Forced to marry the enemy prince in her sister's place

"Be careful," Astrid replied solemnly. She took one last look at the girls; there were tired smiles on their faces, and she dashed out of the room.

She zigzagged through a few corridors, took the stairs in twos until she found the horse shed at the back of the castle.

As swiftly as she could, she mounted one of the horses, which was mottled with shades of white and brown, and rode through the gates as fast as she could.

The town was within her line of sight after a few minutes, but the scene in front of her left her horrified.

A lot of their men had been slaughtered, most of whom had been decapitated or missing a limb; the ones who still stood fighting were barely holding on.

As she rode closer into the town, her eyes darted around the area. Where do I start to look, she thought. Rather than diving headfirst into the battle scene, she took a different route along the houses and tried to find any fuse connected to the road.

As she rode, she heard someone grunt in pain around her. Augustus leaned against the house, a few meters away, clutching his side as blood gushed out.

She raced to catch up to him, but a Thalassian soldier emerged, closing in menacingly with a sword in both hands.

Augustus breathed in deeply, released the wounded area, and grunted in pain, but held his sword steady. The soldier struck first, his sword coming down on Augustus, which made him lurch backwards, hitting the house he’d leaned on, and the air left him.

Before the swords could lurch at him again, he instinctively jerked to the side and lunged at the soldiers.

She jumped down from her horse and drove her sword into his heart as soon as she got close enough.

"Astrid," Augustus gasped. "You’re alive."

"I am." She went to hold him. "Just look at you, you look terrible," her voice quivered.

"I’m alright. Where are the others? His majesty?"

"We’ve just found out that they planted bombs all over the place; the men need to fall back."

"What?" He looked at her intently, "but... How is that possible?"

"I have no idea. However, this is the second time we’re hearing about this, and it is definitely much more than a coincidence at this point."

"We need to hurry, Astrid, or my men will not survive this." He was terrified.

"Why don’t we find the location where the fuse will be set off? We could stop everything," she suggested.

"We might not be fast enough, Astrid. We need the men to fall back. Please," he held her tightly. "Help me save them."

She’d never seen Augustus this terrified, not even from the faint memory she had when she was shot down by an arrow, not when the castle back at Silithra was hijacked.

"Can you ride?" She asked.

He nodded quickly.

"Hold on to me tightly." His hands wrapped around her waist tightly, and he lightly leaned on her.

They raced back to the main road and screamed for the men to fall back. Confusion gripped the crowd, but the more they saw Augustus shout the command, the more they began to run back to their ships.

Before long, the first explosion came. The air was filled with dread and terror as the men shouted. A second explosion went off, and a few men were blasted into the air and onto some of the houses.

The surviving men returned to the ship terror-stricken and in shock. No one spoke a word when they’d gotten back.

"What happens now?" Adonis asked.

Asteid shook her head, "We need to bandage your wounds, or you’ll bleed to death. Then I’ll go back for the others."

"You mean his majesty?"

Astrid nodded.

"If there’s anyone I could trust to bring them back safely, that would be you."

Astrid smiled wearily, "Thanks."

Astrid helped him take off his armour and winced at the gaping wound. "This will hurt badly."

"Is it that bad?"

"I apologize in advance. If this may cause any pain."

Adonis chuckled. "I’m already in so much pain as it is; what else is there?"

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you."

Astrid dipped a piece of cloth in water and wiped the area. Augustus grunted loudly. "Please be gentle."

"I’m gentle."

"You’re not gentle enough," he said. "If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re trying to kill me."

"Thank God you know better than."

She was laughing at his face. His mouth was squeezed shut, and his eyes were bulging out of his head.

"You look constipated, Augustus. Please relax."

"I can hardly relax with the wiping and scrubbing you’re doing."

When she was done, she tore a piece of cloth from his tunic and covered the wound.

"That should do it for now."

"Thank you."

Astrid got up slowly, looked around at the men and their gloomy faces. "Look after them. This was just a battle. I’m sure you’ll win a lot more.

"Hurry back," Augustus said. "Bring them back alive."

Astrid sighed. "I hope I can."

She got down from the ship, mounted her horse, and rode back as far as the winds and her horse could carry her.

She passed the road which had been blown up, and there were a lot of their soldiers’ lifeless bodies on the ground. She watched as the Thalassian soldiers gloated.

She tore her eyes away and rode faster. When she’d gotten to the palace, the gates were deserted, just as it was when she’d left.

She climbed down from her horse. Something felt wrong. She hit the horse, and it ran forward. Unfortunately, as it reached the courtyard, arrows rained down on it.

She watched, horrified, as multiple thoughts swam into her head. The soldiers had regained control of the palace, but Adonis and her sisters were still inside.

She leaned against the walls and breathed deeply. How I wish Selene were here, she thought. She would know what to do.