“Commander! You’ll kill him! A serious strike from you will kill him instantly!”
Riftan thrashed against the knight like a chained beast and screamed. The sound filled Maxi with despair as it seared into her brain. Her father lay sprawled on the floor, his face bloody and his eyes rolled up into his head.
Someone else came running into the room, and Maxi flinched away in recognition.
Ruth took in the scene in one stupefied sweep. His eyesgrew 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 shewalked 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—”
