Chapter Seven: Mariana

It was a couple hours later when she heard a grinding sound, like rock on granite, coming from down the hallway where no lanterns were lit. She backed into the corner nervous as wimpers reached her ears, but the chains wouldn’t let her go far. A hooded figure appeared, wrapped in a black cloak, from the darkness, emerging like mist and solidifying. The figure stalked up the passageway and stopped in front of her stall. As the figure started to push back to cloak screams echoed and the figure’s lips were revealed.

“Wake up! Wake up!” The lips moved with his voice and then the shaking started and she was thrown awake to the Prince’s face.

Jax saw her open her eyes and smiled, she looked like an angel. His smile faded and he shook the image out of his head. “You got to stop screaming, it was just a nightmare that’s all. And we got to go Mariana, my brother plans to have you executed and I’m on his revenge list.” He started unhooking the chains from her wrists and then lifted her to her feet, she immediately tumbled back to the ground, too weak from pain, tiredness, and the remnants of the nightmare.

Jaz sighed, he should have known better. He lifted her to her feet again but this time swung her over his shoulder with a groan and a slight bent in posture. He had grown and become a lot stronger than his brother realized in the past year.

Footsteps came hurtling down the stairs and Jax hurried out of the cell as fast as he could with Mariana’s dead weight. He dashed down the hallway and to the end where there was an open door in the wall. He entered then closed the door behind them, so to whoever footsteps they belonged to would just see the normal end of the hallway.

As soon as they were a ways down the hallway and beside one of the many little rooms, meant for storage, he put Mariana back on the floor and walked into the room. A moment later he came back out with a bowl of food, more of the horrific back medicine, a plain shirt, and a blanket.

He first continued to clean the wounds on her back while she hissed quietly each time the cloth with the liquid touched one of the cuts. Luckily the cloth wasn’t covered with as much blood as earlier so that was good he thought. Then he peeled off the old shirt as he looked away and pulled the new one down over her.

By this time Mariana was more awake and she took notice of what Jax had done for her so far and she wondered why. She had done nothing for him except making him laugh and had only caused him trouble. Yet here he was, saving her from death, taking care of the cuts the whip had left, replaced her shirt, and she was sure he was going to do more for her.

Jax noticed she was awake and he was wondering what she was thinking as he wrapped the blanket over her and handed her an apple. Then he sat down across from her, waiting patiently until she was done.

“We need to talk.”