Chapter 6
1022 Words
-Laelia-
“Ouch! Libelle!” I exclaimed.
“Sorry, my Lady,” she replied.
I tried to ignore the pain as she carefully cleaned the wound on my shoulder, but it stung so badly that I couldn’t focus on anything else.
“Drink this,” Kayda offered.
I shook my head and held up my hand. “No, I don’t want anything that will make me sleepy,” I insisted.
“My Lady, the training is wearing you down, and you’re not sleeping. You need rest,” she urged.
I shook my head again.
“She’s right,” the healer added. “You can’t help anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.”
I remained silent, refusing to listen. Over the past week, I had asked Rathilion to push me harder. I had little time to prepare, and I needed him to ensure I was ready. When I wasn’t training with him, I was sitting up all night, watching over Samuel and laying out a plan for how to enter the palace. Samuel, though, was recovering slowly. The wound on his back had become infected.
“Libelle!” I protested as she started to pierce my skin with the needle.
“Sit still, my Lady. It will be over soon.”
“That hurts!” I groaned.
“Drink,” Kayda repeated.
I bit my lower lip, breathing in short, quick bursts as I concentrated on not letting the pain from my shoulder overwhelm me.
“No,” I said stubbornly.
“My Lady!” Kayda insisted in a demanding tone.
“No!”
“Drink!”
I shook my head again, just as the needle pierced my skin. I kept repeating to myself: I will not bow. I will not bow. I will not bow.
“You’re killing yourself,” Kayda said.
“I’m training. I need to be able to withstand pain as well.”
“Why are you pushing yourself so hard?” Libelle inquired.
I sighed, wincing again as the needle pierced my skin. Then I relaxed as she pulled the small string through the wound.
“I need to,” I whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“Who knows how they’re doing right now? Who knows how long they have left. if I don’t push myself, I risk them being killed... I need to get them back.”
“But you’re just one person,” Libelle said softly.
“I am, but I’ve never been one to give up,” I replied.
She nodded, but I could see the worry shining in her eyes.
“I’ll be okay. I have Rathilion to help me.”
“You need more help than that,” she said, glancing over my shoulder at her sister.
Kayda gave her a small nod before placing the cup she’d been holding on a nearby table. Then she turned to me, standing tall.
“We will help you.”
“Sorry?” I asked, confused.
Had I really heard her say they would... I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t dare to hope.
“You heard us, my Queen,” she said. “We will help you.”
“I’m not queen,” I whispered.
“You are to us.”
I looked from Kayda to her sister and saw them both smiling. I couldn’t believe they would do this for me!
“You might die,” I said.
“We know. But a slave’s life has never been certain. We could have died any day. Dying for something we believe in sounds like a good way to go,” Libelle said.
I smiled a little, but I still didn’t feel right asking them to do this. “I can’t let you risk your lives like that,” I said.
“You aren’t asking,” Kayda replied. “We’re offering.”
“And if I say no?”
They both smiled mischievously.
“Then we’ll follow you anyway,” Libelle told me.
I laughed a little and nodded. “Then I guess I can’t stop you.”
They both shook their heads.
“But I can…” Liam entered the room, and we all turned to look at him.
“Liam,” I whispered.
“I won’t let any of you go, and when Samuel wakes up, he’ll agree with me.”
He crossed his broad arms and blocked the doorway.
“You can’t keep us here!” I said, standing up.
Libelle followed me because she hadn’t finished stitching my wound.
“Look at yourself!” Liam exclaimed.
My eyes drifted down to my body. It ached all over, bruised like never before. “I’m still standing,” I said.
“But for how long? How do you see this playing out? You riding through those gates victorious with all our brothers and Ashes? Because I don’t see it. I see you dead.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was being foolish, but I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. “What do you suggest I do?”
“Wait.”
“For what?”
“For an opportunity. For a way to strike a deal with them,” he said.
“A deal?” I laughed bitterly.
He nodded. “They want the crown. You want Ashes. You could abdicate. You could give them what they want.”
I shook my head, laughing a little mockingly. “They’ll want me dead no matter what.”
“No—”
“Yes! I’m a symbol. Why do you think I married Ashes in the first place? I fought back. When I saved Erika, I fought back, and people believed I was working against the dragons. That’s why I married Ashes—to show I wasn’t. But they still believe in me. They still look to me, waiting to see what I’ll do next. It won’t be enough for the brothers. They need my head,” I explained.
But he refused to listen, that much was clear.
“Liam, you can’t stop me.”
“Watch me,” he sneered, then turned and walked away.
- Writer
