Page 4 of Red Queen

There’s no time for questions or emotions in this den of vipers, where every shadow conceals a waiting blade and every smile hides a venomous fang. No matter that his gaze keeps drawing me. No matter that his presence inexplicably sends a strength, a confidence through me.

The room erupts into further bedlam around us, and Alexandru tears his gaze away, dismissing me with a coldness that cuts deeper than any sword.

Catarina’s cackling laughter pierces the air as the most loyal of my court, the last vestiges of a dying order, stand with me.

Brave and valiant, each blow they deliver to the enemy is a tribute to their fidelity. Their swords are arcs of silver slicing through the thickening haze of blood mists. Grunts and snarls of fury are almost drowned out by the clatter of swords striking.

But the tide of battle shifts and a chilling realization settles in my gut.

I’m going to lose.

I fight on even as Catarina’s forces swell like a relentless dark wave, crashing against our defenses and threatening to crush all I have built. My sword arm aches with each blow, my breath coming in ragged gasps as I pivot and strike, desperately trying to stem the assault.

Yet for every enemy I strike down, two more surge forward to take their place. They clamber over the fallen bodies of their comrades, heedless of the blood and viscera that stain their boots, seemingly driven by an insatiable hunger to see my reign toppled and my head on a pike.

A flicker of doubt takes root in my heart, a tiny voice that whispers of defeat even as I roar my defiance.

My heart hammers. Not with fear but with the dread of inevitability.

We’re outnumbered.

I scan the room, seeing the desperate faces of my subjects. This throne room, once the heart of our dominion, is now a slaughterhouse.

As I stand near my throne, drenched in blood, an unmistakable sensation of vulnerability creeps up on me. It’s something I loathe more than death itself. I must make a choice—one that goes against every fiber of my being. To flee and preserve the flickering flame of our legacy, or to stand and die alongside those who would die for me.

Resolve hardens within me like ice. My father’s voice whispers through the centuries, urging me to endure, to adapt, to survive.

“Retreat!” I command, my voice slicing through the cacophony. “We must live to fight another night!”

An oath passes my lips. “I will reclaim what is ours, what is mine.”

The clashing of swords rings out behind me, and I turn and search for an escape.

Meredith and Nadia are at my side in an instant, their presence soothing among the anarchy.

“My Queen, come with us,” Nadia urges.

The lifeless bodies of my soldiers, my friends, are spread around the room, and I feel a pang of guilt for leaving them behind. But there is no time for mourning now.

Before we can escape, the glint of a blade flashes before it finds its mark.

Meredith’s gasp is cut short as she crumples. The wound is fatal—I know it with a single glance. A garnet stain blooms across her chest, darkening the muted colors of her servant’s garb.

I twirl in fury and, fast as lightning, beheading the one responsible in one swift swipe. His head tumbles from his shoulders, followed by his body collapsing onto the hard marble flooring. The sword slips from my grasp and my heart races.

“Quickly, my Queen,” Nadia pleads, her voice a ghostly echo in the narrow confines.

Nadia and I grab Meredith and drag her with us. We slip behind a tapestry and into the hidden passageway it conceals.

We don’t get far until Meredith crumples to the floor. “Live, my Queen. For the Sagori...for us all,” she chokes out, pushing a small vial into my trembling hand.

I close my hand around the vial, my fingers slick with Meredith’s blood.

With a tear rolling down my cheek, I kneel beside her. “What is this?”

“It’s the blood of your ancestors, your father’s.” Meredith gasps, her words coming in ragged breaths. “It holds great power...that can only be unlocked by you, my Queen.”

A weapon that could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Could it be true? Could this ancient blood truly possess the ability to turn the tide of this war?

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