Isolde.
"Yes, sister. They are no more," Lucinda lowered her head after speaking, bawling. It was now that Isolde understood the reason Lucinda's face was streaked with tears when she barged into the room.
Isolde's head swam as she fought a wave of tears. Despite herself, the tears rolled down her cheeks. Her mother and father were no more.
How could that have happened?
Isolde's feet dragged on the floor until her legs collapsed underneath her. A sob wrenched out of her mouth as she cried.
"How?" She managed in between sobs, staring at Lucinda.
"They were murdered, sister. Some men invaded our homes..." Lucinda flicked away the tears that were about to enter her mouth. "I was luckily hidden by father, so the invaders didn't find me. I...watched as they butchered them, Isolde..."
"Oh, no!" Isolde leaped back to her feet, horror blanketing her vision as she tried to imagine the blood and gore Lucinda witnessed while their parents were killed. She crushed her sister in a hug while she continued speaking.
Isolde could've told her she'd heard enough if the situation were different, but this wasn't. This was about their parents.
"They left after a while, and I thought things were already safe before I came out of the hiding place. I held their lifeless bodies, sister. Mother's eyes were empty, and father's head was...severed. I stayed with the corpses for three days. I watched them rot..."
"Oh, Lucinda!" Isolde shook her head, pushing the gory images away as she held Lucinda close to her heart. Her sister was practically shaking now. Chills filled her body.
"On the third night, they came again. Blindfolded me. I didn't know where I was until I found myself in the arena. I don't even know where I am."
Isolde stopped to caress Lucinda's back when it occurred to her who had murdered their parents. "That monster!"
Tears rolled down, and hurt ravaged her inside. Her heart shrank. It was him! Taking her wasn't enough. He went ahead to murder their parents. By the creator, he'd pay with his life, Isolde swore, feeling red-hot rage.
She wiped away her tears and held Lucinda. "You've got me now, sister. I promise to make the one responsible for their deaths pay." She swore, hugging Lucinda again.
When they broke apart, Lucinda asked, "But where are we?"
"We're in Abbator in Bloomington," Isolde supplied. That had Lucinda blinking rapidly.
"Bloomington?" She asked, swallowing. It was as if she knew something about Bloomington.
"Have you been here before?" Isolde asked, but Lucinda shook her head.
"Not at all. It's just..." Lucinda shook her head again. "I've heard father saying something about Bloomington in his sleep."
Isolde wrinkled her brows as she leaned closer. "What did he say?"
"Ah, I can't make sense of it," Lucinda clucked her tongue. "But he whispered it with dread while he slept."
Isolde pulled her gaze away as her mind raced. She wondered what it was about Bloomington that had their father scared.
By the time she brought her eyes back to Lucinda, she saw her pull something out of her undergarment pocket.
"You remember this?" She asked Isolde with a smile on her face. Isolde reached out her hand, taking the locket from Lucinda. "You used to hold it so dearly back in Brindlemark. Always kept it beside your nest of pillows as you slept."
Isolde opened the locket and saw the tiny portrait of a hand held aloft in the air as if reaching another hand. The portrait had always been like that. Like the half of a whole, and Isolde had always cherished it, keeping it close to her. However, she had given it to their father before the keeper took her away.
"Father gave it to me before he was murdered," Lucinda added.
Isolde couldn't speak. She only stared hard at the locket. This had always held meaning to her, but unfortunately, she couldn't remember how she got it. She dried her tears and looked back at Lucinda. "Wait for me, Lucinda. I'll come back for you once I find a way out..." She stood abruptly, the rage returning.
"Wait!" Lucinda called just as Isolde reached for the door. "What are you going to do? There are so many sentinels here."
Turning to her sister, Isolde declared. "I'm going to kill someone."
She banged the door after that, rushing down the hall with Carldo hurrying to meet up with her.
"My lady. We should head to the training room," Carldo shouted, but Isolde ignored him. "Is something amiss? Your sister seems okay..."
That had Isolde pausing. "Oh, no. She's not going to be okay until someone dies." Her eyes landed on the scabbard of a dagger laced around Carldo's waist, and with sharp moves, she grabbed it, surprising Carldo.
Then Isolde leaped, running across the halls and grounds of the buildings searching for the man. Carldo hurried after her, hooting.
Gods be damned, he was in trouble. The lady would expose him today. The males roaming everywhere in the castle watched them as they ran.
Isolde's hair flew into the air while she ran and searched thoroughly. She had to find him. The bane of her existence.
• * *
Draco.
"I had them buried. Although what remained of them," Alfos said to Draco as they walked along the grounds, watching the men mowing hedges and doing other chores in the grounds.
Alfos was just sharing with him how he found the breeder's sister in the midst of corpses before they took her away. It took two days of investigation for Alfos and his team to find out where in Brindlemark the breeder's parents lived.
"Ensure the youngling female is safe until we decide what to do with her," he instructed, earning a nod from Alfos. "But who do you think could be behind it?"
Alfos shrugged. "I could have said the keeper of the brothel, but the woman had already fled from Kalingrad before we arrived. The brothel was practically empty when we arrived."
Strange, Draco hummed to himself.
"But one of the whores in the brothel found us. She said Draken's men were in the brothel, paying to have females, but one of the females stabbed the lord and fled. That was when the lord freaked out and began penetrating villages and killing people."
"Fucking Draken..." Draco cursed, heaving in anger. Suddenly, he stilled and listened. His posture confused Alfos as he ogled.
With speed, the lord whirled around and held the steel that nearly penetrated his back. Blood oozed from his hand holding the sharp edge of the dagger as his eyes stared into the blue pools of the breeder.
"Mouthy," he growled.
Alfos kicked into action immediately, knowing the lord wasn't dressed to shield his body from a female's touch.
As soon as Isolde's hand raised to bash across Draco's face, Alfos held it in the air.
"What do you think you're doing?" Alfos growled, boring his eyes into the female's.
"Get out of my way. I'm going to kill that murderer!" Isolde hissed, thrashing to reach out to Draco. "You think I don't know you killed my parents!?"
Hearing that, Draco and Alfos stilled and traded a look.
She was the Blossom that stabbed Draken. No wonder raising an arm against him wasn't an issue for her.
This female here was truly a vixen, Draco thought, staring at the raging Isolde. In that heated moment of realization, horses neighed, and when they looked, they saw a familiar chariot moving into the castle.
He's back, Draco thought.
TBC.
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