Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
SEBASTIAN
Itook one look at her, and that was all the motivation I needed to explode on the two assholes standing over her mutilated body.
Her face was almost unrecognizable from the mix of bruising, swelling, and bleeding. She was still awake, but so lifeless that it wouldn't be long before she was completely comatose.
I gestured to Sawyer with my head. “Take her upstairs and send someone to find Pia. I'll take care of these assholes.”
It took everything in me to not stay with her, but I needed to ensure these two got what they deserved. And for the sake of my sanity, I needed to be the one to do it.
Sawyer nodded and rushed to Maeve's side. I watched him scoop her safely into his arms, then didn't allow myself to focus any more attention on her—not right now. I had business with the royal advisor to take care of.
I turned towards Lucan and the second year soldier, whose name I believed to be Calvin. They both looked absolutely terrified of me. Smart men. They should be.
“I’ll give you ten seconds to explain before I fucking kill you both,” I snarled.
Lucan began to stutter, but I interjected. “Actually, I changed my mind. There's no excuse for what you did to her.” As soon as the words left my lips, I tapped into the magic from my diamond, shooting pointed blades of ice into the chest of the soldier responsible.
Lucan watched, his mouth agape as the heat from Calvin’s blood melted the icicles embedded in his skin. The substances mixed together and dripped into a flood on the floor.
Calvin reached down, palming at the blades, trying to pull them from his skin. They slipped through his fingers and he fell to his knees, crying out in agony.
I approached the soldier, who didn't dare try to fight back as I pulled my dagger from the sheath around my waist.
“Watch closely. If you try to stop me, you’ll be next,” I threatened the advisor, pointing my blade at him. Little did he know that I wasn't going to spare him, anyways.
I grabbed the top of Calvin's hair, jerking his head back to expose his neck to me. Tears poured from the bastard's eyes. He knew the fate he was about to meet.
“Please,” he begged, still grasping at the melting ice in his chest.
I leaned my face into his, putting emphasis on my words as they rolled off my tongue, “May the gods damn you beyond the veil for what you’ve done.”
I lifted my dagger, angling my wrist to slice through the throat of the man on his knees before me. I dragged the blade slowly, taking my time and making sure to nick the artery on the side of his neck.
Calvin gurgled on his own blood as it filled his mouth. His head dropped forward when I released it, and his eyes sank into his skull as he began to bleed out like a creature being slaughtered for meat.
I wiped the blade on my pants, then pivoted and marched to the door, leaning against it with my arms crossed to watch the man in front of me die.
Lucan didn't dare move a muscle. He held his position next to Calvin, letting the soldier's blood soak through the soles of his shoes. The advisor paled as his prodigy ceased to breathe.
Calvin aimlessly clutched his neck, trying to stop his artery from spurting away the remainder of his life. But he failed, and fell forward onto his face. Dead.
I ground my jaw, then casually tilted my head toward Lucan. Granting him a heinous smirk, I kicked off of the door and strode for him. “Get on your knees,” I demanded, pointing to the ground with the tip of my dagger.
Lucan put his arms up in submission, but I was not here to take pity on him. The fucker was going to die. That was not up for debate.
“Get. On. Your. Knees,” I repeated, this time the advisor doing as I said.
Lucan dropped down, shaking as he cowered before me. “Let me explain, Crown Prince. There is more to this than it seems,” his hollow voice wavered.
I crouched in front of him, passing my dagger between my hands. “First of all, don’t fucking call me that. And is there now? Because from my point of view, it looks like you were trying to kill my girl.” I glared into his eyes, and he looked side to side, trying to avoid my gaze. “Is that true?”
Lucan did not respond with words. His eyes did the talking for him.
“Are you scared?” I taunted, noting how his teeth chattered in his skull. I outstretched my arm, placing one hand on his shoulder. “Don't be scared. I hear death can be quick and painless.” His death wouldn't be, though.
I jammed the tip of my dagger into his throat, not yet using enough pressure to break the skin. “Here's what's going to happen.” I applied a little more pressure to my blade. “You're going to tell me why you tried to kill Maeve, then I'm going to decide how painful of a death you’ll receive.”
Lucan scoffed, finally gathering enough courage to meet my gaze. “If you kill me, your father will never believe you.”
I snickered at his stupidity. “You think I give a shit if he believes me? I know what I saw—what would have happened had I got here a minute later. Whether or not my father believes me is the least of my concerns.” I put more pressure on the dagger, breaking through the skin enough to draw some blood.
Lucan winced, bending his head backwards to avoid the blade. I moved my other hand to the back of his neck, keeping him still.
“What's the point of telling you if you're just going to kill me, anyway?” he countered my request.
“If you tell me what I want to know, I'll make your death a little less horrific.”
Lucan spit at the ground next to me. “Just ask your girl when she wakes up.” He paused, smiling deviously at me. “If she wakes up, that is.”
That comment didn't go over well with me.
I pulled my dagger from his neck, then ripped him by the collar of his shirt to stand up.
He groaned in agony as I shoved him back and his spine collided with the stone.
I held him against the wall with my forearm and aimed my blade at his throat with the other hand.
He didn't even try to fight back. I had well over two feet on him in height, and muscle mass that he couldn't even challenge.
“Tell me why you hurt her, now,” I demanded through gritted teeth, while putting enough pressure on his chest that he couldn't take a deep breath.
“I simply offered her one more chance to turn herself over to King Beaumont,” Lucan sputtered. “She even considered taking it for a moment, too,” he sniped, his voice dry from struggling to inhale.
“Maeve would never consider that.” I shook my head.
“But she did.”
She wouldn't. Would she? Her and I just talked about this, and I thought we were on the same page.
“I told her if she declined, that there would be consequences.” Lucan shrugged, his eyes peering over at the pool of blood Maeve left behind. “Clearly she rejected the offer.” He chortled.
That was it. I'd had it with his snide sense of humor. Nothing about this was fucking funny. Time to finish the job so that I could make sure she was okay.
She better fucking be okay.
“You're not going to tell me anything more, are you?” I asked, accepting the defeat that he wasn't going to divulge any information to me.
The king's former advisor shook his head, and as he did, I plunged my dagger straight into his throat. The blade twisted in my hand, the sounds of cartilage cracking as the dagger scraped against his insides.
His blood drained over me, saturating my dress uniform. The tangy smell of metal filled the corridor, the hall now coated in the blood of three.
Lucan exhaled his last breath, and only then did I pull my dagger from his flesh. I backed away, letting his body drop to the floor with a hefty thud. For good measure, I stomped the sole of my boot into his skull.
Crack.
My hands ran through my hair as I stepped back and stood in the wreckage before me, turning in a circle to truly absorb the bloody carnage left behind.
I looked to where she had been lying. Some of her blood had dried black, absorbed into the cement.
She was hardly conscious, but I'm glad Sawyer got Maeve out of here when he did. I didn't want her to see this side of me—the side that I hated, but accepted with a fury of passion when I needed to.
I shouldn't have left her. I'd never forgive myself for what they did to her. And if she died…
I swallowed the nausea that burned my esophagus.
There was no time for emotions right now. I had to get to her.
I picked up her dagger, then took one last look at the mess before starting off in a sprint up the staircase.
I was met by my friends surrounding her when I burst through the door of Maeve's room.
She laid lifeless in her bed. So pale and still that I had to focus to catch the rise and fall of her stomach to know that she was still breathing.
Sawyer crouched on the floor next to her bedside. Kohen watched from afar while Pia worked her healing magic.
“Is she okay?” Panic pulled at my insides as I stared at her lifeless frame. I hadn't moved from the doorway—couldn't bring myself to.
Sawyer approached me, letting out a deep sigh. “She's alive…I wouldn't go as far as to say that she's okay.”
I peered over his shoulder. Her hair was matted with blood—her face so swollen and purple that I could hardly make out her beautiful features.
My gaze fell and tears pooled in my eyes.
She’s going to be fine. She has to be fine.
“Come out here.” Sawyer placed a hand on my back and guided me out of the room, leaving the door open a crack so that we could still hear what was going on.
I drew a shuddered breath, all the anger and fear inside of me coming to a head. My teeth bit into my lip as I looked up at the ceiling, trying to hide the wetness in my eyes.
“Deep breaths, man.”
I listened, counting my inhales to try and gather myself. I needed to keep my shit together.
When I finally dropped my head, Sawyer stared at me like he was trying to decide if he should tell me everything, but he knew better than to withhold information from me—especially when it came to her.