Hours past and not much was spoken between them as Iolas attempted to pick the lock. As time went by Iolas grew more and more frustrated, as the lock in his hands refused to cooperate in any capacity.

"If the locksmith who made this blasted thing is still alive when this is all over, I am going to find him, and I'm going to beat him to death with it!"
Iolas growled in frustration.
"Well, I might just knight him. Say what you will, and as dire as our circumstance is, that is quality Aelford craftsmanship right there."
Adelaide did her best to joke in an attempt to make the prince feel even a little better, despite how awful she felt herself.

Iolas took in another breath, resting his head against the bar, his neck and back aching from hunching and straining to reach the keyhole of the almost oversized lock on the door.
Frustrated with himself and in an effort to restore faith in his abilities, he moved over to the corner of the room and moved his arm through those bars to reach the lock on the empty, adjoining cell.
With a cruel click, the other lock popped open in an almost absurdly short amount of time.

Iolas let out another cry of frustration, but this one louder, longer and filled with more emotion than all the previous. Leaving the pick jammed in the adjacent lock, Iolas pulled his hands back through the bar and rubbed them together. After hours of twiddling, his hands ached, his fingers were quite sore, red, and had long ago begun to blister.
"I'm sorry Adelaide, I'll keep trying, just give me a moment." Iolas said, turning around and sliding down until he was seated on the floor with his back against the bars of the cell door.

"Take as much time as you need, but please know that I wont be angry with you if you cant open it."
She reassured.
"Why not?"
He grumbled.
"You have so much to be angry with me for already, at least if I could open this and give you your freedom, I could give you something instead of taking it."
Adelaide felt her stomach clench at his familer words, which unknown to him, nearly mirrored what he had said to her last night in their moment of passion.

"Please Adelaide..."
She remembered how her name had escaped his lips as he had begged to kiss her with a broken desperation.
"Allow me to give you some pleasure for once, instead of just pain."

Flashbacks ensued of the passions that had followed. Feeling another rush of heat to her cheeks, she turned her head before he could see her blush.
The overwhelming emotion was such a sharp suprising contrast to the glum and resignation that she had been dwelling silently upon all day.
She stifled a sigh, but was unable to stifle her bodies reaction to the very vivid images and feelings now replaying inside her mind.
A change it was indeed, but she suddenly realized, a welcomed one.
The momentary distraction those pleasant memories provided, along with the physical rush that came with them gave her burdened mind a few inches of freedom, and in that moment, the big knot of fear that had been turning in her stomach all day, gave way.

She remembered how incredible his lips had felt not just upon her mouth, but her skin as well.
She had kissed Simon dozens, if not a hundred times during their courtship, and each had been wonderful,  but never once had she experienced such a overwhelming, sinful, and desperate reaction as she had while trapped beneath her former nemesis the previous night.

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, taking in his body from behind a curtain of red hair.
Frustrated, hunched and disheveled from hours of trying to free them did nothing to curb what a truly breathtaking specimen he was. In an instant she was overcame by a sudden, overwhelming desire to crawl accross the floor into his arms, and barrage his lips, neck and chest with hard kisses. To steal another few moments of desperate, carnal pleasure from their dire circumstance like she had the night before. It came to her without warning, and realizing what she was thinking, she bit her tongue and jerked her head away sharply.

"Are you alright?" Iolas began to ask upon hearing a strangled noise that she had badly trapped it in her throat, but before she could answer, or he could comment on how flushed the fair skinned princess had inexplicably become, the sounds of heavy footsteps informed them that someone was on there way down the steps to the brig.

"The pick!" Adelaide shrieked in a whisper, remembering the piece of metal that he had abandoned in the next door lock. Iolas eyes went wide, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, but it was too late, the door opened and Groaa entered holding a plate of food, and a pitcher of water.
Iolas and Adelaide shared a look of panic, as he approached.
Iolas straightened out the front of his jacket, praying to gods he didn't believe in that the piece of stray metal would not be discovered.

"Good evening Groaa. What's on the menu tonight?"
He caught the attention of the barbarian, hoping to hold his focus.
"Better than you deserve."
Answered the brute, but despite his words, he seemed to be in a less foul mood than usual as he set down their food.
"It would be scraps if it were up to me, but the Captain says that we have got to keep her plump and healthy for breeding."
His words sliced into her, and the intense fear of rape that had been stewing within her all day, began to boil once more.
"Not too much longer to go on that it seems. They are pulling up the anchors now."

Satisfied with the fear he saw his words had enticed from the meek looking foreigner queen, Groaa left. Once the door closed, Iolas retrieved the pickm The prince then let out his own sigh of relief, collapsing onto the floor. It was only then that he realized that he had been trembling.

"Are you alright?"
It was her turn to ask, despite her own current state of anxiety.
This question made him let out a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I'm alright. It just seems that I'm not used to being on this end of fear."
He reached for the bowl and stood up to bring it to her.
"Let's eat."

Groaa had not lied, just as Iolas sat down into the bed of furs beside her, the usually quiet upper deck came alive with noises signaling an imminent departure. The rattling of chains as the anchor was pulled up alongside the ship could clearly be heard.
To overwhelmed to make conversation, but to hungry to turn away the food, Adelaide began to eat.
The ship soon began to move, taking her further and further from her freedom and homeland.

As they silently ate, Adelaide was once again consumed by her thoughts. They overpowered her to the point that she could not even taste the terrible food she was now mindlessly eating.
They had left the shores of Aelford, and with it, likely any and all hope for escape; like the lock on the cell door, her fate felt sealed.
Too much had happened to her in the last few days for her to think about anything other than copulation;
both Groaa's terrifying threats and Iolas's sensual confessions raced through her mind like a pair of speeding Roman chariots.

The visions of her seemingly inescapable and soon forthcoming lifetime of rape frightened her more than anything else ever had; yet the sinful effect her former villian had on her body had made her feel more alive than ever before.
Unbearable pain and undeniable pleasure, two polar opposite ends of a previously unfathomable scale that was now balancing precariously inside her mind.

Iolas, once her greatest enemy, had become her most loyal ally, but she realized now, he was more than that. He had become a friend, a protector, someone to take comfort in and share the burden of this awful war.
How ironic,
She thought.
He had gone from the one trying to take everything from her, to being the only thing she had left.
Well, not the only thing.
She suddenly realized, and moment of clarity came over her, washing away all the chaos, and it was in that moment that she made a decision.

"Iolas?" She spoke up from her trance.
"Yes?" He answered, picking up the now empty plate and moving off the bed.
"I must ask something of you."
Adelaide continued, taking his hand in hers.

She look more determined than he had ever seen. He glanced down at her hand,  her serious tone of voice and the ease of which she was now clasping at his fingers filled his stomach with dread.
"Highness," He began unsteadily,
"I know our circumstances look bleak, and I know it is the most honorable way out, historically speaking, but I beg of you, please dont ask me to kill you."

"What?! No! That is not what I was going to ask at all." Her brows furrowed. Did he really think she was about to ask him for a suicide pact?
Relief washed over him.
"Thank goodness."
He sighed, taking her hand with both of his and giving it a firm squeeze.
"Okay then, what is it?"

Adelaide took in a deep breath, and forced the words from her chest with a powerful exhale.
"I want you to take my virtue."

___________________________________

A/N: WHAT?!? What just happened? I can barely believe it myself, and I wrote it? What could make our proper queen make such a statement? How do you think this will go over?
Find out in the next update.
(Please dont forget to vote and comment)
All my love,
-QueenOfGeeks