The Soldier and the Princess

“And I’m supposed to believe you’d just watch me leave, knowing I’d be out there, still hunting your women?” Daphne let out a moan, the sound desperate and sad, and I knew she wasn’t thinking of herself, but Penelope, the woman she loved like a sister and the baby she carried. “You don’t look like the kind of man to leave a job unfinished.” Davis narrowed his eyes at me and lifted the hand he had so far had wedged behind Daphne’s back, showing me the gun he held on her.

My whole body started to shake; this was my nightmare. It was happening all over again.

I shook my head as the sounds I hadn’t heard in years started to dance in my memory: the pop of gunfire, the static of a radio, the voices screaming in a language I didn’t speak.

All of it started to cloud in from the edges, crowding out the present and shoving me forcefully back into the past, drowning me in my hellish memories.

Dead. She was dead.

And it was my fault.

“Silas.” Air. I needed to breathe. I couldn’t fucking breathe.

“Silas, please.” I could hear her, calling my name, and I kept pushing for the surface.

I couldn’t let her down.

Not again.

“Silas!” Keeping the gun raised with one hand, I dragged the other over my eyes, trying to wipe away the past and get back to the present. “Silas, look at me.”

Daphne.

She was what I needed.

We needed each other.

Huffing out a forceful breath, I squared my shoulders and looked at her, those green eyes I loved so much staring back at me with nothing but trust.

“It’s alright, Silas,” she whispered, her voice carrying across the busy concourse like it was meant only for me. “I’m here. We’re both still here.”

“Not for long,” Davis snarled, tightening his hold on her neck and backing farther away. He was almost in the street now, inching closer to freedom with every step.

Movement behind Davis drew my attention, and I looked that way to see two of the hospital security guards moving up behind him, weapons held ready.

It was wrong. They couldn’t take him like that, not without Daphne being in the line of fire. I didn’t trust them to not fuck it up.

Suddenly, Davis froze, finally noticing the armed security at his back, and I watched as his determination turned to panic, and I knew I needed to act fast.

There was nothing more dangerous than a desperate man.

“Daphne,” I called, even though she hadn’t taken her eyes off of me the entire time. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, but her eyes were clear and bright as she looked at me, and in that moment, I knew it would all be alright.

“I love you, Princess,” I called, and I meant it with every fiber of my being. It was the only truth I had, and I had hidden it from the world for long enough.

Whatever the outcome, Daphne knew that I loved her, and that was enough for me.

“Now, duck!”

It all happened so fast.

Daphne dropped, using her entire body weight to cause Davis to either release her or topple over with her.

He chose the former, his hold on her throat breaking as he stared at her prone form on the sidewalk, fury and surprise mixing on his face.

Too late, he realized what it meant.

Too late, he raised his own gun to me.

But I didn’t hesitate.

I fired off three rounds, striking him center mass as that snub-nosed revolver struck true.

I watched, emotionless, as Davis’s body jerked with each hit I landed, before he landed against the pavement with a wet smack. Moving forward, I kept my weapon up as I approached, standing over his prone form as he gasped for air.

“You will never get near her again,” I hissed, meeting his eyes as he glared at me, his hatred evident even as he bled out at my feet. I could feel Daphne, her hands clinging to my leg as she crouched behind me, but I didn’t look away from Davis. His entire chest was soaked in blood, and each exhale a wet cough, red foam coating his lips like some macabre lipstick. “This is more mercy than you deserve, but I’ll enjoy every moment of it.”

And I did, until his last wheezing breath, I stared at him, one hand still holding the gun, the other resting lightly on Daphne’s head where she leaned against my thigh.

I didn’t make her look away; she deserved to know her monster was dead.

We didn’t all get that luxury.