[Fantasy novel, completed ✓]
In a world filled with magic, dragons, witches, demons, deadly creatures and other magical beings, the life of the king's daughter Victorine changes with a single blow when her kingdom is attacked.
She loses not only he...
Listen to me, girl, you have castles inside your bones, coronets in your heart, if he threatens you with battle, you raise him a whole war, the last time I checked, Queens cower before no man. -Unknown
-----❅-----
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
- Victorine -
-----❅-----
The injured spot in my thigh throbbed as I put one step in front of the other. I tried to keep up with the pace of the other soldiers as we walked through the dungeon hallway. My gaze darted to the right and to the left.
I would come back. If we made it, then I would come again and free all the prisoners. But right now, maybe the people here were actually the safest.
The stairs were especially difficult. Each step up sent a signal of pain through my nerves. I hissed as I breathed until we finally left the dungeon for good.
"Where do we look for Cephas now?" asked Orestes quietly to the group as the rest of the soldiers formed up around Nicolas and me.
"We don't have to search," I groaned.
Cephas had let me into his mind. While he had tormented me with his memories, my ability had also scoured the rest of his mind.
I had located all the shelters of this castle. I knew where Cephas was going. In fact, I had actually been in that room before.
In my mind, I recalled the layout of the castle from Cephas' mind. Then I directed Tryphosa, who was walking ahead of me, along the corridors and stairs.
When we were almost there and turning around one of the last turns, Tryphosa suddenly flinched. Alarmed, Nicolas pulled me to the rear while other soldiers pressed forward.
I could see from here that Tryphosa held her injured hand briefly and then drew her sword anyway. A fight seemed to be breaking out in the hallway. I heard swords clashing and the foreign soldiers barking orders now and then.
Two of our men stayed behind Nicolas and me in case there was an attack behind us as well. Nicolas took a step forward and peered cautiously around the corner of the turn. "Damn it. That's a dozen men."
"It would go faster if we helped," I reminded him, reaching for my crossbow.
"Surely not. I'm not going to risk our lives on some foot soldiers so close to the finish line," Nicolas replied firmly.
One of our soldiers now took a few steps backward and stopped beside us. Her hand was bent strangely, while the other clutched a sword. Tryphosa did not look at us, but stubbornly straight ahead. As if she didn't want to let the enemy soldiers know that someone else was standing here. "Victorine, is there another way?"
