Chapter 224: Maple's Cell

Maple's cell was filled with gore. Adrianna didn't have problems finding her memories. When she entered the floor of her mind, she found that Maple's mental shield was a huge mass of black and red globules that bombarded her the moment she entered. At first Adrianna dodged them when the globules charged at her with enormous speed. But it took merely five seconds for Adrianna to study their pattern and she just waved her hands for all of them to burst before they collided with her. Every time they burst, she would hear Maple's blood-curdling shrieks from the outside. The shrieks came from a great distance. Adrianna smirked. The globules stopped charging towards and everything became still. 

Adrianna was surprised when she saw that her cell was full of vague memories. Nothing was segued, as it should have been. It was as if someone had already swept through her mind and that too in a hurry. And Adrianna wondered if this was the reason Maple appeared paler than most other prisoners. She sifted through the memories, which were related to her and came across the time when Iona was kidnapped. There was nothing registered in her mind about that. Adrianna was shocked. 

She continued to search for some information about Iona but Maple's mind had nothing about her. Did that mean that someone visited her mind already? The only other person who could do that was Ileus, but she knew that her capability was more enhanced. And why would Ileus do that? While scanning around, she suddenly balked. She found Maple whipping a small girl… brutally. Adrianna's hair rose in her nape and stomach plummeted to her feet. 

The child looked at Adrianna with her soft blue eyes and Adrianna's heart lurched. Where were her parents who weren't protecting her? Thinking it might be an illusion, Adrianna moved on, but then she saw another memory. In this memory, Maple had shackled the girl's hands to a wall with chains and was whipping her. In this memory the child was older. There were several such and Adrianna's body shuddered. Anastasia…? And in every such memory, her parents weren't there. The child suffered alone… she was so desolate… In yet another memory she saw an older version of a child watching someone getting maimed—a fae who looked at the child with fondness and pity. 

Adrianna had visited cells of crazy people, mad convicts and sometimes at the risk of being mentally disturbed, but this… this was beyond comparison. Her lips quivered and her chin shook when in yet another cell she saw Maple taking a red-hot iron and scorching a trail of burn on her belly as the girl screamed with pain. She felt like retching. 

All at once dread made her hair rise. She felt an ominous presence behind her. She whipped her head back but saw a tendril of black smoke that disappeared immediately. It was so momentary that Adrianna thought she had imagined it. Her breath hitched. 

Adrianna was… stunned when on further probing she found absolutely nothing of value to her. It was bothersome because it meant that someone had already cleaned Maple's important memories and had done so in a hurry. She didn't waste any more time and came out.

When Adrianna came out of Maple's cell, she looked at her slumped body. Blood was oozing out of her mouth and nose. She was unconscious. Adrianna stepped out of her prison and ivy crawled back into space. However, before leaving, Adrianna cast another layer of spell on her prison. Upon questioning the guards whether anyone visited her or not, they gave blank expressions.

Shaken and disturbed, Adrianna got out of the prison. Haldir followed her. Just before they exited the jail premises, she ordered him, "Arrange a meeting with Aed Ruad. Tell him we have Maple." 

--- 

"But it is ridiculous to give Maple back to Aed Ruad," Anastasia almost yelled at Ileus. "If she goes back, they will regain their fallen soldier—one who is powerful. Maple has control over all the rogues of Sgiath Biò. Not only that she is a half demon. It would be their victory if we simply hand over Maple to them!" Anastasia was pacing in and out of the room. She didn't like the idea of her mother-in-law. "We have captured her after much difficulty and your mother wants to simply give her away?" 

They had come back after a training session in which Ileus had unshackled her wings. The training that she had done with Iskra without wings, Ileus had asked her to emulate that with wings. And Anastasia found that it wasn't easy to handle things with her wings. Unless she had enough power to beat her wings and fly in the air like other faes, she felt restricted. And Ileus was a formidable opponent—he was Iskra multiplied by ten. There was not a single stroke of her sword and dagger and spear that he didn't dodge and then even attacked back. After their four-hour session when she dragged her wings back to their chamber, she heard the news that Adrianna had called Aed Ruad to Draoidh. 

With his arms crossed across his chest, Haldir was standing on the doorway. His entire frame had blocked the door and he had a dark visage. His jaws clenched when Anastasia shouted about Adrianna's decision. It had been two days since Adrianna had investigated Maple's cell. 

"Anastasia I am sure that Mother must have thought out a plan," said Ileus.

Anastasia countered. She waved her hand in the air with a jerk. "And do you think that Aed Ruad is an imp to simply come to Draoidh—the place that has her greatest adversaries, the place where I am waiting to kill him—and talk to your mother? Have you taken him for a fool? Etaya had planned all this and more even before her children were born. If you think that Aed Ruad is going to come here, then you are mistaken. They would send some royal emissaries to get Maple back! Don't commit the folly of sending her back! And even if he comes, I will—"

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