Olga and Breno witnessed it all from the back, cornered in their own living room, unsure how to act, trying not to get involved in the mess forced into their home.
While for Ranier, being ignored by people whose importance to the kingdom was akin to that of a fly was a blow straight to his ego. A vein throbbed in his neck, and his fists clenched at his sides. His next words were not meant to be strategic; they were intended purely to inflict pain, to make them shudder in fear. He would wound them with words before resorting to physical force.
“Perhaps if I mention that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting your charming little town, you might finally give me the respect I deserve,” he growled impatiently, drawing all eyes to him for the first time.
The look of shock on Alissa and Freyah’s faces was almost aphrodisiac to him.
“If you’ve hurt anyone…” Alissa’s threat reverberated through the room, her gaze piercing right through him.
“It seems you’ve covered your tracks with surprising grace, ladies. All your neighbors could talk about was some nonsense aboutIshlor, whatever that is. Useless, all of them. I should have burned the whole place down when I had the chance.”
“Who are you?” Freyah whispered, rarely ever this somber.
“I must say, your family’s tavern is far more decent than I expected for a place at the edge of the world, Miss Weller.”
Freyah stood frozen, her breath catching in her throat at the mention of her family’s business.
General Uldor continued, “Though I must say, Dane was quite obstinate. He refused to give you up, even at the end. A strong man, I’ll give him that. He held firm until his last breath.”
Freyah’s knees buckled, and she collapsed to the floor, breaking into sobs. Alissa lunged at the man, but Eldric’s firm grip restrained her.
“He’s bluffing, Freyah!” she shouted, trying to offer some semblance of hope.
“I don’t bluff, Miss Kriegen. The damage could have been greater, but I didn’t have the time to delve deeper into… what was her name again?” he asked himself. “Lorena, is it? There was a little girl, too.” A twisted smile, reaching his eyes, appeared. “I assume the child is yours, Miss Kriegen. She has your eyes.”
“What have you done, you monster!” Alissa cried out, thrashing in Eldric’s arms. “I swear I will kill every living being that shares your blood if you laid a finger on my daughter!”
“I did consider cutting out her tongue after she stuck it out at me.” He clicked his tongue, circling them with an air of amusement. “Unfortunately, time wasn’t on my side.”
Alissa’s wrathful roar made every single person in the room stiff, even Freyah, as she cried the loss of her father out of her body.
That was the reaction the general had hoped for, the one he felt he deserved after months of relentless pursuit and frustration, after countless cities and failed attempts. He had dreamed of the moment he would be face to face with his targets, and the way they fell apart at that moment under the truth of his words was the least he was owed. But his goal would only be fully accomplished once their hearts stopped beating.
Eldric shook his head, scanning the room, noting the soldiers’ positions, and mentally plotting an escape plan. “Can you live with yourself knowing you’ve handed us over to die by the hands of these cruel people, the very ones who have kept you bound by debt?” he asked Desi, voice raw with emotion.
“They will not kill you. If you surrender, they promised me you’ll all be spared.”
Poor Desi, she should have known better.
One of the guards grabbed Freyah by the arms, pulling her to her feet. Her back was pressed against his broad chest, and her face still bore the signs of distress over the news of her father’s murder. She groaned, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong.
He glanced at his general, who gave a silent nod—a command.
“Get your hands off her now!” Alissa’s howl erupted with the intensity of the siren that blared in Bryniard every six months, louder than she ever thought she was capable of. Perhaps her soul anticipated how the next few seconds of her life would play out.
Without any warning, the man spoke, “I’m sorry, we have explicit orders to take down the Brynardian ladies on the spot.”
A heartbeat later, his sword slid across Freyah’s throat in a swift, effortless movement. Blood spurted out, splattering heavily on the man opposite her in the living room.
Keilan watched everything in shock. His face became a mess of deep red. He flinched at the taste of iron and the slick texture that covered his skin. He cleaned the blood from the shattered lens of his glasses, fighting the compassion that threatened to creep up every time he witnessed such brutality. Though he hadn’t wielded the sword himself, he felt every life taken by his fellow soldiers as if it were his own.
Freyah’s hand instinctively moved to the wide slit on her throat, but the blood poured too freely, slipping through her fingers in thick, warm streams. Her eyes were wide, though her vision was slowly blurring, fading. Everything happened so fast, but for her, it moved in slow motion, as if time had frozen just for her, granting this fleeting moment. A final, agonizing second to cling to life.
Freyah Weller had always hoped that when her time came, the last thing her sight would capture would be something as beautiful as the ocean earlier that day, perhaps in the distant future when age had worn her body down to its final threads. Instead, the last sight she was granted was the pained, horrified expression on Alissa’s face, drained of all color. Alissa’s roar of despair, fighting against Eldric’s grip, desperate to reach her—to save her—roared through her dying body. Freyah knew there was no saving her now. What truly tore at her heart wasn’t the end itself, but the flood of emotions and thoughts she could see through her friend, the silent screams of grief that spoke louder than any words.
Freyah would have given anything for one more moment to say goodbye. To hold Alissa tight and whisper that everything would be alright. To tell her that none of this was her fault, that every sacrifice had been worth it. Her lips wouldn’t move,stuck agape in a dreadful, soundless scream, but she felt a single tear slide down her cheeks. The end arrived ever so slyly and stealthily. Freyah did not have time to close her eyes before her mind slipped into the void, and her soul was carried away.
Alissa used to think that all dead bodies hit the ground with the heaviness of a stone, the last stubborn motion of their lives. But Freyah’s body drifted down gracefully like a leaf detaching from a tree in autumn. Perhaps not all bodies fell the same way. Freyah wasn’t like everyone else; she was as graceful as those falling leaves, unique and irreplaceable, too precious to be taken.