Page 113 of Of Realms and Chaos

“I think that we need to be patient, there is—”

“My Prince! My Prince!” The shouts came from the other side of the war room door, getting closer as whoever it was neared. I stood from my seat, my chair sliding loudly across the floor. Making my way to the door, I threw it open, catching sight of a young soldier—his silver uniform fresh and without the stains of blood. “Please, My Prince, you must come look at this.”

He was too out of breath to continue, his hands going to his knees as he gasped for air. I turned to the others in the meeting, all of them leaning in an attempt to get a better view of the commotion. I nodded to Adbeel, and he returned it, resuming the discussion as I closed the door behind me.

“Where?” I asked.

The male was so unsettled that it seemed contagious, rattling my senses. He took a deep breath, straightening his back and clearing his throat.

“The Southern border, near station eight.” Without saying anything else, I grabbed his arm and portaled us, looking around to see nothing but snow. The soldier did not acknowledge the fact that there was clearly nothing to see. Instead, he walked farther south, not so much as telling me to follow.

But follow I did.

Not even five minutes later, we approached a small crowd, all facing a large golden box. I froze upon seeing it, a sense of foreboding leaving my vision hazy. What could I do but march forward, though? These were my soldiers. They did not want to follow a terror-filled general.

Making my way to it, I took a single deep breath then put my hands on the lid. It was heavy, sturdy even. Like perhaps whatever was inside weighed enough to warrant thicker packaging. My fingers gripped the edges of the lid, hands and body shaking.

“Back up, all of you. We do not know what this is.” My orders were immediately followed, every soldier present taking large steps back to ensure their own safety. A part of me did it because I also did not desire them to see me shatter, if that was what loomed below the lid.

Lifting the lid reinforced that pit in my stomach, warning bells sounding in my head. I could practically hear my own voice shouting not to look at what was inside. Still, I opened it. And when the lid fell from my hands in shock, I wondered if the pain would ever end.

A shrill scream came from someone behind me, then they were all shouting. Luca’s body had been hacked to pieces and shoved into the box, the smell of rotting flesh and dried blood so pungent it stung my nose. He was not clothed, stripped of that final dignity even in death. They had brutally harmed him just before ending his life, made clear by the unhealed bruises and cuts and crooked bones. Chunks of his blonde hair had been ripped out, his flesh gone on some parts of his torso. His once-bright blue eyes were open, the disgrace of it all nearly ending me there.

In one of his hands, the one missing only a single finger rather than the four the other had been separated from, sat a piece of paper. I reached in, grabbing the note from his cold grasp. A sob escaped my lips, the tears falling as I read the note.

To the false prince, this is for Isle Shifter.

I read it over and over, the tears running down my cheeks and the snow soaking my knees. Henry came, his arms around my shoulders, shaking me. Then he noticed what was in the box, and the only sound was of him vomiting. But it was when Cyprus came that I made a decision. His screams pierced something in my soul, his begging and cursing and desperate denial too much, shattering all that was left of the good within me.

Looking up at Henry, I met his bottle green eyes and said the one thing I had been convinced I never would. “It is time we destroy that fucking gilded island.”

***

I stared up at the stars from the top of the mountain, my upper body bare. Tremors racked through me as the cold bit into my skin, but all I could do was look at the night sky. My eyes burned and my chest ached as I finally found my voice after nearly an hour of wordless begging.

“I cannot exist without her. In her absence, the air does not reach my lungs and my heart struggles to beat. She is everything. Please, give her back to me,” I pleaded to the stars—to anything that would answer. They shone in the sky, twinkling like the world was still a beautiful place. But how could it be when Nona and Pino and Luca were dead? When Asher was gone? “Please.”

I was met with only silence.

***

Jolting up, I let out a shout of terror, my chest rising and falling too rapidly, as it always did now. But this—it was different.

I felt it. Her.

Nearly falling after I leapt out of my bed, I stumbled my way to Henry’s rooms, slamming my fist on his door repeatedly until he threw it open with a growl of frustration. With an unnecessarily hard shove, I forced my way into his rooms, pacing across the wooden floors.

“Bell, what is it?” Noe asked from the doorway. I did not look up at her, my eyes focused on the ground as I waited. After another minute or two, she let go.

With wide and crazed eyes, I looked between the both of them. My hand flew to my chest, gripping the cotton shirt as if it would slow my heart. Neither of them spoke though they both seemed to be on edge. It had only been two days since we were sent Luca’s remains, so it was expected that they would fear I had lost my mind. But I had not. Yet.

“Asher. She touched one of our notes. I felt it.” Disbelief colored my words red, painting them as the danger they were. Because if this was not Asher but a trap instead, then I would be risking our entire base—perhaps even the whole of the realm. They seemed to think the same thing, if their unsure gazes and the slightly judgmental purse of their lips were any indication.

“How do you know it is not a trap?” Noe finally asked, cutting through the tension with a dull stick.

“I do not know that.” I thought about shrugging but could not muster the energy needed.

“Just call it back to you. We can stop any danger that comes from it.” Henry, who was rarely the moderator, sounded just as tired as I felt. None of us were sleeping well, nor were we functioning during the day. We had lost so much so quickly.

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