The Rogue King {18+} (Book 2)

56. An Attack In The Night.

Apologies for the wait but here it is!  Still needs loads of editing but I'll get that done later.

-&-

Enjoy!

✨🌘✨

- Asmara 

    I was nearly on the precipice of sleep when Torben finally came to bed. I heard movement and a curse when he hit his ankle on the foot of the bed. I had to push down a laugh while he clumsily undressed and gently climbed in beside me, wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.

    "You're awake." Whether he could hear my uneven heartbeat or could just sense that I was awake he knew I hadn't slept since he'd been gone.

    "You were noisy getting into bed." I smirked, trying to pretend he was the reason I was awake.

    "You're a terrible liar."

    It was annoying he knew me so well, and a blessing all at once because he never neglected to notice when I wasn't okay. And it made it easier for him to know then for me to have to go out of my way to tell him.

    We confided in each other for hours and made love until we both fell asleep, our limbs tangled. It was the first time we'd found anytime for each other, and it was blissful.

    And then my whole body jolted when screams and shouts could be heard from outside our window.

    I felt Torben moving, untangling himself from me and making his way to the window. Horns blared, a horrible, alarming sound that signalled something was very, very wrong.

    My heart was already hammering in my chest, and I felt my fear grow with every second that Torben stared out the window and didn't say a word.

    I couldn't take it. I crawled out of bed and walked to his side, now seeing how tense his arms were at his sides. And then his entire body started to tremble with fury, pain... fear. I glimpsed the side of his face in the darkness of our room, but it was enough to see the agonising fear and anger he felt.

    I turned my head and looked out the window where it was still dark, and the sun wouldn't rise for hours.

    My fear and mind were instantly silenced the moment my eyes landed on the chaos outside. Only my body reacted out of pure instinct and made my heart beat rapidly while bile stung my throat. But my ears refused to fully register the sounds that were coming from outside. And I couldn't think or process the devastating sight in front of me.

    I didn't want to.

    I went frozen like Torben and for a moment my body wasn't my own. It forcibly kept me there and made me watch.

    Smoke filled the air, rising from fires that were spreading in the distance, through the trees with nothing stopping it. Yells to put out the fires had soldiers working together to collect water, anything to put it out.

    And running out of the smoke infested woods were soldiers who had been burned. Their skin was blistering and sliding of their faces, flames still licking at their blackened clothes. They were too far gone to heal, and they knew it. I had never heard such pained, desperate screams. They screamed and begged for their comrades to make it stop and before my very eyes I saw their comrades hesitate for a mere second before they regrettably sliced the burned soldiers throats so they could find peace in death.

    I jolted from my frozen state when Horns started blaring again, signalling the attack on our territory and I didn't want to believe any of it.

    You hear about war and what it entails but you don't fully understand it until it's happening right before your eyes. The devastation and fear it causes is hard enough to fully process.