I didn't want to eat, not with what had just happened. I didn't want anything from these people. My anger grew as I heard Damian and his father talking.

"We must prepare for war." Damian said, and my ears perked. "The witches are growing stronger everyday, we have to defend ourselves."

"Witches?" The king asked. "Witches haven't been a problem since the first war four hundred years ago. Why would you think they'd be growing powerful?"

My heart pounded at the thought of there being witches. They were who the first Redburn's had taken this land from, though they weren't very powerful back then, they would be now. A part of me wanted them to attack, to reclaim this land as their own, to take back what was rightfully theirs. Then and only then, there would be true peace.

"Some of the guards caught a filthy witch trying to sneak into our territory while on patrol." Damian responded, taking a bite of his eggs.

"Well then we must do something about that. Steven." The king called for a guard. "Send a few patrol men to where the guards had seen the witches."

"Love, you better eat something. Wouldn't want you to go hungry." Damian whispered to me, I gulped and stared down at the plate full of food.

I felt myself hesitate as I cut off a piece of egg and brought the fork to my mouth. Questions flooded in my mind. Had these been made by servants who were slaving away in the kitchen, barely making a cent? Did these eggs come from a village that was struggling? A small town like mine?

The questions stopped when I saw that everyone at the table had turned to watch me. I quickly pushed aside my worry and placed the egg gently on my tongue. Taste exploded in my mouth and I bit back a moan. It was delicious. Most of the food in my village was made from wheat, I barely had anything other than pastries. Though there was always the rare occasion when my father would bring home something exotic for mother and I to enjoy.

I quickly pushed away the thought of my father, fearing tears would start to form in my eyes and I quickly started chewing my food. When they saw me swallow Damian and his father went back to talk about war strategies.

"Why don't Aurora and I take a walk around the gardens, I want to know who my soon to be daughter-in-law is." The queen said, standing up and walking towards the edge of the patio and placed her hands on the stone railing.

"Yes, I suppose you can." Damian said, nodding for me to go with his mother, as if I needed his permission to walk with her. "Father and I must discuss plans for the war anyways."

Damian pulled me up and pushed me towards his mother. She took my arm gently, her soft touch brought only the memory of my mother. She slowly walked me towards the stairs that led to a large garden. Once we were out of earshot the queen started to speak.

"I'm sorry about my husband, he can get a bit rough when someone insults him." She said with a genuine smile. Her eyes seemed to know what rough felt like, as if she had experienced it first hand.

"Your Highness-"

"No formalities, you are about to be my daughter in law. You may call me Calia." The queen took my hand in hers as we walked across the gravel path.

"Calia, I mean no disrespect, but I don't want to marry your son." I stated as she walked me into a row of apple trees.

"Aurora, I didn't want to marry Garrett when he chose me. Though as the years went by I learned to love him." I saw a distant look in her eye.

That look was all I needed to understand what she was truly saying. Calia had never loved King Garett, he had broken her, tortured her into an emotionless, unhappy human who he could use as he liked . This must've been what Damian was planning on doing to me. Breaking my heart and soul into a million pieces along with my willpower.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, I saw a small tear slide down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away, so she wasn't as emotionless as I had thought her to be. We stayed in silence for a few minutes, the summer heat was making me sweat in this gown.

"We must start planning the wedding." Calia jumped. Her sudden mood change almost giving me whiplash.

"Calia, I won't-"

"Hush, Aurora. We have so much to plan." The queen quieted me. Her willingness to talk to me had disappeared and I was left with this brainwashed mother who was oblivious to the actions of her husband and son.

I stood silent as Calia continued to ramble on about the wedding. All I could do was think about how I would escape and how I could bring Calia with me. Being here had destroyed her, the only way I can help her is to get her out.

"Calia, why don't you show me around the castle. I hadn't seen much of it yesterday." Due to your son being a brute. I wanted to say, though I didn't.

"Of course dear. Where do you want to start?" She asked as we walked out of the row of apple trees and into the open. I could see the Prince and his father on the patio, anger filled their facial expressions.

"Father we must wait to attack, the witches will be expecting this." Damian said as Calia and I walked up the stairs and to the table.

"Damian we have to strike now or we might never get our chance." The king stormed, I looked into Calia's eyes and saw only fear. As if she had witnessed this kind of anger before and nothing good would come from it.

"Calia, darling." Garett said when he noticed us standing there. "Damian and I, were just discussing our plan of action against the witches."

"That's good dear." Calia's monotone voice rang out and I could see the king's expression turn to annoyance.

"Calia, come here." The King said, his voice raising with annoyance towards his wife.

"Come love." Damian said to me, taking a painful hold of my arm. "We must give my mother and father some space to talk."

It was as if Damian knew what his father was thinking as he pulled me back into the dark castle, not before I saw the king's hand flying towards Calia.

The queen's screams of pain flew through the almost closed patio doors, I couldn't see the king beating her. I struggled against Damians grip as I tried to get to Calia. She was the only one in this prison who I could relate to, who had shown me kindness, I had to get to her, I needed to help her, I had to pry the king away from his wife. As I continued to struggle against Damian, his grip became stronger and a thought made me want to be sick.

He wasn't letting go, he didn't want to stop his father. How could he let his own father do this to his mother? Why wasn't he stopping it?

"Why aren't you helping her?" I cried and continued to struggle.

"Because it's not my place. My father saw it fit to punish my mother so I'll let him." Damian said naturally, as if he was used to this and had grown to see it as a normal thing.

"You monster.You would let your own mother get beaten for nothing? Well I'm not going to let that happen." I yelled and slammed my heel deep into his foot. Now I was pleased that he had chosen for me to wear such high heels.

I saw pain flash through his eyes and I took his distraction to yank my arm from his tight grip. A bit of relief flooded through me when I felt the pressure be relieved from my arm, but I quickly pushed the relife and ran to the door. Opening it I saw the queen now on the ground with the king hitting and kicking her.

I didn't hesitate, all I could do was run, adrenaline coursed through me adding to my bravery. Behind me, I could hear Damian's yells of anger and pain, I blocked them out and jumped in front of the queen. The feeling of King Garrett's blow to my jaw surprised me, though the surprise was quickly followed by immense pain.

It spread through my face like a disease, whipping out the feeling on the right side of my face. I suddenly felt the king's foot hit my stomach where Calia was supposed to be. Despite the fact that the queen was no longer there, he continued with his beating. The adrenaline and bravery I had felt before was gone and I felt pain flood through me, I could feel the blood dripping down from my nose, the rustic smell of my blood flooded into my working nostril.

I felt ready to throw up as the blood continued to pour and the King continued to kick me. Why wouldn't he stop? I wasn't Calia, so why did he continue to beat me? The only thing I could hear was Calia's pleas for Garrett to stop. But he ignored his wife and kept going.

Blood dripped down from my nose, my ear, my mouth and other places that I couldn't pinpoint. My vision blurred as I drew near unconsciousness, the last thing I saw was Damian rushing over and punching his father.