Page 8 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
She raised the glass to her lips again, and then before she even knew what was happening a shadow stepped out from the darkness of the room, stepping up behind Lord Gothar.
“Behind...”
But it was too late, the shadow surged forward, and Lord Gothar grunted in pain. A grunt that set the hairs on her head on end. She’d never heard anything quite like it, and she never wanted to hear it again.
Then all of a sudden, Edmund started choking. Blood sprayed out from his mouth as he clutched at the tip of a sword that had pierced his stomach. Adorra let out a high pitched scream of terror as she stared in wide-eyed shock at her husband. She was too frozen to do anything but scream.
Her mind had trouble processing what was going on in front of her. It was too unbelievable! It had to be a nightmare. That was it! She must have fallen asleep before Edmund had shown up. She was asleep.
Hot blood splattered against her face, and her screaming renewed. An ear-shattering scream of pure terror as she stared in horror at her gurgling husband.
Adorra turned her eyes away from Edmund and to the shadow who was towering over them. Was she going to be killed next?
Her eyes skimmed over the tall frame of the shadow. Whoever this was, he was impressive and most definitely a warrior. She was frozen, even with Edmund gurgling right beside her. None of her limbs would move, not that she figured it would do her any good. If this shadow wanted her dead, she had no chance.
The shadow quickly slipped away and out an open window that she hadn’t noticed was open. The intruder must have been in her room the whole time!
As Lord Gothar fell over on the bed, she quickly raised herself to a sitting position. The goblet finally slipped from her hand tumbling to the stone floor in a clatter of metal. She put her hands over Edmund’s gaping wound trying to keep the blood from pouring out of him, but it flowed out of him in a steady hot sticky stream.
“Help! Please, come quickly!” Adorra screamed from the top of her lungs. She didn't care who came. She just needed someone to come, because she had no idea what to do. She had no idea if anyone could do anything about such a mortal wound.
Edmund continued to gurgle as his life slowly ebbed away. His eyes were wide in the dark, surprised his life was coming to an end. There was nothing she could do. There was nothing anyone could do. She knew that, but she refused to believe it at the same time.
“I’ll be right back!” Adorra screamed at him as she bundled the covers of the bed up and pressed them against the wound, placing his hands against the blankets to hold them in place.
She couldn’t lose her husband. She couldn’t! Tears ran down her face as she tripped over her feet to reach the door, and once there she ripped open her chamber door.
“Help! Someone! Please!” Adorra tripped over her feet as her nightgown got caught around her legs. She threw out her bloody hands and caught herself as she fell to her hands and knees. The stone floor scraped at her knees, but she ignored the pain.
Glancing at her hands, she paused briefly as the lit sconces in the hallway reflect off the crimson blood on her hands. She gaped at her crimson covered fingers.
Pushing herself back onto her feet, she continued to sprint through the hall. Her feet smacked hollowly against the cold stone floors.
“Help!” Adorra sobbed out the cry, her mind still unable to process what was going on. It was like her life wouldn’t go right, like she was unable to have anything happy and perfect. Her delirious mind tried in vain to hang onto the idea that this would all just be a horrible dream, even though her heart knew differently.
“My lady!” A soldier rushed up to her side his eyes wide as he took in the sight she must present. “Is this blood on you?” He clasped a hand around her wrist and brought it up to his face so he could get a better look.
“It’s not mine!” She sobbed as she collapsed to the ground in a sobbing heap, the weight on her shoulders finally pushing her down. “Edmund, he’s been killed!” She pointed towards her open door.
“The lord?”
“Yes!” She screamed, hysteria finally taking over.
The soldier left her side as a few more guards tore through the hall, rushing for her chamber. Their metal armor clattered as they rushed by to see to Edmund. But there was nothing they could do. No healer could make this right, even through the trauma she knew that much.
Adorra turned to watch as the last of the men sprinted into her chamber. Their gasps of horror echoing through the stone corridor.
“Call a doctor!” One of the men yelled.
A soldier raced out of her chamber and disappeared from sight, but she could hear his boots driving a rhythm against the stone steps as he rushed to do the biding of the other soldiers.
Slowly, Adorra pushed herself to her feet and stumbled towards her room. As she neared the room, she placed an arm against the doorway as she looked in. Someone had lit several candles, the light flickering over the room, that damn room.
Tears continued to stream down her face, rolling down her cheeks until they plummeted to the floor beneath her feet. Her throat was a bit raw from her previous screaming. Otherwise, she’d still be whimpering.
A doctor brushed past her as he sprinted into her room. She watched in vain from the sidelines as the doctor did his best to stem the flow of blood, but it was too little too late.
“What happened in here?” The doctor asked as he continued to try to save Edmund, but even in the flicking candlelight, Adorra could see the light had faded out of those sea-green eyes.
