Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 61: To The Dungeons

Chapter 61: To The Dungeons

"Your Highness, are you sure you want to do this?" Maisie asked, biting her lip anxiously as she carried a huge basket of bandages and healing salves while Daphne led them both to the dungeons.

"You’re still not feeling well. What’s more, you should be resting! And the king... the king wouldn’t like it." Maisie fretted, her eyes darting around as though expecting Atticus to pop out from around the corner.

Maisie had nearly collapsed when she first heard what Daphne wanted to do. She could definitely gather bandages and borrow healing tinctures for her queen. But visiting the dungeons? Entering Viscount Eugene Attonson’s cell to treat his wounds?

She could think of nothing more disastrous!

Maisie wasn’t there in the throne room when Viscount Attonson was sent to the dungeons but the servants whispered that the king was so furious he beat Viscount Attonson hard enough that he spewed blood.

Maisie wasn’t a smart girl by normal means but even she knew that helping Viscount Attonson would be tantamount to spitting in the king’s face. But she also couldn’t let her queen go off alone.

Daphne stopped. Any hope that Maisie had of her queen changing her mind was immediately dashed as she said, "And his opinion matters naught to me."

It turns out that the queen had simply stopped to catch her breath before continuing her long trek down the dungeons.

"Wait!" Maisie screamed as she saw Sir Jonah approach.

"Your Highness, we have to hide!" she said in a panic, nearly dropping the basket. If Sir Jonah found out about her queen’s plans to help, he’d report it to King Atticus and then the both of them would be in the dungeons faster than Maisie could blink! At that point, they would definitely be joining Lord Attonson for sure!

Or it would be just Maisie in the dungeons. She wasn’t the woman the king was in love with, after all.

"Don’t worry about it, he’s helping us," Daphne said confidently.

Maisie didn’t believe it, but then she saw with her own eyes that Sir Jonah was indeed escorting the princess! She toddled behind them, still holding the basket as they made their way to the dungeons.

"Does the king know we’re here?" Maisie asked worriedly.

"He knows I’m with the princess," Sir Jonah replied easily.

"Oh, good. That’s a relief." Maisie smiled, thinking that they had Atticus’s support.

Meanwhile, Daphne’s lips quirked slightly as she caught the underlying meaning.

Jonah didn’t tell Atticus where Daphne was going or what she wanted to do.

"Yeah," Jonah said with a wry grin. "Wouldn’t want him to blow his top again, right, Your Highness?"

Daphne smiled too. "We are in complete agreement."

With Jonah at her arm, it was a lot easier to walk to the dungeons. Jonah had even brought an extra cloak with him, just in case Daphne needed an extra layer of warmth in the cold dungeons. But there was still an unnatural heat coursing through her veins; even a walk to the dungeons had caused beads of sweat to form from exertion.

"Eugene!" Daphne called out as they finally arrived at the foot of the stairs. She let go of Jonah’s arm to grab at the bars. "How are you?"

Eugene Attonson was still lying on the floor but he jolted awake when he heard a familiar voice. "Your Highness? Is it really you?"

"Of course! I promised I would help you, didn’t I?" Daphne then turned around. "Jonah, let me in!"

Eugene had to do a double-take when he saw Sir Jonah of the Kingsguard, King Atticus’s sworn sword appear from the darkness. In his hand was the key to his cell.

"Sir Jonah? My eyes must be fooling me. Either that or this is a very vivid hallucination," Eugene mused to himself.

But not even his mind could have conjured the sight of Sir Jonah actually unlocking his cell, only for the princess herself to enter. Following her was her maid, and then Sir Jonah himself entered the cell― and he even made sure to lock it again!

Eugene had to laugh. Did Jonah think he was up to escaping in his condition?

Technically he could. But why should he, when so many people made the effort to visit him?

"How are you feeling?" Daphne asked worriedly as she looked over Eugene, a roll of bandages in her hand.

He still looked pale and wan, and there was dried blood around his face and body. His bruises looked like a horrific patchwork of purples and blues that made Maisie gasp in horror. It was obvious that the king knew not of mercy when he had exacted his punishment on this poor man.

A shiver ran down Maisie’s spine, realizing that this could be her fate as well if the king found out that she had led the queen down here to meet this prisoner.

Yet, despite his array of injuries, there was a light in Eugene Attonson’s eyes that wasn’t present before.

"Better now that you’re here." Eugene said honestly, "I wasn’t expecting you to actually show up. Let alone with Sir Jonah."

"You and I both," Jonah retorted, eyeing Eugene with no small amount of distaste. "Good to see you’re still alive."

His instincts always blared around this man. If it were any other occasion, he would never have been willing to be stuck in a small enclosed space with him, if not for Daphne. The only thing worse than spending time with Eugene Attonson was letting Eugene experience quality bonding time with Daphne alone.

Who knew what kind of lies he could feed her? This man was known to be a snake, skilled in spreading false information and rumors. The greatest evidence was that he even had the ability to manipulate Daphne into offering her friendship despite their rocky introduction.

Eugene Attonson was not a man to be trusted, especially around someone as innocent as Daphne.

"No thanks to your liege," Eugene said honestly. He tried to shrug but winced as the action tugged on the injured muscles. "He hit me harder than the kidnappers did."

Daphne’s hands stilled. Then she hurriedly grabbed a bottle of healing salve and poured it all over Eugene’s bruises, causing him to hiss due to the sudden sharp pain. But before she could massage it into his skin, Jonah grabbed her by the hand.

"Let Maisie do it, Your Highness. This is beneath you," Jonah quickly said, gesturing for Maisie to step up, to which the latter obeyed immediately.

Inside his head, Jonah thought, ’And Atticus would destroy all of us if he found out you touched another man.’

"Oh, what’s this talk about being above or beneath something?" Daphne chided. Yet, she made no move to fight Jonah on this and shuffled slightly to one side, allowing Maisie to access Eugene’s wounds better. It would indeed be stressful on her legs to squat at that angle for so long and it didn’t look like the first aid for Eugene’s injuries would be ending anytime soon. "He’s a friend."

"It’s better for Maisie to do it." Jonah explained, almost as if reading Daphne’s mind, "You have to take care of your body as well, Your Highness."

The maid worked quickly and efficiently, making good use of the bandages and salves to help clean up Lord Attonson’s bruises and wounds much swifter than if Daphne had done so herself. Once she was done, the salves and bandages had been almost all used up.

"Have some," Daphne said, pulling a few bowls and plates of food from one of the baskets Maisie had brought down. She took one look at the grub that had been served to the prisoners, sneering at the glob of unidentifiable gray mush in a broken bowl. "You’ll need proper food to regain your strength."

It was heart-wrenching to watch the way Eugene lunged at the food as if he hadn’t had proper sustenance in years. The sandwiches and fruits that they had brought down were finished within mere minutes― not even crumbs remained on the emptied dishes.

Eugene sighed in satisfaction, patting his stomach.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "I’ve not had such a good meal in a while."

"You say that as though we don’t feed you here," Jonah grumbled under his breath with a scoff.

Daphne only rolled her eyes as she pointed to the gray matter on the ground next to the cells. "Would you eat that, then?"

That quickly shut Jonah up.

When Daphne turned to look at Eugene, her smile was much softer. "We’ll be back tomorrow to change your bandages."

"We will not― Ouch!" Jonah grumbled, holding onto his ribcage as he pouted at Daphne’s death glare.

The woman merely scowled, a silent warning passing between them. On the other hand, Maisie knew to keep her silence, collecting and packing away the dishes and medical supplies back into the baskets, prepped to leave any time Daphne was ready to.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Eugene sincerely said. "I am grateful for all of this."

***

"His Majesty will not take kindly to all you’re doing for that man," Jonah warned as they climbed the stairs that led out of the dungeons.

Maisie had taken on the job of holding onto Daphne as a form of support, helping to take the weight off her feet as much as possible. Jonah, on the other hand, helped carry the baskets.

"He does not take kindly to anything," Daphne retorted with a snort. "What would he do when he finds out, then? Kill me?"

"When I find out about what?"