Chapter Text
The chains cut into his skin.
“They will be removed soon,” Helen said. “They are for your protection.”
Elias had to frown at that. “My protection? Not yours?”
Her thin lips formed a joyless smile, but she did not answer him. “I assume you know why you are here?” she asked instead.
He could not resist testing the strength of the chains around his wrists, but to no avail. “Yes,” he said at last. “Those were the terms of the peace treaty. I am to be a sacrifice for my people.”
“Good.” She snapped her fingers. “Bring the first.”
The doors opened, and two burly guards entered, an older soldier that Elias recognized. “My lord!” the man cried out. He was dirty and thin, but otherwise unharmed.
“Silence,” Helen ordered. She had not shifted her gaze from Elias, and he met her eyes without fear. “What does it mean,” she asked him, “to be a sacrifice?”
“To die to save them,” he said steadily.
“Incorrect,” she said. “You will do anything, everything to save them. Anything I order.”
He frowned a little. “Of course,” he said. Wasn’t that obvious?
She shook her head lightly. “You do not understand. Let me show you.” She stood and crossed the room. “Come to the end of your chains,” she ordered.
Confused, Elias did so.
“Another step,” she said.
He obeyed, the extra distance pulling his arms and head back so that his chest jutted out and there was no give to the chains.
She raised her hand lightly, and she was still far enough from Elias that he did not feel the impulse to flinch. But she did not strike him. Instead, she crossed the space between them until her fingertips grazed his cheek, their touch feather-light. She trailed a finger down his nose, brushed the unkempt curls back from his forehead, and traced the line of his jaw.
She smiled. “You are so lovely,” she said. “I remember seeing you at court, years ago, when we were both children. You were so beautiful even then, with your ruddy cheeks and your shining smile.”
“I remember you too,” he said.
“Do you?”
“You always wore cold colors. Blue and grey and green, like the sea. You rode your white mare for hours, even though the winter was bitterly cold. You were just a girl, but you rode like a man.”
“You do remember,” she said.
He grinned. “You leave an impression.”
Something in her gaze shifted, and she extended the back of her hand to him. “Kiss my hand,” she said.
He was taken aback. “What?”
Her expression was unreadable. “You will regret it if you refuse me.”
What more could they do to me? he thought ruefully, but he strained against the collar holding him back and managed to press his lips to her cold skin. “There,” he said. “But I still don’t understand.”
“We will undress you,” she said. “You will not resist.”
And he didn’t, even as two more of the endless guards approached with shears and sliced his tattered garments from his frame. He stood naked, his skin prickling at the sudden exposure to the cold air, and his cheeks flushing a little with shame.
It didn’t matter, he told himself. He had only to endure it a little longer, and then they would execute him.
Helen’s feather-light touch continued to explore his body as his muscles jumped and spasmed out of his control. The old soldier was watching him silently, tears trickling down his wizened face. Elias closed his eyes and tried not to react as Helen traced the line of his sternum, the dips in his collarbone, the muscles of his abdomen…
He barely had time to worry if she would go lower before she was resting a cool, possessive hand on the hollow of his throat, startling him into opening his eyes.
“Your body is as beautiful as the rest of you,” Helen said. “You asked me to dance once, you know.”
“You refused me,” Elias reminded her.
“I didn’t.” She cocked her head. “I said, ‘Later.’”
“But we never danced.”
She stepped toward him, and he had to strain his neck to look up at her. “We will,” she said. “Kneel.”
He gritted his teeth, but he knelt. The cobblestones were cold and hard on his knees.
She raised her hand again, and this time he had to stop himself from flinching. “Open your mouth,” she ordered.
Elias was beginning to shiver. Whether it was from the chill of the castle, or the looming queen above him, he couldn’t say. He opened his mouth.
Slowly, Helen slid two fingers into his mouth, their cold length pressing along his tongue until they pressed against the back of his throat and he gagged.
“Control yourself,” she said.
He managed not to withdraw, and he managed to keep his throat from seizing, even as tears welled in his eyes from the sensation.
“So beautiful,” Helen murmured. “Now suck.”
The spell broke, and he yanked his head back and scrambled to his feet. “Stop it,” he snapped. “Just kill me. There’s no need to play this sick game.”
“I will never kill you,” Helen said. “You are the sacrifice for your people. You will do anything to save them. Anything I order.”
He stared at her.
She smiled, like a snake baring its fangs in warning. “You are beginning to understand.” She extended her hand again. “Follow my order, or you will regret it.”
“You’re mad,” he managed. “My father didn’t send me here to-” Helen snapped her fingers, and the guards pushed the old soldier to his knees. When they slit his throat, the blood spattered Elias’ naked body, so hot it felt like sparks against his chilled skin. “No!” he screamed. He threw his full weight against the chains, but they didn’t give. “We have a treaty! You cannot-”
“I can,” Helen said coldly. “If you will not act as sacrifice, then the war will continue. This is exactly what was agreed upon.”
“I-” Elias was dizzy. “That’s not what we meant…”
Helen snapped her fingers again, and the guards let the old man fall to the ground. His life’s blood coursed between the cobblestones in every direction until Elias was standing in a river of it, and the guards were replaced by the next two, this time dragging a weeping young woman. With a sick feeling, Elias realized he knew her too. She had worked in the kitchens, and always sneaked him extras.
When the woman saw the old soldier’s body, she shrieked and struggled in her captor’s hold. “Please, my lord,” she begged. “Save me, please!”
Helen turned back to Elias. “Do you understand now?”
He wet his lips. “Stop,” he pled. He clenched his hands into fists and, after the longest moment of resistance he dared, he knelt. “I’ll do it,” he managed.
He opened his mouth, and Helen pushed in, her fingers just as cold and heavy.
The young woman from the kitchens stilled, confused. “My… My lord?” she breathed.
This time, when Helen pushed against the back of his throat, he couldn’t control himself. His empty stomach seized, and bile came coursing up. He instinctively pulled away from Helen and vomited onto the floor, his body wrenched backwards by the chains and the meager contents of his stomach splattering into the old soldier’s cooling blood. It was almost enough to send him retching again, but he forced himself to breathe and look up at Helen.
“Please,” he managed, his throat burning. “Don’t kill her. I can do it.”
She wiped the tears from his cheeks and smiled. When she smiled like that, she was almost beautiful. “I know you can,” she said. Her fingers invaded his mouth again, three of them this time, and he managed, finally, to suck.
“Good,” she murmured, stroking his hair. “I am not cruel, Prince Elias. I will never ask too much of you, and I will never punish failure. I will even, to an extent, tolerate your inevitable moments of resistance. It will take time, after all, for you to adjust to your role in this treaty. I understand that. In fact, I look forward to it.” She shifted her hand, forcing him to tilt his head back. Her fingers pressed, again, and his throat seized. He gagged and coughed against her palm, but he did not break away from her or vomit. “Good,” she murmured again. “You see? I value obedience. And I will only punish you if you disobey.”
He felt the heat of fresh tears course down his cheeks.
“Do you understand now,” she asked again, “what it is to be a sacrifice?”
He nodded, the edges of his mouth stretched uncomfortably around the width of her hand.
Her other hand traced the straining cords of his neck, and the juddering muscles of his shoulders. “So beautiful,” she breathed again, and then she let him go. He did not dare to scramble backwards away from her, although he wanted to, and he managed only to shrink from her a little as she bent down and pressed a kiss to his filthy forehead. “I’m so glad it was you,” she breathed, her breath cool against his flushed skin, and then straightened.
And then she was gone, and her guards with her, and only Elias and the body of the old soldier were left in the cold, barren room.