Maddy stared at the woman. Chains surrounded her from all directions, circling her. Her wrists bound with iron like the rest on her limbs. She was a prisoner. She had no means to hurt Maddy, yet she was still silently managing just through her gaze. Her cold, cruel, dark eyes held the human hostage.
Lily yelled accusations but was ignored. All Ivera truly cared about was her little pet and making her feel vulnerable and she didn't have to try hard to do so. Even in her position, she still managed to derive sweet satisfaction from torturing the human. The only thing that still mattered in her deranged mind was the pet she had failed to keep.
Maddy was unsupervised, apart from the oblivious guards that formed a sort of inadequate wall in front of the queen. A queen. So laughable. To Ivera, the queen was just a pet, a child maybe, despite her legal status as an adult. The vampire could see the change in her. She was no longer the strong woman she had been before being captured. She was merely a shadow of her former self. She was now an actor, pretending that she had not been majorly impacted. Her act was falling apart.
Maddy was shaking. Water running down her cheeks. Despite her being physically free, in her mind she was not. Seeing Ivera made her mentally switch them. She felt chained up again. She went bad to the dark place where she was abused. The Ivera in her mind was free. Free to cause as much havoc and chaos as she desired.
Just seeing Ivera's fanged smile made Maddy begin to try leave. She glanced at the metal door. She slowly walked backwards before turning and running. In her mind she was being pursued. Ivera was chasing her. Ivera wanted to hurt her. However, there was no way to leave. Her legs broke under her, throbbing.
Maddy never felt the pain unless she pushed herself. The plethora of pain medications in her system had numbed her normal sense of pain. They made her forget the true state of her body. She could not move fast and walking in itself was difficult and not often allowed. She was physically weak.
A warm hand brushed over her cheek. The wide, panicked eyes of her mate looked her over. He had been alerted by the sound of her body crashing onto the stone ground.
"Come. How about you just sit for a while. You still need to get used to standing," he said misreading her situation.
He thought the pain was making her bones shake.
Maddy had no means or confidence to protest or reason with him. She did not consider asking him to take her out of the room. She refused to ask him for anything. She could not even meet his eyes or speak back to him, only replying with soft nodding. She refused to refuse him or ask anything from him. She was terrified. She was afraid to disobey his wishes or be too demanding. All the rules from her time in captivity were filtering back into her mind. The rules stated she had to be perfect. She had to be quiet, subservient and obedient. Nothing more and nothing less than a pretty, emotionless, plastic doll.
Ivera watched on through Lily's onslaught. She wore a twisted smile. Her sadistic mind found satisfaction through her Madeline succumbing to the other state of mind, the one she had forced into her. Quiet, timid and obedient, just as she believed a human should be. Ivera watched the young woman unintentionally pushing her mate away, refusing to communicate her needs with him.
Ivera loved the look of fear and despair on her pet's face. Her pet shouldn't have tried to escape before her work was complete, now she was stuck with two versions and so much emotional turmoil and confusion. Ivera was familiar with humans, she had studied them when training them to be perfect students. They were emotional creatures. Even those who tried to pretend they could ignore emotions. They battled conflicting ideas in their head when trying to adjust. They stressed so easily, it even made them sick. Fragile little humans.
The king knew nothing in comparison to her. He was still struggling to understand the human nature of his mate.
"You really have pampered my little Madeline," Ivera mused.
Maddy felt sick hearing her full name. She hated it so much.
"You hurt her. I plan to tear you to pieces in return. I'm not going to let you keep disrespecting her," Lily growled, beating the vampire harder.
Ivera had her body slashed again and again, punched and beaten by a furious Lily whilst Maddy sat against a wall falling apart.
Maddy glanced at the shut door. She wanted to leave. She felt vulnerable. She didn't like feeling vulnerable. The confined space was making her feel horrible.
"Pet come here now!" Ivera ordered.
Maddy struggled, standing up. She slowly approached Ivera. She did not know what to do other than obeying. What else was there for her to do?
Xavier watched in horror as Maddy instinctively obeyed her former mistress. Her body was shaking as she walked closer. He panicked.
"Maddy stop! Guards block the queen!" Xavier shouted, running towards Maddy.
Maddy tried to get past the wall that had moved in front of her but they refused to let her pass. She glanced at Ivera. She was angry. She was going to whip her and punish her for not being good enough. Maddy tried to push past but she couldn't.
Xavier ran to his mate. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back.
"Maddy I am right here. She has no control over you," he whispered in her ear, slowly holding her closer.
He noticed that she was not responding to him. She kept squirming, trying to fight him. He didn't exist where she was.
"Madeline come here like a good pet."
Xavier held his mate back as she tried to go to Ivera. She was fighting against him. Trying to push his arms off her.
Lily was not thinking straight either. Both were reacting to their trauma. He knew Lily could easily and unintentionally hurt Maddy if the human got too close. Whilst Ivera kept healing a few seconds after each blow, Maddy could not.
"Maddy stop you are going to get hurt," Xavier tried to reason with Maddy.
Ivera screamed in pain as Lily cut her again and again, furiously.
Maddy shook her head. She suddenly realized she was not in captivity. She looked around herself, confused and scared. She wanted to leave. She did not feel safe at all. The screaming, the amount of people, crowding around her.
Her eyes looked at Ivera. Her heart started racing. The sight of chains, the cell, and Ivera, all triggered her. She felt sick and nauseous. She wanted to throw up.
Maddy felt herself going yet again. Fear was making her slip. She was aware of it this time though. She did not want to go to the dark place in her mind. She was struggling though. She did not know how to stop it.
"Maddy look at me now!" Xavier ordered her.
"Y-yes?" She said softly, looking up at him.
"Now keep looking at me. Don't think about her," he said, his arms slipping under her.
"If the captain starts looking tired or the prisoner looks like she might die, take the captain to her room. I do not care if you have to fight her to do it," Xavier ordered the guards.
Xavier closed the door once he had taken Maddy out of the cell. She was shaking in his arms. He had misunderstood what was best for her. She had been excited to beat up Ivera but in the end had her worst breakdown.
"I am going to take you back to the room now. Can you just talk to me until we get there. I want to make sure you stay with me," he said.
She stayed quiet. She did not know what to say to him. She felt scared, embarrassed and she still felt controlled by Ivera. Just Ivera being there made her suddenly go back to how she was before.
"Maddy, do you want anything when we get back?"
"Please can I get some hot chocolate. I-I do not want to bother you though. If you do not want to," she whispered.
He wanted to correct her. She didn't need to constantly ask for permission again and again before she even agreed. Nor did she need to be so scared about asking, but he didn't have the heart to correct her then. She was trembling. She was an absolute mess in his arms.
Correcting how she acted was the furthest from his priorities. He just needed to get out of the dungeons and get her on the bed so he could make her comfortable and try to coax her out of her state.
He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"You are doing great love," he encouraged her.
A/N
Thank you so much for reading. Like usual, I have no idea when I plan to publish the next part. Thank you for all your amazing support so far. Without all of you I doubt I would have written this far.