The Way We Fall

Chapter 106 (Roche)

Roche stared in horror, the world drawing to a stop as Tigris raised the apple like she was toasting the damned thing. Then she took a hearty bite, juice dribbling down her pale chin.

"No!" Roche shrieked, throwing herself forward, over the chair between them. It was too late. Tigis' hand went slack, the apple falling to the ground with a wet thump. Tigris' beautiful green eyes rolled up in her head, and her body fell back. Roche lunged to catch her before her head could hit the ground.

"That concludes the test," Tarak announced monotonically as Roche lowered the princess to the ground, her red hair fanned around her like a pool of blood.

Panic rose in Roche's throat as she stared at the unmoving woman. This couldn't be it. Tigris was destined to do incredible things. Roche was supposed to protect her.

She'd failed.

Tears pressed against her eyes. She swallowed them down, tapping Tigris' pale cheeks desperately.

"Come on, you royal brat. Wake up," she begged, her taps turning into full on slaps, "You can even try to shoot me with your gun when you wake up. I won't take it from your bedside table again."

Tigris didn't stir. Roche choked back a frantic sob. A deafening metallic crash sounded across the room, drawing Roche from her grief induced hysteria. Brom had fallen to the ground, his inkblood restraints coming undone. With him, all of Tigris' blades had clattered to the ground.

Roche stood shakily, her eyes drawn to the other man in the room. Orpheus was awake, blinking at her sleepily. She stepped towards him and his guardian, standing in front of Tigris' fallen form.

"Please," she pleaded, not sure what the other inkbloods could do, "Let me take her place. She can't die this way, I'm supposed to protect her."

Silence ticked on. Her hope waned, devastation taking hold and dimming the world.

Brom staggered to his feet with a muted curse, stumbling over to Roche's side. He knelt by Tigris' side, his face solemn and twisted with respect.

Grief choked Roche anew, making it hard to breathe.

She'd failed. She'd failed. She'd failed-

Brom inhaled sharply.

"She's not dead!"

Roche spun around to see the man pressing his fingers against Tigris' neck. Roche scrambled to kneel beside him, pressing her shaking fingers to her lady's neck. For a terrifying moment, Roche felt nothing but clammy skin. Then the pounding thrum of a pulse pressed against her fingertips.

A hysterical laugh rattled out of her. "I can heal her if she's alive!"

"There's no need," Tarak finally spoke, drawing closer. His eyes twinkled, "The poison is not fatal. It merely rendered the princess unconscious. She will wake in an hour."

Roche stared at him blankly. "But you said the poison was deadly!"

"Don't make him change his mind," Brom muttered, but Tarak merely smiled.

"The princess needed to believe that she was sacrificing her life. She needed to set aside her pride and life for someone beneath her station. By sacrificing her life for yours, Princess Tigris has shown she will lay down her life for her citizens and a mere stranger." Tarak explained, lifting his brows at Brom, who furrowed his brows.

"You told me I couldn't interfere," he pointed out. Tarak smiled.

"After the princess had already determined that you would not participate," he explained, turning away, "Come along, Orpheus. We have a blessed kingdom to see."