"You are my prisoner," He snapped. "You do not have any authority here!" Arawn's voice sent shivers down her spine, and her heart beat even more chaotically than before at their close proximity and the frostiness in his gaze.

Evanna bit her lip, glanced down and looked back at him again. "Why do you want me to see such a foul thing?" She whispered.

The prince blinked back a few times before he responded. "So you can see what we will do to your friends if you do not tell me what I want to know." He said calmly, but there was a cold edge to his voice, keeping her body alert to any movement of his.

At his words, her brows drew together. "You said they were not my friends?" She uttered in confusion.

He loosened his grip on her arms, bringing one hand to her chin and clasping it gently as he replied with a smirk, "I do believe you need to pay attention more. I said the prisoners we were going to see were not your friends. However, that does not mean we do not have them here."

Evanna's breath hitched as her eyes widened at his comment. "You.. you found them?" Her voice came out raspy. Her throat was dry, and she had to swallow past a lump.

Arawn's eyes lit up in amusement at her reaction. "Yes. We brought them in earlier."

It seemed things were going according to plan, and Evanna was falling for it. Soon, he would get the answers he sought. Although he honestly thought it would take a little longer, it saddened him to think that this game would be over. However, he had Evanna now, and she was somebody he couldn't resist. A HUMAN, out of anyone, was what caught his attention. Such madness!

Although his thoughts were spinning at his subsequent actions, the prince's face was stoic and hard to read.

"So, have you.. you haven't tortured them?" Her eyes were solely fixed on him now. Even his hand moving from her chin to her jaw and ear did not distract her attention away from the situation. The action did send firey icicles through her body and raising goosebumps against her smooth skin.

But this was serious. Arawn's tendency to touch Evanna and make her feel uncomfortable was at the back of her mind now. Evanna's friends were in this awful dungeon, meaning they failed, and the gem was back where it belonged. Away from her sickly mother.

"I have not tortured them..yet," His eyes flickered between hers. She could sense he was trying to read her as she did him. The prince said 'yet', meaning he wanted something from her, which of course, was to do with the gem.

But he could be lying. Evanna's mind spun with the possibility. Why would he go through all this trouble for her to confess? Moreover, they had her group of comrades; he could easily get the information he wanted from torturing them. So, why hadn't they?

Or, if they had Cilv, she knew the shapeshifter would give them up in a heartbeat to save her ass. With those swirling questions in her mind, she decided to follow along for now. Maybe she thought too highly of the prince to be so cunning, or it was indeed all in her head.

"May I see them?" She whispered once more, fixing her gaze on his.

"You have my word, Evanna. I have not disfigured your friends. They have not been in the palace long enough, but I will start torturing them soon unless you give me what I need. It's very simple. Do not make this harder on yourself and your friends," Arawn replied sincerely, as though he was not the one threatening her.

His word didn't mean anything to her. Evanna did not know him well enough to understand what his word meant. If it was held true or not.

"And what happens when you have this information, your highness?" Evanna's eyes flickered between his, "We will be kept prisoners or beheaded?"

Arawn's features stayed stoic as he stared back at her, "Evanna," His voice was low and deep, sending an ache through her body, one that was pained as she awaited his answer, one she already knew would leave his lips. "You are fortunate to still be alive. I know you are not dim-witted, and this was all planned. But, unfortunately, not only have you broken the law in my kingdom, but you also broke the accords by coming here."

"But, if you tell me why you came all this way. Risked so much for a single gem, then maybe I can help you," The prince continued. Evanna searched his eyes for any deception, but she could not tell.

The princess had been a part of the noble's games at her own palace, roped in to play in which she successfully stayed afloat, using one of many means such as her shapeshifter friend, Cilv. Evanna may be young, but she was brought up as a bastard in a palace full of royals and nobles set on her downfall.

In her eighteen years, there had already been two assassination attempts on her. The first was when she was five, the next was thirteen. At that time, she was becoming noticed more by the nobles. Even at such a young age, suitors were already lining up to be betrothed to her, ready for when she was of age.

Her beauty blew away her added title: 'the bastard child.' Although these nobles were aware she was illegitimate, it didn't stop their sons from trying to court her. Something the Queen and her many nobles were disgusted by and used many means to put an end to it. Whether that was through these political and royal games or attempted assassinations.

But these assassinations stopped when word spread that princess Evanna started to train and was capable of handling a sword. The king also made sure to have a separate taster on his daughter's food; the only people aware of this was him, Evanna and Maggie.

So, she was familiar with reading people, and even the most expressionless person still gave away a singular piece of information: Whether they were deceiving her or not.

However, prince Arawn's stony gaze's and stoic features took the game to a whole new level. One Evanna didn't think she could keep up with. Well, she was already losing after blurting out she was from the Kingdom of Dunhurst, and she had a sister.

Evanna blinked back her thoughts and memories as she refocused on the man before her. Would he help her if she told him about the gem? Her brows knitted together. Undoubtedly, the prince would know why she came all this way for that gem.. Unless it was such a secret that not even their own knew about it.

Suddenly, another thought popped up into her mind, and she froze. The prince was not gone long enough to help retrieve the men from the South-Western border of Direwood Forest. It took Evanna and her party days to get to the palace; even if the elves knew the ins and outs of the forest, it would still take longer than a few hours.

This was all a ruse!