Without another word he had left, sidling out of the room and her eyes immediately went up. The fact that he needed to mark her made it very clear that escape was an option for her, but she didn't think the chain itself was possible to break. It was very similar to the golden chain Epharis used, and she made a mental note to strangle him for his stupid invention.
It was a narrow and low cavern, only ten feet high at most and she contemplated the ring above her. It was just out of her reach, but she didn't have to touch it for her to be able to pull herself free.
Letting out a slow breath, her muscles tensed, and backed away as much as was possible, stepping forward and using the momentum to pull herself up, her body curling in, and lifting her feet up above her head to rest against the ceiling.
There was no helping her dress that ended up around her underarms, but she was at least wearing undergarments.
Her wrists burned, though there was no helping it, her fingers curled around the lengths of chains as she crouched in the limited space.
Letting out a slow breath, she strained her legs. Her shoulders screaming as she pulled at the hoop. A little puff of dust appeared around the edges of the ring but it stubbornly refused to budge.
Growling softly, she took a short break and slid her feet around for a better angle, her entire body aching and her head beginning to throb as all of her blood rushed to her brain.
She tried again, a larger puff of dust appearing, and she felt it shifting slightly. Triumphant, she froze at a scuff. Looking up, she immediately dropped her legs and swung down, her dress settling down around her only a moment before two figures sidled into the room.
Vincent watched her curiously, her red cheeks alerting him to something, but she only smiled, trying to keep his attention off her red-purple hands.
"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" she asked conversationally, drawing his attention back from the ceiling as he searched for signs that she was trying to escape, but there was nothing.
"Elder, this is the woman," Vincent said.
There was no sign of the elder's face as he was wearing a full cover mask while Vincent's only covered two thirds of his.
This mask was a silvery white with gold paint decorating a good portion of it in a series of somehow aggressive-looking shapes, with lips painted entirely gold. He had even painted eyebrows onto it in solid gold lines, and the underside of the eyes were decorated with wavy lines that reminded her of a child's drawing of the sun.
It was fascinating to look at, as more detail jumped out at her with the more time she spent looking at it. The man inside only grunted as he approached her, and considering he had been given the title of elder, he did not move like an elderly man. He strode forward, his fingers creepily long, more like a spider than a hand as he clutched her face and forced her to look into the black eye holes in the mask.
"Do none of you understand the concept of personal space?" she complained, but the men ignored her, instead he turned her head sharply to examine her face and ears, hair and neck.
As he released her, his fingers curled in the front of her dress, and she jerked forward as he ripped the fabric down the front.
Remaining silent, her glare was murderous as he ripped the fabric down and then tore off the shoulders to throw the fabric into the corner, leaving her almost entirely naked.
His head dropped as he examined her body, circling her before looking to Vincent and they seemed to communicate silently.
The smell of the elder was thick with blood, yet his hands were dry and there was no sign of blood on him.
"Get her cleaned up," the elder said, looking back to her and tilting his head to the side. "Doesn't look like much of a Queen."
She glared at him in silence before he stalked from the room, Vincent following after while flashing an appreciative grin that left his eye glittering.
***
Within the hour he had returned, and she snarled as a bucket of frigid water was thrown on her, washing away the blood but leaving her cold.
Again, and again water was thrown on her and Vincent seemed to be taking great enjoyment in the task, as he dipped the bucket into a narrow, long trough and dumped the last one over her head.
She gasped, straining against the chain to try to get away from him but she was trapped. She knew better than to try to harm him again as the threat of binding her feet down was very real and that would make it impossible for her to escape.
With the bath empty, she stood dripping and shivering in the middle of the room, bloody water covering the floor and walls around her.
Without a word, he dropped the bucket into the trough and approached her, his eyes intent on hers as he extended his hand and drew a single line of red down her chest, as though daring her to complain or try to fight him. She only gritted her teeth, glaring at him, but she refused to fight and risk him containing her better.
Content with his work, he smiled in his amusement and turned to leave.
"You know they will come looking for me," she said, causing the Hunter to stop in his reach for a rope handle at the end of the trough and look around at her with a malicious grin.
"Good, we are hoping for a good meal," he said, making her frown at him, not understanding what he meant but his grin made it click. They were meat eaters, and he was hoping to eat her friends if they came looking for her.
The threat made her laugh, but she wasn't entirely sure if her friends were even able to find her there in the caves. She had no idea where they were.
It was a question only time would be able to answer, her gaze returning to the ceiling as he left, dragging the trough along behind him until the sound of scraping vanished.
Immediately she set to work trying to free herself once more, first dropping her legs for her weight to jerk sharply on the chain and the ring.
It felt looser, but her weight wasn't enough to pull it free and so she hoisted herself back up to crouch against the ceiling, straining against the chain until her body ached with it. Finally, there was a grinding sound and her back hit the floor with a solid thump that knocked the wind out of her.
She hadn't realised it would come free so suddenly and she gasped for air before hurrying to her feet.
Bundling up the chain, she looked at the sharp point of the ring and smiled as she started for the narrow passage and slipped out of it easily.
Finding herself in a natural corridor, she looked left and then right in the hopes of finding the way out but neither gave her the answer she wanted. Vincent had gone right, judging by the scrape marks, and so she decided to go left, if only to avoid him.
It was dim inside the corridor, lit only by a torch at either end and she passed silently, picking her way along. As much as she was curious about a second and third little passage that seemed to be an opening much like her own room, she ignored them.
The corridor ended in another and she frowned as she looked down them both, again finding nothing to indicate one way would lead her to freedom while the other would lead to danger. She cursed silently at the uniformity of the place.
The cave system seemed to be natural, but she had never seen anything like it before, making her think it was likely designed to look natural rather than actually being natural, especially given the ground was so smooth when compared to the jagged ceiling high above. There were also no stalactites to suggest it was a living mountain cavern.
Deciding to go right this time, she headed down the passage with the ring gripped tight in her fingers, ready to stab the pointy end into whomever stepped out. But she knew that was probably the end of her escape plan, considering how hard it was to kill the Hunters, and their ability to use blood magic meant she was vulnerable.
A soft sound came from inside one of the little passages, drawing her to a stop, glancing at it.
Deciding to explore inside it, she found it to be empty, and she frowned at the sound she had heard. There seemed to be nothing at all that could have made the sound.