Broken, but Not Defeated

Chapter 66 (Caldina)

     The urge to slam my fist into the guard's face is almost too compelling.

"Dorian?" Wesley questions, pain in his eyes.

"Who is Dorian?" Lyra asks.

I look at Wesley, my eyebrows raised.

"My cousin," he responds in a pinched voice.

"No! Really? I thought the guard said he was your long lost brother," I say sarcastically.

"He's my father's younger brother's son, the heir to land if I were to die."

"Well, you're not dead so why does he matter?" Lyra asks.

"Wesley, he's not only the heir to your father's land, but he is supposed to marry Hyacinth, the Queen of the Witches..." Commander West begins.

"We know who she is," I interrupt him. He looks at me and goes pale.

"You..." he sputters.

"Hello again," I say, giving him one of my signature grins for good measure. His hand drifts towards his sword.

"Now, now, that's not how we're supposed to welcome royals is it?" Lyra asks, stepping to my side.

"You are no royals, mad princess," one of the guards laughs at her. I feel his presence behind me, but I keep my eyes trained on the guards.

"Watch your tongue before I remove it for you," Levindal snarls. I place the back of my hand on his chest.

"Princess Hyacinth is my cousin, and we come with a white flag raised. While we are here, no one will get hurt. I swear on the life of my ancestors," I say, gracefully ignoring the fact they think that I will ever let my cousins have the throne.

"How can we trust you? Witches and Fae are known for backstabbing," West asks, shifting on his horse.

"Here's how: your soldier has not once, but twice, talked back to people who have more power than him and can kill him in an instant, yet we haven't." Kathrine says, stepping to Wesley's side. We now form a wall between West and Juliana.

"If all human soldiers are like this, then they don't stand a chance against the demon army," Lyra notes, standing on her brother's left. It now went Katrina, Kathrine, Wesley, me, Levindal, and Lyra. Twenty of his best soldiers can do nothing and West knows that.

"Fine, we accept your white flag, but mark my words, princess, if anything goes missing, or someone gets hurt or worse, I will have your throat slit while you sleep." He turns his horse around and faces his soldiers, "Two of you open the gates and tell the king he has company. The rest of you help the royals to your horses."

"We don't need your horses," Katrina says. I watch as she motions to the woods and out steps our guards. "We have our own."

Sienna leads Azrial over.

"You okay?" she whispers.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply in the same tone. "Sienna, Arietta."

"Yes, Commander?" They reply in unison. I motion for them to wait until the others are ahead some paces.

"The moment you get a chance, kill that guard." I don't need to specify who I'm talking about. Both their eyes gleam with the promise of vengeance.