Thrown down onto the floor of the throne room, both of them were forced to kneel before the Queen. Caydrick got flanked by four guards, ready to step in, should he make an attempt at violence. But Bethia somehow doubted he would. No, the way his lips were thinned out but held the tiniest glimmer of a sinister smirk, told her that he wanted to be here. That he had been waiting for this.

"So, Cage," The Queen's blithe voice cooed in a sickly sweet voice. "Welcome back. Did you enjoy your reception?"

Caydrick did not respond. He ground his teeth but held his tongue. It obviously amused the Queen. She chuckled softly and then sighed.

"I am confident you did. I know I did. Now you, on the other hand," The Queen shifted her eyes to Bethia, whose eyes widened and then looked down. "You were an unexpected arrival. Tell me, did you enjoy taking advantage of your Queen's property?"

Bethia opened her mouth but the look Caydrick gave her, the subtle shake of his head, it made her close her mouth again. Stay quiet the whole time if you can, that was what he said.

"Speak up, peasant!" The Queen demanded. "I have yet to decide in which way I shall choose to execute you, but your lack of cooperation will surely only make the descision easier for me. Does burned at the stake sound best or do you prefer stoning?"

"Enough," Caydrick spoke up, snapping her attention back to him, giving Bethia the chance to suck in a breath. She was shaking with fright. How was he so calm? "We both know you did not bring us both here to negotiate the terms of her death. Ask me what you really want – what you have been dying to ask me ever since I escaped your dungeon."

The Queen flattened her lips, but her upper lip was twitching in annoyance. She did not like how he was trying to control the conversation when she was so eager to be the dominant component here.

"You are right," She finally said, pursing her lips, but then a smile slid onto her face. "But first things first." She snapped her fingers.

A door from across the room opened and a man came in, holding a metal bucket with something steaming inside. Bethia's mouth went lax when she saw the rod sticking out from it.

"Of course," Caydrick said, sounding bitter. "Be done with it, then. Mark me. Just know that whatever you do to me, I will do to you, snake."

"So you will take me to your bed, then? I shall look forward to it."

"Bitch!" Caydrick roared as the man with the bucket came up to him. The guards held Caydrick steadily, but he showed no sign of resistance. As the man with the bucket pulled the rod out of the bucket, Bethia saw the brander at the end glowing almost white. He held it carefully, bringing it to Caydrick's chest, where his wound was still slightly fresh, just creating a crust. And then the man pressed the brander against it.

Caydrick roared. His faced contorted in pain as the sizzling sound and godawful smell of burned flesh reached Beth and made her want to throw up. She did not realize she had screamed too, before she heard herself crack in a sob and watched as the man removed the rod again and how Caydrick hunched over forward. His chest was a burning red color and the fresh symbol of his status now presented itself grimly on his left pec.

"Oh God," Bethia whispered, probably only loud enough for Caydrick to hear. She watched as a guard yanked him upright by his hair so that he was sitting straight up for the Queen to see the finished result.

"Much better," The Queen said with a satisfied smirk. "Now we can talk, slave."

"Bitch," Caydrick growled again, gritting his teeth.

"Guard, please punish the slave each time he speaks out of tone."

"Yes, milady." A guard besides Caydrick took a whip from his belt and went behind Caydrick. Before Bethia could even fathom that it was happening, the guard had already whipped Caydrick. He did not make a sound as the cruel whip hit his back, only pressed his lips tightly together and squeezed his eyes shut. The whip hit twice more.

"That will do," The Queen said, holding up a hand that immediately stopped the guard. "Now, slave. Tell me what I want to know."

"You are an evil besotted bitch who will--"

"Guard."

"--rot in hell after I killed you!" The whip connected with his back again, drawing a low hiss from Caydrick. Nevertheless, he did not scream, even as blood started dripping down his slashed back, tainting the polished marbled floors.

Beth watched silently – keeping her tongue as Caydrick had instructed her to. She had to somehow believe that this was all part of his plan, part of the grand escape he was planning. But she was dying to speak. Dying to scream for him, perhaps because his pride kept him from doing so. But each whip had to sting like lighting bolts every time it hit.

"Let us try that again," The Queen said, patiently. "This time I will ask you and you will reply honestly, otherwise she will be tasting the whip next."

Bethia sucked in a breath and she noticed Caydrick's breath do a skip as well. His body tensed and his lip curled back. "You dare threaten her."

"Only if you do not give me what I want to hear."

"Then ask me," Caydrick snarled, his lip now curling up in nasty, cold smile. "Ask me, bloody snake."

"How did you manage to escape?"

"I required a weapon and fought my way out."

"How?" She demanded to know, sitting up in her throne. "How, you are blind, it is impossible!"

"And you are a devil, yet you sit on the throne to rule the people."

"Guard!"

The whip lashed against his back again, making him flinch. But no sound passed his lips.

The Queen sneered at that. "You must have a sixth sense then."

"How can I have a sixth sense when you took my fifth?"

The Queen groveled on something spiteful. Only she did not speak it. Instead she steeled herself with patience and spoke icily, "Explain to me then how you can do things. How you can tell things without seeing!"

The sinister smile on Caydrick's lips now grew, clearly to the Queen's annoyance. Bethia watched as he squared his shoulder and then - clicked his tongue.

"Quit that," She growled, "Answer me!"

He kept clicking his tongue and the Queen now snapped. She yelled for the guard to whip him, while Beth just sat there, shaking. How could he click his tongue now? He should not be provoking her this very moment.

The guard lashes Caydrick's back again, but this time he did not even as much as flinch. Instead he cocked his head to the side and clicked his tongue. "Tell your 130 pound guard in the steel armor to put his whip down or I will throttle that dagger in his belt into the pit of his stomach."

Bethia gasped, because that was an exact description of the guard whipping him. The Queen's face had paled for a second, but then she sat upright, clenching her fists. "You lie to me, slave. You can see. The tincture must have expired."

Beth's eyes widened, but Caydrick kept real still. He slowly turned his head towards the Queen, then curled his lip back. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" The Queen snapped. "Of course you know by now, you are regaining your sight, are you not?"

Caydrick gnashed his teeth. "No. Verily, I am not."

The Queen's breath faltered. She realized she had just made a huge mistake, Beth saw. "But you... how else is it possible? If you are still blind--"

"Still?" Caydrick whispered, shaking with anger. "You just confirmed my suspicions, snake. This is only temporary, is it not? Just like that salve you used on me, you found an alchemist that could render you a potion to blind my eyes but still keep them green for your pleasure. That is who that Aifenhard is. You kept me blinded for three years because I would not glance at you! Tell me you deny it!"

The Queen gritted her teeth, then crossed her arms. "I deny it not, slave. Congratulations. You conned me. You set me up for this trap. And now that I have bitterly fallen into it, my mood is ruined. Your peasant girl shall suffer torture before she dies! Guards, take her away!"

"No, stop, wait!" Bethia now finally screamed as the guards pulled her to her feet. "Please, stop!"

"Yridessa," Caydrick harshly said, making the Queen raise her hand and have the guards pause. "You have captured me, branded me, taken me captive again. I am yours once more. Spare her life and let her live, and I will serve you to the day you die. I promise."

"Caydrick, no," Bethia whispered. She did not want him to make that sacrifice for her. "Do not."

"Silence, peasant," The Queen snapped, rising from her chair. She took the steps down from her high seat, slowly walking towards Caydrick. She paused before him. "You would do that just keep this woman alive? A woman you have never laid your eyes on, a woman whom you have only know for three days?"

Caydrick clenched his jaw, but nodded. "I will."

The Queen growled. "Then she shall die. You have fallen under that witch's hex and I shall have her tortured and burned at the stake for it! Guards!"

"No!" Bethia screamed as the begun dragging her away. "Caydrick!"

"She is allowed a last wish!" Caydrick bellowed. "Grant it to her and my promise will remain the same!"

The Queen raised her hand again. The guards paused. She then slowly turned to Bethia and glared at her. "Very well, then. Do you have a last wish before you meet your fate, peasant?"

Bethia's throat dried up. What should be her last wish? A meal? A breath of fresh air? Mercy?

But there was only one thing she truly wanted. One thing in this cruel world that she needed.

"Can I say goodbye to him?" She whispered. "Please. I will never see him again, h-he is yours and I shall be where the God's deem me worthy of residing in the afterlife. Just let me say my goodbye to the man I... the man I cared for for the last three days."

The Queen snorted. "Ridiculous woman. Fine! Say your pathetic goodbyes. But there will be no hands touching! If so, I will make sure your hands will be cut off as the first limbs they remove."

Bethia gulped, but then nodded, lowered her head respectfully. The Queen snapped her fingers and the guards then pushed Bethia forward, leading her to Caydrick whom they pulled to his feet.

"Bethia," Caydrick whispered as they stood inches from each other, not touching. They were as close as one could be, just a hairs breath apart. "My sweet Bethia..."

"Caydrick," Bethia cried silently, smiling up at his beautiful face. "Thank you for... for choosing my house to barge in on."

"I was wrong you know," He whispered. "Berries were not the sweetest thing I would ever taste. It was you."

"Wrap it up," The Queen sneered. She was watching them closely, eyes shooting daggers.

When Bethia cried silently, Caydrick opened his eyes for her to see them, looking so deeply into his green orbs. They looked straight past her, but he still smiled. "I will follow you soon enough, Bethia. I promise. I love you."

And then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, catching Beth by surprise. The Queen had a fit and ordered the guards to drag them apart, but Caydrick would not have it. He fought and buried his face in her hair, taking one last deep breath of it, Beth doing the same of his skin, before they managed to finally drag them apart.

"You should not have done that," The Queen snarled at Caydrick. "You just signed her fate! I will have her lips sliced off and fed to the dogs! Guards, take her to the dungeon!"

Crying, Bethia did not care that she was now getting dragged away to get tortured beyond the imaginable. She did not care that Caydrick had done that. No, all that mattered was that last kiss, that last velvet soft feel of his lips against hers. One she would never forget as she stepped in through the gates of heaven.

The last she saw was Caydrick getting shoved down on his knees, saw his lips pressed tightly together as the man with the whip struck him again, hard and repetitively. Still, his lips were sealed and eyes were closed.

Beth closed her eyes too, letting her memory help her with the last image she would ever see. She thought back to when they had been lying in her bed together, making sweet love. How she had seen his lips split into a wonderful, happy smile.

That, along with his kiss, would be her last memory.