Hexes and Handcuffs: A Limited Edition Collection of Supernatural Prison Stories

by Margo Bond Collins

  “It won’t be like this forever,” I repeat. I place my hand on top of Kofu’s where it still rests on my shoulder and my eyes meet his. “I just need to bide my time and then we can leave. We can head to one of the outer kingdoms and make a home for ourselves, make a family of our own.”

  As soon as I gain complete control of my powers we won’t have to deal with this anymore.

  For now, I’m the crown’s weapon and there’s not a thing I can do about it.

  Chapter Four

  I only allow myself another half an hour before I’m back on my feet. I change again, this time into a plain, white shirt without sleeves that melds to my body, firm. I pull on a pair of black pants made of thick leather and find my heavy, black boots, sliding them onto my feet.

  A princess has no time to mope.

  Not to mention that if I don’t show up to my duties, my father will undoubtedly send someone to find me and figure out why.

  Kofu left ten minutes ago, saying that my brother was preparing to leave for a short meeting and he was to be a part of his guard detail.

  With a sigh, I move to the door and lay my head against it, taking a deep breath.

  You won’t always be in this situation, but for now you need to pull it together long enough to not bring any unwanted attention onto yourself. Stay strong and keep moving.

  With a sigh, I pull the door open. Gerald is standing just across the hall and when he sees me, his eyes widen slightly. “Princess.” He moves forward, keeping his voice low. “Your husband told us that you weren’t to leave the room for the rest of the day.”

  I tilt my head at that, glaring at Gerald as I ball my fists up. I may not be the toughest woman around, but I surely don’t appreciate the sentiment that I need a man to make my decisions for me. “Gerald. I am the princess and your boss, not Kofu,” technically my father is his boss, but he doesn’t point it out, “you will listen to me and not question my decisions.”

  “Yes, your highness, I’m so sorry.” He bows slightly in apology.

  “Now, let's go.” I turn on my heels and head down the hallway. Magnus falls in line silently, but I’m sure he heard our discussion. I continue through the familiar halls of the castle, my heart rate picking up as we get closer to the room where I need to be.

  “Aphaedra,” my name spoken softly makes me pause in my tracks and I turn to find Diana standing a couple of feet away.

  Wearing an emerald gown with gold accents and a shiny crown on top of her silky, red waves, she looks like the perfect queen. Even though I know she’s well over a century old, her bronze skin is smooth and she barely looks older than my age of 28.

  Her red lips pull into a smile and she moves closer to me, her green eyes taking me in. “I’ve come to check on you, I heard about the dispute this morning.” She frowns.

  Diana is nothing like my father. A genuinely nice woman who always treated me like her own daughter, she’s taken care of me for the last two decades. If it weren’t for an arranged marriage, I’ve always believed she’d be married to a nice man in a nice little village.

  But instead, her marriage is one of politics.

  “I’m okay,” I assure her. “I’m headed to training.”

  She nods, her gaze not on me but over my shoulder. She continues to look around but it’s only us and the guards in the hall. Still, she grabs my arm and pulls me close to whisper in my ear. “Things are happening around here. I’m not sure what, but you must be careful.”

  I pull back to stare at her face but she’s already painted on the mask of an elegant royal, a wide smile on her face. “Good luck in your training, dear.” And with her vague warning hanging in the air, she leaves.

  I watch after her for a moment, my heart beating quickly for an entirely different reason now. I decide I’ll seek her out later before starting my trek back to the training room, though Diana’s words never leave my mind.

  When we finally make it to the room, the two guards standing on post look at me and nod before opening the double doors in sync. I walk through and the doors close as quickly as they were opened with a resounding thud. Gerald and Magnus remain outside, not allowed past the doors but I’m safe here. It's the only place I can say such a thing with confidence.

  I look around the room, taking in the desks and computers that fill the room. In the middle is a huge, transparent dome and while it’s empty now, it will no longer be the case when I walk in.

  It’s my favorite part of the day.

  “Aphaedra, how are you today?” The words come from the thin woman sitting behind one of the computers. Her eyes are on the screen even as she speaks to me, but her voice is warm.

  “I’m doing okay, Margret.” My eyes return to the dome. “Are you ready for me to enter the simulation?”

  “One second, I need you hooked up today.” Her fingers move rapidly across the keys as another woman enters the room holding a bunch of wires in her hand.

  “Aphaedra.” She bows her head.

  “Lacey.” I greet and out of habit I hold my arms out from my body as she lifts my shirt and starts sticking patches and wires to my body. The first time we went through this process, it made me anxious. Now, I’m only brimming with excitement, knowing what’s coming.

  Lacey places the last patch between my shoulder blades and tucks the small monitor that they’re attached to in the pocket of my pants, securing it by zipping it halfway.

  She steps away and nods to herself before joining Margret at the desk.

  “Okay, we’re good to go,” Margret says, giving me a thumbs up. Her eyes still remain on the computer.

  I move forward and slide open the reinforced glass door. It's made from the thickest, sturdiest glass known to all the kingdoms and so far, despite the constant abuse, it hasn’t failed me yet.

  I slide the door back closed behind me and the warm air rushes over my body.

  “Okay, Aphaedra, we’re just going to go through the regular paces today, so you can go ahead and warm up.” Lacey’s light voice comes through the dome.

  I nod, knowing they can see all my movements on their screen or if they look in front of them.

  I close my eyes briefly, taking a deep breath.

  Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale…

  A buzzing starts along my skin as my heart rate slows and the air around me starts to move quicker, cooling. The buzz turns into a hard crackle, running along my skin, but it’s pleasant and when I open my eyes I see I’m in a forest. The trees shake and tremble as the wind picks up, and up ahead lightning cracks through the sky.

  My limbs feel weightless and I feel free.

  Here, in the dome I can finally let my powers loose and the feeling is exhilarating.

  “Strike the tree furthest from you,” Margret says gently and the words are barely out of her mouth before I’m raising a hand, my eyes on the tree furthest from me, and it's struck.

  The tree splits in half and falls, but it quickly disappears from the simulation.

  “More wind.”

  I blow out a breath as I kick the wind up. It blows my white hair wildly and I’m suddenly weightless as my feet leave the ground. I just barely hover over the ground as I take out another tree.

  “Rain.”

  Lifting my hands above my head, I feel the crack of energy along my skin and pull at it as I imagine hard rainfall.

  One drop splashes onto my skin before I’m covered and it feels amazing.

  “Let up,” Margret says and I follow orders, turning the rain into a light shower.

  We continue to go through the simple paces and the freeing feeling reminds me why I put up with all the shit that I do. One day I’ll be able to control my powers and I won’t have to wait for someone to give me permission to use it.

  Margret has me create a hurricane, my biggest weakness, and at her command I grow it in size before making it smaller. We continue for a little longer before inevitably the simulation disappears and Lacey’s voice comes through the dome. “That’s it for t
he day.”

  Reluctantly, I start to reel in the energy that doesn’t want to be tamed and I let go of the thunderstorm I was in the middle of controlling.

  The dome returns to normal, and I return to an unsatisfied life.

  When I leave the training center, Magnus and Gerald are outside waiting on me. They know that I come here to train but they have no idea about the actual capabilities of my power, my father not wanting there to be anyway word gets back to the other kingdoms.

  We move down the hall and I stare at the ground as we move forward.

  “Aphaedra.” The deep voice makes me stop in my tracks as my heart rate kicks up in my chest.

  Turning, I find a tall man with olive skin standing down the hall. His grey hair hangs from beneath his crown and his shrewd, dark eyes watch me closely.

  I bow at the waist. “Hello, father.”

  Chapter Five

  “I’ve told you not to call me that, it’s King Tempest.”

  People have compared me to my father and when they do, I certainly don’t take it as a compliment.

  “King Tempest,” I grit out, but the frown remains on his weathered face. At 350, he’s much older than Diana and it shows.

  “We must speak, Aphaedra,” is all he says before he turns on his heels and I know I’m expected to follow.

  Things are happening around here. I’m not sure what, but you must be careful.

  For a moment, I consider turning and going the other way as Diana’s words ring through my head. However, I know from experience that such a move would not end well. Most times it ends with the skin torn from my back and a week of not being able to leave the bed afterwards.

  A slight nudge to my side makes me turn to find Magnus giving me an encouraging look. His lips are strained in a fake smile, but I understand the warning all the same.

  I nod sharply before moving forward. My father’s guards keep a barrier between the two of us as if I’d actually try an attack on him.

  I could only hope.

  Our group continues to through the halls and it doesn’t take me long to realize we’re headed toward the throne room. When we get to the golden double doors adorned in red and green jewels and the Tempest family crest, my suspicions are confirmed.

  The guards standing at the door bow before my father before pushing the doors open. Light blooms from within the throne room, an added effect from the tall windows that are always uncovered. They are of course reinforced, anyone thinking of trying to attack the throne from getting in that way, are greatly mistaken.

  In the front of the room are a couple of thrones, the biggest one in the middle belonging to my father, which he quickly claims. Next to his throne is a slightly smaller one where Diana normally sits. It’s noticeably vacant.

  Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for my brother and his wife’s throne.

  Sitting on his throne with his legs crossed at the ankle and his chin propped on his tan hand as he lazily gazes out the window, my brother, Agnus. He is the embodiment of privilege. I’ve always gotten along with him much better than my father but that's not saying much. Yet, from what I know of my brother he seems to love me as much as he’s capable of loving someone. He’s never outright mean or rude and he occasionally includes me in any festivities he was going to.

  His wife, who sits beside him in her silver ball gown, that is way too much for a regular day in with no affairs, glares at me with blue eyes. She pushes her blonde hair out of her face, making sure I feel the full effect of her glare. I stiffen my posture, refraining from giving her a harsh look of my own. Lainey is from Rhauf and her marriage to my brother was one of convenience. A show of peace between the two kingdoms. I once asked my brother if he actually loved her to which he’d laughed.

  However, the woman takes her new position as the next queen of Daeryl very seriously and she hates me. I quickly learned that it was because I was the only threat to the throne.

  Despite being a bastard, if something were to happen to my brother, the throne would fall to me. However, what she doesn’t know is that I’ve never wanted the throne. Plus, my father would find a way to make sure I didn’t sit my ass on his precious throne whether he was dead or alive. He’d fight the devil in hell to make sure of it.

  I turn my head away from Lanie and look at the smallest throne on the opposite side of where the queen usually takes her place. The throne was obviously thrown together lacking any of the fanciness of the others but the fact that it's there at all is a surprise of its own. Of course, where there should be another throne beside it there isn’t.

  Kofu’s duties are to the guard, there’s no reason for him to sit on a throne.

  The argument didn’t last long and while it was expected, it was still an annoyance when the discussion happened.

  The thought of my husband has me pausing as I look at Agnus. His meeting didn’t seem to last long.

  It’s only been a little over two hours since Kofu said they were leaving but I suppose if they used portals to travel it’d make sense that they are already back.

  Pushing the thought from my mind, I move over to my throne and take a seat in the uncomfortable chair, angling my body toward the others.

  “Aphaedra,” my father says, his voice booming, “I understand that you are causing issues with the other women of the court.”

  Great. Another one of these conversations where I’m the villain.

  “No,” I say, keeping my voice steady and even. “The other women pick at me and I let them, like you always tell me to.” Don’t embarrass me or this family with your childish affairs.

  “That’s not what I heard,” Lainey interjects, her gaze cutting across to me.

  “Of course, because Fatima is one of your loyal subjects.” Even those words are a bit much considering how spineless my father prefers for me to act.

  “I will only tell you once more, do not embarrass this family and that goes for your husband too.”

  My brows crinkle at that. While I may be troublesome in my father’s eyes, he’s never had a problem with Kofu as long as he sticks to the shadows of being a guard.

  “Excuse me?”

  I’m surprised when my brother is the one to lean forward and look at me. His grey gaze is cold and steely as his eyes lock with mine. “Yes, father is right, your husband has been sticking his nose where it does not belong and you should speak with him about it.” The words are simple but the warning is clear.

  What in the hell happened with Kofu to piss my brother off?

  Chapter Six

  My father doesn’t keep me long after the warning from him and my brother. On my way out of the throne room, I pass by Diana. I try to meet her eyes, as the two warnings I now have whirl through my mind, but she avoids my gaze.

  Magnus and Gerald follow me to my chambers and bid me a good evening once we get to the doors, since the day has already quickly gone by.

  When I walk into our room, Kofu isn’t there which is odd, since I didn’t see him with the rest of my brother’s guard in the throne room. With a frown, I decide to wait up for him and quickly wash up, pulling on a silk nightgown.

  After an hour, he still isn’t back and I get under the covers, grabbing a book from my nightstand to read over as I wait.

  The words all blend together, and I can’t remember what I read the second my eyes move to the next sentence and soon I find my eyes drifting closed.

  When the door to the bedroom opens with a thud and I jump, I realize I’ve drifted off to sleep. I’m just barely able to make out the silhouette of Kofu as he tries to silently enter our room.

  “Where have you been?” I ask, my words strained with sleep.

  Kofu pauses and the door to the room closes. “Don’t worry about it, my love.” His voice is low and gentle but there’s still something off with his words.

  “Kofu-”

  “Shh.” He wanders over to the bed and in the dark of the night, I can’t make out any of his features. He slides under the covers ne
xt to me and the usual scent of berries that seems to stick to his skin washes over me along with the not so nice smell of something metallic.

  “Kofu-”

  “Not tonight,” he cuts me off again. The heat of his body against mine is slightly comforting as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, but I can still tell that something is wrong.

  There’s a slight dampness to his shirt and when I move to turn on the lamp to see better, he holds me tighter, refusing to let me go. “Rest Aphaedra, we will talk in the morning.”

  The meeting in the throne room pushes to the forefront of my mind along with Diana’s warning. “Does this have something to do with my brother?”

  Silence.

  His chest moves against my back as he lets out a deep sigh. “We will talk in the morning,” he repeats and one of his hands moves to stroke my jaw. “For now, just rest, please.” The last word is a plea.

  “Fine.” I can tell that whatever is going on is really worrying him and if he says we’ll discuss it in the morning, then we will. For now, I’ll let it go. “Goodnight. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” A soft kiss to my forehead is all I remember before I’m dozing back off.

  I wake to the sound of something hitting the floor and sunlight radiating into the room. I place a hand over my eyes, trying to block out the light before letting out a groan as another thud goes through the room.

  I rub at my eyes and when I open them, I find Kofu at our closet with bags in his hand. I watch as he shoves an assortment of my pants into one of the bags before dropping it on the ground next to two other full bags.

  Alert, I throw the covers off. “Kofu, what are you doing?” I question as I move over to him.

  His back is to me and he tenses when he hears me moving toward him. “We need to leave, Aphaedra.”

  “What?” Maybe I’m still half asleep and didn’t hear him right.

  “We need to leave Daerel,” he says and this time I know it's no mistake.