Chapter 219

Carol’s POV

My baby was in danger. I knew that the second the queen stepped into my cell with the vile of liquid fire, an evil glint in her eyes. My entire body shook with fear as I stared at the open door. I needed to get out of here if I wanted to save my baby. I touched my stomach, feeling the baby fluttering inside of me. It nearly broke me; this was the first time I could feel my baby and Aiden wasn’t here to enjoy it with me. I knew it was because even my baby was fearing for its little life, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Before I could make an escape and get the hell out of this cell, the queen was practically on top of me, her eyes glowing with a red fury that I hadn’t seen on anyone before. She grabbed my face, and squeezed tightly, making me whimper in pain.

“Open wide…” she said through her teeth, a grin spreading across her red lips.

“Please… “I whispered, trying to pull my face away from her clutches. “My baby….”

She let out a laugh.

“Do you really think I give a shit about your baby?” She muttered. “I’ll be doing it a favor. “

Anger surged through me, and I fought against her some more, she released me, not expecting the force of my head to shake, and shoved her away. But once she got her footing, she yelled out in anger and swiped her hand across my face so fast that I barely even saw it coming. I felt the sting of her nails though and the burning sensation moments later. I screamed as I touched my face, and she grinned.

“My nails are enchanted with liquid fire as well,” she said, holding up her hand like she was checking her manicure. “Quite a spell really.”

My face felt like it was on fire, and I feared that it would melt off. I grabbed my face, burying it in my lap, and let out a whale of pain and misery. It was better than having this liquid fire in my belly and harming my baby, but it was still painful as hell. I couldn’t imagine consuming it… ugh, poor Raelyn.

Elizbeth grabbed my hair and yanked my head to look up at her.

“Ew, now you’re ugly and unlovable,” she laughed. “Open your goddamn mouth!”

I clamped my lips shut; I was not going to let her harm my baby regardless of what she did to me. She hit me in the side of the face and I felt my throat filling with blood; I knew she had broken my nose but I wasn’t going to let her see me weak. This was what she wanted; she wanted to break me.

“You really think you’re that strong?” She asked, a smile spreading across her lips once again, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I have someone much stronger than you and soon, the world will know it. She looks just like you too; they might even think she is you.”

My heart fell into my stomach. She wanted everyone to think that Raelyn was me? It didn’t make any sense; why was she doing this? I refused to open my mouth to ask her any questions though.

She smirked as she grabbed me by the throat, cutting off my air supply. Tears burned in my eyes; she was trying to choke me out until I opened my mouth. But even though she said I couldn’t die so I had nothing to worry about. I would pass out and then eventually—

Oh goddess, if I passed out, she would force it down my throat anyway!

My baby was in danger!

“I’ll get this down your throat one way or another,” she said with an evil smirk as her eyes darkened even more.

The door to the dungeon, down the hallway, opened, and Elizbeth looked majorly annoyed.

“Who the hell is interrupting me??”

“My Queen?” The voice of a maid rang through the dungeon and Elizabeth’s face darkened as she released me.

I fell into a coughing fit, my entire body trembling in fear.

“What do you want Carla?” She asked, turning to see the maid walking down the dungeon halls, hesitantly, and clearly filled with fear. “No maid has ever been down here before. Why did you make the trip?”

“The King sent me, madam…” she said. “Some guards are also coming as well. He wanted me to ensure Carol’s safe return upstairs.”

I lifted my head, confused by her words.

“What are you talking about?” The Queen asked through her teeth, clearly agitated.

The maid, Carla, cleared her throat. “There was video evidence that Carol was speaking the truth. She’s being released…”

“Video evidence?” She asked, her tone was haughty. “Those idiots,” she said under her breath.

Only moments had passed before I heard more footsteps and soon, guards were piling into the cell. One of which had a blanket that he wrapped around my shoulders.

“We are to escort you upstairs mam…” he said, his eyes darting around worriedly. I’m sure he had seen my face, and he worried about what the King would do.

“If the King asks, I found her like this,” Elizabeth muttered and then she turned and walked out of the cell with her head held high. Did she trust the guards that much to just let them return to the King with me in this state? Did she really think they wouldn’t tell him a thing?

I wanted to smirk; she was in for it now.

The guard who wrapped a blanket around my shoulders cleared his throat.

“Bring her upstairs. I’ll clean this mess,” he said, motioning for the blood on the ground.

The other guards nodded and together, they lifted me and brought me up the stairs. It felt good to breathe clean air again; I couldn’t seem to get enough of it. I inhaled so deeply that my lungs screamed at me, and I was sent into another coughing fit.

“Carol…” I heard Aiden’s voice saying from close by. I lifted my head, everything spinning. I was dizzy and I just wanted my mate. But as he reached me, he froze entirely. “What the fuck happened?!” He growled.

“What is it?” The King asked as he approached; when he saw my face, he froze, and I saw pure anger on his face. “Who did this to her??”

“Darling, I went downstairs to check on her and I found her like this,” Elizabeth said, stepping beside her husband. “It must have been one of the guards!”

Was she for real? There was no way he was going to believe that and even so, these guards knew what had happened. They weren’t going to cover for her.

The king turned to the guards who were holding me.

“Bring her to the clinic so Candance can heal her and then find out who did this,” he ordered.

I waited for the guards to tell him it was the queen; I expected it. But what I didn’t expect was for the guards to nod.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” one of them said.

What? Were they really going to pin this on another guard? It wasn’t a guard; it was the queen! But when I opened my mouth to speak, no words came out. My throat was swollen, and I was having difficulty breathing.

“Let me take her,” Aiden said, grabbing me from the arms of the guards. “You just find out what happened.”

They looked at the King for permission and he nodded. They bowed to him before retreating. I snuggled against Aiden, burying my face in the crook of his neck, relieved to be in his arms again. He brought me to the infirmary as quickly as he could and when we walked inside, I heard Candance gasping loudly.

“What happened?” Candance asked, rushing towards me. “Oh no…” she said, staring around my face. “It’s liquid fire…”

I knew Candance would know right away what had happened to me, I just hoped that she could fix it.

“Can you fix it?” Aiden asked as if he could read my thoughts.

She nodded.

“I have a potion that’ll fix her right up. It’ll take a night for it to work though. Set her down on one of the beds,” she said motioning for a bed.

“Will it harm the baby?” Aiden asked as he sat me down on one of the beds, pulling the covers over my shivering body. The fluid fire that burned my face was now making me incredibly cold and I couldn’t seem to stop shaking.

“No, of course not,” Candance assured him. “It’s perfectly safe.”

She returned with a blue vile and brought it to my lips; her eyes were soft and compassionate. I trusted Candance, so I parted my lips for her.

The potion was cold, but made my body stop shivering and it felt nice on my throat. I could already breathe better, and I felt the swelling around my throat going down.

“You just need to rest, and you’ll be good as new in the morning,” she reassured me.

I felt tired and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the potion, she gave me, or because of the day as a whole, but I found it difficult to keep my eyes open. Aiden could see this, and he lowered his head to mine, kissing the side of my face gently.

“Rest,” he ordered softly. “I’ll be here when you wake up… I promise.”

I gave him a grateful smile; I wanted to ask him how he proved my innocence, but I decided against it right now. All questions could wait until later. But then a thought popped into my mind just before I fully fell asleep. I grabbed Aiden’s arm, gaining his attention, and whispered, “Raelyn… we have to… save her…”

Then everything went black.