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I look back to see where the gunshot came from, and Caz stands in the front door, his gun pointed forward, where the man once stood.
“Caz! Back here!” Rowan yells. “One of them is getting away!”
Caz rushes around us, barreling out of the house. I look ahead, and Rowan, Juniper, and Killian are running toward the trees, chasing a figure in black. Proll and the other guards are standing above two bodies in black on the ground. With a grunt, Proll lifts his gold axe in the air and brings it down, chopping one of their heads off.
I snatch my eyes away, focusing on Beatrix.
“Help me get her to her room,” Alora insists.
“Will she be okay?”
“She’ll be fine. She took a healing elixir, so it’ll stabilize her.” Alora grunts as she grabs Beatrix’s feet. I grab Beatrix’s upper body, and we carry her through the tiny house, rounding a corner and entering an even smaller bedroom. “It should help her heal within a few hours. If we had gotten here later, there may not have been enough time for healing.”
I focus on Beatrix, who winces as we lay her down. “Who would do this?”
“I don’t know.” Alora shakes her head, sighing. “But it’s clearly someone she’s afraid of.”
“Your majesty!” someone shouts, and Alora glances at me before leaving the bedroom to find the voice. She weaves her way through the tiny house to get out the back door, and I follow her, stepping onto plush green grass.
Rowan and Killian are dragging a limp body down the hill while Caz and Juniper march ahead. When they’re in Beatrix’s backyard, Killian and Rowan drop the body on the ground.
Killian kicks the person onto their back and bends down to snatch the hood off. The entire right side of their head is gone, like it was blasted the right half of the face so mutilated I can hardly make it out. Despite it, Caz takes a step forward, studying the body, his eyes narrowed.
Why does he seem familiar?
Caz’s voice rings in my head and I switch my gaze to his, just as he locks his eyes on me. I look at the man again, but his face is so destroyed, I’m afraid if I look any longer, I’ll throw up.
“I’ll have my guards get an ID on these people,” Alora declares, sighing. “In the meantime, perhaps it’ll be best for you all stay at the palace.”
Seventy-Nine
WILLOW
I’m notsure what to make of what just happened. Even now, as I drink tea while sitting on the balcony that faces the waterfalls with the others, none of what happened makes sense. Who were those people, and why did they attack Beatrix? The questions sink deep as I chew on a chunk of the protection morsel Caz gave me moments ago.
Luzian and Clara bring out more tea for us to settle in. We’ll be staying another night in the palace, in hopes that Beatrix will feel better enough to fill us in by morning.
Music plays, the sound of harps and violins, and everyone chats amongst themselves as if nothing happened, and I don’t understand it. How can they just move on after all that? Drink their tea and laugh and continue life, like they weren’t just facing death? It's a good thing Alora sent two of her guards to look over Beatrix while she’s healing. At least she isn’t dead.
My eyes swing to Caz, who is standing near the balcony. He’s been quiet since we’ve gotten here. Something is clearly on hismind that he doesn’t want me to hear because he’s blocking me out.
Luzian and Clara bring out a tray of fruits and crackers, offering some to me, but I pass. Instead, I walk over to Caz and stand next to him, absorbing the sounds of the trickling water.
“You okay?”
He glances at me. “Define okay.”
I rest my elbows on the marble guardrail. “I didn’t expect that at Beatrix’s.”
“Yeah. Me neither. But I suppose it comes with the territory. There are ears everywhere and whoever they were, they were probably looking for me. Not even Mythics are safe.” He pauses. “It’s just…I keep thinking they were Rippies, but they didn’t look like Rippies. Their body types weren’t the same…and that one who almost got away…” His head shakes. I can’t help feeling like I knew him or saw him before, I just don’t remember where.”
“How could you tell with his face so butchered?” I ask, shuddering at the reminder.
“It was the angle of his chin that I could see, the hair…” Caz sighs, digging into his pocket and pulling out a bloom. “Or maybe I’m just being paranoid and it’s all in my head.” He lights the bloom, takes a pull from it, then offers it to me. I take it, pull, and exhale. “I’ll be glad when that boat is built and I get this shit over with for The Council. Perhaps they’re right and waking Selah will take away some of our burdens.”
Right. He filled me in about that—his mission to ride a boat through a dangerous sea to an island practically made offire. He claims the island isn’t fully made of fire, and that there are paths to take that are safe, but either way it, sounds like a death trip. I can’t believe he agreed to that. But at least the Council has agreed to protect us from Mournwrath aka Decius so Caz can fulfill his end of the bargain. So much can happen in three days, though.
“I’ve been thinking,” I start. “It might be best if I go back home until you complete your mission.”
