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"What's going on here?" I hissed. "You can't just sneak me out. No one will let me go until I'm introduced to John Adam Nash."
Gently, the usually rather coarse Rick stroked my hair and looked me firmly in the eyes.
"It's all right, sis. We're here now, and we won't leave you alone anymore. You will never see that man again. I promise you that."
Who was he talking about? About Mr. Baldur. My cheeks flushed with shame. Had they seen us after all? But why did they think I should avoid meeting the first of the Knights of the Seals?
"I don't want to know what went on in the Great Hall if Myrina is in such shock," Chris sighed. "She's so strong. I hope what happened doesn't leave her with any permanent damage."
"If we don't get out of here, that's definitely going to happen," Rick replied and started moving. Together, they pulled me along with them.
Instead of returning to the hall where we had dined, they took me down the main hallway leading to the Great Hall.
I would have liked to turn around because the ice-cold man with the mottled gray hair and piercing eyes must be waiting for me there. I used the last steps to the entrance hall to gather all my courage.
Nervously, I took one deep breath, and Chris’ grip on my arm tightened.
The Great Hall was filled with people looking around in fear. No, it wasn't just fear in their eyes. It was sheer panic staring back at me.
As quietly as possible, my brothers pushed me through the crowds. Just before the exit, I saw one of the doors leading out to the street was blocked off.
The closer we got to it, the clearer the reason became. A giant puddle of blood was spread on the floor in front of this very door. Red splatters covered its glass, and looking through it to the other side made me shudder. A bloody drag mark stretched down the stairs to the street, where limousines bustled about.
At the sight of it all, I couldn’t suppress a gasp, and Rick hastily slid into my field of vision.
“Come on, Myrina,” he pressed out with clenched jaws and pulled me toward the other door, past a security guard who paid us no attention.
Just before I stepped outside through the door, I lifted, as if magnetically drawn, my gaze to the gallery that enclosed the hall high above us. There stood a lone, dark figure who caught my gaze. Liquid gold made me drown in his eyes, and a bitterness clouded its sweetness. My heart recognized his and throbbed as fiercely as if it were trying to escape my chest to join his.
The next moment, Rick pulled me out into the cool night air, and wordlessly, we walked down the steps to the street.
Stephan was already waiting there next to our limousine. He, too, was scanning his surroundings in a hurry.
“Stephan, open the door!” Chris called to him from a distance. The butler responded immediately. Moving closer, I felt him examining my body with his unexpectedly worried eyes. Relief made the ice in his irises tremble briefly.
“Get in the car, Myrina,” Rick urged me. Uncertain, I climbed into the car. Dad and Jordy were already waiting for me there. My brother’s eyes were red. Desperation was in them.
“Where’s Anne?” I asked, earning a confused gaze from them both.
“Myrina is in shock,” Chris, who had just sat down next to me, explained to them. My father took my hand in his and stroked it lovingly.
"Everything will be all right, my Darling," he said, and a tear dropped from his lower eyelid. It rolled down his cheek unhindered.
What had happened?
"What's going on? What happened?" I asked the question aloud to the group. Frustration over this strange behavior of my family and the gap in knowledge regarding the previous events I seemed to have germinated in me.
"Does she really not remember the Brotherhood killing one of the girls during the so-called get-to-know-you session and taking ten others, including Anne?" asked Jordy without mincing words. "She was standing right next to her, after all!"
Dad’s soothing words to my brother blurred into a fog of disbelief and simultaneous powerlessness. What had really happened that night?
CHAPTER 33
Believe me! I was on that damn roof terrace!" I shouted irritably and pounded my fist on the tabletop. Chris, Alex, and Edward looked at me pityingly. Only Aspasia, who stood a little apart, regarded me thoughtfully.
"Rina, what you went through was so horrible. It's no wonder you don't want to remember it." Alex's voice sounded calm. Lovingly, he gazed at me. Frustrated, I avoided his gaze, whose love cut painfully into my heart. We had been having this discussion for almost an hour now. Of course, I had not mentioned with whom I had been on the roof terrace. And also not what I had done there.
"I personally accompanied you all the way to the Great Hall," Chris now interjected. "Sometimes the body tries to protect itself by blocking traumatic events and temporarily erasing the memory of them. You should have stayed in bed today, sis. Get some rest."
