| |
Lost in the fray of chaos. Bodies surrounded me, closing me in, when all I wanted to do was get to Prince Kai. Guards shouted and guided me cautiously back towards the carriage. The mer of Eramaea were screeching, shouting. Some swam away while others couldn’t help but to stop and stare.
How could they not when Prince Kai had somehow transformed before them all?
The Dragon Prince, a nickname rumored to have been given because in battle he was as vicious and as bloodthirsty as a dragon. When I looked into those eyes, there had been nothing but kindness. Now, it was different. Because his body elongated, tail widening, hardening and sparkling like a hoard of jewels in a chest. His eyes had a savage glow about them, and his nails curved and tipped into long black talons.
Formidable.
Dangerous.
Murderous.
No wonder his advisors stalked his every move. No wonder they kept so tight a leash on him. Unleashed, he would have destroyed the entire kingdom.
All to protect me.
He roared and trembled the waters, and I could not tear my gaze away, even as I was pushed back, I kept my eyes on him. On the arrow protruding from his collarbone, on the blood rising in smoky tendrils. He ripped the arrow out and crushed it in half.
And when he found the culprit, the one responsible for making yet another attempt on my life, I trembled with true fear. Not fear that he would get to me, that I was in danger, but fear for what the Dragon Prince would do to him in such a state.
But then the Dragon Prince’s body trembled, and he turned. His eyes found mine amidst the chaos, lips parting, his mouth formed one word, that I couldn’t hear but didn’t need to.
“Princess...”
And then he fell to the silt.
No one had been expecting it, so they were transfixed for a moment. Even the criminal. His bottom was in the silt, breathing heavy. He smirked, and I watched as he put his hand to the inside of his black tunic and pulled out something, something that shone against the light. Steel.
“No!” The scream ripped through me in a voice I hardly recognized as my own. Prince Kai. Prince. My prince... I struggled, trying to push past the guards surrounding me. “Kai!”
The sniper swung the blade down towards Kai’s heart. The knife never struck. Because the sniper suddenly found an arrow protruding from his throat.
The knife fell from his grasp, and his hands went up to his throat. Blood bloomed around his face, choked gurgling emanated from his lips.
A second later, he fell dead.
I didn’t want to take my eyes off of Kai for even a moment, but I couldn’t help but turn and see for myself who had saved Prince Kai’s life.
Behind me, floating near the palace carriage, was a single soldier, holding a speargun in his hands. And I’d told him to stay away, but I was glad he hadn’t listened.
Captain Saber.
A breath of relief left me. A sensation that lasted but a second, because when I turned to look at Kai, he still hadn’t stirred. His advisors leaned over him worriedly. Silently, they picked him up. His body no longer glistened like jewels and he no longer wore the aspects of the beast on his body.
“Why isn’t he moving?” My voice shook with fear. The advisors looked at me solemnly and hurried past me into the carriage. “Why isn’t he moving?” Hysteria rose up in my throat. They said nothing. They just pushed their prince inside the carriage, and a moment later it took off.
Something inside me broke. I rushed to the spot he’d just vacated, falling into the silt. Grains of sand dug beneath my nails, and a sob lodged itself up in my throat.
“Why wasn’t he moving?”
And then I was being pulled up by Captain Saber.
“He wasn’t moving, Captain.”
“Not here, Princess,” he whispered. It was the first time I’d ever heard his voice sound like that. Worried. Gentle. Tears poured from my eyes, and he pulled me to his chest, keeping my face pressed into his uniform jacket. “Not here, Princess,” he whispered against the top of my head. “Not here.”
I took in a shuddering breath. I pushed away my emotions, inhaling Captain Saber’s scent. It was calming, and the erratic beating of my heart began to still, slowly, until it was a normal pounding. Captain Saber’s heart pounded against my own, and he held me until the emotion eased, and I slowly drifted away from him.
His eyes searched my own, gentle. He looked ever so gentle.
“Come.” He rubbed his thumb across my cheek.
I nodded once, and let Captain Saber pull me into the safety of his arms and take me from this place, now tainted with death and murder, and back to the palace.