Chapter 60
“Close your eyes, Isolde,” Lysande said the moment he stepped into the servants’ chambers, then reached one hand behind him and caught mine.
He pulled me toward him, and with his strong arms, pressed my face against his back so I wouldn't see what had happened.
Yet even with my face pressed against his skin, I managed to catch, just from the corner of my eye and for only a moment, a sight that would remain carved into my mind for the rest of my life.
They were all dead in their beds, their eyes wide open in shock, their mouths parted as though they had still been ready to beg.
Still, no matter how much I wanted to stop and look at them one more time, even though none of them had been especially close to my heart, they were already dead. Meera and Corian might still be alive.
Lysande seemed to think the same thing. He ran through the doorway even faster, heading toward the corridor, and I could barely keep up with him. Finally, he released my hand and, holding his sword in front of him, pulled me toward his left side.
“We need to slow down. We don't know if there are more of them in the corridors,” he said, and I nearly protested.
Meera's room was so close, only three corridors away, but now it seemed as though it were miles away. My heart twisted violently inside my chest, and when we turned into the second corridor, it nearly stopped.
More dead people.
This time, two guards and a servant.
I swallowed, desperately trying not to vomit as we were forced to step over them, and my bare foot landed in a puddle of blood.
“Come on, Isolde.”
He pulled me closer to his side while I gripped the two daggers in my hands as tightly as I could. I was certain I was squeezing them so hard that they had already begun digging into my skin.
Finally, as though we had been running for ten minutes, the final corridor leading to Meera's room split into two.
I nearly screamed again when, beyond it, there were even more bodies, slaughtered like pigs.
Lysande turned toward me for a moment and pressed one finger against his lips, telling me to be quiet, before releasing my hand.
He gripped his sword with both hands and straightened his back.
His muscles tightened with fear, strength, and nervousness all at once as he took the final steps toward the door to the room.
My heart skipped, and it felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach when I heard my sister screaming through the wall, begging for help. The clashes of metal echoed through the room, and for at least a moment, I could breathe again.
Corian was still alive.
Lysande suddenly ran toward the only open doorway, the one leading to the knight's room as well, and without a second thought, rushed inside. I ran after him, entering Corian's room first and, just as Lys had done directly in front of me, jumping over the bodies of two dead maids on the way.
Lys's grunt echoed in my ears as he slammed his sword and his body into a group of men, immediately cutting into the first man's stomach and arms. They had not expected him, and he managed to kill a second before the man could even turn around, but the other two were already on him.
I didn't even have time to look for Corian before rushing into the room and ducking as the swords flashed once again.
Meera, with another maid, was sitting in the corner, her hair disheveled and her eyes filled with tears. She was trembling, clutching the maid who was in no better condition than her princess.
“Isolde.”
She jerked toward me when she saw me, and I threw myself onto my knees in front of her and took her face in my hands.
“Sister, are you alright?”
She nodded, and I immediately rose to my feet, turning the daggers in my hands the way I thought best.
But before I could make a single move, Lysande managed to turn both men so that their backs faced Corian, who was sitting bloodied on the floor, but still alive and still very capable of holding a sword in his hands.
Corian drove his blade into one of the men from behind, straight through his ass, while Lys slashed the other across the chest.
“Stop, Lys! Don't kill that one!” I shouted, startling even myself as I ran toward them.
Lys, my loyal Lysande, immediately lowered his sword without a single question or hesitation.
“We need to find out who sent them.”
He immediately pulled the man from the ground. The attacker writhed in pain as blood flowed rather than sprayed from his wound. Lysande pulled his arms behind his back and forced him into a crouch in front of me.
I dropped to my knees and turned the tip of my dagger toward his throat. I lifted his chin with the blade until his pale eyes were forced to meet mine, but he simply spat in my face.
Lysande immediately kicked him in the kidneys.
He doubled over in pain until my knight pulled him upright again.
“Who purchased your blades?” I hissed, wiping the blood from my eyes. The man only groaned, his teeth crimson.“Who sent you?” I demanded, driving my bare heel into the open wound on his hand, crushing the broken bone against the stone floor.
“Fuck you... royal whore,” he choked out, dark blood pooling in the back of his throat. I clenched my jaw, a dark, merciless void consuming my mind. Without a word, I slowly drove the tip of my dagger into the hollow of his throat.
.He didn't even have time to scream before his body went rigid, convulsing violently before slumping into a lifeless heap on the floor.
I rose, my gaze meeting Lysande’s. He said nothing, only giving a solemn shake of his head.
A ragged groan from the corner broke the silence, and Meera’s frantic cry forced us to turn.
Corian was slipping away, pooling in his own blood from at least two massive gashes across his torso and leg.
Meera threw herself at his side, her hands pressing desperately against the wounds, begging him to keep his eyes on her as the light in his gaze began to fracture.
“Go, Lys. Help them,” I commanded.
He immediately tore a piece of fabric from one of the men's shirts and knelt beside them to bind the wounds.
Meera was crying and sobbing while Corian raised one hand toward her and gently placed it against her face.
I clenched my teeth, trying not to cry, but my body began trembling again.
When I tried to step over one of the bodies, my foot caught against it, and something spilled from the man's jacket onto the floor.
I looked back toward all of them and saw that somehow they were managing to get the barely conscious Corian onto his feet.
“Princess, we need to find help immediately,” Lysande said as he took most of Corian's weight onto himself.
“Take my sword and go ahead of us, and if there is anyone there, the princess will try to keep Corian on his feet,” he said with a grunt, pulling Corian more securely upright.
“Come on, Isolde.”
They started toward the door, but I looked back down at the floor.
Beside Lys's sword now lay a sapphire.
I was certain it was what had fallen from the man's pocket.
I turned it between my fingers, slipped it into my pocket, and then picked up Lys's sword before running after them.
Only then did the poor maid who had been with Meera somehow manage to drag herself toward me and begin stumbling after us.