Five: You have to beg

CORA

My stomach clenched in hunger and thirst and the threat of my impending death left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I was curled in a fetal position, my hands cradling my stomach as I lay on the dirty floor of the cell that I was thrown into a couple of days ago.

A couple of days ago because I wasn't sure of how many days have passed, I had no way of knowing since the cell was in the underground with no windows and no source of air except the one from the barred door.

I've been left there, probably abandoned to die with no water and food for days and as if that wasn't completely horrible enough, I had to ease myself into that same room because I couldn't bring myself to scream at whoever was near to open the door for me so I'd do it in a more dignified place.

I had more dignity than that.

And I doubted if I'd have been allowed out, Kai wouldn't want that; I was sure locking me up here with no option but to shit and pee here was one of his numerous ways of punishing me.

And if he thinks that this was enough to break me, then he has another thing coming.

I've barely felt my wolf since I was locked up here; it was like she had retreated to the furthest part of my mind and I couldn't even blame her, if I could run away, I'd have to but I couldn't do that.

I still have Kai to kill.

And until his body was left to rust, I couldn't leave.

Until I've avenged how brutally my parents were killed, I couldn't run away.

Thinking about what happened again made tears bristen in my eyes but I refused to let them fall. Because I've spent so much time alone since I was locked up here, I've been forced to come to terms with the great misfortune that had befallen me.

I had lost my parents, my friend, my family, and my whole pack to the hands of a deranged monster who had taken me captive with a plan to do only god knows what to me.

I knew my staying here was going to be hell and I was prepared for it. If I had to go through hell to pay him back in his own coins, then I don't mind, I'll gladly do it.

So that's why I can't afford to be weak and miserable, to let my emotions get the best of me, I had to be strong, to remain strong and tears were not the way of being strong at all.

I felt unconsciousness trying to overpower me from how hungry and thirsty I was and I allowed it, it was better for me to remain unconscious anyway than to deal with my new reality.

Strong hands digging into my neck and crushing my windpipe woke me up and my wolf startled into a defensive position but it was so fucking useless the minute I opened my eyes to meet Kai's emotionless one as his hand tightened around my neck even more.

He lifted me easily from the floor, slammed my back against the wall before flinging me away from him and I landed on the floor with a huge thud, pain ricocheting through my entire body and I had to bite my lower lip till I tasted blood because I couldn't scream.

"How low the mighty had fallen," he mocked, an amused glint touching his eyes as he stalked towards me with heavy unhurried steps as if he owned the world.

"Just take a look at yourself," he continued, "who'd have thought the acclaimed Princess would be reduced to this."

I know I looked anything but presentable; I knew I must look like a nightmare with my white gown that was anything but white now and was still very much stained by blood and all the dirt that must have gotten to it since I was locked up here.

And I've been living in a dung from all the urine and sweat so I was not only looking dirty, I was smelling it too.

"And that stench," he puked, "who'd have thought?"

I ignored him. I looked away from him, not minding his existence even though I knew that'd piss him off more.

"You know," he continued, not deterred by my reactions to him, "it's still not too late to get on your knees and grower and beg him to spare your life, if you do that, I'll ask them to bring food for you and if I'm feeling benevolent, I might even let you go."

"I'd rather drown than open my mouth to beg you for anything," I snapped at him and I didn't even want him to let me go, there was no place for me to go back to. I had no friend, no family, no nothing, and besides, I had to remain here if I wanted to kill him.

"I see that the starvation hasn't gotten to you and you still have the energy to snap at me," he said in a humorous voice before he bent to my level and all trace of humor left his face as intense rage took over and he grabbed my chin forcefully, forcing me to tilt my head up to meet his eyes and I could feel my skin breaking and blood dripping out of it from where he had grabbed my chin.

I tried not to squirm.

"You must still be delusional enough to think that you're still worth something, Princess," he said in a very dark voice that made fear straighten my spine, "but I hate to break it to you that you're worth nothing.-

Even a housefly is worth more than what you are right now and I'll do so well to establish what you're to you. Your life will never remain the same again, Princess. By the time I'm done with you, by the time you've gone through so much humiliation and degradation that you never thought was possible, by the time you've been whipped and punished so many times that it completely incinerates your previous life, you'll beg for death, you'll beg me to take your life but I'll refuse to grant you your wish."

He dropped my chin with so much force that I fell to the ground before turning back and stalking out of the cell, leaving me shaking with the full extent of his words.

What he doesn't know was that I'd never beg for death, not from him, no matter what he does to me.