Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 36 - Leavi

Banging thunders down the hall like Death knocking on bedroom doors. I tense, fingers wrapping around the poker so tightly the twisted metal indents my skin. They won't find us. They can't; we moved rooms.

Somehow, though, they seem far too comfortable finding their way in this castle.

The banging comes closer. My eyes flick between the door and the Queen's sleeping form. If she wasn't so badly injured, I might be able to hide us both, the way I hid in Aster's room...

The booming rocks the front door. Teeth gritted, I creep away from Selenia's bedside and into the living room.

"Queen?" a man's thick voice calls. I edge toward the door, poker held in both hands. He knocks again, a frame-rattling concussion. "Queen?"

I stop at the edge of the barricade, resting the metal rod on my shoulder like a truncheon. Wild hope flutters in my chest like birds' wings in a storm. If this is a Morineause soldier, then maybe we won. Maybe we're all saved. Maybe I won't have to fight. My hands shake.

"Queen?"

I spread my feet and lift the poker. If this were a Morineause soldier, he wouldn't have broken down every door before this one. I wait in silence.

Outside, he growls, and a booming crash shakes the door. I tighten my sweating grip. He throws himself at the door again, and a crack runs near the hinge. My stomach clenches. Barricade or not, he's going to break through eventually.

The door thuds again, and I launch into action. Cold sweat streaming down my face, brain screaming at me, I drag pieces of the barricade away from the door. The metal of the key is slick against my clammy fingers as I drag it out of my pocket. He crashes into the door, and I insert it into the lock. Steady...

The floor thrums as he charges forward, and I throw the door open. He barrels past me and trips over the footstool I left out. Quick as a hare, I dart forward and bring the poker down over his head. He groans, reaching up to grab me, and I stumble back. His dazed eyes find mine, and I freeze. I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this...

He pushes up to a crawl, and my heart jumps in my throat. Hurriedly, I aim to rap his hand with the poker. He dodges clumsily and loses his balance, chin clipping the stone. He tries to rise a second time, and I shoot forward, throwing myself on his back. He hits the ground, and I slam the poker into his head like a club. He moans, and I keep hitting him until, finally, he goes still.

My frozen lungs churn back to life in gasping, rasping fits. Shaking hands drop the poker, and it rings through the room like a funeral bell. I shoot to my feet, throwing the door closed. I didn't kill him, I didn't, I didn't... My legs suddenly give out, and my knees slam against the stone.

Streaming eyes survey my scattered barricade. I've got to secure this place. He might not have been the only one. Blazes, blazes, blazes! The door's not even locked.