Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 14

            “Val, what happened? Where’s your usual, oh god I killed someone freak-out?” Isaac said, watching her every move as she stalked back over.

            “You know damn well what happened. You felt it to. From him,” she said jerking her head at the corpse.

            He nodded, eyes going flat and hard. “If you’d tried to spare him I was going to kill him myself.”

            “Then there’s no problem now is there? Son of a bitch deserved it. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go clean my sword and get the blood off of me,” she said, voice tightly controlled while her eyes continued to smolder. She hadn’t taken more than two steps before further crashing sounds sent her hurrying back to stand in front of Miette and Bayon. The boy had latched himself onto her friend and was sobbing into her shoulder, effectively halting Miette from even trying to help.

            The man who darted around the last of the trees keeping them hidden stopped dead at the sight of them. Isaac held himself in the easy stance of an experienced fighter, both hands already clenched into fists. Beside him stood Valerie, her sword slanted across her body, the blade still the glittering red that had given her her name. The two of them shielded Miette and Bayon from view, eyes on the stranger, ears straining for the sound of other surprises.

            Like the last man, he was wearing black pants, identical in shade and cut. But his jacket was dark green, edged in black. The uniform of the Armithian army. But that meant nothing to her. The man she’d killed was wearing the same pants and this man could easily have stolen a uniform or killed someone for one.

            He moved slowly closer, keeping one hand hovering over the sword he had belted at his side, eyes on them. He stopped well over twenty feet from them, eyes flicking between them and the body. Finally he met and held Valerie’s eyes, the blood on her sword telling everyone who wasn’t blind that she was the one who’d killed the man. “May I ask you, miss, why did you kill this man?”

            Valerie’s chin rose. “Why do you care?”

            “I was chasing him, miss.”

            “Why?”

            “You still haven’t answered my question, miss,” he said, the slight twitch of his eyes betraying the fact he’d seen Isaac edge closer to Valerie.

            “You’re being unnecessarily stubborn, sweetie. Just tell him. Worst outcome is we have to kill him too,” he muttered at her, eyes not leaving the stranger.

            Val’s eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips but she nodded. “He was chasing Bayon,” she called, grip on her sword tightening.

            The man froze, eyes going wide, thumb and forefinger twitching. “Bayon? You-”

            Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the sound of more crashing foliage and shouts. Valerie was now certain there were no patrols in the area because no one could have missed the amount of noise they were making. From behind the stranger another familiar figure appeared, dragging two others behind it. “See! I told you it’s her. There’s Isaac and everything,” Cavyle cried, pointing at Valerie.

            “I told you children to stay hidden,” the man snapped.

            “Cavyle? Senera? Rabar? What are you all doing here?” Valerie demanded, sword point dropping to the ground.