I have little energy left in me for the night, my body and my mind are completely exhausted. I grab a pillow and pull the large blanket off the bed, then walk over to the small fire I left burning in the room. I add another log to the flames and notice the blood is still dripping down my cheek and onto my neck. I pull the hood of my cloak over my face and lay down on the floor, curling into my side as I let the flames engulf my cold and shaking body.
My eyes close with a deep heaviness as sobs begin to take over my whole being, the cries shaking me with every breath. I send a small prayer to Hirovale and silently request that his sleeping air take me over for the rest of the night, everything within me unable to deal with the violence I just saw.
CHAPTER XV
NEW DETERMINATION
I wake up too early in the morning to the sound of a hand at my door trying to push through without a knock. There’s only one person in all of Fumagalli who would attempt to do that, and I have no desire to see him.
I keep my hood over my face and the blanket wrapped firmly around my body, watching as the small embers in the fire try to breathe life into the ashen wood.
“Alexis,” his voice commands quietly from outside the room.
I grab the pillow below my head and bring it around my ears.
“Let me in, Alexis,” he demands.
Golem shifts from somewhere behind me as Stormfall gives a small caw.
“We know you were there, Alexis,” his voice softens, hand pushing against the door again, “we saw the burned handle and ash.”
I feel the tears building in my eyes again and bundle myself tighter.
“I’ll tear this door off the damn Ancients ground, Alexis,” he warns, voice changing into that same cool and calm demeanor he used to talk to the blonde Discerni. It only makes me push the pillow over my ears harder.
I don’t know how long he stands outside my door, but eventually I hear his footsteps fade back down the hall. I let out a heavy sigh and will myself to sit up, knowing that sleep will not greet me again.
Fuck.
What did I really expect was going to happen?
That I would tell the Prince of Disce that someone was following me and everything would turn out alright?
His brother is the fuckingMaster Informerof the Kingdom. Of course he would use whatever tool he had at his disposal to get information from the man.
What did I expect?
And what did I expect ofhim?
That the Prince and Heir to the Kingdom of Disce, the damnLeading Lordof the Court of Warriors, had no blood on his hands? That he achieved the title without spilling the blood of others, even if they were his own subjects? Because the man I saw tonight, so cool and dark, proved that thought severely wrong. He truly was a formidable man. Calm and in his element, just as Desmond was. He was regal and delivered the final strike with a finite determination, no doubt or hesitation greeting him or his movements.
I pull my legs tight into myself, holding back another round of tears as I think of that final blow.
Am I scared of him?
That is the only thought that now clouds my mind.
In the moment,yes, I was. I can’t lie. I remember the pull of fear in my heart when I saw Keane lift the man off the ground by his neck. The Prince became someone new in my eyes at that moment, a version of a man that I had never seen before. He was commanding and lethal, and his hand wrapped around the man’s neck prompted me to want to guard my own. But he was also a man who was goaded into his actions, with the words from the Woodlands Discerni prompting him to react in violence.
Words about me…
Keane reacted with violence whenever the Discerni mentionedme.
I groan and bow my head into my knees.
And then he killed him after hearing him talk of the Woodlands Court. Thedamn AncientsWoodlands Court.
What in the Old World is going on over there? Why did the Discerni smirk when he spoke about their relations with humans? He said they meant nothing of importance, that they were only tolerated because of Zander, and hearing him talk that way felt all sorts of wrong…
