A Dance Of Crowns & Thrones | Book I

Chapter 44 | In The Realm Of Wardrobes

Her room was utterly destroyed; that was the first thing Eko understood of the situation before her; her bed was shredded to pieces, and the furniture lay in disarray, broken, scattered mess across the entire floor. The carpet was ripped, claw marks across most of the walls, and that was what she could tell from the moving flood lights that lit up the room.

Her paintings that she adored against her lovely lavender walls were unsalvageable, smeared with blood. Flames burnt surprisingly alongside some of her other walls, unable to fathom how it even got that way, the horrors she knew that would have taken place.

She stepped forward, Matthew's hand outstretched to keep her in her place, and steel eyes observed the room. In the distance, her doors were flung off their hinges, indicating that some wild beast had broken in. The sheer force, having broken it into two, did not bode well for either of them.

"Holy," Eko muttered at the war zone, "christ... what."

Knowing that exact feeling, he moved forward slowly, speechless as she had been by what was before them.

"This won't be a happy ending, Eko," studying as much as Matthew could from the shifting lights of the aircraft outside, he continued further into the room. The ground beneath him shifted with each step he took, and in caution, he dug his foot in to apply pressure before he retook a step, creaking louder now upon his movements.

"That's clearly obvious."

Leaving her, Matthew went further along the room and turned to her briefly; the barking command made her eyes roll, "stay where you are- understood."

"Yes, sir," he deserved her smart-ass reply considering that command, and Matthew dismissed it, turning his back on her. Eko instead was greeted by Toni and Richie, that came beside her. Both men's faces scrunched in disgust as Eko's had done when they took in the room.

"The fuck?" Richie said, looking at the blood bath of a room.

"Any ideas?" Toni began, watching as Matthew slowly moved along the side of the room, echoing with each step of the creaks that radiated in their senses.

"Try the closet." Eko pointed, watching him edge closer, "there's a room in there, hidden behind the walls of the clothes. I'm counting on her being in there."

Matthew didn't answer but continued to the doors, reaching for the handle to turn it; he groaned when he couldn't get in. More than likely, the Princess had barricaded herself in.

"It's jammed shut from the inside," and with that, the full weight of his shoulder, Matthew barged into the doors, instantly springing the double doors open.

Richie stepped from Eko, "stay you," he ordered. "I know you don't take orders well. But this is dangerous? Yea?"

Then he was in front of her, applying pressure to each step, heading to the room's main doors that led out into the corridors; Richie wanted to get to the three bodies that he had seen when he first entered to try to identify who they had been.

Matthew was gone from her sight as the boys moved around her, stealthy little things, agile soldiers that they needed to be. How could they expect her to do nothing? This was her home; the people she loved were slaughtered here. She was stuck in her spot, and everything passed way too quickly for her to stand there.

Agonizing moments later, she couldn't hold it together anymore; sky blue observed that Toni was distracted in the room, analyzing what kind of creatures could have done this. Richie was hovering over the dead bodies, confirming back to Jesse and Jasmine on the comms that they were ground soldiers.

This was her perfect opportunity to get to the wardrobe; if she didn't find her potential decoy first, then her life was about to change with this simple act. Eko tippy-toed forward, taking Matthew's exact path; Richie's voice snapped out no sooner than she had.