Chapter 4: Chapter 4

REYNA

Shaken by the strange turn of events and the confusing feeling inside me, I watched as the Roses and guardians circled the beast, blocking me and others from seeing as they maneuvered, half dragging and half lifting him before dumping him into a roll-in bed.

To my surprise, the war had ended, and we’d won. Women and girls were strewn around the southern gates, still looking as dazed as I felt.

A couple of medical personnel were tending to injured guardians and civilians. The beasts’ bodies were covered, probably to stop people from seeing them and panicking.

Some of our guardians were also dead and covered. I felt their loss deep inside.

As of now, we didn’t know just how many we’d lost.

“What is wrong with you? You could have died right now. My God, Reyna, what the hell were you thinking?” Cassandra spat, glaring.

“Mother, I—”

“Get back to the town hall and make sure everything runs smoothly. Not a single person should miss their shot, especially not after this.”

“But—”

“Do as I ordered. You’re not needed here,” Cassandra cut in coldly.

I looked at her with disbelief. She couldn’t really mean that, could she?

But in her eyes, I saw that she did. She really wanted me to go back to watching people get their shots when there were so many other important things I could do to help.

Our queendom had just been attacked, for goodness’ sake, by the same beasts she and her council had been telling us were long dead. They’d been lying to us all, probably about everything.

I opened my mouth to vehemently argue with her, ignoring Nana’s warnings. Nana was shaking her head, probably in the hopes of shutting down whatever argument was about to leave my mouth.

I swallowed back my arguments and watched as my mother and the council of women walked away, discussing what had just happened.

“Don’t, Reyna,” Nana warned when she saw me glance at the village hall then back to where Cassandra was almost out of sight.

But I was already walking away. For the first time in my life, I ignored my nana’s warning.

I ignored Cassandra’s orders and ran after them instead of going to the village hall. I caught up with them right when they were about to enter the elevators.

I hid behind Lydia, her size dwarfing me and providing perfect cover from Cassandra’s eyes.

“Lydia, brief me on what just happened. I want to know how none of our scouts were able to notice beasts the size of a fucking tree trying to breach our perimeters, until it was too late.”

“I’m sorry, my queen, this is all my fault. I should have realized something was wrong when the scouts didn’t check in with me an hour later,” Lydia replied, her head lowered with shame.

Cassandra glanced at Amara, who looked positively pale.

“Amara, care to explain to me what just happened to our protection spell? Can you erect the barrier back up?”

“I don’t know, my queen. My grandmother was the one who created the barrier spell. It should have been impenetrable unless they had a powerful witch of my bloodline on their side. They shouldn’t have been able to come this far into the mountains or even see the illusion I’d woven.”

I could hear Amara’s confusion in her voice. As far as we all knew, there weren’t any witches in the outside world.

At least that’s what I had been told. From what I’d witnessed today, I’d say there was a lot me and the rest of the people in Marlenia did not know.

Cassandra snickered, but she didn’t say anything. Her anger and displeasure were palpable; we all shared in that anger.

I mean, our queendom had been attacked and only God knew how many lives had been taken today. And yet it felt like Cassandra was angrier than all of us.

The look on her face was one I recognized—it was calculating and dangerous.

When the elevator stopped, she walked out fast. We rushed to follow her all the way to the surveillance room on the third floor.

While Mark was the leader of the guardians and also the head technician, Lydia was the head of security. Right now, Lydia was nervous and angry at her subordinates.

She glared at them, then at the guards keeping watch on the surveillance. If I wasn’t so curious about the beasts and eager to learn just what had happened, I would have ogled the guards.

They were the first men I had seen after Mark. Hopefully, they weren’t anything like him.

I didn’t know why, but I disliked Mark intensely; it was the way he looked at me. It made me uncomfortable—my skin crawled, like a spider creeping up my arm.

If these men were anything like him, I didn’t even want to spare them my time. Mark gave me shivers, and not the good kind. It was fortunate that I rarely saw him.

I didn’t even glance at the male guards after the first time. My eyes were fixed on the walls of moving pictures.

So many screens showcased different parts of the castle, the walls, and the areas outside our fortified perimeters at different angles. I had never seen anything like it before.

“There! Replay that video,” my mother ordered one of the guards controlling the computers.

Immediately, the video was replayed.

On the screen, the video showed the south gate from outside. The south gate was closed, the field was empty, there was no sign of life—everything was still. Only four guardians were there, keeping watch.

Then, out of nowhere, seven figures just appeared out of thin air. Six were the beasts who had attacked our barriers; the seventh was an older woman, probably the witch who had helped them.

“Oh heavens,” Amara gasped.

My mother glanced at her.

“That’s my grand auntie Beatrice. She and Grandma parted ways because they didn’t agree on a lot of things, including Aunt Beatrice’s use of the dark arts. This explains a lot.”

“You mean that woman is over a hundred?” Mark asked, brows arched.

I could see why he would ask that. The woman didn’t look a day older than fifty.

She looked younger than Amara, and Amara was over sixty.

“The curse of dark magic. Only God knows how many she’s sacrificed to stay that young,” Amara said.

We all kept quiet and continued watching the screens.

They kept looking around as though they were searching for something. They were menacing and looked determined; they didn’t even notice the guardians, which meant Amara’s magic had held.

“What were they doing?” Cassandra asked.

“Looking for the weakest point in the barrier—in this case, the door the Roses use whenever they go out to the outside world,” Amara replied.

“I’ve seen enough.” Cassandra turned her back on the screens and faced us.

“Lydia, I want you to assign some guards to go out and scout the area. I don’t believe our captives are alone. Shoot and kill any beasts you encounter. If any of them survive, I don’t need to tell you what that means for any of us,” Cassandra gave the order, her face grim and hard with determination.

Lydia nodded and stalked out of the room in haste.

“Lisa, you, Janet, and Allison are to go with the guards. They might need the extra hands. Take one of the witches with you, and I also want additional guards in and outside the walls at all times.”

The Three Roses nodded their heads.

I tried to follow them out. Now that Lydia was no longer here to provide me with cover, I was afraid of my mother catching me.

As though she’d heard me, her eyes flew to where I stood. My eyes were wide with fear of the punishment I was sure would come.

“Mark, you know what to do,” she said to the older man, still looking at me with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, my queen.” Then he walked out of the room.

Cassandra turned to the guards in charge of the surveillance system. “You two are to keep watch at all times. If you see anything at all, you’ll inform me immediately, understand?!”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

And with that, she marched out of the surveillance room, with me and the rest of the council women right behind her.

“If you weren’t my daughter and the heir to the throne, I would have you killed for your disobedience. Do you have any idea what just happened today?” She turned and pinned me with that glacial glare.

I swallowed hard.

“I’m sorry, Mother,” I started calmly, collected, because I knew Cassandra would never listen to me if I talked to her with fear or in a fit of hysteria.

“I just wanted to know what was going on. You’ve always lamented the fact that I am not as engaged in the queendom’s activities as I ought to be. But have you ever wondered why that is? In order for me to embrace my duties and roles in this queendom, you have to let me in, by letting me get involved.”

I inhaled and continued.

“You can’t shelter me forever, Mother. I need to know the magnitude of the dangers we are facing. Please let me come with you. This is the first time I’m seeing a beast. I need to know everything about them to better prepare myself.”

Everyone was silent, watching, waiting to see if she was finally going to agree.

Cassandra stared at me, deliberating. I guessed she was trying to determine if I was ready.

After the longest time of my life—which was only a few seconds—she finally spoke.

“All right, I guess it is time, but you’re not yet part of the Roses, Reyna, until after the finals and only if you complete the Roses training, which you will begin in two days and which will last for two weeks,” the queen said. She turned her attention to the Roses leader and continued, “Sabrina, you will guide her through everything she needs to know. She and the other girls are under your tutelage. You don’t have to notify me of anything. We need them to be ready and prepared as soon as possible.

If Reyna argued or refused to participate in the training, punish her as you see fit.”

Sabrina bowed her head, her face neutral, and replied, “Yes, Your Majesty, I’m truly honored. I won’t disappoint you.”

Cassandra only smiled grimly and said, “Let’s get going then.”

My heart was pounding so hard at the thought of seeing the beast again.

A part of me wondered if my mind had made up how he looked.

The intensity of his eyes. The fangs in his mouth and his massive size.