Chapter Twenty-Five #5
Ruth took in the scene in one stupefied sweep. His eyes grew wide when he saw Maxi bloodied and bruised, the color draining from his face.
“By God…My lady…What on earth…?” He reached out to her with trembling hands.
“Do not touch her!”
In an instant, Riftan pushed the knights away and ran to Maxi. He slapped Ruth’s hand away. The sight of him losing all reason made Maxi recoil, and she instinctively curled on the floor like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.
Clearly frightened by Riftan’s murderous aura as well, Ruth hesitated before he spoke.
“Calm down,” he said, warily raising his hands in the air as though trying to pacify an agitated beast. “I’m only trying to heal her.”
The look on Riftan’s face made it clear that Ruth’s words were not sinking in. His dilated eyes darted about like a man possessed, and his blanched face twisted with rage.
Ruth approached cautiously, trying not to agitate him further. “I won’t touch her. I will only heal her with magic.”
Riftan stiffened as Ruth reached toward Maxi again. This time, though, he did not push the sorcerer’s hand away. Feeling the pain slowly ease, Maxi finally let out the breath she had been holding.
As the physical pain faded, her battered pride made itself known as a dull ache in her heart.
Raising her dress to her chin, she stole glances at Riftan, Ruth, and the shocked knights before hiding her face beneath her disheveled hair.
Shame and humiliation stabbed at her. She wanted nothing more than to turn to dust and disappear.
“There, all done.”
When Ruth pulled his hand back, Riftan removed his robe and wrapped it tightly around Maxi. Without uttering a word, he picked her up and strode toward the door.
Being in his arms in that godforsaken room felt like floating above cold clouds in a dark winter sky.
Gripped by the unsettling sensation, Maxi looked about nervously and spotted Rosetta standing to one side of the darkened corridor.
Her sister slowly walked toward them and gazed down at their father’s limp and mangled body.
“Is he dead?” she asked flatly.
Elliot was bent over the duke, checking his condition. “No, but he may well die if you don’t call the cleric immediately,” he said calmly.
Rosetta merely nodded and made no move to call for a cleric. Maxi stared at her sister. This entire situation felt impossible to get her head around. Had she passed out during the beating? Was that why she was having this strange, unfathomable dream?
Her beautiful sister, the apple of her father’s eye, glanced indifferently away from the bloodied duke and pointed down the unlit corridor.
“I’ve asked a maidservant to lace the guards’ food with a sleeping draught, but the knights and soldiers in the eastern wing are still awake.
They will have heard the commotion and are likely headed this way now. You should leave before they get here.”
With that, she spun around. Her cold eyes flicked to Riftan and Maxi before looking away. “Please remember that I know nothing about this matter.”
Ursuline gave her a curt nod. “We will make sure you are not implicated, Lady Rosetta.”
Rosetta was the embodiment of grace and calm as she walked away, the brittle clack of her heels echoing down the corridor. Maxi vacantly stared after her before Riftan turned and began striding in the direction Rosetta had pointed.
No one spoke as they moved down the long corridor and descended the stairs.
The heavy silence still hung over them as they got to the first floor and made their way toward the garden.
As they approached the back gate, the Croyso guards stopped them at sword-point.
The soldiers gasped as they recognized Riftan.
Her father’s favored knight stepped out from the group of guards and shouted imperiously, “What is the meaning of this? You dare to infiltrate our castle? Are you not aware that this is grounds for war?”
The knight’s self-assuredness vanished when he saw the glint in Riftan’s eyes.
“That is exactly what I want,” Riftan said in a frighteningly grim voice. “I will raze this land to the ground, along with you and all of your families.”
At least fifteen of the guards faltered and backed away, their faces frozen in fear. They knew that standing against Wedon’s greatest knightly order was a fool’s game. Elliot broke the nerve-racking tension as he stepped forward to mediate.
“Everyone here knows that Lady Maximilian is now a Calypse. The duke had no right to confine her in Croyso Castle in the first place!” he said firmly. “Let us be clear that it was the duke who was out of line first.”
“Lady Maximilian is His Grace’s daughter!” the Croyso knight snapped. “He never confined her—”
“Elliot, enough with the talking,” said Ursuline, drawing his sword. He had clearly reached the end of his patience. “Croyso and Anatol are now enemies. That being the case, we can simply dispose of them and leave.”
Apparently deciding that they would not be able to subdue Riftan and his men without further reinforcements, the commanding knight bitterly motioned with his head for the guards to let them through.
Riftan strode past them with Elliot and Ursuline on either side, their swords drawn. Outside the castle, a chilly wind stung Maxi’s tearstained cheeks. She pressed her face against Riftan’s cold, armored chest and curled herself in his arms.
Talon was tied to a nearby tree. Riftan helped Maxi into the saddle and mounted behind her, his arms circling around her like a fortress wall. It was not until she heard hooves against the ground that the sobbing began, racking her whole body.
As she silently wept, she could not tell if the feeling tearing through her chest was relief or despair.
—
No one spoke of the events that had occurred in Croyso Castle. The rest of the knights waiting outside did not ask any questions, as if they could sense the tension enveloping the returning party. They traveled across the darkened plain without rest until the village of Zeno came into view.
Maxi blinked her swollen eyes at the dim lights glowing in the dark. Raising her head, she could vaguely make out Riftan’s tense jaw. Riftan did not spare her a glance as he spurred his horse into a gallop down the hill.
When they reached Zeno, Riftan and the knights booked out a large inn at the southern end of the village. Moving as one, the knights dismounted, left their horses to the stables, and organized the luggage in no time at all.
Riftan carried Maxi up the stairs. After gently lowering her onto the bed in one of the rooms, he walked over to light the lamp by the window.
Maxi hugged her knees as she sat as still as a rock. Riftan’s face had been shrouded in darkness up until now. As he lit the lamp, the flickering light revealed his stoic expression.
Maxi’s eyes fluttered shut as she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with his scent.
His robes smelled of horses and the metallic tang of iron armor.
With both hands resting on the windowsill, Riftan stared out the window at the night sky illuminated by a crescent moon.
Maxi could feel the tension exuding from him even through his armor.
She did not know what to say. She stared at his motionless figure before lowering her gaze to her knees. A knock interrupted the silence.
“Sir Riftan, I’ve brought some hot water.”
It was Ruth. Riftan slowly turned around and opened the door. Light streamed in from the hallway, and Maxi crawled to the corner of the bed to avoid it. She caught a glimpse of Ruth trying to peer past Riftan’s broad shoulder with a concerned look.
“I also have some clean linen and a change of clothes,” the mage said. “As for your meal…”
“Bring it in an hour.”
Riftan’s bulky frame blocked the doorway, barring Ruth’s entry. After taking the basin, towels, and clothes, he closed the door in Ruth’s face before the sorcerer could say anything else.
Maxi nervously watched Riftan approach the bed. He placed the basin on the bedside table and soaked a towel in steaming water. After wringing it out, he brought the hot towel to her face.
When Maxi reflexively shrank back, his lips grew stiff. His voice strangely tense, he muttered, “Let me help you wipe off the blood.”
“Oh…”
Riftan gently wiped her forehead, temples, and cheeks. It was only when she saw the dark bloodstains on the linen that Maxi realized she had been bleeding. Ruth had healed the wounds, but the blood must have remained.
When her face was clean, Riftan pulled off her robe and began to wipe her pale shoulders and back.
Maxi silently surrendered to his care, feeling pathetic.
Each time the warm towel swept down her back, it felt as though it were peeling away her skin to expose more of her shame.
It made her face burn, and she desperately wanted to hide.
Riftan paid no heed to her discomfort and relentlessly wiped away the dried blood crusted on her back. Feeling the slight tremor of his fingers against her skin, she anxiously gnawed her lip. Riftan continued washing her, changing the towel several times, before he finally spoke.
“How often did this happen?”
Maxi flinched and looked away. Realizing that she had no way to escape, she forced a stiff smile. “Wh-What…do you mean?”
She heard him take in a sharp breath. Feigning ignorance, she fiddled with her tangled hair with shaking hands. Riftan did not relent, his persistent silence demanding an answer.
Maxi tried and failed to ignore the pressure. She said awkwardly, “I-It didn’t…h-happen that often. My father…w-was greatly angered today…. That’s why…he p-punished me. Th-This usually…doesn’t…”
Riftan impassively observed her desperate attempt to preserve what little pride she had left. His penetrating gaze made Maxi’s face flush.
She cleared her throat, but her voice still came out in a strained croak. “M-My father is a s-stern man…. O-On the rare occasions he got angry, he—”
“Since when?” Riftan prodded, heartlessly ignoring her pitiful efforts to paint the matter as inconsequential.