertain but daring.
"Let's just hope your magic is as strong as your mouth," Thane replied, his voice gruff but not unkind.
"Stronger," Elara assured, her heart pounding in time with the approaching storm. She knew the next few moments would shape their fates, intertwining them irrevocably. As lightning illuminated the cell, Elara closed her eyes and reached deep within herself.