The Devastation (Unexpected Circumstances 7)

As I made my way once more through the upper level, slight movement from the far end of the corridor caught my eye. I waved the other guards back down the long staircase while I went to see what was there, telling myself I had only imagined it. We had cleared out this area already, and I did not think anyone else could be up here.

I turned at the end of the hallway and entered the royal bedchamber just in time to see a flash of black cloth as it disappeared behind a large, ornate wood carving, which hung on the far wall. I raced over to it and yanked it from the wall. Behind was a small alcove, and King Edgar stared back at me with wide, surprised eyes.

For a moment, I felt as if I were in a dream. Here he was, right in front of me, and I wasn’t sure what I should do. This was something I had desired for so long—to have this man in front of me without guards and with just cause to take his life—and I did not know how to respond. It was my moment of hesitation that allowed him to slip past me and try to run from the room. Even in my momentary stupor, he was not fast enough, and I caught up with him before he could reach the door. Edgar quickly jumped back and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“King Branford, what are you doing?”

“I’m here to destroy you and your family for what you have done,” I replied softly. “Is that not obvious?”

“It was your own cousins who devised that plan!” he said. “I knew nothing of the handmaid or the tea!”

His gaze shifted quickly to the door and then back to me again. I knew he was lying, and I told him so as my sword hovered between us.

“You have already made those responsible pay for that,” he said. “There is no more need for bloodshed!”

“No need?” I snorted. “You seize my wife and have the audacity to look shocked when I break down your door?”

“Seize your…seize your wife…?”

“Do not play innocent with me!” I bellowed as I swung my sword in an arc near his head. “I will not stand for it any longer!”

“King Branford, I have no knowledge of Alexandra’s kidnapping. I swear—”

“Where is my wife?” I screamed. I had tried to keep my voice calm and low before, but it was no longer working. I was quickly losing whatever dignity I might have left. The muscles in my arms were sore from battle but still cried out for more bloodshed.

“King Branford, you must believe me! I have no idea where your queen may be.”

I slowly raised my sword and held it in both of my hands as I pointed it to him.

“I will not listen to your lies,” I said quietly. “You will die for everything you have done to me and to my family.

“Branford…listen to me—”

I laughed and I stalked toward him. I felt as if I were in a trance as everything he had caused slowly traversed through my memories—my parents’ death, the misplaced faith of the mentors I had trusted with my life, the presence of the handmaid who harmed my wife, Alexandra’s disappearance…

I heard my own voice drop to a whisper.

“Perhaps you thought I had no breaking point, but believe me—I am broken now.”

He barely drew his sword in time before my blade crashed into his. There was little room for fighting in the enclosed quarters. Inside my head, the visions continued as I swung my blade at Edgar again and again. He parried, ducked, and tried to escape over his bed, and I lunged toward him, taking the bed’s canopy down and leaving the silk drapes scattered around the floor. I leapt over the bed and attacked again.

Edgar rolled over on his back and kicked out with both of his feet. They connected with my gut and knocked me backwards as the blow knocked the wind from me. I gasped and tried to right myself before he came at me, but he had the upper hand as he clashed his blade into mine and sent me reeling backwards to the wall behind me.

He followed after but made the mistake of setting his sights on me and me alone. The silk from the bed still lay strewn across the floor, and his boot caught on the fabric. He lost his balance and tripped just as I spun, turned to the side, and slipped my blade across his wrist.

It was only a small cut—not deep enough to kill—but it sliced the tendon, and he cried out as he dropped his sword. I grabbed him and threw him against the wall, my body following after. With my blade extended, I crashed into him. I felt the resistance of the wall as my sword exited through his back and struck stone.

I looked down into his face, my breath escaping from my lungs in short bursts, and slowly twisted my wrist. His shoulders clenched and turned inward, and his mouth opened and closed twice before he slumped forward a little. I took two quick steps back, and my sword slid from his chest as I moved away from him.

The king of Hadebrand, the man who exerted his own will over my kingdom and was responsible for my parents’ deaths, slowly slid to the ground with his back still up against the wall. His fingers twitched slightly toward the blade that lay several feet out of his reach as if there were some way he could seize it now. Edgar’s eyes stared up at me for a moment, and he seemed as though he wished to convey some message to me before his look glazed over, and he stopped moving.

I stared at the dead man until my own eyes felt dry and burned from the smoke outside the windows.

Edgar had known nothing of Alexandra’s disappearance. It was all over his face—etched within his eyes as I killed him. He didn’t know where she was or why we had come to destroy him on this day. He had no idea it was the common people of Silverhelm who were now tearing the walls of his castle to the ground.

And I still had no idea where she was or what was happening to her.

All the mental blocks I had placed inside my head since we rode from Silverhelm crumbled, and thoughts of everything my enemies may have done to Alexandra rushed over me. I took a few steps backward, only stopping when I hit the stone wall behind me. It was cold, but I barely felt the chill. I could only feel the stifling heat and stale air of the bench where I cowered and hid as screams echoed through my mind.