Chapter 4 - The Dagger

“Evangeline?” she felt her blood run cold, her eyes darting between the sharp blade and her cousin's livid expression “What are you doing here? What... What did you want to do with Hannah?” Anger rose in Deborah's voice when she realized why Evangeline could enter her best friend's room with a sharp weapon.

“You...” her cousin murmured, barely looking like herself, with that cold, glassy look “You're always trying to get in my way... But, not this time. Thanks to you, I will achieve even more than I expected tonight.”

Still with her face empty, Evangeline just remained looking at her for a few seconds, in total silence. When she began to raise the dagger, Deborah feared for herself and for her child, and prepared to try to find a way out of there, even if it was through the window, taking a chance on the ledges outside...

However, what Evangeline did was turn the weapon on herself, moving it towards her arm until a cut appeared there, staining the white nightgown she was wearing.

Just then, she screamed.

“Help! Help! Please, help!” Her voice was so shrill that Deborah’s eardrums seemed to split “Deborah was trying to kill Princess Hannah! Please, someone!”

“What...?!” Deborah gasped, but, before she could even get up from where she was kneeling, several guards and servants had already gathered there, their angry and accusatory gazes in her direction.

“What happened?” one of the soldiers held Evagenline’s shoulders protectively.

“Oh, Goddess, you are bleeding!” one of the servants approached, holding her arm “My Goddess, how was this woman able to do something like that?!”

“I only came to check on Hannah because I know how worried Iron is about her when he’s away.” Evangeline cried profusely, holding her arm as if she were about to faint “I went in and found Deborah standing over her, with this dagger in her hand. I tried to take it away from her, so she wouldn't hurt Hannah... But then she hit me.”

"No!" Deborah gasped “That’s not what happened at all! Evangeline was the only one who...”

“Shut up!” one of the guards growled, approaching her “You cursed whore! This is why the Goddess and the King hate you so much! How can you put your dirty hands on the princess and the King’s companion?”

“She can’t be left loose in the castle any longer!” another servant added “We need to lock her in the dungeons right now! What if our poor Evangeline was pregnant?! She could have killed Eclipsor’s heir.”

“Come to think of it, on the night of the invasion, the first one who was attacked was the princess, right?” one of the older guards growled “She never let anyone in her tower. No one but this girl. Maybe that’s why the Alpha imprisoned her here!”

“What are you talking about?” Deborah panted, despair stopping her breathing “Listen to me...!”

“Damn witch!” the servant who was supporting Evangeline shouted “It was you who betrayed us, wasn’t it? This is why so many of us were tortured, why the princess was cursed and why our lands are rotting! You were sent by the God of Discord to destroy us, that's why you never had a wolf!”

“Let’s kill her now!” one of the guards suggested, making Deborah’s head spin “Light a fire and offer a servant of Discord to the Goddess, as the ancients did! The Alpha will kill her anyway. At least we will have a chance to reverse the evil that was brought upon us.”

"No!" Deborah began to walk backwards, her hands falling protectively over her belly “You can't do that!”

“What should we do, Evangeline?” the servant questioned “In the absence of the King, you are second in command.”

“Evangeline...” Deborah looked at her cousin, her heart stopped “Don’t do that...”

“It pains me so much to do this to my own flesh and blood.” Evangeline whimpered, returning Deborah's gaze without wavering “But, Iron had already mentioned that he had decided to kill her, one way or another. He is disgusted by the bond between the two. Perhaps, if we kill her today, we will be doing our beloved king a favor, so that his wolf does not suffer more than necessary from her death.”

“Evangeline...!” Deborah growled, but it was too late.

The guards rushed toward her, not allowing her to take more than a few steps toward the window before her limbs were roughly held and her entire body was thrown to the ground, thick chains cutting into her wrists as they restrained her. Overcome with despair, she tried to turn around and scream about the King's son inside her, but a rough cloth was forced between her lips, silencing her.

“I will never forget such a terrible scene.” Evangeline murmured and, even without looking in her direction, Deborah felt that there was a smile in her voice “But, as much as it pains me, justice must be done. Let’s light a fire.”